NUKE NEWS: January 29, 2011
1. NORTHERN SASKATCHEWAN SPEAKING TOUR: Dr. Jim Harding
2. EVENT: Pathways to Sustainability conference in Red Deer
3. SCREENING: THE REFUGEES OF THE BLUE PLANET
4. ANTI-NUKE POSTER IDEAS
5. Nuclear Sludge candy recall expanded
6. Resolution Calling to Amend the Constitution Banning Corporate Personhood Introduced in Vermont
7. MacKay, Gates agree to “deepen the unique partnership on defence issues”
8. LETTER: KURTENBACH: Afghanistan--a waste of lives and money
9. Canada in Afghanistan – The Big Lie machine
10. LETTER: REMPEL: How Afghanistan Became a War for NATO --- all the wrong reasons
11. Silence is Complicity: The methodical shooting of boys at work in Gaza by snipers of the Israeli Occupation Force
12. Utah Army post reopens after nerve agent found
13. Prepping Minds for War Against China
14. WATCH: Egyptian American Activist: Hillary Clinton Forgets to Mention Tear Gas, Tanks, Concussion Grenades Used Against Egyptian Protesters Are Made in the U.S.
15. How Did Super Bloated Defense Spending Become Such a Sacred Cow That We Can't Have a Debate About Cutting It?
16. Iraq Cabinet Approves Deal to Buy 18 F16 Fighters From US -Spokesman
17. Russia calls for NATO probe into Iran cyber strike
18. Russia Says Cyberattack On Iran Could Have Sparked Nuclear Disaster
19. Davos panel sees huge Iranian response to attack + Explosion
20. Revival of a Military Option: Israel's Covert War Against Iran Is On
21. WIKILEAKS UPDATE
22. Banro Corporation SLAPP Suit for $5 Million
23. What's to be Done? Solutions for 2011 from Six Notable Canadians
24. DOBBIN: Why Tax Cuts Make Us Weak (2 articles)
25. WATCH: Beyond the Tipping Point: Feedback Dynamics and the onset of Runaway Climate Change | The Imperative of ZERO - Parts 1-7
26. Rethinking a "safe climate": have we already gone too far?
27. Weather Modification Information Act in Canada
28. Greens would eliminate tuition
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1. NORTHERN SASKATCHEWAN SPEAKING TOUR: Dr. Jim Harding
- Why Saskatchewan Needs a Nuclear Waste Ban
Jim Harding, author of "Canada's Deadly Secret: Saskatchewan Uranium and the Global Nuclear System" will visit three Saskatchewan communities to speak about proposals to build a nuclear waste dump in our province and why we
should say NO!
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Frances Morrison Public Library,
311-23rd Street East, Saskatoon, SK. 7:00 PM
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Kikinahk Friendship Centre,
320 Boardman Street, La Ronge, SK 7:00 PM
Thursday, February 3, 2011
JMC Public Library,
125-12th Street East, Prince Albert, SK 7:00 PM
You can find posters for these events on our web site, feel free to download, post and forward to your networks:
http://www.cleangreensask.ca/Home/
upcoming-speaking-events-1/whysaskatchewanshouldsaynotonuclearwaste
You can read more of Jim's columns on our web site:
http://www.cleangreensask.ca/Home/jim-harding-s-column
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2. EVENT: Pathways to Sustainability conference in Red Deer
http://www.pathways2sustainability.ca/
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=59191546606
Food, Fuel & Finance – Pathways to Local Resilient Economies”
Red Deer College, Red Deer, AB
February 23 – 25, 2011
Creating a sustainable society is the greatest opportunity and the greatest challenge of our era. Since 2009, the Pathways 2 Sustainability Conference (P2S) has helped form the relationships and capacity for planning and participating in sustainable communities.
Building on P2S 2009’s sustainable communities theme, P2S is moving forward from planning to community-based action. We are featuring over 40 Showcase Exhibitors, 12 Panelists, and 5 Keynotes on topics such as Community Supported Agriculture, Feed In Tariffs, Renewable Energy, Community Finance, Food Security, and Sustainable & Resilient Community Planning.
Pathways 2011 is a networking opportunity for over 250 industry innovators, community & institutional leaders, and the investment community to engage in moving communities in Alberta towards resiliency.
REGISTRATION, AGENDA, etc.:
http://www.pathways2sustainability.ca/
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3. SCREENING: THE REFUGEES OF THE BLUE PLANET
Wednesday, February 2 at 7 PM - FREE ADMISSION
NFB Cinema - 150 John St., TORONTO
Directed by Hélène Choquette and Jean-Philippe Duval, 2006, 53 minutes. In French with English subtitles.
TRAILER:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jksgeVYCJDc
Each year, millions of people the world over are driven to forced displacement. From the Maldives to Brazil, and even closer to home, here in Canada, the disturbing accounts of people who have been uprooted are amazingly similar. The enormous pressure placed on rural populations as a result of the degradation of their life-supporting environment is driving them increasingly further from their way of life. The Refugees of the Blue Planet sheds light on the little-known plight of a category of individuals who are suffering the repercussions of this reality: environmental refugees.
The screening will be followed by a panel discussion Dr. Laura Westra, PhD in Law & Professor at York University & Univ. of Windsor, Faculty of Law, and Dr. Rafi Mustafa, who is the past president and current member of the Board for International Development and Relief Foundation (IDRF), an organization that has worked in partnership with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) to provide emergency relief in disaster-struck areas like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Haiti.
Green Screens partners films from the NFB with experts and panellists selected by the Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy. If you are interested in the environment, Green Screens will entertain and inform you.
Follow the NFB Mediatheque on Facebook, Foursquare or Twitter and follow CIELAP on Twitter!
Sign up for the new NFB Mediatheque newsletter by email here.
NFB MEDIATHEQUE | 150 John St., Toronto | 416-973-3012 | NFB.ca/mediatheque
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4. ANTI-NUKE POSTER IDEAS:
http://picasaweb.google.com/102935928704376282208/
InternationalRadioactiveWasteActionDay?feat=flashalbum#
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5. Nuclear Sludge candy recall expanded
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/
nuclear-sludge-candy-recall-expanded-114855219.html
By: Staff Writer Posted: 01/29/2011 1:00 AM
A U.S. distribution company expanded a recall of candy products exported to Canada due to excessive levels of lead.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recalled all flavours of Toxic Waste Brand's Nuclear Sludge, a fruit-flavoured chew bar.
The recall, announced Thursday, affects eight-gram packages of the product and are in addition to a Jan. 13 recall of the same product's 20-gram packages.
"Further testing by the company indicates that while some of the smaller-sized products were below the FDA limit, some contain elevated levels of lead... that potentially could cause health problems, particularly for infants, small children, and pregnant women," said an FDA news release.
Some of the products had lead levels of .331 parts per million. The allowable lead threshold in the U.S. is 0.1 ppm.
MORE:
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/
nuclear-sludge-candy-recall-expanded-114855219.html
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6. Resolution Calling to Amend the Constitution Banning Corporate Personhood Introduced in Vermont
http://www.alternet.org/story/149620/
resolution_calling_to_amend_the_constitution_banning_corporate_personhood_introduced_in_vermont?page=entire
On the anniversary of the Citizens United decision, Vermont politicians are moving to deny corporations the rights that humans enjoy.
January 22, 2011 | AlterNet / By Christopher Ketcham
A year ago today, the Supreme Court issued its bizarre Citizens United decision, allowing unlimited corporate spending in elections as a form of “free speech” for the corporate “person.” Justice John Paul Stevens, writing for the dissent, had the task of recalling the majority to planet earth and basic common sense.
"Corporations have no consciences, no beliefs, no feelings, no thoughts, no desires," wrote Stevens. "Corporations help structure and facilitate the activities of human beings, to be sure, and their 'personhood' often serves as a useful legal fiction. But they are not themselves members of 'We the People' by whom and for whom our Constitution was established."
Fortunately, movements are afoot to reverse a century of accumulated powers and protections granted to corporations by wacky judicial decisions.
In Vermont, state senator Virginia Lyons on Friday presented an anti-corporate personhood resolution for passage in the Vermont legislature. The resolution, the first of its kind, proposes "an amendment to the United States Constitution ... which provides that corporations are not persons under the laws of the United States." Sources in the state house say it has a good chance of passing. This same body of lawmakers, after all, once voted to impeach George W. Bush, and is known for its anti-corporate legislation. Last year the Vermont senate became the first state legislature to weigh in on the future of a nuclear power plant, voting to shut down a poison-leeching plant run by Entergy Inc. Lyons’ Senate voted 26-4 to do it, demonstrating the level of political will of the state’s politicians to stand up to corporate power.
MORE:
http://www.alternet.org/story/149620/
resolution_calling_to_amend_the_constitution_banning_corporate_personhood_introduced_in_vermont?page=entire
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7. MacKay, Gates agree to “deepen the unique partnership on defence issues”
http://www.canadians.org/tradeblog/?p=1274
Today’s North American defence ministers meeting in Ottawa went ahead without Mexico’s Guillermo Galván (who was sick), which may have given Peter MacKay and Robert Gates more time to discuss some of the bilateral (Canada-U.S.) military integration proposals I wrote about yesterday, and which were apparently also part of the discussion at last week’s Canada-U.S. Permanent Joint Board on Defence meeting.
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8. LETTER: KURTENBACH: Afghanistan--a waste of lives and money
January 27, 2011
To the Editor,
Congratulations to Larry Birkbeck of Regina for his letter regarding the "Never-Ending war in Afghanistan." He has good reason for coming to that conclusion. A well known American author, Bob Woodward, in his book Obama's Wars, quotes General David Petraeus, the senior U.S. commander in Afghanistan: "I don't think you win this war. I think you keep fighting. This is the kind of a fight we're in for the rest of our lives, and probably our kid's lives."!
We [Canadians] know why our military forces are in Afghanistan. We are there to support U.S. efforts to establish the U.S.A. as the dominant political and military power in the Middle East. This whole bloody mess got underway because American and British politicians wanted to secure access to the bountiful reserves of oil in that part of the world. The arms manufacturers on this continent, and the global oil barons, apparently smiled in appreciation of a plan that would mean big profits for them.
The Bush Middle East wars caused the death, injury, both physically and mentally, of about a million human beings. The costs involving both antagonists already amount to between one and two trillion dollars. That monumental sum and the horrific suffering of so many people was totally useless and unnecessary.
But now we're told that NATO forces are there to bring freedom and peace to the Afghan people, to build roads and schools, etc, etc, but it appears that first we have to kill off the Taliban.
I beg the indulgence of your readers to tell the story of how the wars in the Middle East could have been avoided. This is about a young American, a mountain climber Greg Mortenson. He saw the grandeur and the majestic peaks -- and the challenge of the mountain named K2 in Pakistan. He just about died in his attempt to climb K2. He made it back to the village at the base of the mountain and was nursed back to health by the people living there. It was then that he became aware of the abysmal poverty of the people, particularly of the children who had no schools. He promised he would build them a school.
Going back home to the U.S.A., Mortenson appealed to hundreds of people for funds to build that school. Eventually, a wealthy man, with a good heart, Dr. Jean Hoerni from Seattle, wrote him a check [cheque] for $12,000 -- estimated cost of the materials. Dealing with the culture of the people, their religious practices and the overwhelming hardships to move all that material to that mountainous region, took a man, Greg
Mortenson, one who was endowed with a true spirit of altruism. He became highly respected in the region. Over the years, he was instrumental in building more than 50 schools in Pakistan, and some in Afghanistan. His only requirement of the people there was that both boys and girls have access to education.
Actions that work more humanly than weapons are expressed in this well known cliche, "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you." It can be found in almost every religious or spiritual belief.
Leo Kurtenbach,
Box 268, Cudworth, Sask., S0K 1B0
Phone: (306) 256 3638
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9. Canada in Afghanistan – The Big Lie machine
http://murraydobbin.ca/2011/01/23/
canada-in-afghanistan-%e2%80%93-the-big-lie-machine/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MurrayDobbin+%28Murray+Dobbin%27s+Blog%29
Posted on January 23, 2011 by murraydobbin
Our tragic and pathetic Afghanistan adventure is a dramatic commentary on the state of Canadian politics and democracy. Despite all the evidence that continuing to stay in this benighted country is worse than pointless, despite the fact that the majority of Canadians want to get out sooner rather than later and despite the fact that even Stephen Harper recognizes that the Karzai regimen is one of the most repugnant and corrupt Canadians have ever been asked to support we are unable as a nation to extricate ourselves from this deadly mess.
If it were just a matter of embarrassment it would be bad enough. But every day we stay there we actually make things worse. As Jack Layton pointed out recently even the “good” we think we are doing is bad. Some Canadians cling to the illusion that training Afghan soldiers will somehow help Afghanistan and its people. Yet as Layton reminded us, over 20 percent of those we train abandon the army.
No one knows what happens to them – until they show up as dead Taliban fighters. What would you do if you were trained as a soldier to support a drug-infested cleptocracy utterly incapable of governing or providing services to the people? Add to that the incredibly low pay, defective or non-existent equipment, and an inept officer class disinterested in proving leadership and it is amazing anyone stays in the army. The Taliban pays more. Given that both employers are utterly repugnant, why not get higher pay?
It is the deep and intractable corruption of the Karzai government which makes a farce out the training program that Canada will now effectively lead. The tragedy is that virtually everyone knows it is bound to fail and everyone is equally committed to lying about it: the soldiers on the ground, their officers and the politicians – Ignatieff and Harper – who support it.
The Afghan war/occupation not only further corrupts and destroys Afghanistan; it corrupts Canadian politics by obliging everyone to be involved in a Big Lie. We have to lie about everything: the likelihood of improvement, the objectives of our partner, the US; the building of democracy, the role of oil and gas pipelines, the liberation of women, Afghanis’ attitude towards Canadian soldiers, our commitment to the Geneva Convention, and the story we tell Canadian soldiers about why they are there. Nothing but lies and everyone one of them corrosive of our political culture and international image.
MORE:
http://murraydobbin.ca/2011/01/23/
canada-in-afghanistan-%e2%80%93-the-big-lie-machine/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MurrayDobbin+%28Murray+Dobbin%27s+Blog%29
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10. LETTER: REMPEL: How Afghanistan Became a War for NATO --- all the wrong reasons
From: Jacob Rempel
Sent: Tuesday, January 04, 2011 12:02 PM
Subject: How Afghanistan Became a War for NATO --- all the wrong reasons.
Dear Members of Parliament ---
It's a NATO war promoted by the Pentagon to maintain NATO. Note that there is no reference to the real reasons for US regime reasons for being in Afghanistan -- namely to secure pipeline security across Afghanistan for UNICAL oil pipelines to carry oil to sell to Indian interests -- Interesting, eh, not even for US oil needs!! It's a war to promote interests of a private corporation, not even for US domestic needs.
Where does Canada fit into these war aims?? Yes, now that the Afghan people are so desperately injured, we, as well as the US, owes them help to recover, but not as an ally with the US regime and NATO. Even the best public Relations by the war office provides very fragmentary evidence of genuine substantial improvements in the lives of the people of Afghan people --- after almost 10 years US/NATO war following about 20 years of other imperial wars. In 2011, we have no believable prediction of good outcomes.
It looks like illegal aggression. How can this correspond with the ideals Canada claims as a member of the United Nation? Canada is implicated in illegal aggression, and in the end will be historically humiliated along with the US regime. Every MP opposition member should seek to establish a reputation of opposition to the aggression in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and now Yemen.
It's time to shift to an improved, more effective United Nation for genuine peace and prosperity for all smaller nations with natural resources wanted by interests in the Great Powers like the US, Russia and China.
--- Jacob Rempel, Vancouver
-----------------------------------------------------
How Afghanistan Became a War for NATO
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/01/03-3
Published on Monday, January 3, 2011 by Inter Press Service
by Gareth Porter
WASHINGTON - The official line of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), the NATO command in Afghanistan, is that the war against Afghan insurgents is vital to the security of all the countries providing troops there. More….
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11. Silence is Complicity: The methodical shooting of boys at work in Gaza by snipers of the Israeli Occupation Force
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=22879
By Dr. David Halpin Global Research, January 20, 2011
Introduction
The deliberate injury of the limbs of 23 boys by high velocity weapons has been logged and described by Defence for Children International – Palestine Branch (DCI-P) since March 2010. (1) Some of the facts have been published in national newspapers. These barbarous acts contravene international and national law but there are no judicial responses. The caring professions see the physical and mental pain of those who suffer and they should be in the vanguard in calling for this great cruelty to cease forthwith. Political leaders have failed to act.
The Geneva Conventions Act 1957, which is of central importance in holding war criminals to account in the jurisdiction of the UK, is being emasculated.
Context
Most of the 1.5 million population of the Gaza strip is impoverished. Half are refugees from Mandate Palestine or their stock. About 50% of the male population is without work. It has been isolated and occupied for decades. A commercial port was being built in 2000 but that was bombed by Israel. The isolation and the hobbling of its commerce was increased by a siege which was started in March 2006 in response to the election of a majority of Hamas members to the legislature. It was further tightened in June 2007 after the Hamas government pre-empted a coup by the Fatah faction that was led in Gaza by Mohammad Dahlan.
MORE:
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=22879
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12. Utah Army post reopens after nerve agent found
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110127/
ap_on_re_us/us_dugway_lockdown
By JENNIFER DOBNER, Associated Press Jennifer Dobner, Associated Press
January 27, 2011
DUGWAY PROVING GROUND, Utah – The Army said Thursday that Dugway Proving Ground, where military weapons are tested, was locked down for hours because a small amount of a nerve agent was unaccounted for.
The amount missing was less than one-fourth of a teaspoon of VX nerve agent, which affects the body's ability to carry messages through the nerves.
The missing vial prompted a lockdown late Wednesday afternoon that lasted nearly 14 hours.
Post commander Col. William E. King said the nerve agent was never unsecured but had been incorrectly placed in a mislabeled container after a test on Tuesday at a base lab. The error was detected during a routine inventory check.
- - - - SNIP - - - -
Encompassing more than 800,000 acres of desert, the post also is used by the U.S. Army Reserves and the U.S. National Guard for maneuver training.
VX is just one of numerous deadly chemicals tested and handled at the base. A persistent chemical agent, VX can be "very deadly" if it makes contact with the skin, but the amount of material in the misplaced vial was so small that only a few people might have been affected, King said.
"VX, normally from a warfare perspective, would be put out in gallons," he said.
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13. Prepping Minds for War Against China
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=22820
By Shamus Cooke Global Research, January 17, 2011
You'd think the U.S. was already at war with China, given the immense amount of anti-China rhetoric spouting from the government and media. But selling wars takes time. The average American hasn't bought in to this false advertising yet. So the big lie will be repeated until its roots are deeply sunk into the American psyche: China, says the U.S. government, is a threat that needs to be "dealt with.”
This propaganda assault is multi-faceted, taking aim from all directions. Any China-related issue -- military, economic, and social -- is open for attack. For example, the head of the U.S. Department of Defense, Robert Gates, recently visited Asia and focused much of his trip talking about China as a "military threat.”
What is this threat? Gates answers that China has shown a "rapid buildup of military capability,” proven by its production of a "stealth fighter.” The U.S. media had a field day with this news, intending to sow terror in the psyche of the American public.
A quick glance at the numbers reveals that Mr. Gates and the unquestioning U.S. media are unabashed hypocrites: China is nowhere near the U.S. when it comes to military expenditures: the U.S., under Obama, will spend $725 billion in 2011(!), while China will spend $80 billion.
When it comes to overseas military bases, China has zero; the U.S. has at least 737!
MORE:
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=22820
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14. WATCH: Egyptian American Activist: Hillary Clinton Forgets to Mention Tear Gas, Tanks, Concussion Grenades Used Against Egyptian Protesters Are Made in the U.S.
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/1/27/
egyptian_american_activist_hillary_clinton_forget
January 27, 2011
In Egypt, protesters faced tear gas, water cannon and beatings from security forces on the streets of Cairo on Wednesday. Up to 1,200 people were arrested, including a number of journalists. Six people have reportedly been killed since Tuesday. Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did not criticize the Egyptian government, saying only that the country was stable and Egyptians had the right to protest, while urging all parties to avoid violence. We speak with Mostafa Omar, an Egyptian American activist and writer. [includes rush transcript]
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15. How Did Super Bloated Defense Spending Become Such a Sacred Cow That We Can't Have a Debate About Cutting It?
http://www.alternet.org/story/149712/
how_did_super_bloated_defense_spending_become_such_a_sacred_cow_that_we_can%27t_have_a_debate_about_cutting_it
The U.S. military outlays today equal that of every other nation on the planet combined -- and we get very little for it.
January 27, 2011 |
In defense circles, “cutting” the Pentagon budget has once again become a topic of conversation. Americans should not confuse that talk with reality. Any cuts exacted will at most reduce the rate of growth. The essential facts remain: U.S. military outlays today equal that of every other nation on the planet combined, a situation without precedent in modern history. [ . . . . ]
=================
16. Iraq Cabinet Approves Deal to Buy 18 F16 Fighters From US -Spokesman
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-201 ... 13023.html
Independent reports: Deal would cost $4.3 billion 26 Jan 2011
The Iraqi government approved a deal to buy 18 F-16 multi-role fighters from the U.S., a government spokesman said Wednesday. "The cabinet has authorized Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki who is also the acting Defense Minister to negotiate the deal with the U.S. side," Ali al-Dabbagh, who is also a state minister, said in a statement after a weekly cabinet meeting.
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17. Russia calls for NATO probe into Iran cyber strike
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/
ALeqM5idtJ-KDYqcj2jWg9uC1f0MKFXYfw
'The operators saw on their screens that the centrifuges were working normally when in fact they were out of control.' 26 Jan 2011 Russia called on NATO on Wednesday to launch an investigation into the computer worm that targeted a Russian-built Iranian nuclear power plant, saying the incident could have triggered a new Chernobyl. Russia's envoy to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, said the Stuxnet virus caused centrifuges producing enriched uranium at the Bushehr plant to spin out of control, which could have sparked a new "Chernobyl tragedy," the 1986 nuclear meltdown in Ukraine.
====================
18. Russia Says Cyberattack On Iran Could Have Sparked Nuclear Disaster
http://www.rferl.org/content/
russia_iran_cyberattack_chornobyl/2288523.html
26 Jan 2011
A Russian official says a recent cyberattack on Iran's atomic-energy program could have triggered a nuclear catastrophe on the scale of the Chornobyl disaster in 1986. Dmitry Rogozin, Russia's ambassador to NATO, said the virus that hit the computer system at Iran's Bushehr reactor had caused centrifuges to spin out of control.
==================
19. Davos panel sees huge Iranian response to attack + Explosion
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110128/ap_on_re_eu/
eu_davos_forum_iran_5;_ylt=Arf0Xx4g5vhBzr2Mc8Qfw4YGS5Z4
By DAN PERRY, Associated Press Dan Perry, Associated Press – Fri Jan 28, 5:08 pm ET
DAVOS, Switzerland – A diverse panel of decision-makers and experts from the United States, Europe and the Middle East found common ground on just one thing when it comes to dealing with the Iranian nuclear program Friday: A military strike could well spark a devastating counterattack. [ . . . ]
= = = = = = =
Guess who's joining Stephen Harper in Davos?
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/
ottawa-notebook/guess-whos-joining-stephen-harper-in-davos/article1444897/
Jane Taber Posted on Tuesday, January 26, 2010 4:16PM EST
Davos, Switzerland, is the destination every year at this time as the global business and political elite gather at the World Economic Forum. It’s a pretty exclusive event – by invitation only. [ . . . ]
= = = = = =
DAVOS-UPDATE 2-Small explosion in Davos hotel, nobody hurt
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/01/27/
davos-explosion-idUSN2727901520110127
January 27, 2011
DAVOS, Switzerland Jan 27 (Reuters) - Left-wing activists claimed responsibility for a minor explosion on Thursday at a hotel in Davos, close to where top executives and world leaders were meeting, but nobody was hurt.
Devin Wenig, CEO of Thomson Reuters' Markets division, was in a breakfast meeting of senior executives at the hotel when the explosion happened.
"A huge boom went off. The whole ceiling lifted. Everyone was convinced it was a bomb," he said. "It took a half hour to reassemble the meeting."
Participants were later told that a boiler had exploded, he added. The Forum's main programme was not disrupted. [ . . . ]
==================
20. Revival of a Military Option: Israel's Covert War Against Iran Is On
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=22962
By Muriel Mirak-Weissbach Global Research, January 26, 2011
After talks in Istanbul between Iran and the West on its nuclear program broke down on January 22, the danger of revival of a military option looms large. It may not come in the form of a direct, conventional US and/or Israeli strike against Iran’s nuclear installations, but rather in the guise of the warfare of the future, with cyber-weapons and terrorism. Political forces opposed to such an escalation in the Iran conflict would do well to examine the reasons why dialogue on the nuclear issue has failed thus far, and reshape their approach to dealing with the Islamic Republic.
On the eve of talks between Iran and the West, the German weekly of record published a devastating expose’ of Israeli covert operations against the Islamic Republic, including targeted assassinations. The cover story of the popular weekly Der Spiegel, entitled “David’s Avengers: Israel’s secret killer-commandos,“ hit the newsstands and arrived in subscribers’ mailboxes on Monday January 17, just four days before talks were to open in Turkey, between Iran and the 5+1 group – the five UN Security Council permanent members plus Germany.
The well-researched story, subtitled, “The Invisible War,” documents what every government knows but few will dare to say. “Sabotage and assassination attempts against Iranian scientists are regarded as standard weapons in the arsenal of the Israeli secret service, Mossad,” runs the introductory blurb; “They are supposed to set back the mullahs’ nuclear program. The latter react by arresting presumed perpetrators.” The gist of the report is that, through a coordinated series of operations, from assassinations of nuclear scientists, support for ethnic terrorists, and computer virus attacks (Stuxnet), the Mossad has in fact succeeded in halting progress on Iran’s nuclear program, thus postponing the date when the Mossad and others reckon that Tehran might achieve a military nuclear capability.
MORE:
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=22962
==================
21. WIKILEAKS UPDATE
Pentagon admonishes journalists after suffering damage from WikiLeaks
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/briefs/articles/90032279
27 Jan 2011
The Obama administration defense spokesman on Wednesday "admonished" journalists instead of clarifying a question from journalists about ongoing media reports that military investigators have failed to link Army Pvt. Bradley Manning to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. During an arranged press briefing, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell told journalists that there was an ongoing investigation and that restricts him from going into details about the case.
"I would avail myself of this opportunity to admonish or warn you all to be extraordinarily careful about how you report on this story," cautioned Morrell... [ . . . ]
WikiLeaks: Locking Up Whistleblower Bradley Manning in Solitary Confinement Puts America's Depravity on Full Display
http://www.alternet.org/story/149410/
By Lynn Parramore, New Deal 2.0 Posted on January 4, 2011, Printed on January 5, 2011
The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons. ~Fyodor Dostoevsky
EXCERPT:
The placement of human beings in solitary confinement is not a measure of their depravity. It is a measure of our own.
U.S. Officials Have No Link Between Bradley Manning and Julian Assange, But They Continue to Imprison, Torture Manning Anyway
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/448536/
u.s._officials_have_no_link_between_bradley_manning_and_julian_assange%2C_but_they_continue_to_imprison%2C_torture_manning_anyway/#paragraph3
By Lauren Kelley | AlterNet
Posted on Tuesday, January 25, 2011 @ 08:02 AM
Well this is an unfortunate development for the officials who decided imprisoning Private Bradley Manning would be a sure-fire way to take down WikiLeaks: according to NBC, "investigators have been unable to make any direct connection between [Manning] and Julian Assange, founder of the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks." [ . . . ]
Police arrest five over Anonymous WikiLeaks attacks
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/jan/27/
anonymous-hacking
27 Jan 2011
Five people from across the UK were arrested early today in connection with a spate of online attacks last month in support of the whistleblowers' site WikiLeaks. Police said the five males, aged between 15 and 26, are being held after a series of arrests in the West Midlands, Northamptonshire, Hertfordshire, Surrey and London. Today's arrests were coordinated by the Metropolitan police working in conjunction with other UK forces and international agencies. [ . . . ]
FBI Executes 40 Warrants Tied to Pro-WikiLeaks Cyber-Attacks
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/
FBI-Executes-40-Warrants-Tied-to-ProWikiLeaks-CyberAttacks-105979/
27 Jan 2011
Authorities continue their campaign to catch people involved in a spate of denial-of-service attacks against companies that cut ties with WikiLeaks. The FBI executed 40 search warrants across the country today as part of an ongoing investigation into distributed denial-of-service attacks (DDoS) launched in 'Operation Payback'. The raids came the same day U.K. authorities arrested five people believed to be tied to the loosely-affiliated group Anonymous, which has taken credit for the attacks. [ . . . ]
Assange, WikiLeaks Go After China, As Attacks on the Site Continue
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/441763/
assange%2C_wikileaks_go_after_china%2C_as_attacks_on_the_site_continue/#paragraph4
By Steve D. | Sourced from Booman Tribune January 18, 2011
It seems that the budding economic superpower of the 21st Century, the one that doesn't buy into the ideological nonsense of "Free Trade" is now in the spotlight of new revelations from Wikileaks on the eve of a Presidential state visit by China's head honcho, Hu Jintao: [...]
Swiss Banker Gave WikiLeaks Information Revealing Crimes by World's Most Powerful People, as Attacks on Assange and the Site Continue
http://www.alternet.org/world/149559/
swiss_banker_gave_wikileaks_information_revealing_crimes_by_world's_most_powerful_people,_as_attacks_on_assange_and_the_site_continue/
The mountain of damning information acquired by WikiLeaks just keeps growing -- as do attacks on Assange.
AlterNet / By Lauren Kelley January 17, 2011
The mountain of damning information acquired by WikiLeaks just keeps growing, this time thanks to former Swiss banker Rudolf Elmer, who has reportedly fed the whistle-blower site information that could uncover "massive, unmitigated tax evasion " by powerful individuals and corporations around the globe. [...]
===================
22. Banro Corporation SLAPP Suit for $5 Million
http://slapp.ecosociete.org/en/pressrelease18-01-11
PRESS RELEASE - January 18, 2011
Publisher Écosociété and the authors of Noir Canada take the case to Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of Canada has accepted to hear the motion of Éditions Ecosociété and the authors of the book Noir Canada (Alain Deneault, Delphine Abadie, and William Sacher) to repatriate to Quebec the proceedings instituted against them by Banro Corporation in the Superior Court of Ontario
(http://csc.lexum.umontreal.ca/en/news_release/
2011/11-01-13.3a/11-01-13....).
Éditions Ecosociété and the authors of Noir Canada argue that Ontario is not the appropriate jurisdiction to prosecute the architects of the book who work in Quebec and who do their work in French. A few dozen copies of Noir Canada only were distributed in Ontario. Banro Corporation for its part is registered in Toronto but exploits no mine in the province and has several foreign administrators.
The book Noir Canada gives an account of the controversial role of Canadian corporations in Africa, based exclusively on previously-known international documentation, such as United Nations reports or the research of public organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Pole Institut
(http://www.freespeechatrisk.ca/resources/).
MORE:
http://slapp.ecosociete.org/en/pressrelease18-01-11
=====================
23. What's to be Done? Solutions for 2011 from Six Notable Canadians
http://xraymagazine.ca/xray/solutionsfor2011.aspx
It’s a bright, shiny new year. Across the land, people have tallied up last year’s wins and losses, and made resolutions to do better. At X-Ray Magazine, we’re always tallying up the wins and losses on Canada’s political scene, and this year, we wondered how Canada could do better.
We asked some notable Canadians - Liberal MP Carolyn Bennett, Council of Canadians leader Maude Barlow, democracy watchdog Duff Conacher, labour activist Joel Harden, national student leader David Molenhuis, and environmentalist Beatrice Olivastri - to share their resolutions and solutions for some of the country’s woes. Read on, get riled, be inspired, and share your ideas for positive change in Canada
MORE:
http://xraymagazine.ca/xray/solutionsfor2011.aspx
=================
24. DOBBIN: Why Tax Cuts Make Us Weak (2 articles)
http://murraydobbin.ca/2011/01/27/why-t ... e-us-weak/
Posted: 27 Jan 2011 03:43 PM PST
by Murray Dobbin
I don’t think I have ever re-cycled a column before but the whole question of tax cuts and all the issues it involves never really changes. In November, 2007, I wrote a column for the Tyee and rabble focusing on Conservative finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s five year tax cut plan. This up-coming cut to corporate taxes (by 1.5%, binging the level to 15%, the lowest in the G7)) is the final outrageous installment. Here’s what I said then. Nothing has changed – except now we have a huge deficit to deal with, and the corporate tax cuts are even more irresponsible. [ . . . . ]
= = = = = =
Oppose Harper’s corporate tax cuts
http://www.canadians.org/wordwarriors/2011/jan-27.html
January 27, 2011 by Murray Dobbin
Stephen Harper and his Finance Minister Jim Flaherty have thrown down the gauntlet on an issue they cannot win on and we need to take the opportunity to exploit the strategic mistake. Having govt ministers fan out across the country selling corporate tax cuts when corporations are seen to be the cause of the global recession makes little sense. [ . . . . ]
================
25. WATCH: Beyond the Tipping Point: Feedback Dynamics and the onset of Runaway Climate Change | The Imperative of ZERO - Parts 1-7
http://www.apollo-gaia.org/PlanetEarth/index.htm
David's web site is :
http://www.meridian.org.uk.
David Wasdell is possibly the foremost climate systems analyst on Earth: he tells it like it is, because he sees no reason to lie. When he talks, you listen, because failure to listen to his unique brand of unfiltered, unpoliticized, science-based analysis is failure to listen to the voice of reason.
David Wasdell delivered this copiously illustrated presentation on the 29th June 2008 to the Strategy-Planning workshop of the Tällberg Forum in the heart of Sweden. It was subsequently recorded in studio conditions and beautifully produced by the staff team of the Tällberg Foundation who also added an introduction by their Chairman, Bo Ekman.
After a basic introduction to climate dynamics, the powerful feedback system, already accelerating climate change, is analysed. It is argued that we have already passed the tipping point that marks the onset of runaway climate change, and are fast approaching the critical threshold beyond which the behaviour becomes unstoppable. The presentation concludes with an outline of the global strategy now urgently required to re-stabilise the life-support system of Planet Earth.
New scientific research, published since the video was completed, calls for a doubling of the figure used in the presentation for the strength of the water-vapour feedback. This adds 50% to the calculated power of current global heating and reinforces the conclusion that runaway climate change has already been initiated. The urgency of the imperative response to the global emergency cannot now be overstated.
http://www.apollo-gaia.org/PlanetEarth/index.htm
=====================
26. Rethinking a "safe climate": have we already gone too far?
http://climatecodered.blogspot.com/2011/01/
rethinking-safe-climate-have-we-already.html
by David Spratt, 23 January 2011
It is hard to argue that anything above the Holocene maximum (of around 0.5 degrees above the pre-industrial temperature) can preserve a safe climate, and that we have already gone too far. The notion that 1.5C is a safe target is out the window, and even 1 degree looks like an unacceptably high risk.
NASA climate chief James Hansen says:
At current temperatures, no "cushion" left to avoid dangerous climate change
"... even small global warming above the level of the Holocene begins to generate a disproportionate warming on the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets."
by David Spratt, 23 January 2011
As global temperatures rise to be 0.8 degrees Celsius warmer than the pre-industrial level, is the planet already entering a zone of dangerous climate change?
With Arctic sea-ice in a "death spiral", Greenland in 2010 melting at an unprecedented rate, a seemingly extraordinary number of extreme climate events in the last year from the Russian fires to the Pakistan floods, and 18 countries setting new temperature records, have we already gone too far for a safe climate?
In a draft of a new research paper, NASA climate chief James Hansen and his collaborator Makiko Sato has opened a new debate about what might be the conditions for a safe climate; that is, one in which people and nations can continue to live where and as they have been, with secure food production, and in a bio-diverse environment.
MORE:
http://climatecodered.blogspot.com/2011/01/
rethinking-safe-climate-have-we-already.html
= = = = = =
Singing in the Rain
http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/2011/
20110126_SingingInTheRain.pdf
In this paper Hansen writes:
EXCERPT: “Yes, it may be said, but young people are free to also influence public opinion. However, consider this Heartland chart as an example of what young people are up against. People carrying out these tasks are professional warriors for special interests, well-funded to make the case that global warming and climate disruption are a hoax. Their message is repeated relentlessly. Note that the "free market ideas" phrase in the Heartland bottom line is Orwellian double-speak. They mean the opposite, they want business-as-usual, with fossil fuels subsidized and not required to pay their costs to society”
“Dear grandchild, this is a monster that you must face. You will need to figure it out. I am sorry. But it is the shape of our democracy today, which we bequeath to you.” (Emphasis Added. Ed.)
MORE:
http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/2011/
20110126_SingingInTheRain.pdf
==================
27. Weather Modification Information Act in Canada
http://laws.justice.gc.ca/PDF/Statute/W/W-5.pdf
Current to December 14, 2010
Section 2 states,
“weather modification activity” includes any action designed or intended to produce, by physical or chemical means, changes in the composition or dynamics of the atmosphere for the purpose of increasing, decreasing or redistributing precipitation, decreasing or suppressing hail or lightning or dissipating fog or cloud." [ . . .. ]
=================
28. Greens would eliminate tuition
http://www.carillonregina.com/
?p=2480&cpage=1#comment-198
By The Carillon – January 27, 2011 Kent E. Peterson, Business Manager
With a provincial election set for Nov. 7 of this year, the Green Party of Saskatchewan is putting forth policies and ideas that they hope will lead to the election of the first ever Green MLA in the province’s legislature. One of these ideas is aimed at strengthening the party’s support amongst young voters – specifically students.
Larissa Shasko heads the Green Party of Saskatchewan and has made it clear that, if elected, the Greens will move to eliminate tuition in Saskatchewan’s universities and colleges.
- - - -SNIP - - - -
In addition to the zero-tuition fee policy, Shasko notes that the Greens will be focusing on some of their traditional issues as well.
“While the full list is quite extensive, some of the top issues we would take urgent action on include climate change and the environment, economic health, eliminating poverty, support for students, improving and protecting our public healthcare system,” Shasko said.
Other issues the Greens will focus on heading into the election are ones typically overlooked by the province’s two major parties. They include support for Saskatchewan artists, food security, restoring democracy, and stopping a nuclear waste dump from being located in the province. (Emphasis added. Ed.)
Shasko maintains the Green Party of Saskatchewan advocates for such issues because they are directly linked to the party’s founding principles.
“We are a political party committed to environmental and social justice,” she said, adding, “The guiding principles of the Green Party of Saskatchewan are ecological wisdom; social and economic justice; participatory democracy; personal, social, and global responsibility; community-based economics; cooperation and mutual aid; respect for diversity; peace and non-violence; decentralization; and gender equity.”
--
Larry Waldinger, Cell: 306-717-7275, Home: 306-384-3398,
Email: LWaldinger@gmail.com,
Blog: http://gpswaldinger.blogspot.com/,
Bio info on: Green Party of Saskatchewan
NUKE NEWS
NUKE NEWS: January 29, 2011
by Oscar » Sat Jan 29, 2011 11:29 am
Last edited by Oscar on Sun Feb 06, 2011 7:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- Oscar
- Site Admin
- Posts: 9965
- Joined: Wed May 03, 2006 3:23 pm
NUKE NEWS: January 31, 2011
by Oscar » Mon Jan 31, 2011 4:11 pm
NUKE NEWS: January 31, 2011
NUCLEAR WASTE? STOP MAKING IT!!!
1. SPEAKING TOUR: Dr. Jim Harding: Import Nuclear Waste? Why We Should Say NO!
2. Small reactors raise alarms - Environment group wary of gov't initiative
3. Nuclear renaissance - Canada may miss out on reactor sales if Ottawa sells AECL
4. Hitachi Canada's nuclear operations
5. Cameco concentrates on ship cleanup - Awaits national clearance to inspect cargo hold in port
6. The Origins of Nuclear Power - Parts 1 – 4
7. U.S. urges Canada to stick with F-35
8. F-35 purchase: What do Canadians think?
9. Are We Witnessing the Start of a Global Revolution? North Africa and the Global Political Awakening, Part 1
10. Update: Egypt Uprising (4 articles)
11. Blair feared Cabinet leaks over Iraq, Chilcot told
=================
1. SPEAKING TOUR: Dr. Jim Harding: Import Nuclear Waste? Why We Should Say NO!
Please forward to interested friends, relatives, and colleagues.
Hope you can make it to hear Dr. Jim Harding's talks, starting Tuesday Feb 1, 7:00 pm in Saskatoon: Frances Morrison Public Library Auditorium.
Saskatchewan is being targeted as a high-level radioactive waste dump for irradiated fuel bundles from nuclear reactors in eastern Canada and beyond.
Dr. Harding, dynamic speaker, author & retired professor-University of Regina, will also be speaking in La Ronge on February 2 and Prince Albert on February 3
Tuesday Feb 1, 7:00 pm: Frances Morrison Library: 311 23rd St E. Saskatoon
Wednesday Feb 2, 7:00 pm: Kikinahk Friendship Centre 320 Boardman St La Ronge
Thursday Feb 3, 7:00pm: JMC Public Library 125 12th St E. Prince Albert
Events sponsored by: Council of Canadians Prairie Region, Sierra Club Prairie Region, RPIC Renewable Power-the Intelligent Choice, the JMC Public Library and Prince Albert Chapter of the Council of Canadians, & Coalition for a Clean Green Saskatchewan,
for more information see:
www.cleangreensask.ca
==================
2. Small reactors raise alarms - Environment group wary of gov't initiative
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/technology/
Small+reactors+raise+alarms/4176449/story.html
BY JAMES WOOD, THE STAR PHOENIX JANUARY 27, 2011
The stumbling blocks around nuclear power don't go away just because a reactor is small, says the province's most prominent environmental group.
Premier Brad Wall recently announced the Saskatchewan Party government would fire up its nuclear agenda, including striking a deal with a private-sector company to research the feasibility of small-scale reactors for supplying power around the world and in Saskatchewan.
Small-scale reactors produce less than 500 megawatts of power. In 2009, the Sask. Party government closed the door on a proposal to build two 1,000-megawatt reactors, saying they were too costly and too large for Saskatchewan's power grid.
Ann Coxworth of the Saskatchewan Environmental Society said if Saskatchewan looks at small reactors, it should do so in the context of a badly needed overall energy strategy.
"I think it's unlikely that it would be selected as one of the favourable options both from the point of view of economics and environmental impact. The costs of nuclear power production will not shrink in proportion to the size of the facility," she said in an interview this week.
"You're still going to have to deal with the issues of waste management and security and product quality control whether it's a small reactor or a large reactor. I think that electricity produced from a small power reactor is still going to end up being more expensive than most of the other options."
Coxworth noted the province has been down this path before.
MORE:
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/technology/
Small+reactors+raise+alarms/4176449/story.html
MORE info on Small Reactors:
http://forum.stopthehogs.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=759
==================
3. Nuclear renaissance - Canada may miss out on reactor sales if Ottawa sells AECL
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/technology/
Nuclear+renaissance/4183391/story.html
BY JOHN SHMUEL, FINANCIAL POSTJANUARY 28, 2011 5:02 AM
Despite the fiasco over the sale of Canada's nuclear Crown corporation, Atomic Energy Canada Limited (AECL), the country's nuclear industry continues to pull in about $1.2-billion a year in exports -though its future is now more uncertain than ever.
Domestically speaking, nuclear technology in Canada is a $6.6-billion sector that employs 71,000 people either directly or through spin-off jobs. It is an industry overwhelmingly centred around AECL and its flagship Candu reactors -of which, there are 29 in operation around the world.
But AECL, as it exists now, may not be around for much longer. Crippled by cost overruns, blown project deadlines and a lack of sales of Candu reactors, the Crown corporation was put on sale in 2009 by the federal government, and has yet to secure a buyer.
At the heart of the sale is AECL's reactor division, which builds the Candu. Originally launched with the intention to develop reactors for domestic use and export, the division has gone without a new reactor sale since the 1990s. Former natural resources minister Lisa Raitt told reporters in 2009 that "the Candu Reactor Division is too small to establish a strong presence globally in the high-growth markets that are key to its success."
But that assertion has its fair share of critics, who fear selling the reactor division to a private buyer could spell doom for Canada's nuclear industry.
MORE:
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/technology/
Nuclear+renaissance/4183391/story.html
=================
4. Hitachi Canada's nuclear operations
http://www.rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/campus-notes/
2011/01/how-residents-delivered-major-upset-ge-hitachi-canadas-nuclear-o
By Zach Ruiter and Liat Mandel, January 28, 2011
This artilce was originally published in Arthur, the Peterborough and Trent University independent press.
David versus Goliath has recently been retold as a story of environmental justice: a small group of Trent students and Peterborough residents defeated the General Electric-Hitachi Corporation of Canada (GE) at the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) tribunal. On December 23, permission for GE's secretive plans to process enriched uranium downtown were officially revoked. The tribunal decision stated, "the issued license does not authorize activities related to low-enriched uranium (LEU) or possession of the same."
MORE:
http://www.rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/campus-notes/
2011/01/how-residents-delivered-major-upset-ge-hitachi-canadas-nuclear-o
===================
5. Cameco concentrates on ship cleanup - Awaits national clearance to inspect cargo hold in port
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/technology/
Cameco+concentrates+ship+cleanup/4176524/story.html
By Cassandra Kyle, The StarPhoenix January 27, 2011
Cameco Corp. expects to send a proposed cleanup plan for its spilled uranium concentrate to federal authorities by the end of the week.
Alice Wong, the company's vice-president of safety, health, environment and quality and regulatory relations, said the uranium firm based in Saskatoon is still working on a remediation plan regarding the spilled yellowcake, which is secured in a cargo hold on a transport ship docked at the Port of Vancouver.
The plan must be approved by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) and Transport Canada, as well as the Vancouver Port Authority, before cleanup work can begin.
Earlier this month, a ship carrying 770,000 pounds of yellowcake to China turned around and headed back to Canada after encountering severe weather. The 17-member crew had concerns about the cargo and contacted Cameco. The company then asked the ship to return.
MORE:
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/technology/
Cameco+concentrates+ship+cleanup/4176524/story.html
=================
6. The Origins of Nuclear Power - Parts 1 - 4
http://www.nyheterna.net/kaernkraftens/
the_origin_of_nuclear_power
As in many other countries, much of the electricity in Sweden is based on nuclear power. Three of the biggest nuclear power plants are located in the southeast of Sweden, outside the city of Oskarschamn. In Oskarschamn the local newspaper Nyheterna is covering the electrical production at the nuclear power plants, but also much of the discussion over how to handle the waste from the plants. In order to produce nuclear power it is necessary to have uranium. That is why Nyheterna's journalists Fredrik Loberg and Mattias Rubin went to Canada.
Part 1 - Uranium has forced people to move
http://www.nyheterna.net/kaernkraftens/
the_origin_of_nuclear_power/uranium_has_forced_people_to_move
Publicerad 100325 15:40.
For over 30 years, a large proportion of the uranium used to produce electricity in the Oskarshamn nuclear power plant in Sweden derived from Canada.
Uranium mining has forced indigenous people to flee from the land where they lived for thousands of years.
The money does not compensate
http://www.nyheterna.net/kaernkraftens/
the_origin_of_nuclear_power/the_money_does_not_compensate
Publicerad 100325 15:26.
In the 1970s, Annie and Louis Benonie and their family were forced away from Collins Bay. They were promised compensation from the mining company. At first, one thousand dollars per year and eventually something more.
Our land will never be the same
http://www.nyheterna.net/kaernkraftens/
the_origin_of_nuclear_power/our_land_will_never_be_the_same
Publicerad 100325 15:19. Uppdaterad 100325 15:19.
Edward Benoanie, whose family operates a restaurant, shop, school bus services, ferry business and the hotel in the village, is also worried. Edward was the chief in Wollaston Lake reserve when one of the biggest leaks in the mine area was discovered nearly 20 years ago.
Part 2 - Uranium causes many deaths
http://www.nyheterna.net/kaernkraftens/
the_origin_of_nuclear_power/uranium_causes_many_deaths
Publicerad 100412 11:36.
In the Canadian village where the uranium to be used for producing electricity in Oskarshamn has been processed, a large number of people has been affected by lung cancer.
Historically also many mineworkers have suffered from this.
But the worst thing right now is that large parts of the world's nuclear weapons production is made of uranium from here, Peter Prebble who lives in the nuclear capital, Saskatoon, says.
Much is at stake
http://www.nyheterna.net/kaernkraftens/
the_origin_of_nuclear_power/uranium_causes_many_deaths
Publicerad 100412 11:15. Uppdaterad 100412 11:27.
Jim Penna and Eleanor Knight from Saskatoon's oldest organization critical to nuclear power, the Inter-Church Uranium Committee, thinks that neither Kevin Scissons and his authority nor state organization Health Canada is doing their job.
"Our land is stolen"
http://www.nyheterna.net/kaernkraftens/
the_origin_of_nuclear_power/our_land_is_stolen
Publicerad 100409 16:54.
Thinking about the origin of Camecos uranium or not Oskarshamn nuclear power plant can get uranium from any part of the world. The company in Oskarshamn, OKG, explains sometimes having to fill out its uranium needs by buying from the open so-called spot market, and this uranium can according to OKG not be traced at all.
Part 3: All surveyed had uranium in their bodies
http://www.nyheterna.net/kaernkraftens/
the_origin_of_nuclear_power/all_surveyed_had_uranium_in_their_bodies
Publicerad 100503 15:52. Uppdaterad 100505 10:15.
In the town where uranium used in Oskarshamn nuclear power plant has been processed, nine local residents where tested.
The test results showed that all nine had industrial uranium isotopes in their bodies.
We want more people, especially children, to be checked Andrew Johncox says.
After 23 years as an engineer working with the uranium process he has got prostate cancer.
Part 4 - The most secretive phase
http://www.nyheterna.net/kaernkraftens/
the_origin_of_nuclear_power/the_most_secretive_phase
Publicerad 110126 13:31. Uppdaterad 110127 10:02.
Many people and countries are very much worried that Iran, North Korea and terrorists has got the knowledge of uranium enrichment.
At the same time uranium enrichment is a absolutely necessary process for the production of electricity in Oskarshamn nuclear power plant.
This fourth and last reportage is also about the growing uranium cooperation between Oskarshamn and Russia.
================
7. U.S. urges Canada to stick with F-35
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7054&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
Posted: 30 Jan 2011 08:08 PM PST
U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is urging the Canadian government to move ahead with its planned purchase of 65 American F-35 Joint Strike Fighters. [ . .. .]
====================
8. F-35 purchase: What do Canadians think?
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=6989&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
Posted: 28 Jan 2011 11:30 PM PST
The debate over the purchase of the F-35 continues, with Conservative and Liberal rhetoric on the issue growing increasingly heated. But does either party really care what Canadians think? An Ekos poll taken in November suggests that 54% of Canadians are opposed to the planned purchase. Other polls often show that Canadians prefer peacekeeping to combat [...]
==================
9. Are We Witnessing the Start of a Global Revolution? North Africa and the Global Political Awakening, Part 1
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=22963
By Andrew Gavin Marshall Global Research, January 27, 2011
Are We Headed for a Global Revolution?
EXCERPT:
During the first phase of the global economic crisis in December of 2008, the IMF warned governments of the prospect of “violent unrest on the streets.” The head of the IMF warned that, “violent protests could break out in countries worldwide if the financial system was not restructured to benefit everyone rather than a small elite.”[32]
In January of 2009, Obama’s then-Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair, told the Senate Intelligence Committee that the greatest threat to the National Security of the U.S. was not terrorism, but the global economic crisis:
“I’d like to begin with the global economic crisis, because it already looms as the most serious one in decades, if not in centuries ... Economic crises increase the risk of regime-threatening instability if they are prolonged for a one- or two-year period... And instability can loosen the fragile hold that many developing countries have on law and order, which can spill out in dangerous ways into the international community.” [33]
FULL TEXT:
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=22963
=====================
10. Update: Egypt Uprising (4 articles)
Massive Protests in Egypt Enter Seventh Day; General Strike Called
ALL FEATURES:
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/1/31/headlines
January 31, 2011
Protesters in Egypt have called for a general strike today and a "million man march" on Tuesday in an attempt to force Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak from power. Over the past seven days, hundreds of thousands of Egyptians have protested in the streets of Cairo, Alexandria, Suez and other cities in the largest protests Egypt has seen in decades. An estimated 150 protesters have been killed and thousands have been injured over the past week.
= = = = = =
STAND WITH THE PEOPLE OF EGYPT
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/democracy_for_egypt/
?donateyourstatus1
The demonstrations in Egypt could end three decades of repressive rule and bring, at long last, freedom and democracy to Egypt.
The regime is attempting to starve the protest movement of two crucial sources of power: information and solidarity. But despite the internet blackout, Egyptian radios and satellite TVs can still receive broadcasts from across the border -- so Avaaz will work with broadcasters whose signals reach inside Egypt to circulate the number signatures on this statement of solidarity, along with messages of support from around the world for Egypt's people.
Every hour matters. What happens next depends of all of us. Let's stand with those on the streets and build a deafening outcry against rampant corruption and political repression, and for democratic reform. Sign the statement of solidarity--and spread the word about this campaign!
= = = = =
And then everything changed…
http://murraydobbin.ca/2011/01/29/
and-then-everything-changed/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MurrayDobbin+%28Murray+Dobbin%27s+Blog%29
Posted: 29 Jan 2011 02:06 PM PST
The photographs are as stunning as they are inspiring. The world is now totally focused on the democratic rebellion in Egypt. President Hosni Mubarak, the dictator who Israel relies on for its current unassailable position, sends out the army to deal with demonstrators and what happens? The soldiers, including officers, joined with them, hugging them, kissing them, shaking hands and sharing posters and banners calling on Mubarak – a coward and autocrat in the pocket of the US and Israel – to resign, and demanding democracy.
Mubarak is finished so he no longer really needs to be afraid. The millions he has socked away in Swizz banks will serve him well unless someone assassinates him before he can spend it. No, the people who should be terrified are those in the Israeli government and political elite who for decades have treated Palestinians with racist brutality – worse than anything experienced under Apartheid in South Africa – with complete impunity.
The arrogance of Israel – and its delusional certainty that it can prevail virtually forever with its policies – is suddenly confronted by a new reality that all the colonial genius of the country could not and did not anticipate. The tens of thousands of Egyptian – and Jordanian and Algerian and Yemeni – citizens demanding democracy are calling Israel’s bluff. For decades Israel has been able to ridicule and thumb its nose at the nasty little dictatorships of the Arab world – arguing that only Israel was democratic.
The implication was clear: wouldn’t it be great of all the Arab states were democratic. Of course nothing could be further from the truth. What has kept Israel protected during its decades of illegal occupation, the seizure of Palestinian land and resources and its military adventures against Iran, Syria and Lebanon – along with unlimited US support – is the certain knowledge that the corrupt and morally bankrupt regimes surrounding it would never dare risk a confrontation. [ . . . . ]
= = = = = =
Egypt: US-Backed Repression is Insight for American Public
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=22994
By Finian Cunningham Global Research, January 28, 2011
As thousands more Egyptian citizens take to the streets in anti-government protests, the country is in danger of witnessing a bloodbath – at the behest of Washington.
Defying a ban on public demonstrations by the government of President Hosni Mubarak, tens of thousands of Egyptians have for the fourth consecutive day rallied on the streets of the capital Cairo and other major cities calling for his abdication. Inspired by the mass uprising in neigbouring Tunisia earlier this month, which forced its president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali into exile, the protesters in Egypt are likewise demanding Mubarak and his government to quit.
Mubarak’s military apparatus has so far shown brutal determination to suppress the uprising. As many as seven civilians have been killed by heavily armed riot police, hundreds are reported injured and more than 1,000 arrests have been made by secret security agents who were videoed bundling protesters into unmarked vehicles. Now the country’s formidable military forces are reported to have taken up positions in public places in Cairo and elsewhere.
But it is Washington’s latest intervention that could trigger an escalation of Egyptian state violence against its people. Speaking to media, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs described the Mubarak government as an “important ally” and that the US “expects” the 30-year-old regime to remain intact. Forget the hollow and cynical plea by Gibbs to the Egyptian government and protesters to refrain from violence, the key message is continuing US support for the regime. In other words, the US is assuring Mubarak that it stands full-square behind his bid to stay in power. Given that the already-lethal response of the Egyptian state did not draw a word of condemnation from the White House nor that the population’s demands for democracy and social justice were unequivocally endorsed can only send the following code to Mubarak: do whatever you must to get these people off the streets.
MORE:
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=22994
================
11. Blair feared Cabinet leaks over Iraq, Chilcot told
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/
blair-feared-cabinet-leaks-over-iraq-chilcot-told-2197776.html
January 29, 2011
Tony Blair sidelined senior ministers in the run-up to the Iraq war because he feared they would leak details of talks about military action, the Cabinet Secretary said yesterday. Sir Gus O'Donnell took a series of swipes at the former Prime Minister's style of government, telling the Chilcot inquiry that Mr Blair did not feel the Cabinet was a "safe space" to discuss moves to war. Britain's most senior civil servant also argued that ministers should have been given full legal advice about the invasion and that more detailed records of crucial meetings should have been kept. [ . . . ]
NUCLEAR WASTE? STOP MAKING IT!!!
1. SPEAKING TOUR: Dr. Jim Harding: Import Nuclear Waste? Why We Should Say NO!
2. Small reactors raise alarms - Environment group wary of gov't initiative
3. Nuclear renaissance - Canada may miss out on reactor sales if Ottawa sells AECL
4. Hitachi Canada's nuclear operations
5. Cameco concentrates on ship cleanup - Awaits national clearance to inspect cargo hold in port
6. The Origins of Nuclear Power - Parts 1 – 4
7. U.S. urges Canada to stick with F-35
8. F-35 purchase: What do Canadians think?
9. Are We Witnessing the Start of a Global Revolution? North Africa and the Global Political Awakening, Part 1
10. Update: Egypt Uprising (4 articles)
11. Blair feared Cabinet leaks over Iraq, Chilcot told
=================
1. SPEAKING TOUR: Dr. Jim Harding: Import Nuclear Waste? Why We Should Say NO!
Please forward to interested friends, relatives, and colleagues.
Hope you can make it to hear Dr. Jim Harding's talks, starting Tuesday Feb 1, 7:00 pm in Saskatoon: Frances Morrison Public Library Auditorium.
Saskatchewan is being targeted as a high-level radioactive waste dump for irradiated fuel bundles from nuclear reactors in eastern Canada and beyond.
Dr. Harding, dynamic speaker, author & retired professor-University of Regina, will also be speaking in La Ronge on February 2 and Prince Albert on February 3
Tuesday Feb 1, 7:00 pm: Frances Morrison Library: 311 23rd St E. Saskatoon
Wednesday Feb 2, 7:00 pm: Kikinahk Friendship Centre 320 Boardman St La Ronge
Thursday Feb 3, 7:00pm: JMC Public Library 125 12th St E. Prince Albert
Events sponsored by: Council of Canadians Prairie Region, Sierra Club Prairie Region, RPIC Renewable Power-the Intelligent Choice, the JMC Public Library and Prince Albert Chapter of the Council of Canadians, & Coalition for a Clean Green Saskatchewan,
for more information see:
www.cleangreensask.ca
==================
2. Small reactors raise alarms - Environment group wary of gov't initiative
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/technology/
Small+reactors+raise+alarms/4176449/story.html
BY JAMES WOOD, THE STAR PHOENIX JANUARY 27, 2011
The stumbling blocks around nuclear power don't go away just because a reactor is small, says the province's most prominent environmental group.
Premier Brad Wall recently announced the Saskatchewan Party government would fire up its nuclear agenda, including striking a deal with a private-sector company to research the feasibility of small-scale reactors for supplying power around the world and in Saskatchewan.
Small-scale reactors produce less than 500 megawatts of power. In 2009, the Sask. Party government closed the door on a proposal to build two 1,000-megawatt reactors, saying they were too costly and too large for Saskatchewan's power grid.
Ann Coxworth of the Saskatchewan Environmental Society said if Saskatchewan looks at small reactors, it should do so in the context of a badly needed overall energy strategy.
"I think it's unlikely that it would be selected as one of the favourable options both from the point of view of economics and environmental impact. The costs of nuclear power production will not shrink in proportion to the size of the facility," she said in an interview this week.
"You're still going to have to deal with the issues of waste management and security and product quality control whether it's a small reactor or a large reactor. I think that electricity produced from a small power reactor is still going to end up being more expensive than most of the other options."
Coxworth noted the province has been down this path before.
MORE:
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/technology/
Small+reactors+raise+alarms/4176449/story.html
MORE info on Small Reactors:
http://forum.stopthehogs.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=759
==================
3. Nuclear renaissance - Canada may miss out on reactor sales if Ottawa sells AECL
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/technology/
Nuclear+renaissance/4183391/story.html
BY JOHN SHMUEL, FINANCIAL POSTJANUARY 28, 2011 5:02 AM
Despite the fiasco over the sale of Canada's nuclear Crown corporation, Atomic Energy Canada Limited (AECL), the country's nuclear industry continues to pull in about $1.2-billion a year in exports -though its future is now more uncertain than ever.
Domestically speaking, nuclear technology in Canada is a $6.6-billion sector that employs 71,000 people either directly or through spin-off jobs. It is an industry overwhelmingly centred around AECL and its flagship Candu reactors -of which, there are 29 in operation around the world.
But AECL, as it exists now, may not be around for much longer. Crippled by cost overruns, blown project deadlines and a lack of sales of Candu reactors, the Crown corporation was put on sale in 2009 by the federal government, and has yet to secure a buyer.
At the heart of the sale is AECL's reactor division, which builds the Candu. Originally launched with the intention to develop reactors for domestic use and export, the division has gone without a new reactor sale since the 1990s. Former natural resources minister Lisa Raitt told reporters in 2009 that "the Candu Reactor Division is too small to establish a strong presence globally in the high-growth markets that are key to its success."
But that assertion has its fair share of critics, who fear selling the reactor division to a private buyer could spell doom for Canada's nuclear industry.
MORE:
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/technology/
Nuclear+renaissance/4183391/story.html
=================
4. Hitachi Canada's nuclear operations
http://www.rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/campus-notes/
2011/01/how-residents-delivered-major-upset-ge-hitachi-canadas-nuclear-o
By Zach Ruiter and Liat Mandel, January 28, 2011
This artilce was originally published in Arthur, the Peterborough and Trent University independent press.
David versus Goliath has recently been retold as a story of environmental justice: a small group of Trent students and Peterborough residents defeated the General Electric-Hitachi Corporation of Canada (GE) at the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) tribunal. On December 23, permission for GE's secretive plans to process enriched uranium downtown were officially revoked. The tribunal decision stated, "the issued license does not authorize activities related to low-enriched uranium (LEU) or possession of the same."
MORE:
http://www.rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/campus-notes/
2011/01/how-residents-delivered-major-upset-ge-hitachi-canadas-nuclear-o
===================
5. Cameco concentrates on ship cleanup - Awaits national clearance to inspect cargo hold in port
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/technology/
Cameco+concentrates+ship+cleanup/4176524/story.html
By Cassandra Kyle, The StarPhoenix January 27, 2011
Cameco Corp. expects to send a proposed cleanup plan for its spilled uranium concentrate to federal authorities by the end of the week.
Alice Wong, the company's vice-president of safety, health, environment and quality and regulatory relations, said the uranium firm based in Saskatoon is still working on a remediation plan regarding the spilled yellowcake, which is secured in a cargo hold on a transport ship docked at the Port of Vancouver.
The plan must be approved by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) and Transport Canada, as well as the Vancouver Port Authority, before cleanup work can begin.
Earlier this month, a ship carrying 770,000 pounds of yellowcake to China turned around and headed back to Canada after encountering severe weather. The 17-member crew had concerns about the cargo and contacted Cameco. The company then asked the ship to return.
MORE:
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/technology/
Cameco+concentrates+ship+cleanup/4176524/story.html
=================
6. The Origins of Nuclear Power - Parts 1 - 4
http://www.nyheterna.net/kaernkraftens/
the_origin_of_nuclear_power
As in many other countries, much of the electricity in Sweden is based on nuclear power. Three of the biggest nuclear power plants are located in the southeast of Sweden, outside the city of Oskarschamn. In Oskarschamn the local newspaper Nyheterna is covering the electrical production at the nuclear power plants, but also much of the discussion over how to handle the waste from the plants. In order to produce nuclear power it is necessary to have uranium. That is why Nyheterna's journalists Fredrik Loberg and Mattias Rubin went to Canada.
Part 1 - Uranium has forced people to move
http://www.nyheterna.net/kaernkraftens/
the_origin_of_nuclear_power/uranium_has_forced_people_to_move
Publicerad 100325 15:40.
For over 30 years, a large proportion of the uranium used to produce electricity in the Oskarshamn nuclear power plant in Sweden derived from Canada.
Uranium mining has forced indigenous people to flee from the land where they lived for thousands of years.
The money does not compensate
http://www.nyheterna.net/kaernkraftens/
the_origin_of_nuclear_power/the_money_does_not_compensate
Publicerad 100325 15:26.
In the 1970s, Annie and Louis Benonie and their family were forced away from Collins Bay. They were promised compensation from the mining company. At first, one thousand dollars per year and eventually something more.
Our land will never be the same
http://www.nyheterna.net/kaernkraftens/
the_origin_of_nuclear_power/our_land_will_never_be_the_same
Publicerad 100325 15:19. Uppdaterad 100325 15:19.
Edward Benoanie, whose family operates a restaurant, shop, school bus services, ferry business and the hotel in the village, is also worried. Edward was the chief in Wollaston Lake reserve when one of the biggest leaks in the mine area was discovered nearly 20 years ago.
Part 2 - Uranium causes many deaths
http://www.nyheterna.net/kaernkraftens/
the_origin_of_nuclear_power/uranium_causes_many_deaths
Publicerad 100412 11:36.
In the Canadian village where the uranium to be used for producing electricity in Oskarshamn has been processed, a large number of people has been affected by lung cancer.
Historically also many mineworkers have suffered from this.
But the worst thing right now is that large parts of the world's nuclear weapons production is made of uranium from here, Peter Prebble who lives in the nuclear capital, Saskatoon, says.
Much is at stake
http://www.nyheterna.net/kaernkraftens/
the_origin_of_nuclear_power/uranium_causes_many_deaths
Publicerad 100412 11:15. Uppdaterad 100412 11:27.
Jim Penna and Eleanor Knight from Saskatoon's oldest organization critical to nuclear power, the Inter-Church Uranium Committee, thinks that neither Kevin Scissons and his authority nor state organization Health Canada is doing their job.
"Our land is stolen"
http://www.nyheterna.net/kaernkraftens/
the_origin_of_nuclear_power/our_land_is_stolen
Publicerad 100409 16:54.
Thinking about the origin of Camecos uranium or not Oskarshamn nuclear power plant can get uranium from any part of the world. The company in Oskarshamn, OKG, explains sometimes having to fill out its uranium needs by buying from the open so-called spot market, and this uranium can according to OKG not be traced at all.
Part 3: All surveyed had uranium in their bodies
http://www.nyheterna.net/kaernkraftens/
the_origin_of_nuclear_power/all_surveyed_had_uranium_in_their_bodies
Publicerad 100503 15:52. Uppdaterad 100505 10:15.
In the town where uranium used in Oskarshamn nuclear power plant has been processed, nine local residents where tested.
The test results showed that all nine had industrial uranium isotopes in their bodies.
We want more people, especially children, to be checked Andrew Johncox says.
After 23 years as an engineer working with the uranium process he has got prostate cancer.
Part 4 - The most secretive phase
http://www.nyheterna.net/kaernkraftens/
the_origin_of_nuclear_power/the_most_secretive_phase
Publicerad 110126 13:31. Uppdaterad 110127 10:02.
Many people and countries are very much worried that Iran, North Korea and terrorists has got the knowledge of uranium enrichment.
At the same time uranium enrichment is a absolutely necessary process for the production of electricity in Oskarshamn nuclear power plant.
This fourth and last reportage is also about the growing uranium cooperation between Oskarshamn and Russia.
================
7. U.S. urges Canada to stick with F-35
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7054&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
Posted: 30 Jan 2011 08:08 PM PST
U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is urging the Canadian government to move ahead with its planned purchase of 65 American F-35 Joint Strike Fighters. [ . .. .]
====================
8. F-35 purchase: What do Canadians think?
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=6989&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
Posted: 28 Jan 2011 11:30 PM PST
The debate over the purchase of the F-35 continues, with Conservative and Liberal rhetoric on the issue growing increasingly heated. But does either party really care what Canadians think? An Ekos poll taken in November suggests that 54% of Canadians are opposed to the planned purchase. Other polls often show that Canadians prefer peacekeeping to combat [...]
==================
9. Are We Witnessing the Start of a Global Revolution? North Africa and the Global Political Awakening, Part 1
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=22963
By Andrew Gavin Marshall Global Research, January 27, 2011
Are We Headed for a Global Revolution?
EXCERPT:
During the first phase of the global economic crisis in December of 2008, the IMF warned governments of the prospect of “violent unrest on the streets.” The head of the IMF warned that, “violent protests could break out in countries worldwide if the financial system was not restructured to benefit everyone rather than a small elite.”[32]
In January of 2009, Obama’s then-Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair, told the Senate Intelligence Committee that the greatest threat to the National Security of the U.S. was not terrorism, but the global economic crisis:
“I’d like to begin with the global economic crisis, because it already looms as the most serious one in decades, if not in centuries ... Economic crises increase the risk of regime-threatening instability if they are prolonged for a one- or two-year period... And instability can loosen the fragile hold that many developing countries have on law and order, which can spill out in dangerous ways into the international community.” [33]
FULL TEXT:
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=22963
=====================
10. Update: Egypt Uprising (4 articles)
Massive Protests in Egypt Enter Seventh Day; General Strike Called
ALL FEATURES:
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/1/31/headlines
January 31, 2011
Protesters in Egypt have called for a general strike today and a "million man march" on Tuesday in an attempt to force Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak from power. Over the past seven days, hundreds of thousands of Egyptians have protested in the streets of Cairo, Alexandria, Suez and other cities in the largest protests Egypt has seen in decades. An estimated 150 protesters have been killed and thousands have been injured over the past week.
= = = = = =
STAND WITH THE PEOPLE OF EGYPT
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/democracy_for_egypt/
?donateyourstatus1
The demonstrations in Egypt could end three decades of repressive rule and bring, at long last, freedom and democracy to Egypt.
The regime is attempting to starve the protest movement of two crucial sources of power: information and solidarity. But despite the internet blackout, Egyptian radios and satellite TVs can still receive broadcasts from across the border -- so Avaaz will work with broadcasters whose signals reach inside Egypt to circulate the number signatures on this statement of solidarity, along with messages of support from around the world for Egypt's people.
Every hour matters. What happens next depends of all of us. Let's stand with those on the streets and build a deafening outcry against rampant corruption and political repression, and for democratic reform. Sign the statement of solidarity--and spread the word about this campaign!
= = = = =
And then everything changed…
http://murraydobbin.ca/2011/01/29/
and-then-everything-changed/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MurrayDobbin+%28Murray+Dobbin%27s+Blog%29
Posted: 29 Jan 2011 02:06 PM PST
The photographs are as stunning as they are inspiring. The world is now totally focused on the democratic rebellion in Egypt. President Hosni Mubarak, the dictator who Israel relies on for its current unassailable position, sends out the army to deal with demonstrators and what happens? The soldiers, including officers, joined with them, hugging them, kissing them, shaking hands and sharing posters and banners calling on Mubarak – a coward and autocrat in the pocket of the US and Israel – to resign, and demanding democracy.
Mubarak is finished so he no longer really needs to be afraid. The millions he has socked away in Swizz banks will serve him well unless someone assassinates him before he can spend it. No, the people who should be terrified are those in the Israeli government and political elite who for decades have treated Palestinians with racist brutality – worse than anything experienced under Apartheid in South Africa – with complete impunity.
The arrogance of Israel – and its delusional certainty that it can prevail virtually forever with its policies – is suddenly confronted by a new reality that all the colonial genius of the country could not and did not anticipate. The tens of thousands of Egyptian – and Jordanian and Algerian and Yemeni – citizens demanding democracy are calling Israel’s bluff. For decades Israel has been able to ridicule and thumb its nose at the nasty little dictatorships of the Arab world – arguing that only Israel was democratic.
The implication was clear: wouldn’t it be great of all the Arab states were democratic. Of course nothing could be further from the truth. What has kept Israel protected during its decades of illegal occupation, the seizure of Palestinian land and resources and its military adventures against Iran, Syria and Lebanon – along with unlimited US support – is the certain knowledge that the corrupt and morally bankrupt regimes surrounding it would never dare risk a confrontation. [ . . . . ]
= = = = = =
Egypt: US-Backed Repression is Insight for American Public
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=22994
By Finian Cunningham Global Research, January 28, 2011
As thousands more Egyptian citizens take to the streets in anti-government protests, the country is in danger of witnessing a bloodbath – at the behest of Washington.
Defying a ban on public demonstrations by the government of President Hosni Mubarak, tens of thousands of Egyptians have for the fourth consecutive day rallied on the streets of the capital Cairo and other major cities calling for his abdication. Inspired by the mass uprising in neigbouring Tunisia earlier this month, which forced its president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali into exile, the protesters in Egypt are likewise demanding Mubarak and his government to quit.
Mubarak’s military apparatus has so far shown brutal determination to suppress the uprising. As many as seven civilians have been killed by heavily armed riot police, hundreds are reported injured and more than 1,000 arrests have been made by secret security agents who were videoed bundling protesters into unmarked vehicles. Now the country’s formidable military forces are reported to have taken up positions in public places in Cairo and elsewhere.
But it is Washington’s latest intervention that could trigger an escalation of Egyptian state violence against its people. Speaking to media, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs described the Mubarak government as an “important ally” and that the US “expects” the 30-year-old regime to remain intact. Forget the hollow and cynical plea by Gibbs to the Egyptian government and protesters to refrain from violence, the key message is continuing US support for the regime. In other words, the US is assuring Mubarak that it stands full-square behind his bid to stay in power. Given that the already-lethal response of the Egyptian state did not draw a word of condemnation from the White House nor that the population’s demands for democracy and social justice were unequivocally endorsed can only send the following code to Mubarak: do whatever you must to get these people off the streets.
MORE:
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=22994
================
11. Blair feared Cabinet leaks over Iraq, Chilcot told
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/
blair-feared-cabinet-leaks-over-iraq-chilcot-told-2197776.html
January 29, 2011
Tony Blair sidelined senior ministers in the run-up to the Iraq war because he feared they would leak details of talks about military action, the Cabinet Secretary said yesterday. Sir Gus O'Donnell took a series of swipes at the former Prime Minister's style of government, telling the Chilcot inquiry that Mr Blair did not feel the Cabinet was a "safe space" to discuss moves to war. Britain's most senior civil servant also argued that ministers should have been given full legal advice about the invasion and that more detailed records of crucial meetings should have been kept. [ . . . ]
- Oscar
- Site Admin
- Posts: 9965
- Joined: Wed May 03, 2006 3:23 pm
NUKE NEWS: February 6, 2011
by Oscar » Sun Feb 06, 2011 7:28 pm
NUKE NEWS: February 6, 2011
1. It's time to regain key nuclear lead
2. Decision allowing Transport of Radioactive Waste Condemned (4 articles)
3. Port Hope mayor says Caldicott's claims are 'wrong' (2 articles)
4. Environmental Coalition Defends Its Challenge Against “Radioactive Russian Roulette” of 20 Year License Extension at Davis-Besse Atomic Reactor
5. WATCH: Pointless Lepreau – Fredericton’s White Elephant
6. NRC licensing board bolsters argument that renewables can replace nuclear
7. No Nukes News - Feb. 4, 2011
8. Harper signs North American perimeter declaration at White House
9. Canadian Auto Workers staff continue to support Ceasefire.ca
10. New estimates put Pakistan's nuclear arsenal at more than 100
11. New START: It’s in the Bag!
12. U.S. ends, Russia begins colour-coded terrorism alerts
13. Kosovo and Albania: Dirty Work in the Balkans: NATO’s KLA Frankenstein
14. Egyptian Uprising Must Address U.S Interference and the Role of Israel in the Region (3 articles)
15. The ‘Al Jazeera moment’?
16. WIKILEAKS UPDATE
17. Which Is It: US Military Cuts or No Cuts??? (2 articles)
18. Liberal MP John McKay tells mining conference: Bill C-300 will see a "legislative resurrection"
19. WATCH: Total War: Agri-business style - The End of Farming in the Fertile Crescent
20. Global suicide: When will we react?
21. COMMENT: Larose: Re: Internet "control"
22. TODAY’S QUOTE
==================
1. It's time to regain key nuclear lead
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/health/
time+regain+nuclear+lead/4222913/story.html
BY ROB NORRIS, THE STAR PHOENIX FEBRUARY 4, 2011
Following is the viewpoint of Norris, minister responsible for SaskPower, Innovation Saskatchewan and the Uranium Development Partnership.
Over the past half-century, Saskatchewan went from being a leader to a laggard in key areas of nuclear medicine and uranium related research. Two recent items in The StarPhoenix -Nuclear path rejected (Jan. 26) and Small reactors raise alarms (Jan. 27) -remind us why.
Decades of indifference, inertia and ideologically driven activism have allowed high-paying, knowledge-based, uranium valueadded jobs to slip away.
MORE:
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/health/
time+regain+nuclear+lead/4222913/story.html
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SES view misrepresented
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/opinion/
view+misrepresented/4229485/story.html
By Ann Coxworth, The StarPhoenix February 5, 2011
The Saskatchewan Environmental Society fully recognizes that climate change is the most serious and urgent issue facing the global community. SES's primary response to this challenge is our major energy efficiency and conservation programming, which is nationally recognized for its effectiveness.
- - - - SNIP - - -
If the editorial writers were to read their own newspaper, they would observe that my comments on small nuclear power reactors did not imply opposition to studying their feasibility.
What I did say, and what was quoted in the Jan. 27 article, was that in the context of an overall provincial energy strategy, it is unlikely that nuclear power would turn out to be a favourable option, both from the point of view of economics and of environmental impact.
We believe that Saskatchewan has better options in the form of greatly improved energy efficiency and a variety of safe renewable sources. We are working towards a goal of being able to phase out coal-fired electricity generation without resorting to nuclear power.
nuclear power. The cost of achieving reasonable greenhouse gas emission targets is estimated by the former chief economist for the World Bank to be significantly lower than the cost of doing nothing.
Ann Coxworth
Saskatchewan Environmental Society
================
2. Decision allowing Transport of Radioactive Waste Condemned (4 articles)
Media Release – For Immediate Release February 5, 2011
The Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, the Coalition for a Nuclear Free Great Lakes, the Mouvement Sortons le Québec du Nucléaire, and many affiliated groups, join together in condemning the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission’s decision to allow Bruce Power (BP) to ship 16 used steam generations – amounting to 1600 tonnes of radioactive waste – through the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River halfway around the world to Sweden.
This shipment contains more than 6 times – and arguably more than 50 times – the maximum amount of radioactivity allowed by IAEA regulations. Because of this, the CNSC had to make a “Special Arrangement” exempting Bruce Power from those IAEA regulations.
“By bending the rules, the CNSC has demonstrated that they are champions of the nuclear industry rather than defenders of the public interest – for there is no public benefit to be served by allowing these shipments,” said Dr. Gordon Edwards, President of the Canadian Coalition for NuclearResponsibility.
“This is a dark day for communities around the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River, and for the 40 million people whose drinking water is derived from these sources, for this shipment of radioactive waste is just the beginning – it will be followed by many other such shipments,” said Michael Keegan, Chair of the Coalition for a Nuclear-Free Great Lakes.
“Radioactive contamination of our lakes and rivers is inevitable if they are to be routinely subjected to the transport of radioactive debris from defunct nuclear reactors,” said Dr. Michel Duguay, Coordinator of the Mouvement sortons le Québec du nucléaire.
Mayors, aboriginal communities and NGOs will continue to oppose these shipments both nationally and internationally, and they will continue to bring this controversial issue to the attention of political decision makers at all levels of government. “Politicians have to wake up and pass laws to protect the public and the environment from the deliberate dissemination of radioactive waste materials,” said Marc Chénier of the Regroupement pour la surveillance du nucléaire.
During a 2006 Environmental Assessment, Bruce Power and the CNSC declared that the used steam generators are “radioactive wastes” and therefore not able to be recycled for safety reasons, promising that they will be stored as waste on site at OPG’s Western Waste Management Facility -- in a surface facility until 2043, and underground thereafter.
OPG, the owner of the Bruce reactors, is fully prepared to store all used steam generators from all Ontario reactors in a special facility adjacent to the Bruce site, with plans for a “segmentation facility” to disassemble the radioactive hulks later on. This arrangement is laid out in a 2007 contractual document between OPG and Bruce Power.
But in October 2009 Bruce Power pressured OPG to transfer ownership of the steam generators to them so that they could save money on waste storage charges by using a Swedish company to disperse much of the radioactive metal into the world’s scrap metal supply – thereby contaminating an otherwise “clean” source of recycled material.
“The practice of contaminating scrap metal supplies by mixing in radioactive waste materials has been condemned by many bodies, including the United Nations, the Steel Manufacturer’s Association, and the International Recycling Bureau,” said Kay Cumbow of the Michigan-based group, Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination.
Contacts:
English: Gordon Edwards, Ph.D., CCNR President, (514) 489 2665 or (514) 839 7214
Mike Keegan, M.A., Chair, Coalition for a Nuclear-Free Great Lakes, (734) 770 1441
Kay Cumbow, Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination (CACC), (810) 346-4513
French/English: Michel Duguay, Ph.D., MSQN Coordinator, (418) 802 2740
Marc Chénier, B.Sc., RSN Board Member, (514) 527 2712
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Critics of Bruce Power say fight is 'not over'
Background:
On Friday afternoon, February 4, 2011, at 4:41 pm, we received notice from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission that they have granted a licence to Bruce Power to ship 16 radioactive steam generators to Sweden, where much of the radioactive metal will be melted down and blended with non-radioactive metal (In the ratio of 1 to 10) to be sold as scrap metal for unrestricted use in the world's metal supply.
For more information on this subject see
http://ccnr.org.
Gordon Edwards.
= = = = = = =
Critics of Bruce Power say fight is 'not over'
http://www.thestar.com/news/article/
934026--critics-of-bruce-power-say-fight-is-not-over
Dan Robson, Staff Reporter, Toronto Star, Feb. 5, 2011
A controversial decision to allow Bruce Power to ship 16 radioactive, school-bus sized generators through the Great Lakes will be met with protests and appeals to the Harper government, critics say.
“This is not over,” said Mike Bradley, mayor of Sarnia. “There are a couple more chapters to go in this play.” [ . . . . ]
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CNSC approves radioactive shipments on the GreatLakes
From: <bpatterson@canadians.org>
Sent: Friday, February 04, 2011 5:28 PM
The Canadian Press reports late today that, "Bruce Power has been given the go-ahead to transport 16 decommissioned steam generators from southwestern Ontario (across the Great Lakes and then on) to Sweden for recycling."
"On Friday, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission issued Bruce Power a transport licence that will be valid until Feb. 3, 2012. ...The commission says it's satisfied that Bruce Power's application meets Canadian and international regulations for the transport of nuclear substances."
The Council of Canadians has consistently opposed the application for these shipments on the Great Lakes and will be responding with an action plan shortly.
The Canadian Press report is at
http://www.trurodaily.com/News/Canada%20-%20World/
Society/2011-02-04/article-2200041/Bruce-Power-gets-OK-to-ship-16-radioactive-generators-through-Great-Lakes/1.
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CNSC Announces Decision to Issue a Transport Licence and Certificate to Bruce Power Inc. for the Transport of 16 Decommissioned Steam Generators to Sweden
From: info@cnsc-ccsn.gc.ca
Sent: February 4, 2011 4:55:48 PM
The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) announced today its decision to issue a transport licence and certificate to Bruce Power for the transport of 16 decommissioned steam generators to Sweden. The licence will be valid for a period of one year from February 4, 2011 until February 3, 2012.
Read the news release:
http://www.nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/medi ... /releases/
news_release.cfm?news_release_id=381
Read the Record of Proceedings, including Reasons for Decision (in PDF format):
http://www.nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/commission/pdf/
2010-09-28-29-Decision-Bruce-SG-e-Final-Edocs3673548.pdf
Find out more about Bruce Power Inc.’s application for a transport licence for the shipment of steam generators to Sweden:
http://www.nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/mycommunity/
facilities/bruceregion/steam-generator-updates.cfm
For all the latest CNSC news, visit the CNSC's homepage at
http://www.nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/
=====================
3. Port Hope mayor says Caldicott's claims are 'wrong' (2 articles)
http://thepeterboroughexaminer.com/
ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2957501
By TED AMSDEN, Peterborough Examiner, Wed Feb 2, 2011, Page: A6
PORT HOPE -- When it comes to the latest news, it's likely one of the last things the mayor of a nuclear industry town wants to hear about is the latest thoughts of an anti-nuclear activist.
On Tuesday longtime antinuclear activist Helen Caldicott -- who visited Port Hope in November and left Mayor Linda Thompson and many in town riled up -- spoke again about Port Hope.
At a news conference in Ottawa, Caldicott called "for the government to conduct a proper, peer-reviewed epidemiological study on the population of Port Hope, Ontario, site of the Cameco uranium processing facility."
She quoted internal documents from the Department of Mines that are more than 80 years old to prove her case stating that the documents show the department was aware that ingestion of even small amount of radioactive dust over a long period will cause a building up of radioactive material in the body, which eventually could have serious consequences.
"While there have been a number of partial studies done over the years ... they are not a substitute for a large-scale, independent, university-based epidemiological investigation," Caldicott said.
In response, Thompson said, "These are not new comments. The reality is she is once again ignoring the work of Health Canada -and many clear and unequivocal health and statistical studies of the last 50 years. Those studies have undergone comprehensive independent peer review through Health Canada, CNSC (Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission), through our independent peer review.
"It is reprehensible, she has not provided any scientific information," Thompson
"It's sensationalism, not science."
"And quite frankly it's drive-by science. She drove by here and made comments about industries in our community which she had no facts on, and again, she has made statements that federal authorities who we hold accountable have studied for over 50 years."
The crux of the problem appears to be that Caldicott and others like her, such as Dr. Linda Harvey, a regional community family practitioner, and Dr. Dale Dewar, executive director of Global Physicians for Survival who appeared with her in Ottawa, are calling for a large open-ended once-and-for-all-solve-everything study.
MORE:
http://thepeterboroughexaminer.com/
ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2957501
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Activist: Study Port Hope residents for radioactivity
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/
931413--activist-study-port-hope-residents-for-radioactivity?bn=1
Joanna Smith, Toronto Star, Ottawa Bureau
OTTAWA—An anti-nuclear activist wants the federal government to study the population of Port Hope, Ontario to see if they are suffering from the effects of radioactive waste.
“It is time that the Canadian government told the truth to the people of Port Hope and that it provide what any decent government must do for its people—duty of care,” Dr. Helen Caldicott said in a statement released in advance of a news conference in Ottawa on Tuesday.
Caldicott sparked a furor last November when she told the Star that the Cameco uranium refinery in Port Hope should be shut down and the entire town moved to another site.
Caldicott argues that historic low-level radioactive waste from half a century of uranium refining means that virtually everything in Port Hope – even the air breathed by its 16,000 residents – is contaminated, poses a risk of radioactivity, and that an ongoing cleanup effort is making it worse.
“Port Hope’s entire population is at risk,” Caldicott said in the statement.
On Tuesday, Caldicott repeated those claims and called on Ottawa to fund a large study to probe earlier findings.
“While there have been a number of partial studies done over the years whose results raise serious questions about the incidence of cancer and cardiovascular disease in Port Hope, they are not a substitute for a large-scale, independent, university-based epidemiological investigation,” Caldicott said in the statement.
The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, which is overseeing a decade-long $260-million project to dig up 1.2 million cubic metres of low-level radioactive waste buried around town, maintains there is no health risk.
“Her claims are nothing more than unacceptable fear-mongering,” Michael Binder, president of the safety commission wrote in a Nov. 13 letter to the Star.
MORE:
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/
931413--activist-study-port-hope-residents-for-radioactivity?bn=1
==================
4. Environmental Coalition Defends Its Challenge Against “Radioactive Russian Roulette” of 20 Year License Extension at Davis-Besse Atomic Reactor
http://www.beyondnuclear.org/storage/
Media%20Release%202%201%202011.pdf
News from Beyond Nuclear ~ Citizens Environment Alliance of Southwestern Ontario
Don’t Waste Michigan ~ Green Party of Ohio
For Immediate Release: February 1, 2011
Contact: Kevin Kamps, Beyond Nuclear, (240) 462-3216;
Derek Coronado, Citizens Environment Alliance of Southwestern Ontario, (519) 973-1116;
Michael Keegan, Don’t Waste Michigan, (734) 770-1441;
Joe DeMare, Green Party of Ohio, (419) 973-5841.
Environmental Coalition Defends Its Challenge Against “Radioactive Russian Roulette” of 20 Year License Extension at Davis-Besse Atomic Reactor
Wind and Solar Can Replace Nuclear Power, Accident Consequences Low-Balled, Groups Allege
Oak Harbor, Ohio --- Digging out from this winter's intense snow storms has proven challenging enough for area residents and municipalities. But imagine the chaos of evacuating the entire region if a catastrophic radioactivity release were to occur at the aged and degraded Davis-Besse nuclear power plant on the Lake Erie shore east of Toledo. Unthinkable as it is, evacuation preparedness -- as well as post-accident cleanup lines of authority and funding sources -- are sorely lacking at best, or entirely non-existent. Notification is not necessarily required in such an event, not even for Canadians living within just 50 miles of the problem-plagued atomic reactor. These hypothetical, yet all too real, risks are at the heart of contentions being raised by citizen groups opposing the 20 year license extension of Davis-Besse.
MORE:
http://www.beyondnuclear.org/storage/
Media%20Release%202%201%202011.pdf
===================
5. WATCH: Pointless Lepreau – Fredericton’s White Elephant
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLBoSdIf_Q0
February 1, 2011
A number of New Brunswick groups belonging to the Lepreau Decommissioning Caucus staged a demonstration on Wednesday, January 26, at noon, in front of the NB Power Headquarters in Fredericton.
The Point Lepreau reactor is undergoing a "refurbishment" that was supposed to take 18 months and cost $1.4 billion. It is now 3 years behind schedule and $1 billion over budget.
The demonstrators want the refurbishment stopped and the money invested instead in alternative energy strategies. The demo featured a white elephant named "Pointless Lepreau".
================
6. NRC licensing board bolsters argument that renewables can replace nuclear
http://www.beyondnuclear.org/nuclear-power/2010/12/29/
nrc-licensing-board-bolsters-argument-that-renewables-can-re.html
December 29, 2010
A U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Atomic Safety and Licensing Board ruled on December 28th that the NRC staff and nuclear utility applicant at the Calvert Cliffs 3 new reactor project in Maryland must give much more serious consideration to the vast potential of offshore wind power, as well as a combination of various renewable energy sources, as realistic alternatives to nuclear power.
This is a tremendous victory for the environmental coalition -- which includes Beyond Nuclear -- fighting Calvert Cliffs 3, which brought the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) challenge in the first place, upon which the ASLB has just ruled.
This victory provides an important precedent for two other Beyond Nuclear/environmental coalition interventions, this time against 20 year license extensions at Seabrook nuclear power plant in NH, and Davis-Besse atomic reactor in OH. In both cases, offshore wind power was presented as a vast potential resource that could replace the dangerously deteriorated atomic reactors. And in the Davis-Besse
proceeding, a complementary argument was put forward, that a combination of renewables -- such as wind and solar PV power in OH -- can readily replace the nuclear electricity.
===================
7. No Nukes News - Feb. 4, 2011
“Nuclear is on tax subsidized life support in Canada: somebody needs to pull the plug and let nature run its course. Nuclear has had its turn, and we're still paying for it. It's time to get back to programs that work: that have fully disclosed costs with no hidden subsidies, and that are reasonable, that can be built in a reasonable time, maintained with finite costs that will end, and that don't continue to cost us money after they've been decommissioned. We need much more conservation, and much more renewable energy.”
– Derek Satnik, Mindscape Innovations
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Stop Darlington!
Ontario is planning to spend $35 billion to build new reactors at the Darlington nuclear station just east of Toronto. This plan drains funding from affordable green energy and creates radioactive waste, emissions and increased risk of accidents. Let’s make Ontario 100% renewable! Investing in a diverse mix of conservation and efficiency combined with wind, solar, and hydro electric generation allows lets us avoid the long-term danger and expense of risky nuclear.
Excellent resources here:
http://stopdarlington.org/
And if you’re on facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stop-Darlington/
154293134613131
FREE Stop Darlington Postcards to give to your friends!
Stop a $35 Billion Nuclear Handout: No More Blank Cheques for Ontario Power Generation and its Darlington Nuclear Station. They contain postcards addressed to Premier McGuinty and the Leader of the Opposition Tim Hudak. Order FREE copies here. Give them to your friends, neighbours, local coffee shops, etc. Help get the word out that there are lower cost and safer ways to meet all our electricity needs without investing tens of billions of $$ in nuclear energy.
Email McGuinty Now!
You can also send a letter to Premier Dalton McGuinty right now urging him to end the blank cheques for Ontario's nuclear industry. Click here.
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How ON residents delivered a major upset to GE-Hitachi Canada's nuclear operations
David versus Goliath has recently been retold as a story of environmental justice: a small group of Trent students and Peterborough residents defeated the General Electric-Hitachi Corporation of Canada (GE) at the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) tribunal over Low Enriched Uranium.
http://www.rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/campus-notes/
2011/01/how-residents-delivered-major-upset-ge-hitachi-canadas-nuclear-o
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The Origin of Nuclear Power
A series of articles on Canada’s uranium mining industry, written by Swedish journalists interested in where the uranium that powers their nuclear plants comes from.
http://www.nyheterna.net/kaernkraftens/
the_origin_of_nuclear_power/
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A few good reasons why we should abandon nuclear energy for good
http://www.davidsuzuki.org/blogs/docs-talk/2011/01/
a-few-good-reasons-why-we-should-abandon-nuclear-energy-for-good/
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The top 10 reasons why your electricity bill has gone up:
1. You are using more. More TVs, more computers and it was very hot in August and September.
2. Prices have been held artificially low since 1991.
3. Any new generation costs more.
4. All new gas fired generators get paid whether they run or not.
5. The air is cleaner because coal is being phased out.
6. Asthma rates among children are down, and health costs are down as a result.
7. Nuclear cost overruns continue.
8. Catching up on overdue investment in transmission.
9. Lack of effective conservation programs keeps bills high.
10. Mike Harris made local electric distribution companies send money to municipal governments.
And let's not forget the HST hit! (ok, ok, so that's 11)
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Caldicott: Study Port Hope residents for radioactivity
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/
931413--activist-study-port-hope-residents-for-radioactivity?bn=1
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Ottawa seeks new sources for medical isotopes
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/
ottawa-seeks-new-sources-for-medical-isotopes/article1881535/
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Higher hydro costs are inevitable; Blame the aging infrastructure and cost of new power plants, not the Green Energy Act
http://www.thespec.com/opinion/editorial/article/
479492--don-t-blame-the-green
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20 more years of radioactive Russian roulette
Environmental coalition defends its intervention
http://www.beyondnuclear.org/home/2011/1/31/
environmental-coalition-defends-its-intervention-against-20.html
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New estimates put Pakistan's nuclear arsenal at more than 100 Pakistan's nuclear arsenal now totals more than 100 deployed weapons, a doubling of its stockpile over the past several years in one of the world's most unstable regions, according to estimates by nongovernment analysts. The Pakistanis have significantly accelerated production of uranium and plutonium for bombs and developed new weapons to deliver them. After years of approximate weapons parity, experts said, Pakistan has now edged ahead of India, its nuclear-armed rival.
http://intellibriefs.blogspot.com/2011/02/
new-estimates-put-pakistans-nuclear.html
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End fossil fuel tax breaks!
http://www.climateactionnetwork.ca/e/
fossil-tax-breaks/index.php
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Efficiency could cut world energy use over 70 per cent
http://www.newscientist.com/article/
dn20037-efficiency-could-cut-world-energy-use-over-70-per-cent.html
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Alberta Still Wears Pollution Blinders
Yet another study finds oil sands environmental monitoring isn't remotely up to the job. By Andrew Nikiforuk.
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2011/02/01/PollutionBlinders/
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Sun shines on solar panel firm
As renewable energy firms race to meet domestic content quotas, Celestica plans to create 300 jobs at a new Don Mills solar panel facility… This is the second major solar panel facility to be announced in recent months. Last summer, Canadian Solar Inc. started building a panel manufacturing plant in Guelph, Ont., that will employ 500.
http://www.thestar.com/business/companies/article/
930858--celestica-to-create-300-solar-panel-jobs
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Solar panels will turn rooftops into power plants
A Toronto company with roots in Germany will oversee the installation of the first major solar installation in urban Ottawa under the province's feed-in tariff program. The eight sets of rooftop panels will supply a maximum of 2.7 megawatts (2.7 million watts) on a hot summer day -- enough to supply nearly 1,000 homes.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/
Solar+panels+will+turn+rooftops+into+power+plants/4200539/story.html
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Angela Bischoff, Outreach Director
Ontario Clean Air Alliance
Tel: 416 926 1907 x 246
625 Church Street, #402, Toronto, ON M4Y 2G1
angela@cleanairalliance.org
www.ontariosgreenfuture.ca
www.cleanairalliance.org
Our Facebook Group
No Nukes News
Health Power
Coal Must Go
=================
8. Harper signs North American perimeter declaration at White House
From: Brent Patterson
Sent: Friday, February 04, 2011 3:00 PM
A media conference with Prime Minister Stephen Harper and President Barack Obama began at 3:25 pm ET this afternoon. They both spoke about a new border security declaration that they signed today.
Obama made general comments that an action plan will be developed quickly, 'outdated regulations' will be removed, and that 'a new council' will be created. He then moved on to make comments about the situation in Egypt.
For his part, Harper framed the agreement as more than just a border security declaration, he called it ‘a declaration of our relations with the United States’. He emphasized that Canada is the biggest supplier of energy to the United States. And he again stated that any threat to the United States is a threat to Canada.
Harper said the border plan is intended to 'keep out terrorists and criminals', 'simplify regulations that hinder trade', have 'consistent inspection measures', and to have 'better management of our border' not 'eliminate the border'.
Harper also noted that 'a lot remains to be done' that this declaration is 'just a starting point'.
The Council of Canadians has raised concerns that this declaration was reportedly negotiated in secret for six months with involvement from business groups, but not Parliament nor public interest groups. The media statements today were sparse on details, but many concerns have already been raised about the implications of sharing security information with the US Department of Homeland Security, the loss of sovereignty and trade-offs made to come to this agreement, and the degree to which any of the common measures being discussed will address the so-called ‘thickening’ of the border.
Immediately following the media conference Council of Canadians trade campaigner Stuart Trew did an interview with Global TV and I have just completed an interview with a Montreal radio station.
=================
9. Canadian Auto Workers staff continue to support Ceasefire.ca
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7116&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
Posted: 05 Feb 2011 11:30 PM PST
The Canadian Auto Workers’ staff made another $15,000 donation to the Rideau Institute’s Ceasefire program. Annie Labaj, Director of the CAW’s International Department, called attention to the important work that the Rideau Institute and the CAW have conducted together, including assisting in campaigns against the sale of MacDonald Dettwiler (maker of Radarsat and the CANADARM) and against the planned purchase of the Joint Strike Fight in her letter announcing the donation. CAW’s Director of Aerospace, Dawn Cartwright, noted that Steven Staples’ “‘navigation’ of the Hill matches systems on the most advanced of any aircraft.”The support from the CAW employees will be used to promote Canada as a peace leader in the international community.
===================
10. New estimates put Pakistan's nuclear arsenal at more than 100
From: Michael Wallace <mdwallac@interchange.ubc.ca>
Date: February 4, 2011 12:41:36 AM EST (CA)
CORRECTION:
This article incorrectly said that the Obama administration is seeking to bring to completion this year an international treaty banning production of fissile materials for nuclear weapons. The administration is only at the stage of seeking the formal launch of negotiations on the treaty this year.
- - - - - -
New estimates put Pakistan's nuclear arsenal at more than 100
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/30/AR2011013004136_pf.html
Karen DeYoung, Washington Post Staff Writer, Monday, January 31, 2011
Pakistan's nuclear arsenal now totals more than 100 deployed weapons, a doubling of its stockpile over the past several years in one of the world's most unstable regions, according to estimates by nongovernment analysts.
The Pakistanis have significantly accelerated productionof uranium and plutonium for bombs and developed new weapons to deliver them. After years of approximate weapons parity, experts said, Pakistan has now edged ahead of India, its nuclear-armed rival.
An escalation of the arms race in South Asia poses a dilemma for the Obama administration, which has worked to improve its economic, political and defense ties with India while seeking to deepen its relationship with Pakistan as a crucial component of its Afghanistan war strategy.
In politically fragile Pakistan, the administration is caught between fears of proliferation or possible terrorist attempts to seize nuclear materials and Pakistani suspicions that the United States aims to control or limit its weapons program and favors India.
MORE:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/30/AR2011013004136_pf.html
===============
11. New START: It’s in the Bag!
http://www.fas.org/blog/ssp/
The New START treaty is in the bag, approved by the US Congress and the Russian Duma.
By Hans M. Kristensen, Federation of American Scientists, Jan. 26 2011
The upper house of the Russian Parliament (Duma) earlier today approved the New START treaty signed by presidents Medvedev and Obamain Prague on April 8, 2010. This follows approval of the treaty by the U.S. Senate in December despite opposition from hard-liners.
The Russian approval was followed by optimistic statements by Mikhail Margelov, the chairman of the international affairs committee, who declared: “The arms race is a thing of the past. The disarmament race is taking its place.” [ . . . . ]
==============
12. U.S. ends, Russia begins colour-coded terrorism alerts
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7127&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
Posted: 04 Feb 2011 11:30 PM PST
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has announced that the United States will be phasing out the colour-coded terrorism alert program in favour of a system that is supposed to better inform the public about the nature and meaning of terrorism threats. Homeland Security asserts that the colour-coded system was useful in the wake of 9/11 but is now [...]
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13. Kosovo and Albania: Dirty Work in the Balkans: NATO’s KLA Frankenstein
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23003
By Tom Burghardt Global Research, January 30, 2011 Antfascist Calling - 2011-01-28
The U.S. and German-installed leadership of Kosovo finds itself under siege after the Council of Europe voted Tuesday to endorse a report charging senior members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) of controlling a brisk trade in human organs, sex slaves and narcotics.
Coming on the heels of a retrial later this year of KLA commander and former Prime Minister, Ramush Haradinaj, by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague, an enormous can of worms is about to burst open.
Last month, Antifascist Calling reported that Hashim Thaçi, the current Prime Minister of the breakaway Serb province, and other members of the self-styled Drenica Group, were accused by Council of Europe investigators of running a virtual mafia state.
According to Swiss parliamentarian Dick Marty, the Council’s Special Rapporteur for Human Rights, Thaçi, Dr. Shaip Muja, and other leading members of the government directed–and profited from–an international criminal enterprise whose tentacles spread across Europe into Israel, Turkey and South Africa.
MORE:
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23003
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14. Egyptian Uprising Must Address U.S Interference and the Role of Israel in the Region ( 3 articles)
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23018
By Ghada Chehade Global Research, January 31, 2011
As an analyst and observer of the recent rebellions in the Middle East, specifically Egypt, I want to make three developing observations. First, the Egyptian people cannot confront local despots and “regime change” without addressing the patron of Mubarak’s regime--The United States. Second, because of the U.S’ influence and because Egypt is so strategically important to the U.S-Israel agenda for the Middle East, the U.S will attempt to control their investments and their interests by regaining control and maintaining patronage. In other words it will attempt (or may have already attempted) to co-opt the public uprising and manage it at some level and continue to do so. Last, in order to adequately address foreign meddlers within the context of the local region and its politics, one must also eventually address the role of Israel. [ . . . . ]
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Egypt: A Sleeping Giant Awakens
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23091
By Rannie Amiri Global Research, February 5, 2011
Poor people gonna rise up
And get their share
Poor people gonna rise up
And take what’s theirs
And finally the tables are starting to turn
Talkin' bout a revolution – Tracy Chapman’s Talkin’ Bout A Revolution, 1988
The sleeping Egyptian giant has finally awoken.
The Arab world’s most populous nation—85 million strong—has been in political hibernation for 30 long years.
The deep slumber is now over. The reign of Hosni Mubarak will end, sooner or later, as a rejuvenated population sheds apathy’s blanket.
After Israel , Egypt is the second-largest recipient of United States foreign aid. Other than what was embezzled, the $1.5 billion in annual assistance has been spent entirely on the military and bolstering Mubarak’s internal security apparatus. It ultimately ensured the Camp David state remained complaint with the diktats coming out of Tel Aviv and Washington.
Indeed, as a result of peace treaties with its eastern and southern neighbors, Israel has had a free hand in continuing the repression and subjugation of Palestinians. [ . . . . ]
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It Ain't Just Mubarak -- 7 of the Worst Dictators the U.S. Is Backing to the Hilt
http://www.alternet.org/news/149805/
it_ain't_just_mubarak_--_7_of_the_worst_dictators_the_u.s._is_backing_to_the_hilt
From Saudi Arabia to Uzbekistan to Chad, the U.S. keeps some very bad autocrats in power.
February 5, 2011 |
Embattled Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, whose regime has received billions in U.S. aid, has been in the global media spotlight of late. He's long been “our bastard,” but he's not alone.
Let's take a look at the other dictators from around the planet who are fortunate enough to be on Uncle Sam's good side.
MORE:
http://www.alternet.org/news/149805/
it_ain't_just_mubarak_--_7_of_the_worst_dictators_the_u.s._is_backing_to_the_hilt
===============
15. The ‘Al Jazeera moment’?
http://www.thestar.com/Opinion/Editoria ... cle/933097
February 04, 2011 Tony Burman
WASHINGTON—Twenty years ago this month, TV sets in the White House and the State Department were glued to CNN as this largely ignored news channel (then derided as the “Chicken Noodle Network”) brought live pictures of the 1991 Gulf War into American households for the first time.
The country was mesmerized, and U.S. broadcast historians still refer to this as the “CNN Moment” when the world saw the power of live, rolling television news — and discovered CNN.
Twenty years later — this past week — another channel has been filling those screens with riveting and exclusive live pictures and interviews, chronicling the seismic events unfolding in Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East. It has also been telling a larger, more nuanced story of that region than is currently available to most North Americans.
That channel has been Al Jazeera English (AJE) — the English-language service of a network that is available in 220 million households in more than 100 countries, including Canada, but still not broadcast on TV screens throughout most of the United States.
A notable and significant exception is the Washington, D.C., area, where it is available on local cable systems in 2 million households.
So this past week, according to several American media accounts, many TV sets in the White House, State Department, Pentagon and throughout much of the nation’s capital were fixated on AJE’s coverage of these historic events, which has received overwhelming praise in U.S. media circles.
This has not gone unnoticed. Traffic to AJE’s live online streaming of its coverage ( www.aljazeera.net/english) has increased 2,500 per cent in the past week, with up to 60 per cent of that coming from the U.S.
In that same period, an estimated 7 million Americans have watched 50 million minutes of AJE coverage. In addition, the California-based Link TV, which is seen in more than 33 million American households on the DirecTV and Dish satellite systems, has been broadcasting up to 12 hours of AJE coverage each day.
Al Jazeera has been unique among broadcasters by making its content available to cable and satellite systems worldwide so that potential viewers — particularly in Canada and the U.S. — can decide for themselves whether they want to watch AJE.
For example, in Canada this month, in light of the events in Egypt and the growing public interest in the channel’s news and programming, AJE is being made available in February free-of-charge as a “free preview” to all of its affiliates in Canada.
MORE:
http://www.thestar.com/Opinion/Editoria ... cle/933097
==================
16. WIKILEAKS UPDATE
Norwegian Nominates Wikileaks' Julian Assange for Nobel Peace Prize
Assange
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/
wikileaks-julian-assange-nominated-nobel-peace-prize/story?id=12825383
By DEVIN DWYER Feb. 2, 2011
Cited for Promoting Human Rights, Democracy, Free Speech in Award Nomination
A Norwegian parliamentarian has nominated Wikileaks founder Julian Assange for the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, saying his publication of thousands of secret government documents has helped to promote human rights, democracy and freedom of speech.
Snorre Valen, 24, a member of the country's Socialist Left Party, announced his submission to the Nobel Committee Wednesday on his blog.
"Wikileaks have contributed to the struggle for those very values globally, by exposing (among many other things) corruption, war crimes and torture -- sometimes even conducted by allies of Norway," he said.
"Most recently, by disclosing the economic arrangements by the presidential family in Tunisia, Wikileaks have made a small contribution to bringing down a 24-year-lasting dictatorship."
Valen acknowledged the controversy surrounding Wikileaks' actions but insisted the whistleblower organization was working for the public interest.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee declined to comment on Valen's nomination of Assange or on any other potential nominations submitted ahead of Tuesday's deadline. The group's website noted it receives more than 200 nominations per year. [ . . . ]
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Update from Bradley Manning - February 3, 2011
David discussed his visit with Bradley on MSNBC this week - click here to watch the video and hear the latest about Bradley Manning.
Bradley Manning's friend David House was able to visit Bradley at the Quantico brig this weekend - this time, without being detained.
Go to right-hand side of page:
https://donate.firedoglake.com/manningfund2/
contribute?rc=em20110203_ndSIDE&PHPSESSID=m7je2ujhr1h2o459j5cqcm73h2
Bradley is still under a punitive psychiatric detention at Quantico. Bradley was put on suicide watch as punishment for two days, and remains under an unnecessary prevention of injury order in maximum custody - far beyond any other prisoner in the brig. David told us that Bradley seemed "catatonic," and was clearly mentally and physically affected by his extreme isolation.
But it's not all bad: Bradley "brightened up" when discussing the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, particularly the role of young people and the Internet in helping spur democratic movements.
Watch David talk about Bradley Manning on MSNBC and share the video with your friends.
Thanks for standing by Bradley Manning.
Michael Whitney
Firedoglake.com
P.S. If you haven't yet, please donate to the Bradley Manning Advocacy Fund -- 100% of contributions received will be used to pay for the defense and advocacy of Pfc. Manning.
===============
17. Which Is It: US Military Cuts or No Cuts??? (2 articles)
Seeks Biggest Military Cuts Since Before 9/11
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/07/us/07 ... .html?_r=1
By THOM SHANKER and CHRISTOPHER DREW Published: January 6, 2011
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Thursday that the nation’s “extreme fiscal duress” now required him to call for cuts in the size of the Army and Marine Corps, reversing the significant growth in military spending that followed the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, left, with Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, announcing plans to reduce Army and Marine Corps strength by 47,000, starting in 2015.
The White House has told the Pentagon to squeeze that growth over the next five years, Mr. Gates said, reducing by $78 billion the amount available for the Pentagon, not counting the costs of its combat operations.
= = = = = =
Spiralling Defense Spending: Public Says Cut Pentagon, Obama Says Increase It
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23049
By David Swanson Global Research, February 2, 2011 warisacrime.org/
Did you know that the U.S. public wants military spending cut? Did you know that President Barack Obama wants to increase it for his third year in a row? Actually I already know that most of you didn't know either of these things.
A poll released on Tuesday and in line with other polling over the years asked: "To ensure its safety, should the United States always spend at least three times as much on defense as any other nation?" This question mislabels the military "defense," which most of it isn't, and claims the interest of "safety," albeit in the context of other questions about spending money, and yet only 25% of voters said yes, while 40% said no and 35% were not sure.
In reality, the United States could cut its military budget (just the Department of so-called Defense, not counting the hundreds of billions spent through other departments) by 85% and still easily be the most expensive military on the planet. Taking the DOD down to merely three times the expense of China's military (the world's next largest) would mean cutting [ . . . . ]
======================
18. Liberal MP John McKay tells mining conference: Bill C-300 will see a "legislative resurrection"
http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/making-waves/
2011/01/liberal-mp-john-mckay-tells-mining-conference-bill-c-300-will-se
By Emma Lui | January 31, 2011
Liberal MP John McKay was one of nine speakers at Friday's conference, the Political Economy of Mining and Resource Extraction, at Carleton University. McKay, who is the MP for Scarborough-Guildwood, spoke to a jam-packed room of close to 100 people. He talked broadly about the bill, called the Corporate Accountability of Mining, Oil or Gas in Developing Countries Act, which would have held Canadian mining companies accountable for human rights abuses and environmental destruction while operating abroad. He expressed his surprise at the reactions to his bill. He received reactions from countries around the world including Bulgaria and the Philippines. Al-Jazeera and the Globe and Mail approached him. Over 80 NGOs wrote a letter in support of the bill. McKay revealed that "some progressive companies dipped their toes in it." It's not uncommon for MPs to be absent for votes on private members' bills. However, for Bill C-300, all the Conservatives showed up to vote against it. Twenty-four MPs were absent from the vote and the Bill was defeated by a mere six votes. McKay then spoke about a "legislative resurrection," or re-introducing the bill after more research and working with industry. The audience was heartened to hear that the bill's defeat was not the death of the bill. [ . . . . ]
===================
19. WATCH: Total War: Agri-business style - The End of Farming in the Fertile Crescent
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/1022.html
TRANSCRIPT: If you can't read the subtitles:
My father passed this farm down to me.
Back then, farming used to be affordable.
Since the invasion, prices have skyrocketed.
I don't know why.
MORE:
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/1022.html
=====================
20. Global suicide: When will we react?
http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/
01-02-2011/116741-global_suicide-0/
February 1, 2011
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon stated that the world is committing collective global suicide by consuming resources without replenishing them and warned that we are running out of the most important resource of all: Time.
Declaring that "the one resource that is scarcest of all: Time", Ban Ki-Moon left a stark message in Davos, which raises the questions when are we (collectively) going to do something, and if not, what is going to happen? For the Secretary-General, it is imperative that Mankind faces the collective challenges of tackling climate change, ensuring the delivery of sustainable and climate-resilient green growth and to implement what he terms a "clean energy revolution".
While we lurch from one conference to another (and the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro was back in 1992, almost two decades ago) without substantive changes being implemented, all we are doing is putting off decisions we should have had the courage to take - decisions which run at the supra-national level and should be above selfish national interests.
For this, the haves must help the have-nots to develop sustainable green economies, specially because in many cases the richer nations developed at the expense of pilfering the resources of the less developed countries - less developed because they were colonized, held down, divided, their social and ethnic structures wholly and totally turned upside down, to the benefit of the invader: Divide and rule.
Calling for "Revolutionary thinking. Revolutionary action. A free market revolution for global sustainability" Ban Ki-Moon called the old model to approach climate change "obsolete" and worse "a recipe for national disaster. It is a suicide pact". Complaining that our global approach is based upon the times when "we mined our way to growth, we burned our way to prosperity", Ban Ki-Moon calls upon the international community to innovate, to survive. [ . . . ]
=================
21. COMMENT: Larose: Re: Internet "control"
From: Paul-André Larose
Sent: Friday, February 04, 2011 8:36 AM
I am not even sure that the masses are even aware of the truth. They are being led, as a happy bunch of zombies, to their destruction, by "leaders" who betray them - for the profit of a few. Not much has changed from thousand of years ago. Remember the "Sheep of Panurge"? Give them "Bread and Games".
Below is the best short summary that I have seen...
WATCH: Mouseland:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqpFm7zAK90
Paul-Andre Larose
Durham Action, Oshawa (Durham Region), Ontario
================
22. TODAY’S QUOTE
"It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong." --- Thomas Sowell.
[/b]
1. It's time to regain key nuclear lead
2. Decision allowing Transport of Radioactive Waste Condemned (4 articles)
3. Port Hope mayor says Caldicott's claims are 'wrong' (2 articles)
4. Environmental Coalition Defends Its Challenge Against “Radioactive Russian Roulette” of 20 Year License Extension at Davis-Besse Atomic Reactor
5. WATCH: Pointless Lepreau – Fredericton’s White Elephant
6. NRC licensing board bolsters argument that renewables can replace nuclear
7. No Nukes News - Feb. 4, 2011
8. Harper signs North American perimeter declaration at White House
9. Canadian Auto Workers staff continue to support Ceasefire.ca
10. New estimates put Pakistan's nuclear arsenal at more than 100
11. New START: It’s in the Bag!
12. U.S. ends, Russia begins colour-coded terrorism alerts
13. Kosovo and Albania: Dirty Work in the Balkans: NATO’s KLA Frankenstein
14. Egyptian Uprising Must Address U.S Interference and the Role of Israel in the Region (3 articles)
15. The ‘Al Jazeera moment’?
16. WIKILEAKS UPDATE
17. Which Is It: US Military Cuts or No Cuts??? (2 articles)
18. Liberal MP John McKay tells mining conference: Bill C-300 will see a "legislative resurrection"
19. WATCH: Total War: Agri-business style - The End of Farming in the Fertile Crescent
20. Global suicide: When will we react?
21. COMMENT: Larose: Re: Internet "control"
22. TODAY’S QUOTE
==================
1. It's time to regain key nuclear lead
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/health/
time+regain+nuclear+lead/4222913/story.html
BY ROB NORRIS, THE STAR PHOENIX FEBRUARY 4, 2011
Following is the viewpoint of Norris, minister responsible for SaskPower, Innovation Saskatchewan and the Uranium Development Partnership.
Over the past half-century, Saskatchewan went from being a leader to a laggard in key areas of nuclear medicine and uranium related research. Two recent items in The StarPhoenix -Nuclear path rejected (Jan. 26) and Small reactors raise alarms (Jan. 27) -remind us why.
Decades of indifference, inertia and ideologically driven activism have allowed high-paying, knowledge-based, uranium valueadded jobs to slip away.
MORE:
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/health/
time+regain+nuclear+lead/4222913/story.html
= = = = = =
SES view misrepresented
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/opinion/
view+misrepresented/4229485/story.html
By Ann Coxworth, The StarPhoenix February 5, 2011
The Saskatchewan Environmental Society fully recognizes that climate change is the most serious and urgent issue facing the global community. SES's primary response to this challenge is our major energy efficiency and conservation programming, which is nationally recognized for its effectiveness.
- - - - SNIP - - -
If the editorial writers were to read their own newspaper, they would observe that my comments on small nuclear power reactors did not imply opposition to studying their feasibility.
What I did say, and what was quoted in the Jan. 27 article, was that in the context of an overall provincial energy strategy, it is unlikely that nuclear power would turn out to be a favourable option, both from the point of view of economics and of environmental impact.
We believe that Saskatchewan has better options in the form of greatly improved energy efficiency and a variety of safe renewable sources. We are working towards a goal of being able to phase out coal-fired electricity generation without resorting to nuclear power.
nuclear power. The cost of achieving reasonable greenhouse gas emission targets is estimated by the former chief economist for the World Bank to be significantly lower than the cost of doing nothing.
Ann Coxworth
Saskatchewan Environmental Society
================
2. Decision allowing Transport of Radioactive Waste Condemned (4 articles)
Media Release – For Immediate Release February 5, 2011
The Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, the Coalition for a Nuclear Free Great Lakes, the Mouvement Sortons le Québec du Nucléaire, and many affiliated groups, join together in condemning the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission’s decision to allow Bruce Power (BP) to ship 16 used steam generations – amounting to 1600 tonnes of radioactive waste – through the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River halfway around the world to Sweden.
This shipment contains more than 6 times – and arguably more than 50 times – the maximum amount of radioactivity allowed by IAEA regulations. Because of this, the CNSC had to make a “Special Arrangement” exempting Bruce Power from those IAEA regulations.
“By bending the rules, the CNSC has demonstrated that they are champions of the nuclear industry rather than defenders of the public interest – for there is no public benefit to be served by allowing these shipments,” said Dr. Gordon Edwards, President of the Canadian Coalition for NuclearResponsibility.
“This is a dark day for communities around the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River, and for the 40 million people whose drinking water is derived from these sources, for this shipment of radioactive waste is just the beginning – it will be followed by many other such shipments,” said Michael Keegan, Chair of the Coalition for a Nuclear-Free Great Lakes.
“Radioactive contamination of our lakes and rivers is inevitable if they are to be routinely subjected to the transport of radioactive debris from defunct nuclear reactors,” said Dr. Michel Duguay, Coordinator of the Mouvement sortons le Québec du nucléaire.
Mayors, aboriginal communities and NGOs will continue to oppose these shipments both nationally and internationally, and they will continue to bring this controversial issue to the attention of political decision makers at all levels of government. “Politicians have to wake up and pass laws to protect the public and the environment from the deliberate dissemination of radioactive waste materials,” said Marc Chénier of the Regroupement pour la surveillance du nucléaire.
During a 2006 Environmental Assessment, Bruce Power and the CNSC declared that the used steam generators are “radioactive wastes” and therefore not able to be recycled for safety reasons, promising that they will be stored as waste on site at OPG’s Western Waste Management Facility -- in a surface facility until 2043, and underground thereafter.
OPG, the owner of the Bruce reactors, is fully prepared to store all used steam generators from all Ontario reactors in a special facility adjacent to the Bruce site, with plans for a “segmentation facility” to disassemble the radioactive hulks later on. This arrangement is laid out in a 2007 contractual document between OPG and Bruce Power.
But in October 2009 Bruce Power pressured OPG to transfer ownership of the steam generators to them so that they could save money on waste storage charges by using a Swedish company to disperse much of the radioactive metal into the world’s scrap metal supply – thereby contaminating an otherwise “clean” source of recycled material.
“The practice of contaminating scrap metal supplies by mixing in radioactive waste materials has been condemned by many bodies, including the United Nations, the Steel Manufacturer’s Association, and the International Recycling Bureau,” said Kay Cumbow of the Michigan-based group, Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination.
Contacts:
English: Gordon Edwards, Ph.D., CCNR President, (514) 489 2665 or (514) 839 7214
Mike Keegan, M.A., Chair, Coalition for a Nuclear-Free Great Lakes, (734) 770 1441
Kay Cumbow, Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination (CACC), (810) 346-4513
French/English: Michel Duguay, Ph.D., MSQN Coordinator, (418) 802 2740
Marc Chénier, B.Sc., RSN Board Member, (514) 527 2712
= = = = = = =
Critics of Bruce Power say fight is 'not over'
Background:
On Friday afternoon, February 4, 2011, at 4:41 pm, we received notice from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission that they have granted a licence to Bruce Power to ship 16 radioactive steam generators to Sweden, where much of the radioactive metal will be melted down and blended with non-radioactive metal (In the ratio of 1 to 10) to be sold as scrap metal for unrestricted use in the world's metal supply.
For more information on this subject see
http://ccnr.org.
Gordon Edwards.
= = = = = = =
Critics of Bruce Power say fight is 'not over'
http://www.thestar.com/news/article/
934026--critics-of-bruce-power-say-fight-is-not-over
Dan Robson, Staff Reporter, Toronto Star, Feb. 5, 2011
A controversial decision to allow Bruce Power to ship 16 radioactive, school-bus sized generators through the Great Lakes will be met with protests and appeals to the Harper government, critics say.
“This is not over,” said Mike Bradley, mayor of Sarnia. “There are a couple more chapters to go in this play.” [ . . . . ]
= = = = = =
CNSC approves radioactive shipments on the GreatLakes
From: <bpatterson@canadians.org>
Sent: Friday, February 04, 2011 5:28 PM
The Canadian Press reports late today that, "Bruce Power has been given the go-ahead to transport 16 decommissioned steam generators from southwestern Ontario (across the Great Lakes and then on) to Sweden for recycling."
"On Friday, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission issued Bruce Power a transport licence that will be valid until Feb. 3, 2012. ...The commission says it's satisfied that Bruce Power's application meets Canadian and international regulations for the transport of nuclear substances."
The Council of Canadians has consistently opposed the application for these shipments on the Great Lakes and will be responding with an action plan shortly.
The Canadian Press report is at
http://www.trurodaily.com/News/Canada%20-%20World/
Society/2011-02-04/article-2200041/Bruce-Power-gets-OK-to-ship-16-radioactive-generators-through-Great-Lakes/1.
= = = = = = = = =
CNSC Announces Decision to Issue a Transport Licence and Certificate to Bruce Power Inc. for the Transport of 16 Decommissioned Steam Generators to Sweden
From: info@cnsc-ccsn.gc.ca
Sent: February 4, 2011 4:55:48 PM
The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) announced today its decision to issue a transport licence and certificate to Bruce Power for the transport of 16 decommissioned steam generators to Sweden. The licence will be valid for a period of one year from February 4, 2011 until February 3, 2012.
Read the news release:
http://www.nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/medi ... /releases/
news_release.cfm?news_release_id=381
Read the Record of Proceedings, including Reasons for Decision (in PDF format):
http://www.nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/commission/pdf/
2010-09-28-29-Decision-Bruce-SG-e-Final-Edocs3673548.pdf
Find out more about Bruce Power Inc.’s application for a transport licence for the shipment of steam generators to Sweden:
http://www.nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/mycommunity/
facilities/bruceregion/steam-generator-updates.cfm
For all the latest CNSC news, visit the CNSC's homepage at
http://www.nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/
=====================
3. Port Hope mayor says Caldicott's claims are 'wrong' (2 articles)
http://thepeterboroughexaminer.com/
ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2957501
By TED AMSDEN, Peterborough Examiner, Wed Feb 2, 2011, Page: A6
PORT HOPE -- When it comes to the latest news, it's likely one of the last things the mayor of a nuclear industry town wants to hear about is the latest thoughts of an anti-nuclear activist.
On Tuesday longtime antinuclear activist Helen Caldicott -- who visited Port Hope in November and left Mayor Linda Thompson and many in town riled up -- spoke again about Port Hope.
At a news conference in Ottawa, Caldicott called "for the government to conduct a proper, peer-reviewed epidemiological study on the population of Port Hope, Ontario, site of the Cameco uranium processing facility."
She quoted internal documents from the Department of Mines that are more than 80 years old to prove her case stating that the documents show the department was aware that ingestion of even small amount of radioactive dust over a long period will cause a building up of radioactive material in the body, which eventually could have serious consequences.
"While there have been a number of partial studies done over the years ... they are not a substitute for a large-scale, independent, university-based epidemiological investigation," Caldicott said.
In response, Thompson said, "These are not new comments. The reality is she is once again ignoring the work of Health Canada -and many clear and unequivocal health and statistical studies of the last 50 years. Those studies have undergone comprehensive independent peer review through Health Canada, CNSC (Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission), through our independent peer review.
"It is reprehensible, she has not provided any scientific information," Thompson
"It's sensationalism, not science."
"And quite frankly it's drive-by science. She drove by here and made comments about industries in our community which she had no facts on, and again, she has made statements that federal authorities who we hold accountable have studied for over 50 years."
The crux of the problem appears to be that Caldicott and others like her, such as Dr. Linda Harvey, a regional community family practitioner, and Dr. Dale Dewar, executive director of Global Physicians for Survival who appeared with her in Ottawa, are calling for a large open-ended once-and-for-all-solve-everything study.
MORE:
http://thepeterboroughexaminer.com/
ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2957501
= = = = = =
Activist: Study Port Hope residents for radioactivity
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/
931413--activist-study-port-hope-residents-for-radioactivity?bn=1
Joanna Smith, Toronto Star, Ottawa Bureau
OTTAWA—An anti-nuclear activist wants the federal government to study the population of Port Hope, Ontario to see if they are suffering from the effects of radioactive waste.
“It is time that the Canadian government told the truth to the people of Port Hope and that it provide what any decent government must do for its people—duty of care,” Dr. Helen Caldicott said in a statement released in advance of a news conference in Ottawa on Tuesday.
Caldicott sparked a furor last November when she told the Star that the Cameco uranium refinery in Port Hope should be shut down and the entire town moved to another site.
Caldicott argues that historic low-level radioactive waste from half a century of uranium refining means that virtually everything in Port Hope – even the air breathed by its 16,000 residents – is contaminated, poses a risk of radioactivity, and that an ongoing cleanup effort is making it worse.
“Port Hope’s entire population is at risk,” Caldicott said in the statement.
On Tuesday, Caldicott repeated those claims and called on Ottawa to fund a large study to probe earlier findings.
“While there have been a number of partial studies done over the years whose results raise serious questions about the incidence of cancer and cardiovascular disease in Port Hope, they are not a substitute for a large-scale, independent, university-based epidemiological investigation,” Caldicott said in the statement.
The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, which is overseeing a decade-long $260-million project to dig up 1.2 million cubic metres of low-level radioactive waste buried around town, maintains there is no health risk.
“Her claims are nothing more than unacceptable fear-mongering,” Michael Binder, president of the safety commission wrote in a Nov. 13 letter to the Star.
MORE:
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/
931413--activist-study-port-hope-residents-for-radioactivity?bn=1
==================
4. Environmental Coalition Defends Its Challenge Against “Radioactive Russian Roulette” of 20 Year License Extension at Davis-Besse Atomic Reactor
http://www.beyondnuclear.org/storage/
Media%20Release%202%201%202011.pdf
News from Beyond Nuclear ~ Citizens Environment Alliance of Southwestern Ontario
Don’t Waste Michigan ~ Green Party of Ohio
For Immediate Release: February 1, 2011
Contact: Kevin Kamps, Beyond Nuclear, (240) 462-3216;
Derek Coronado, Citizens Environment Alliance of Southwestern Ontario, (519) 973-1116;
Michael Keegan, Don’t Waste Michigan, (734) 770-1441;
Joe DeMare, Green Party of Ohio, (419) 973-5841.
Environmental Coalition Defends Its Challenge Against “Radioactive Russian Roulette” of 20 Year License Extension at Davis-Besse Atomic Reactor
Wind and Solar Can Replace Nuclear Power, Accident Consequences Low-Balled, Groups Allege
Oak Harbor, Ohio --- Digging out from this winter's intense snow storms has proven challenging enough for area residents and municipalities. But imagine the chaos of evacuating the entire region if a catastrophic radioactivity release were to occur at the aged and degraded Davis-Besse nuclear power plant on the Lake Erie shore east of Toledo. Unthinkable as it is, evacuation preparedness -- as well as post-accident cleanup lines of authority and funding sources -- are sorely lacking at best, or entirely non-existent. Notification is not necessarily required in such an event, not even for Canadians living within just 50 miles of the problem-plagued atomic reactor. These hypothetical, yet all too real, risks are at the heart of contentions being raised by citizen groups opposing the 20 year license extension of Davis-Besse.
MORE:
http://www.beyondnuclear.org/storage/
Media%20Release%202%201%202011.pdf
===================
5. WATCH: Pointless Lepreau – Fredericton’s White Elephant
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLBoSdIf_Q0
February 1, 2011
A number of New Brunswick groups belonging to the Lepreau Decommissioning Caucus staged a demonstration on Wednesday, January 26, at noon, in front of the NB Power Headquarters in Fredericton.
The Point Lepreau reactor is undergoing a "refurbishment" that was supposed to take 18 months and cost $1.4 billion. It is now 3 years behind schedule and $1 billion over budget.
The demonstrators want the refurbishment stopped and the money invested instead in alternative energy strategies. The demo featured a white elephant named "Pointless Lepreau".
================
6. NRC licensing board bolsters argument that renewables can replace nuclear
http://www.beyondnuclear.org/nuclear-power/2010/12/29/
nrc-licensing-board-bolsters-argument-that-renewables-can-re.html
December 29, 2010
A U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Atomic Safety and Licensing Board ruled on December 28th that the NRC staff and nuclear utility applicant at the Calvert Cliffs 3 new reactor project in Maryland must give much more serious consideration to the vast potential of offshore wind power, as well as a combination of various renewable energy sources, as realistic alternatives to nuclear power.
This is a tremendous victory for the environmental coalition -- which includes Beyond Nuclear -- fighting Calvert Cliffs 3, which brought the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) challenge in the first place, upon which the ASLB has just ruled.
This victory provides an important precedent for two other Beyond Nuclear/environmental coalition interventions, this time against 20 year license extensions at Seabrook nuclear power plant in NH, and Davis-Besse atomic reactor in OH. In both cases, offshore wind power was presented as a vast potential resource that could replace the dangerously deteriorated atomic reactors. And in the Davis-Besse
proceeding, a complementary argument was put forward, that a combination of renewables -- such as wind and solar PV power in OH -- can readily replace the nuclear electricity.
===================
7. No Nukes News - Feb. 4, 2011
“Nuclear is on tax subsidized life support in Canada: somebody needs to pull the plug and let nature run its course. Nuclear has had its turn, and we're still paying for it. It's time to get back to programs that work: that have fully disclosed costs with no hidden subsidies, and that are reasonable, that can be built in a reasonable time, maintained with finite costs that will end, and that don't continue to cost us money after they've been decommissioned. We need much more conservation, and much more renewable energy.”
– Derek Satnik, Mindscape Innovations
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Stop Darlington!
Ontario is planning to spend $35 billion to build new reactors at the Darlington nuclear station just east of Toronto. This plan drains funding from affordable green energy and creates radioactive waste, emissions and increased risk of accidents. Let’s make Ontario 100% renewable! Investing in a diverse mix of conservation and efficiency combined with wind, solar, and hydro electric generation allows lets us avoid the long-term danger and expense of risky nuclear.
Excellent resources here:
http://stopdarlington.org/
And if you’re on facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stop-Darlington/
154293134613131
FREE Stop Darlington Postcards to give to your friends!
Stop a $35 Billion Nuclear Handout: No More Blank Cheques for Ontario Power Generation and its Darlington Nuclear Station. They contain postcards addressed to Premier McGuinty and the Leader of the Opposition Tim Hudak. Order FREE copies here. Give them to your friends, neighbours, local coffee shops, etc. Help get the word out that there are lower cost and safer ways to meet all our electricity needs without investing tens of billions of $$ in nuclear energy.
Email McGuinty Now!
You can also send a letter to Premier Dalton McGuinty right now urging him to end the blank cheques for Ontario's nuclear industry. Click here.
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How ON residents delivered a major upset to GE-Hitachi Canada's nuclear operations
David versus Goliath has recently been retold as a story of environmental justice: a small group of Trent students and Peterborough residents defeated the General Electric-Hitachi Corporation of Canada (GE) at the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) tribunal over Low Enriched Uranium.
http://www.rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/campus-notes/
2011/01/how-residents-delivered-major-upset-ge-hitachi-canadas-nuclear-o
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The Origin of Nuclear Power
A series of articles on Canada’s uranium mining industry, written by Swedish journalists interested in where the uranium that powers their nuclear plants comes from.
http://www.nyheterna.net/kaernkraftens/
the_origin_of_nuclear_power/
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A few good reasons why we should abandon nuclear energy for good
http://www.davidsuzuki.org/blogs/docs-talk/2011/01/
a-few-good-reasons-why-we-should-abandon-nuclear-energy-for-good/
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The top 10 reasons why your electricity bill has gone up:
1. You are using more. More TVs, more computers and it was very hot in August and September.
2. Prices have been held artificially low since 1991.
3. Any new generation costs more.
4. All new gas fired generators get paid whether they run or not.
5. The air is cleaner because coal is being phased out.
6. Asthma rates among children are down, and health costs are down as a result.
7. Nuclear cost overruns continue.
8. Catching up on overdue investment in transmission.
9. Lack of effective conservation programs keeps bills high.
10. Mike Harris made local electric distribution companies send money to municipal governments.
And let's not forget the HST hit! (ok, ok, so that's 11)
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Caldicott: Study Port Hope residents for radioactivity
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/
931413--activist-study-port-hope-residents-for-radioactivity?bn=1
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Ottawa seeks new sources for medical isotopes
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/
ottawa-seeks-new-sources-for-medical-isotopes/article1881535/
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Higher hydro costs are inevitable; Blame the aging infrastructure and cost of new power plants, not the Green Energy Act
http://www.thespec.com/opinion/editorial/article/
479492--don-t-blame-the-green
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20 more years of radioactive Russian roulette
Environmental coalition defends its intervention
http://www.beyondnuclear.org/home/2011/1/31/
environmental-coalition-defends-its-intervention-against-20.html
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New estimates put Pakistan's nuclear arsenal at more than 100 Pakistan's nuclear arsenal now totals more than 100 deployed weapons, a doubling of its stockpile over the past several years in one of the world's most unstable regions, according to estimates by nongovernment analysts. The Pakistanis have significantly accelerated production of uranium and plutonium for bombs and developed new weapons to deliver them. After years of approximate weapons parity, experts said, Pakistan has now edged ahead of India, its nuclear-armed rival.
http://intellibriefs.blogspot.com/2011/02/
new-estimates-put-pakistans-nuclear.html
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End fossil fuel tax breaks!
http://www.climateactionnetwork.ca/e/
fossil-tax-breaks/index.php
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Efficiency could cut world energy use over 70 per cent
http://www.newscientist.com/article/
dn20037-efficiency-could-cut-world-energy-use-over-70-per-cent.html
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Alberta Still Wears Pollution Blinders
Yet another study finds oil sands environmental monitoring isn't remotely up to the job. By Andrew Nikiforuk.
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2011/02/01/PollutionBlinders/
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Sun shines on solar panel firm
As renewable energy firms race to meet domestic content quotas, Celestica plans to create 300 jobs at a new Don Mills solar panel facility… This is the second major solar panel facility to be announced in recent months. Last summer, Canadian Solar Inc. started building a panel manufacturing plant in Guelph, Ont., that will employ 500.
http://www.thestar.com/business/companies/article/
930858--celestica-to-create-300-solar-panel-jobs
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Solar panels will turn rooftops into power plants
A Toronto company with roots in Germany will oversee the installation of the first major solar installation in urban Ottawa under the province's feed-in tariff program. The eight sets of rooftop panels will supply a maximum of 2.7 megawatts (2.7 million watts) on a hot summer day -- enough to supply nearly 1,000 homes.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/
Solar+panels+will+turn+rooftops+into+power+plants/4200539/story.html
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Angela Bischoff, Outreach Director
Ontario Clean Air Alliance
Tel: 416 926 1907 x 246
625 Church Street, #402, Toronto, ON M4Y 2G1
angela@cleanairalliance.org
www.ontariosgreenfuture.ca
www.cleanairalliance.org
Our Facebook Group
No Nukes News
Health Power
Coal Must Go
=================
8. Harper signs North American perimeter declaration at White House
From: Brent Patterson
Sent: Friday, February 04, 2011 3:00 PM
A media conference with Prime Minister Stephen Harper and President Barack Obama began at 3:25 pm ET this afternoon. They both spoke about a new border security declaration that they signed today.
Obama made general comments that an action plan will be developed quickly, 'outdated regulations' will be removed, and that 'a new council' will be created. He then moved on to make comments about the situation in Egypt.
For his part, Harper framed the agreement as more than just a border security declaration, he called it ‘a declaration of our relations with the United States’. He emphasized that Canada is the biggest supplier of energy to the United States. And he again stated that any threat to the United States is a threat to Canada.
Harper said the border plan is intended to 'keep out terrorists and criminals', 'simplify regulations that hinder trade', have 'consistent inspection measures', and to have 'better management of our border' not 'eliminate the border'.
Harper also noted that 'a lot remains to be done' that this declaration is 'just a starting point'.
The Council of Canadians has raised concerns that this declaration was reportedly negotiated in secret for six months with involvement from business groups, but not Parliament nor public interest groups. The media statements today were sparse on details, but many concerns have already been raised about the implications of sharing security information with the US Department of Homeland Security, the loss of sovereignty and trade-offs made to come to this agreement, and the degree to which any of the common measures being discussed will address the so-called ‘thickening’ of the border.
Immediately following the media conference Council of Canadians trade campaigner Stuart Trew did an interview with Global TV and I have just completed an interview with a Montreal radio station.
=================
9. Canadian Auto Workers staff continue to support Ceasefire.ca
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7116&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
Posted: 05 Feb 2011 11:30 PM PST
The Canadian Auto Workers’ staff made another $15,000 donation to the Rideau Institute’s Ceasefire program. Annie Labaj, Director of the CAW’s International Department, called attention to the important work that the Rideau Institute and the CAW have conducted together, including assisting in campaigns against the sale of MacDonald Dettwiler (maker of Radarsat and the CANADARM) and against the planned purchase of the Joint Strike Fight in her letter announcing the donation. CAW’s Director of Aerospace, Dawn Cartwright, noted that Steven Staples’ “‘navigation’ of the Hill matches systems on the most advanced of any aircraft.”The support from the CAW employees will be used to promote Canada as a peace leader in the international community.
===================
10. New estimates put Pakistan's nuclear arsenal at more than 100
From: Michael Wallace <mdwallac@interchange.ubc.ca>
Date: February 4, 2011 12:41:36 AM EST (CA)
CORRECTION:
This article incorrectly said that the Obama administration is seeking to bring to completion this year an international treaty banning production of fissile materials for nuclear weapons. The administration is only at the stage of seeking the formal launch of negotiations on the treaty this year.
- - - - - -
New estimates put Pakistan's nuclear arsenal at more than 100
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/30/AR2011013004136_pf.html
Karen DeYoung, Washington Post Staff Writer, Monday, January 31, 2011
Pakistan's nuclear arsenal now totals more than 100 deployed weapons, a doubling of its stockpile over the past several years in one of the world's most unstable regions, according to estimates by nongovernment analysts.
The Pakistanis have significantly accelerated productionof uranium and plutonium for bombs and developed new weapons to deliver them. After years of approximate weapons parity, experts said, Pakistan has now edged ahead of India, its nuclear-armed rival.
An escalation of the arms race in South Asia poses a dilemma for the Obama administration, which has worked to improve its economic, political and defense ties with India while seeking to deepen its relationship with Pakistan as a crucial component of its Afghanistan war strategy.
In politically fragile Pakistan, the administration is caught between fears of proliferation or possible terrorist attempts to seize nuclear materials and Pakistani suspicions that the United States aims to control or limit its weapons program and favors India.
MORE:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/30/AR2011013004136_pf.html
===============
11. New START: It’s in the Bag!
http://www.fas.org/blog/ssp/
The New START treaty is in the bag, approved by the US Congress and the Russian Duma.
By Hans M. Kristensen, Federation of American Scientists, Jan. 26 2011
The upper house of the Russian Parliament (Duma) earlier today approved the New START treaty signed by presidents Medvedev and Obamain Prague on April 8, 2010. This follows approval of the treaty by the U.S. Senate in December despite opposition from hard-liners.
The Russian approval was followed by optimistic statements by Mikhail Margelov, the chairman of the international affairs committee, who declared: “The arms race is a thing of the past. The disarmament race is taking its place.” [ . . . . ]
==============
12. U.S. ends, Russia begins colour-coded terrorism alerts
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7127&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
Posted: 04 Feb 2011 11:30 PM PST
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has announced that the United States will be phasing out the colour-coded terrorism alert program in favour of a system that is supposed to better inform the public about the nature and meaning of terrorism threats. Homeland Security asserts that the colour-coded system was useful in the wake of 9/11 but is now [...]
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13. Kosovo and Albania: Dirty Work in the Balkans: NATO’s KLA Frankenstein
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23003
By Tom Burghardt Global Research, January 30, 2011 Antfascist Calling - 2011-01-28
The U.S. and German-installed leadership of Kosovo finds itself under siege after the Council of Europe voted Tuesday to endorse a report charging senior members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) of controlling a brisk trade in human organs, sex slaves and narcotics.
Coming on the heels of a retrial later this year of KLA commander and former Prime Minister, Ramush Haradinaj, by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague, an enormous can of worms is about to burst open.
Last month, Antifascist Calling reported that Hashim Thaçi, the current Prime Minister of the breakaway Serb province, and other members of the self-styled Drenica Group, were accused by Council of Europe investigators of running a virtual mafia state.
According to Swiss parliamentarian Dick Marty, the Council’s Special Rapporteur for Human Rights, Thaçi, Dr. Shaip Muja, and other leading members of the government directed–and profited from–an international criminal enterprise whose tentacles spread across Europe into Israel, Turkey and South Africa.
MORE:
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23003
==================
14. Egyptian Uprising Must Address U.S Interference and the Role of Israel in the Region ( 3 articles)
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23018
By Ghada Chehade Global Research, January 31, 2011
As an analyst and observer of the recent rebellions in the Middle East, specifically Egypt, I want to make three developing observations. First, the Egyptian people cannot confront local despots and “regime change” without addressing the patron of Mubarak’s regime--The United States. Second, because of the U.S’ influence and because Egypt is so strategically important to the U.S-Israel agenda for the Middle East, the U.S will attempt to control their investments and their interests by regaining control and maintaining patronage. In other words it will attempt (or may have already attempted) to co-opt the public uprising and manage it at some level and continue to do so. Last, in order to adequately address foreign meddlers within the context of the local region and its politics, one must also eventually address the role of Israel. [ . . . . ]
= = = = =
Egypt: A Sleeping Giant Awakens
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23091
By Rannie Amiri Global Research, February 5, 2011
Poor people gonna rise up
And get their share
Poor people gonna rise up
And take what’s theirs
And finally the tables are starting to turn
Talkin' bout a revolution – Tracy Chapman’s Talkin’ Bout A Revolution, 1988
The sleeping Egyptian giant has finally awoken.
The Arab world’s most populous nation—85 million strong—has been in political hibernation for 30 long years.
The deep slumber is now over. The reign of Hosni Mubarak will end, sooner or later, as a rejuvenated population sheds apathy’s blanket.
After Israel , Egypt is the second-largest recipient of United States foreign aid. Other than what was embezzled, the $1.5 billion in annual assistance has been spent entirely on the military and bolstering Mubarak’s internal security apparatus. It ultimately ensured the Camp David state remained complaint with the diktats coming out of Tel Aviv and Washington.
Indeed, as a result of peace treaties with its eastern and southern neighbors, Israel has had a free hand in continuing the repression and subjugation of Palestinians. [ . . . . ]
= = = = = =
It Ain't Just Mubarak -- 7 of the Worst Dictators the U.S. Is Backing to the Hilt
http://www.alternet.org/news/149805/
it_ain't_just_mubarak_--_7_of_the_worst_dictators_the_u.s._is_backing_to_the_hilt
From Saudi Arabia to Uzbekistan to Chad, the U.S. keeps some very bad autocrats in power.
February 5, 2011 |
Embattled Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, whose regime has received billions in U.S. aid, has been in the global media spotlight of late. He's long been “our bastard,” but he's not alone.
Let's take a look at the other dictators from around the planet who are fortunate enough to be on Uncle Sam's good side.
MORE:
http://www.alternet.org/news/149805/
it_ain't_just_mubarak_--_7_of_the_worst_dictators_the_u.s._is_backing_to_the_hilt
===============
15. The ‘Al Jazeera moment’?
http://www.thestar.com/Opinion/Editoria ... cle/933097
February 04, 2011 Tony Burman
WASHINGTON—Twenty years ago this month, TV sets in the White House and the State Department were glued to CNN as this largely ignored news channel (then derided as the “Chicken Noodle Network”) brought live pictures of the 1991 Gulf War into American households for the first time.
The country was mesmerized, and U.S. broadcast historians still refer to this as the “CNN Moment” when the world saw the power of live, rolling television news — and discovered CNN.
Twenty years later — this past week — another channel has been filling those screens with riveting and exclusive live pictures and interviews, chronicling the seismic events unfolding in Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East. It has also been telling a larger, more nuanced story of that region than is currently available to most North Americans.
That channel has been Al Jazeera English (AJE) — the English-language service of a network that is available in 220 million households in more than 100 countries, including Canada, but still not broadcast on TV screens throughout most of the United States.
A notable and significant exception is the Washington, D.C., area, where it is available on local cable systems in 2 million households.
So this past week, according to several American media accounts, many TV sets in the White House, State Department, Pentagon and throughout much of the nation’s capital were fixated on AJE’s coverage of these historic events, which has received overwhelming praise in U.S. media circles.
This has not gone unnoticed. Traffic to AJE’s live online streaming of its coverage ( www.aljazeera.net/english) has increased 2,500 per cent in the past week, with up to 60 per cent of that coming from the U.S.
In that same period, an estimated 7 million Americans have watched 50 million minutes of AJE coverage. In addition, the California-based Link TV, which is seen in more than 33 million American households on the DirecTV and Dish satellite systems, has been broadcasting up to 12 hours of AJE coverage each day.
Al Jazeera has been unique among broadcasters by making its content available to cable and satellite systems worldwide so that potential viewers — particularly in Canada and the U.S. — can decide for themselves whether they want to watch AJE.
For example, in Canada this month, in light of the events in Egypt and the growing public interest in the channel’s news and programming, AJE is being made available in February free-of-charge as a “free preview” to all of its affiliates in Canada.
MORE:
http://www.thestar.com/Opinion/Editoria ... cle/933097
==================
16. WIKILEAKS UPDATE
Norwegian Nominates Wikileaks' Julian Assange for Nobel Peace Prize
Assange
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/
wikileaks-julian-assange-nominated-nobel-peace-prize/story?id=12825383
By DEVIN DWYER Feb. 2, 2011
Cited for Promoting Human Rights, Democracy, Free Speech in Award Nomination
A Norwegian parliamentarian has nominated Wikileaks founder Julian Assange for the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, saying his publication of thousands of secret government documents has helped to promote human rights, democracy and freedom of speech.
Snorre Valen, 24, a member of the country's Socialist Left Party, announced his submission to the Nobel Committee Wednesday on his blog.
"Wikileaks have contributed to the struggle for those very values globally, by exposing (among many other things) corruption, war crimes and torture -- sometimes even conducted by allies of Norway," he said.
"Most recently, by disclosing the economic arrangements by the presidential family in Tunisia, Wikileaks have made a small contribution to bringing down a 24-year-lasting dictatorship."
Valen acknowledged the controversy surrounding Wikileaks' actions but insisted the whistleblower organization was working for the public interest.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee declined to comment on Valen's nomination of Assange or on any other potential nominations submitted ahead of Tuesday's deadline. The group's website noted it receives more than 200 nominations per year. [ . . . ]
= = = = = =
Update from Bradley Manning - February 3, 2011
David discussed his visit with Bradley on MSNBC this week - click here to watch the video and hear the latest about Bradley Manning.
Bradley Manning's friend David House was able to visit Bradley at the Quantico brig this weekend - this time, without being detained.
Go to right-hand side of page:
https://donate.firedoglake.com/manningfund2/
contribute?rc=em20110203_ndSIDE&PHPSESSID=m7je2ujhr1h2o459j5cqcm73h2
Bradley is still under a punitive psychiatric detention at Quantico. Bradley was put on suicide watch as punishment for two days, and remains under an unnecessary prevention of injury order in maximum custody - far beyond any other prisoner in the brig. David told us that Bradley seemed "catatonic," and was clearly mentally and physically affected by his extreme isolation.
But it's not all bad: Bradley "brightened up" when discussing the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, particularly the role of young people and the Internet in helping spur democratic movements.
Watch David talk about Bradley Manning on MSNBC and share the video with your friends.
Thanks for standing by Bradley Manning.
Michael Whitney
Firedoglake.com
P.S. If you haven't yet, please donate to the Bradley Manning Advocacy Fund -- 100% of contributions received will be used to pay for the defense and advocacy of Pfc. Manning.
===============
17. Which Is It: US Military Cuts or No Cuts??? (2 articles)
Seeks Biggest Military Cuts Since Before 9/11
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/07/us/07 ... .html?_r=1
By THOM SHANKER and CHRISTOPHER DREW Published: January 6, 2011
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Thursday that the nation’s “extreme fiscal duress” now required him to call for cuts in the size of the Army and Marine Corps, reversing the significant growth in military spending that followed the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, left, with Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, announcing plans to reduce Army and Marine Corps strength by 47,000, starting in 2015.
The White House has told the Pentagon to squeeze that growth over the next five years, Mr. Gates said, reducing by $78 billion the amount available for the Pentagon, not counting the costs of its combat operations.
= = = = = =
Spiralling Defense Spending: Public Says Cut Pentagon, Obama Says Increase It
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23049
By David Swanson Global Research, February 2, 2011 warisacrime.org/
Did you know that the U.S. public wants military spending cut? Did you know that President Barack Obama wants to increase it for his third year in a row? Actually I already know that most of you didn't know either of these things.
A poll released on Tuesday and in line with other polling over the years asked: "To ensure its safety, should the United States always spend at least three times as much on defense as any other nation?" This question mislabels the military "defense," which most of it isn't, and claims the interest of "safety," albeit in the context of other questions about spending money, and yet only 25% of voters said yes, while 40% said no and 35% were not sure.
In reality, the United States could cut its military budget (just the Department of so-called Defense, not counting the hundreds of billions spent through other departments) by 85% and still easily be the most expensive military on the planet. Taking the DOD down to merely three times the expense of China's military (the world's next largest) would mean cutting [ . . . . ]
======================
18. Liberal MP John McKay tells mining conference: Bill C-300 will see a "legislative resurrection"
http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/making-waves/
2011/01/liberal-mp-john-mckay-tells-mining-conference-bill-c-300-will-se
By Emma Lui | January 31, 2011
Liberal MP John McKay was one of nine speakers at Friday's conference, the Political Economy of Mining and Resource Extraction, at Carleton University. McKay, who is the MP for Scarborough-Guildwood, spoke to a jam-packed room of close to 100 people. He talked broadly about the bill, called the Corporate Accountability of Mining, Oil or Gas in Developing Countries Act, which would have held Canadian mining companies accountable for human rights abuses and environmental destruction while operating abroad. He expressed his surprise at the reactions to his bill. He received reactions from countries around the world including Bulgaria and the Philippines. Al-Jazeera and the Globe and Mail approached him. Over 80 NGOs wrote a letter in support of the bill. McKay revealed that "some progressive companies dipped their toes in it." It's not uncommon for MPs to be absent for votes on private members' bills. However, for Bill C-300, all the Conservatives showed up to vote against it. Twenty-four MPs were absent from the vote and the Bill was defeated by a mere six votes. McKay then spoke about a "legislative resurrection," or re-introducing the bill after more research and working with industry. The audience was heartened to hear that the bill's defeat was not the death of the bill. [ . . . . ]
===================
19. WATCH: Total War: Agri-business style - The End of Farming in the Fertile Crescent
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/1022.html
TRANSCRIPT: If you can't read the subtitles:
My father passed this farm down to me.
Back then, farming used to be affordable.
Since the invasion, prices have skyrocketed.
I don't know why.
MORE:
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/1022.html
=====================
20. Global suicide: When will we react?
http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/
01-02-2011/116741-global_suicide-0/
February 1, 2011
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon stated that the world is committing collective global suicide by consuming resources without replenishing them and warned that we are running out of the most important resource of all: Time.
Declaring that "the one resource that is scarcest of all: Time", Ban Ki-Moon left a stark message in Davos, which raises the questions when are we (collectively) going to do something, and if not, what is going to happen? For the Secretary-General, it is imperative that Mankind faces the collective challenges of tackling climate change, ensuring the delivery of sustainable and climate-resilient green growth and to implement what he terms a "clean energy revolution".
While we lurch from one conference to another (and the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro was back in 1992, almost two decades ago) without substantive changes being implemented, all we are doing is putting off decisions we should have had the courage to take - decisions which run at the supra-national level and should be above selfish national interests.
For this, the haves must help the have-nots to develop sustainable green economies, specially because in many cases the richer nations developed at the expense of pilfering the resources of the less developed countries - less developed because they were colonized, held down, divided, their social and ethnic structures wholly and totally turned upside down, to the benefit of the invader: Divide and rule.
Calling for "Revolutionary thinking. Revolutionary action. A free market revolution for global sustainability" Ban Ki-Moon called the old model to approach climate change "obsolete" and worse "a recipe for national disaster. It is a suicide pact". Complaining that our global approach is based upon the times when "we mined our way to growth, we burned our way to prosperity", Ban Ki-Moon calls upon the international community to innovate, to survive. [ . . . ]
=================
21. COMMENT: Larose: Re: Internet "control"
From: Paul-André Larose
Sent: Friday, February 04, 2011 8:36 AM
I am not even sure that the masses are even aware of the truth. They are being led, as a happy bunch of zombies, to their destruction, by "leaders" who betray them - for the profit of a few. Not much has changed from thousand of years ago. Remember the "Sheep of Panurge"? Give them "Bread and Games".
Below is the best short summary that I have seen...
WATCH: Mouseland:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqpFm7zAK90
Paul-Andre Larose
Durham Action, Oshawa (Durham Region), Ontario
================
22. TODAY’S QUOTE
"It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong." --- Thomas Sowell.
[/b]
Last edited by Oscar on Thu Feb 17, 2011 10:51 am, edited 2 times in total.
- Oscar
- Site Admin
- Posts: 9965
- Joined: Wed May 03, 2006 3:23 pm
NUKE NEWS: February 17, 2011
by Oscar » Thu Feb 17, 2011 10:20 am
NUKE NEWS: February 17, 2011
1. EVENT: Wind Power in Saskatchewan - Provincial Overview – Feb. 25, 2011
2. EVENT: Former nuclear weapons officer rejects nuclear deterrence
3. Harding says no to nuclear waste
4. Opposition to radioactive shipment through Great Lakes growing
5. An appeal to Parliamentarians - plus - A Resolution on Radioactive Steam Generators
6. Canada fights against environmental protection across the border
7. Canadian Nuclear Safety Commisison - Educational Resources
8. Nuclear radiation is forever
9. Research finds radiation test cancer link
10. Canada is 'schizophrenic' on nuclear power, must choose side: Bruce Power CEO
11. Paul McKay's 100th Anniversary of Ontario "Switch On" session speech
12. No Nukes News - Feb. 14, 2011
13. JAPANESE GOVERNMENT BANK BEING ASKED FOR LOAN TO BUILD NEW TEXAS REACTORS
14. The truth behind India's nuclear renaissance
15. WATCH: A Time-Lapse Map of Every Nuclear Explosion Since 1945
16. Taylor points to U.S. role in F-35 debate
17. Respected Canadian negotiator removed from disarmament talks, resigns
18. WATCH: Steven Staples discusses F-35s on CTV Power Play
19. Governor-General honours veteran of the war on war
20. WATCH: Go figure: What would it cost to save the world?
21. Iraq delays purchase of US fighter jets
22. COMMENT: Larose: Re: Internet "control"
23. Foreign hackers attack Canadian government
==================
1. EVENT: Wind Power in Saskatchewan - Provincial Overview - February 25, 2011
http://www.cagbc.org/source/Events/
Event.cfm?EVENT=SK11RE0225§ion=Educat
Canada Green Building Council
The sites will be linked by videoconference
University of Regina
Education Building, Room 158 Regina
AND
University of Saskatchewan
Education Building Studio A (downstairs) Saskatoon
SaskPower's announcement 3 years ago of a net metering scheme created a new market in the province for farm-scale and home-scale wind power.
When is it appropriate to install this technology, what are the benefits and drawbacks, and how can it be integrated with environmentally-responsible design?
Tim Weis and Kelly Winder will speak to these questions.
Kevin Hudson will speak about Saskatoon Light and Power's plans for a single large turbine on the edge of the city.
The speakers are:
Kelly Winder - Research Engineer at the Saskatchewan Research Council
Tim Weis - Director of Renewable Energy and Efficiency at the Pembina
Institute
http://www.pembina.org/
Register:
http://www.picatic.com/ticket/event359978/
Event Contact htulloch@sk.cagbc.org
=====================
2. EVENT: March 1 - Former nuclear weapons officer rejects nuclear deterrence
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7358&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
February 17, 2011
Commander Green will be in Ottawa on Tuesday, March 1st to promote his new book and give a public lecture on the fallacies of nuclear deterrence.
Date: March 1, 2011
Location: Ottawa Public Library Auditorium (Main Branch)
120 Metcalfe Street, Ottawa, ON K1P 5M2
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
Contact: Rideau Institute – operations@rideauinstitute.ca, 613-565-9449
Commander Green served as a naval officer on nuclear-armed aircraft during the Cold War. In his book Security Without Nuclear Deterrence, Commander Green talks about his experiences and what led him to reject nuclear weapons as an element of international security.
Nuclear deterrence has not prevented non-nuclear states from attacking allies of nuclear weapon states. Examples include China entering the Korean War when the US had a nuclear monopoly in 1950; Argentina invading the British Falkland Islands in 1982; and Iraq invading close US ally Kuwait in 1990. In all these cases nuclear deterrence failed. The US in Korea and Vietnam, and the USSR in Afghanistan, preferred withdrawal to the ultimate ignominy of resorting to nuclear weapons to secure victory or revenge against a non-nuclear state.
====================
3. Harding says no to nuclear waste
http://www.panow.com/node/42483
Submitted on February 3, 2011 - 11:34am By Lisa Schick paNOW staff
Northern Saskatchewan could soon be home to a nuclear waste storage facility, but not if Jim Harding has anything to say about it.
Harding, a former environmental studies professor at the University of Waterloo, said he believes nuclear waste in Saskatchewan is the wrong way to go.
Not only are there environmental problems, but there’s also the cost of the program, he said.
According to Harding, the nuclear industry is saying the program will cost $30 million, but he said it will cost much more by the time everything, especially the waste management costs, are added up.
He cited nuclear waste storage sites in Germany, the U.S. and England which have had problems with growing costs.
Harding, also a big believer in renewable resources, said renewable power would be a much better investment of the money than would be put into the waste storage sites.
“If we were to put that kind of money into transition to renewables that don’t leave a waste stream, which carries its own costs as well as burdens, we’d not only not produce more waste, but we’d be creating the alternative which at some point we have to do anyway,” he said.
Harding is part of a group which is trying to bring new information to the masses.
There were some First Nations representatives he spoke with that told him they weren’t aware of any of the things he brought to their attention, Harding said.
This group, along with Harding, is holding talks along the Yellowhead highway, the route for the nuclear waste transport if the project goes through.
They hope to give information to the citizens this project would affect most who wouldn’t have had access to both sides of the debate, Harding said.
“We want to discuss what the plan of the industry is, propose an alternative, look at the real costs and alternative ways to do economic development in the north, and of course really be sure the public understands what these high level nuclear reactor wastes are,” said Harding.
Part of the reason many people are unaware that the debate exists, said Harding, is because of the provincial government’s passivity on the subject.
According to Harding they are sitting back and letting the nuclear industry do what they want in the province when they should be stepping in.
“We’re wondering why the provincial government is just allowing the industry to be negotiating with singe communities when this is actually a province-wide issue with implications for people all along the transportation routes,” said Harding.
He hopes that by bringing the issue of nuclear waste storage to the forefront of people’s minds it will become a big issue in the next provincial election.
English River and Pinehouse are the two communities in question regarding the potential storage facilties.
The nuclear waste would be transported from Ontario power plants on the number one highway and then up the Yellowhead highway, which goes through the Prince Albert city limits.
Jim Harding will be speaking at the JMC Public Library on Thursday at 7 p.m. in his series called “Why Saskatchewan Need a Nuclear Waste Ban.”
lschick@panow.com
====================
4. Opposition to radioactive shipment through Great Lakes growing
http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/making-waves/2011/02/
opposition-grows-radioactive-shipment-through-great-lakes
Emma Lui February 15, 2011
On February 4, 2011, the Canadian Nuclear safety Commission (CNSC) approved Bruce Power’s plan to ship 16 bus-size radioactive steam generators from Owen Sound to Nyköping, Sweden. Bruce Power has contracted Swedish company Studsvik to transport and decontaminate 90% of the steam generators. The scrap metal will be free released into the consumer market. This is the first of several shipments since Bruce Power has 64 steam generators that it plans to ship to Sweden. The decision, which had been expected in December, was released at 4:30 p.m. on a Friday afternoon. The timing of the release speaks to the controversy and opposition to the decision that the CNSC had expected.
Since the decision, opposition to the shipment has grown. The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, the Council of Canadians, the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility and Mouvement Sortons le Québec du Nucléaire immediately issued statements condemning the decision. The Mohawks of Akwasesne, Kahnawake and Tyendinaga released a joint statement
[ http://www.kahnawake.com/news/pr/pr02092011c.pdf ] last week expressing their opposition to the shipment. The mayors of Sarnia and Montreal have reiterated their resolve to stop the shipment in the media.
MORE:
http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/making-waves/2011/02/
opposition-grows-radioactive-shipment-through-great-lakes
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5. An appeal to Parliamentarians - plus - A Resolution on Radioactive Steam Generators
http://ccnr.org/Letter_MP_e_final.pdf
Montreal, February 14, 2010.
An appeal to Members of Parliament
Re: the lack of a policy on radioactive wastes from nuclear reactors (excluding irradiated nuclear fuel)
Dear Sir or Madam:
In the interests of good governance, we are asking you to take action now to prevent the possibility of several dangerous precedents about radioactive wastes becoming established in a policy vacuum.
We are writing in reference to Bruce Power’s current plan to ship 16 radioactive steam generators through the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway and across the Atlantic Ocean to Sweden.
The purpose of this shipment is to reduce the volume of Bruce Power’s radioactive waste by shipping to a facility in Sweden that will melt most of the contaminated metal, mix it with non-contaminated metal and then sell it as scrap for unrestricted use in commercial products.
The most radioactive portions of the steam generators – about 450 tonnes of the original 1600 tonnes – will be shipped back to Halifax and then trucked back to Bruce Power for permanent storage as radioactive waste.
If this shipment goes ahead, it will establish three precedents, each having far-reaching political implications:
PRECEDENT ONE:
It will be the first time that Canada has exported or imported radioactive wastes from a refurbished or decommissioned nuclear reactor.
PRECEDENT TWO:
It will also be the first time radioactive wastes from nuclear reactors have been shipped through the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway.
PRECEDENT THREE:
It will be the first time that radioactive waste materials from Canadian reactors have been introduced into the world’s scrap metal market.
In addition, the proposed shipment would contradict explicit assurances given during a 2005-2007 Environmental Assessment in which Bruce Power and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) staff declared that the steam generators are radioactive wastes, which cannot be recycled “for safety and environmental reasons.” The steam
generators were to be sent to the Western Waste Management Facility for storage in perpetuity.
The proposed shipment has raised a great deal of public concern. More than 200 municipalities along the transport route – including 120 in Quebec – oppose the shipment. First Nations and other aboriginal communities have identified the lack of consultation in this matter as a breach of the government’s duty to consult. Dozens of NGOs from North America and abroad have stated their opposition to the plan.
The CNSC, originally intending to have one of their staff members issue a license without any form of public consultation at all, responded to this outpouring of concern by agreeing to set aside two days to hear the views of 80 interveners. Moreover, in a ruling rare for this body, the CNSC extended the comment period for an additional 30 days. On February 4, however, they granted a licence for the transport of the steam generators.
But we believe this matter is far more than a mere licensing question – it is an important policy issue. The Parliament and the Government of Canada need to formulate a policy framework to address the challenges associated with the disposition of all radioactive wastes from nuclear reactors other than irradiated nuclear fuel (for which a policy framework does exist).
Such a policy framework would address the following questions:
What should Canada’s policy be with regard to the export/import of these wastes? Should Canada allow the transport of such wastes through the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River? Should Canada condone the dispersal of radioactive wastes into scrap used to manufacture consumer products? And should Bruce Power or any proponent be allowed to promise one course of action during an environmental assessment and then do the opposite after the assessment has been completed?
Today we are asking you to sign a resolution [below] calling on the Minister of Natural Resources to ensure that Bruce Power is not permitted to transport the steam generators until such time as Parliament and the Government of Canada have established a policy
framework that addresses these larger issues raised by the proposed shipment. There is no urgency for Bruce Power to ship the steam generators; Ontario Power Generation (OPG) planned to store them on the surface until 2043, and then underground thereafter.
Thank you for your time and attention to this important matter.
Gordon Edwards, Ph.D., Canadian co-chair,
Great Lakes United Task Force.
53 Dufferin, Hampstead QC, H3X 2X8;
(514) 489 2665 / ccnr@web.ca
= = = = = =
For a pdf version of this resolution:
http://ccnr.org/Resolution_MP_Senators.pdf
======================
6. Canada fights against environmental protection across the border
http://www.waterkeeper.ca/
American government promises $5 billion over 5 years for Great Lakes restoration while our Canadian government rubber-stamps nuclear shipment.
I grew up in Canada believing that despite our small population, our country was a major player in the world. We punched above our weight when it came to human rights, education and environmental protection. I carried this pride with me when I worked outside Canada. As Director of Waterkeeper Alliance I’ve traveled widely across North America working with Waterkeeper organizations. During these trips I’d always play up Canada’s scrappy underdog image. I’d say America is strong, but Canada is great. Sadly, as I head to New York this week for my 10th Annual Board gathering, I fear our brand has been lost.
The Canadian-US border cuts through the Great Lakes, making governance of the lakes necessarily international. The world’s largest system of fresh water in the world, over 40 million people rely on the Great Lakes for drinking water, recreation, and fishing. The basin faces a wide variety of threats, from agricultural run-off and development to landfills and nuclear power plants, that have destroyed shoreline habitat, introduced non-native species, contaminated sediments, and threatened to destroy over fifty threatened or endangered species.
While the Americans work to reverse the damage and raise environmental standards on the Great Lakes, the Canadian government is rolling back and watering down our laws.
An example of our government’s neglect for the environment is their lobbying efforts to derail the American’s efforts to improve shipping regulations. The perfect case study is Canada’s recent decision to allow private nuclear companies to ship radioactive waste on the Great Lakes. The decision exposes our drinking water to radioactive waste that exceeds international standards for ocean cargo by six times, and exceeds the fresh water standard by fifty times. Despite pleas from US cities, politicians, and non-profit groups, the Canadian government issued that precedent-setting license to Bruce Power last week. The license was granted without US partnership or agreement, and without involving the affected communities on both sides of the border.
In my twenty year environmental career, there has never been a better opportunity to work with American politicians and communities to dramatically improve our protection of the Great Lakes and restore much of what we have lost. Not only is Canada ignoring this opportunity, but openly trying to thwart it. Canadians need to tell their governments and industries, now is the time for action – not excuses. Now is the time to be great again.
Many RELATED ARTICLES:
http://www.waterkeeper.ca/
===================
7. Canadian Nuclear Safety Commisison - Educational Resources
http://www.nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/educ ... /index.cfm
Welcome to the CNSC’s educational resources pages. (Emphasis Added. Ed.)
Guided by Inspector Geiger, you’ll find some simple information about nuclear science – from inside the atom to how nuclear is used around the world.
Information is tailored to specific grades:
2-6 (Elementary school, grades two to six)
7-8 (Middle school, grades seven and eight)
9-12 (Secondary school, grades nine to twelve)
Games and puzzles
Below, you’ll also find links to educational material provided by many other organizations involved in the nuclear sector and other science areas.
(All Links are on URL above)
Government agencies
Natural Resources Canada
Environment Canada
Government of Canada’s Science Web site
US Nuclear Regulatory Commission Student’s Corner
Others
Canadian Nuclear Association: Education Web site
IAEA Youth Resources
Canada Museum of Science and Technology: Canada’s First Nuclear Reactor
Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame
Cameco Corporation: Uranium 101
BBC’s Schools Radiation and Matter Web site
Basics of nuclear energy by Dr. David P. Stern Emeritus, Goddard Space Flight Center
National Nuclear Science Week Web site (source: U.S. National Museum of Nuclear Science and History Web site)
==================
8. Nuclear radiation is forever
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/health/
Nuclear+radiation+forever/4240391/story.html
(check out the comments section in the article)
By Helen Caldicott And Dale Dewar, Citizen Special February 8, 2011
Like most Ontario towns, Port Hope, on the shores of Lake Ontario, has a water treatment plant supplying its drinking water. Incredibly, adjacent to this plant is a huge factory now owned by Cameco. The factory hovers over this picturesque town, emitting uranium gas and dust into the air and Lake Ontario as it manufactures uranium fuel rods for export.
Port Hope is the deep dark underbelly of the Canadian nuclear industry, representing dangers that so far, have escaped sufficient scrutiny and cleanup.
MORE:
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/health/
Nuclear+radiation+forever/4240391/story.html
========================
9. Research finds radiation test cancer link
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/health/
Research+finds+radiation+test+cancer+link/4241500/story.html
By Sharon Kirkey, Postmedia News February 8, 2011
Canadian researchers appear to have proven what, until now, had only been assumed: Radiation from widely used medical tests can increase the risk of cancer.
Montreal doctors who followed nearly 83,000 heart attack victims for five years found that exposure to low-dose ionizing radiation from common tests used to diagnose and treat heart problems are associated with an increased risk of cancer.
The risk is small, "but it's definitely there" -and the higher the level of exposure, the higher the risk, said Dr. Louise Pilote, director of the division of internal medicine at the McGill University Health Centre. "These are not benign tests."
For every 10 millisieverts of radiation, there was a three per cent increase in the chance of developing cancer over the next five years.
MORE:
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/health/
Research+finds+radiation+test+cancer+link/4241500/story.html
====================
10. Canada is 'schizophrenic' on nuclear power, must choose side: Bruce Power CEO
http://www.canadianbusiness.com/markets/
headline_news/article.jsp?content=b5709590
By: Maria Babbage, The Canadian Press
Posted: 01/20/2011 2:24 PM | | Last Modified: 01/20/2011 5:44 PM
TORONTO - Canada is "schizophrenic" when it comes to its nuclear industry and must decide soon whether it will support it politically or abandon a business that's here to stay, Bruce Power CEO Duncan Hawthorne said Thursday.
The plain-speaking former engineer pulled no punches as he waded into the debate over Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., which the Conservative government decided to put up for sale almost two years ago.
Hawthorne, whose company was reportedly in talks to buy the heavily subsidized Crown corporation, wouldn't confirm whether Bruce Power has in fact walked away from the table.
But it's clear that success in the nuclear business requires consistency something Canada lacks, he said.
"We've been schizophrenic," he said in a Toronto speech to the Empire Club of Canada.
"Do we want to kill it? Do we want to feed it? Do we want to sell it? Are we happy with someone else coming in, and we'll become passive and just import the technology?"
MORE:
http://www.canadianbusiness.com/markets/
headline_news/article.jsp?content=b5709590
==================
11. Paul McKay's 100th Anniversary of Ontario "Switch On" session speech
http://cpconference.ca/
Page.asp?PageID=924&ContentID=2830&AA_SiteLanguageID=1
"Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it." - George Santayana
"A cynic knows the cost of everything -- but the value of nothing." - Oscar Wilde
Canadians are widely reputed to be a peaceably pragmatic lot, not prone to claims of revolutionary high drama, divine destiny, or prima donna self-promotion. We can't claim a Paul Revere, a Joan of Arc, a Donald Trump or Lady Gaga.
Instead, we have Banting and Best's quiet discovery of insulin, Dr. Norman Bethune's battlefield blood transfusion kit, Alexander Graham Bell's crackling telephone, Massey-Ferguson tractors, the RIM Blackberry, the Tim Horton's drive-thru - innovations which succeeded because they worked.
So it may be tempting to assume that a condensed version of Ontario's 100-year history of electric power might be worthy of only a bored yawn, or an early exit for an advance coffee break.
I am here to convince you otherwise.
One hundred years ago, much of southern Ontario was literally and metaphorically electrified when the clean, renewable "white coal" of Niagara arrived in Toronto, Kitchener and London via the first publicly-owned transmission grid in North America.
MORE:
http://cpconference.ca/
Page.asp?PageID=924&ContentID=2830&AA_SiteLanguageID=1
=====================
12. No Nukes News - Feb. 14, 2011
If it takes investing in 21st Century green power at an added cost of a few bucks more per household each month, and sucking up our own failure to pay for past mistakes, perhaps it’s time to start paying these debts forward. I will leave you with a final question: What do you imagine our grandchildren might implore us to do if they could? – Paul McKay
As a citizen and a parent, I am appalled by your plan to build new nuclear projects. I implore you: do not pour any public money down this radioactive debt-hole. Please give real support to our growing green energy industry. I urge you to remove all caps on cleaner and greener energy sources in your energy plan. I also urge you to require that all new nuclear projects compete on a level playing field, by not allowing cost overruns to be passed on to ratepayers and taxpayers. – Tania Szablowski, Toronto resident, in a letter to Premier McGuinty.
You can send a letter to McGuinty too! Click here:
http://www.cleanairalliance.org/letter_to_dalton2
Order leaflets/postcards opposing the Darlington Newbuild:
http://www.cleanairalliance.org/
get_involved_order_pamphlets
Learn more about the province’s plans to build new reactors at Darlington:
http://stopdarlington.org/
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Send a Valentines Email to Federal Environment Minister Peter Kent
Greenpeace has produced a special video for our special non-Environment Minister Peter Kent. It is a spoof on the eHarmony dating service. We call it Polluter Harmony or pHarmony.
Funny… And you can send the minister an email.
You can see it all at
www.polluterharmony.ca
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Why is Electricity in ON Expensive?
Here’s the answer by Paul McKay
When the old Ontario Hydro effectively became bankrupt in 1999, about $30 billion in stranded debt was shifted to different government ledgers. Virtually all of it was due to unrecoverable nuclear costs. This was originally supposed to be paid down by 2012. But since 1999 Ontario ratepayers have made $36.3 billion in cumulative payments on this stranded debt -- yet $27.6 billion remains to be paid. Someday. Somehow.
$27.6 billion. How many in Ontario know of this debt, or what it means, or how it will be dealt with? It is all but invisible to the public. Our politicians want to keep it that way. Yet the press remains lazily indifferent to this serial negligence while devoting acres of outraged ink to microscopic payments paid to "solar baron" farmers who put up their own money to put Pv panels on their barns.
This stranded debt, more than any other single fact, tells us that our "public" utility is anything but publicly accountable, and that all the price signals in Ontario's power "market" are dangerously distorted because this lurking, $27.6 billion ice-berg of hidden debt is not treated as a generation cost.
So we have a perverse optical illusion: more than half of Ontario's energy comes from nuclear plants which appear far cheaper than they are, while new renewable projects appear far more expensive than their secretly-subsidized main rival.
http://cpconference.ca/
Page.asp?PageID=924&ContentID=2830
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Chernobyl birds are small brained
Birds living around the site of the Chernobyl nuclear accident have 5% smaller brains, an effect directly linked to lingering background radiation. Smaller brain sizes are thought to be linked to reduced cognitive ability. The effect was most pronounced in younger birds, particularly those less than a year old. That suggests that many bird embryos did not survive at all, due to the negative effects on their developing brain.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/
newsid_9387000/9387395.stm
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Canadian commission OKs shipment with radioactive waste on Great Lakes
http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/
article?AID=/20110208/NEWS02/302089956/-1/ETN
Nuclear shipment angers municipalities
City of Montreal officials have joined critics from across Quebec and Ontario in condemning a decision to allow a huge shipment of radioactive waste to travel through the St. Lawrence Seaway.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/technology/
Nuclear+shipment+angers+municipalities/4235608/story.html
CNSC, Bruce Power called to the carpet over nuke shipment
A Commons committee intends to grill members of the Canada's nuclear regulator and Bruce Power over plans to ship used radioactive generators through the Great Lakes.
http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/
2011/02/06/17176581.html
Bruce Power scheme to ship radioactive nuclear waste a dangerous precedent
Justice for the environment - denied
http://www.sierraclub.ca/en/media/release/
bruce-power-scheme-ship-radioactive-nuclear-waste-dangerous-precedent
Critics of Bruce Power say fight is 'not over'
http://www.thestar.com/news/article/
934026--critics-of-bruce-power-say-fight-is-not-over
Nuclear waste shipment ignores rule of law: Madahbee
First Nations in the Great Lakes watershed are accusing a federal government agency of ignoring the rule of law by approving the shipment of nuclear waste through their territories without even notifying them.
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/
February2011/08/c8977.html
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'Barred' from Port Hope: An interview with Dr. Helen Caldicott
http://rabble.ca/news/2011/02/
barred-port-hope-interview-dr-helen-caldicott
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Pelham against coal-fired hydro plants
Pelham has joined other municipalities in urging the Ontario government to mothball coal-fired power stations. Jack Gibbons of the Ontario Clean Air Alliance asked town council Monday to pass a resolution supporting its "coal must go" campaign. It asks the government "to direct Ontario Power Generation to put its coal plants on standby reserve and only operate them if they are absolutely needed to keep the lights on in Ontario."
http://www.wellandtribune.ca/
ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2970828
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When the Dust Settles
Animated short on the impact of depleted uranium weapons and the international campaign against them, produced by the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons and IKV Pax Christi.
http://www.youtube.com/user/ICBUW
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Solar power: U.S. tries to cut costs, regain edges
Seizing on what President Obama called this generation's "Sputnik moment," the federal government has begun an effort to slash the cost of solar power by 75 percent and reclaim America's lead in the fast-growing global industry. The effort, called SunShot, aims to make photovoltaic solar power as inexpensive as electricity from plants burning fossil fuels by the end of the decade. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Friday the U.S. government would refocus its existing solar programs, which costs about $200 million a year. He also announced $27 million in new funding for companies exploring new solar technologies, including three in the Bay Area.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f ... 011/02/05/
MND51HJ27H.DTL
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Misinformation fouls the wind debate
http://envirolaw.com/misinformation-wind-debate/
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More Clean Energy Jobs Coming To Toronto
Ontario has already attracted more than $16 billion in private sector investment in the clean energy sector, and over 20 companies have announced plans to set up or expand operations in Ontario. In 2003, Ontario had 19 polluting coal units and no solar projects online. Today more than 2,900 solar projects are feeding electricity into Ontario's grid, eight coal units have already been shut down and by 2014 all coal units will be closed. Ontario's long term energy plan forecasts 10,700 MW of renewable energy - wind, solar and biomass - by 2018. This is equivalent to meeting the annual electricity requirements of two million homes.
http://www.tradingmarkets.com/news/press-release/
cls_shcay_more-clean-energy-jobs-coming-to-toronto-1473078.html
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Blowing Coal Away - Wind power now competitive with coal in some regions
http://www.grist.org/article/
2011-02-07-report-wind-power-now-competitive-with-coal-in-some-regions
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Ontario stops offshore wind power development
The Ontario government has called a stop to any offshore wind power projects in the province’s portion of the Great Lakes, until further scientific study is done.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/ontario-stops-offshore-wind-power-development/article1904138/
Ontario halts offshore wind-energy projects
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/technology/
Ontario+halts+offshore+wind+energy+projects/4271179/story.html
Ontario Places Moratorium on Offshore Wind DevelopmentEstimates by the non-profit Conference Board of Canada suggest Ontario has the potential to develop about 2,000 MW of offshore wind power.
http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/
news.display/id/21876
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Solar PV Becoming Cheaper than Gas in California?
The latest round of proposed contracts from a California utility for 250 MW of solar PV projects comes in below the price of natural gas.
We hear it every day: "Solar is too expensive." Well, not according to the California utility Southern California Edison.
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/
article/2011/02/solar-pv-becoming-cheaper-than-gas-in-california?cmpid=WNL-Wednesday-February9-2011
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Pulling the plug on phantom power can save hundreds
Just because you’re not using it doesn’t mean it’s not costing you. Phantom power can lurk in any corner of your home.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/
personal-finance/pulling-the-plug-on-phantom-power-can-save-hundreds/article1898324/
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Angela Bischoff, Outreach Director
Ontario Clean Air Alliance
Tel: 416 926 1907 x 246
625 Church Street, #402, Toronto, ON M4Y 2G1
angela@cleanairalliance.org
www.ontariosgreenfuture.ca
www.cleanairalliance.org
Our Facebook Group
No Nukes News
Health Power
Coal Must Go
=======================
13. JAPANESE GOVERNMENT BANK BEING ASKED FOR LOAN TO BUILD NEW TEXAS REACTORS - TELL JAPANESE GOVERNMENT: NO LOANS FOR NUCLEAR REACTORS IN U.S. (or anywhere else)!
http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5502/p/dia/action/
public/?action_KEY=5484
February 10, 2011
Dear Friends across the world,
We are asking for your help.
NRG Energy's proposed two-reactor South Texas nuclear project is widely considered the frontrunner to obtain the next U.S. Department of Energy loan "guarantee." Indeed, we're told a conditional loan guarantee (really, a direct loan from U.S. taxpayers) could be granted as early as next week.
Yet the South Texas project is in serious trouble. Construction cost estimates have spiraled from $5.6 Billion in 2006 to more than $18 Billion today. The City of San Antonio, which initially was to own 50% of the project, has reduced its share to 7.5% because of the escalating costs. NRG Energy is now desperately trying to find new partners and is offering the city of Austin's municipal utility a sweetheart deal for electricity from the proposed reactors--although even a sweetheart deal by nuclear standards could cause rate increases for Austin consumers.
And even if a DOE loan is awarded, that won't cover the full construction costs of the project.
Besides NRG Energy, Toshiba is also an investor in the project and last Spring, Tokyo Electric Power promised to invest $155 million in it as well.
So with those partners in hand, NRG has turned to Japan for more money. Specifically, the project is asking for billions in loans from the Japanese export-import bank, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC).
But why should Japan fund a highly-controversial, environmentally-destructive and extraordinarily expensive nuclear reactor project in the United States?
The simple answer is: Japan shouldn't. And we ask individuals from across the world to tell the Prime Minister and Cabinet exactly that from our action page here:
http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5502/p/dia/
action/public/?action_KEY=5484.
Organizations: We are coordinating an international sign-on letter to the Japanese Prime Minister and members of the Cabinet. You can read the letter here:
http://www.nirs.org/nukerelapse/stexas/
lettertojapaneseministryonsouthtexas211.pdf.
If your organization can sign on to this letter, please send us an e-mail with your name, organization name, city, state (if in U.S.) and country to nirsnet@nirs.org.
In many ways, Japan is at the heart of the so-called global nuclear renaissance. Toshiba, Hitachi and Mitsubishi design and manufacture reactors. Japan Steel Works is the only entity that currently can manufacture large reactor pressure vessels. Other Japanese companies also want to get in on the action.
Indeed, after the Texas reactors, Japan will be considering funding other nuclear projects in countries like Vietnam and India. Yet JBIC doesn't even have guidelines yet for funding nuclear power projects! (we'll be letting you know later how to get involved in the formulation of those guidelines).
Working with our colleagues at SEED Coalition and Public Citizen in Texas, as well as environmental groups in Japan, we've asked for a meeting with JBIC officials in Washington to discuss the issue. Not only would a JBIC loan for these reactors be objectionable for Texas, it would likely be an economic disaster for JBIC itself, and in turn the citizens of Japan whose taxes support JBIC. But so far, JBIC has turned down our requests for a meeting.
The action we ask you to take now is the first step in a longer, broader campaign. We likely will be targeting JBIC itself soon. And it isn't just Japan: export-import banks in France, the U.S. and elsewhere are also involved in spreading nuclear reactors and materials, radioactive waste, and radioactive contamination across the world. This isn't international cooperation; it's international devastation. And it has to stop. This is where we start. Please act now.
Thanks for all you do,
Michael Mariotte, Executive Director
Nuclear Information and Resource Service
nirsnet@nirs.org
www.nirs.org
P.S. You can also follow this campaign--and a lot of other news and actions--as well as post your own comments on our newest Facebook page here:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/
Nuclear-Information-and-Resource-Service/26490791479?v=wall&filter=1
===================
14. The truth behind India's nuclear renaissance
http://www.theecologist.org/blogs_and_comments/
commentators/other_comments/764515/the_truth_behind_indias_nuclear_renaissance.html
Jaitapur's French-built nuclear plant is a disaster in waiting, jeopardising biodiversity and local livelihoods, says activist Praful Bidwai
Praful Bidwai, The Ecologist, February 9 2011
The global "nuclear renaissance" touted a decade ago has not materialised.
The US's nuclear industry remains starved of new reactor orders since 1973, and western Europe's first reactor after Chernobyl (1986) is in serious trouble in Finland – 42 months behind schedule, 90 per cent over budget, and in bitter litigation. But India is forging ahead to create an artificial nuclear renaissance by quadrupling its nuclear capacity by 2020 and then tripling it by 2030 by pumping billions into reactor imports from France, Russia and America, and further subsidising the domestic Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL).
The first victim of this will be an extraordinarily precious ecosystem in the Konkan region of the mountain range that runs along India's west coast. This is one of the world's biodiversity "hotspots" and home to 6,000 species of flowering plants, mammals, birds and amphibians, including 325 threatened ones. It is the source of two major rivers. Botanists say it's India's richest area for endemic plants. With its magical combination of virgin rainforests, mountains and sea, it puts Goa in the shade.
NPCIL is planning to install six 1,650-MW reactors here, at Jaitapur in Maharashtra's Ratnagiri district, based on the European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) design of the French company Areva – the very same that's in trouble in Finland. The government has forcibly acquired 2,300 acres under a colonial law, ignoring protests. As construction begins, mountains will be flattened, trees uprooted, harbours razed, and a flourishing farming, horticultural and fisheries economy destroyed, jeopardising 40,000 people's survival.
MORE:
http://www.theecologist.org/blogs_and_comments/
commentators/other_comments/764515/the_truth_behind_indias_nuclear_renaissance.html
==================
15. WATCH: A Time-Lapse Map of Every Nuclear Explosion Since 1945
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=LLCF7vPanrY&feature=player_embedded
=======================
16. Taylor points to U.S. role in F-35 debate
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7350&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
February 16, 2011
Esprit de Corps editor and publisher Scott Taylor comments on the silent role of the U.S. government in the F-35 debate (Scott Taylor, “The silent US hand guiding Canada’s F-35 debate,” Embassy, 9 February 2011, full text here):
http://www.espritdecorps.ca/
index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=502:staples-ousts-the-brass&catid=37:politics&Itemid=97
Although no actual contract has been signed, the Harper Tories remain adamant that they will proceed with the purchase of the stealth aircraft, which, at an initial cost of $9 billion and an estimated $7 billion in future maintenance expenses, would make this the largest military project expenditure in Canada’s history….
Thanks to recent revelations made public via WikiLeaks, it is safe to surmise that the US State Department is the unseen puppeteer making Harper do the F-35 dance. The embarrassing documents contain American diplomatic correspondence detailing how they used a public “carrot” and a private “stick” approach to convince Norway to buy the F-35.
MORE:
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7350&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
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17. Respected Canadian negotiator removed from disarmament talks, resigns
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7220&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
Posted: 10 Feb 2011 01:32 PM PST
Respected Canadian disarmament negotiator Earl Turcotte has been removed from his post following American complaints that his stance on the international Convention on Cluster Munitions was too aggressive. Turcotte has since informed his colleagues that he will be resigning from the Department of Foreign Affairs in order to independently advocate for the Convention, which he helped [...]
====================
18. WATCH: Steven Staples discusses F-35s on CTV Power Play
http://www.ceasefire.ca/?p=7239
Posted: 10 Feb 2011 01:18 PM PST
Watch Steven Staples discuss Canada’s controversial purchase of F-35s with Lt.-Gen. George Macdonald on CTV Power Play.
======================
19. Governor-General honours veteran of the war on war
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/
Somnia/article1878063/
CAMPBELL CLARK OTTAWA— From Friday's Globe and Mail Published Thursday, Jan. 20, 2011 9:41PM EST Last updated Friday, Jan. 21, 2011 7:38AM EST
- - - - - -
MORE:
Ernie Regehr:
http://disarmingconflict.ca/ernie-regehr/
It isn’t exactly the halcyon days of peace activism, when no-nukes marches pulled Canadians into the street. But you could argue that it’s a movement that wears a suit now, and internationally, has reached the zenith of its power among political elites. Through it all, Ernie Regehr has been a solid constant amid the flickering fashions of Canadian peaceniks.
Mr. Regehr co-founded Waterloo-based Project Ploughshares, a church-backed peace organization, in 1976, before the peace movement became modish in the last throes of the Cold War, and stuck with it through the decades as the movement differed over complex wars in places like Afghanistan.
Now 69, the modest Mr. Regehr, respected for his expertise even by opponents, will get a bit of bling to mark that career: Governor-General David Johnston will on Friday award him the Pearson Peace Medal, last bestowed on General Roméo Dallaire in 2004.
“He’s the dean of the peace movement in Canada,” said retired Senator Douglas Roche, a former Tory politician and anti-nuclear activist.
MORE:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/
Somnia/article1878063/
==================
20. WATCH: Go figure: What would it cost to save the world?
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7244&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
Posted: 12 Feb 2011 11:51 PM PST
$1.6 billion in military spending worldwide in 2010. What else could we have done with that money? Demilitarize.org shows some of the alternatives.
==================
21. Iraq delays purchase of US fighter jets
http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2011/02/14/1867021/
iraqis-in-baghdad-protest-bad.html
By REBECCA SANTANA - Associated Press February 14, 2011
BAGHDAD Iraq is delaying the purchase of 18 American fighter jets over budget problems and has decided to funnel the money into food for the poor instead, said the Iraqi government spokesman Monday.
Iraq, like, many Middle Eastern countries in the wake of the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, is under pressure to demonstrate its commitment to helping its own people. But delaying the purchase also leaves Iraq, which relies on departing American forces to protect its skies, vulnerable.
Ali al-Dabbagh told The Associated Press that the Iraqi government would postpone the expected purchase of the F-16 fighter jets and would instead use the money to beef up food rations. The Iraqi government gives food rations to many of its neediest citizens, who complain the rations have gotten smaller.
MORE:
http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2011/02/14/
1867021/iraqis-in-baghdad-protest-bad.html
==================
22. COMMENT: Larose: Re: Internet "control"
From: Paul-André Larose
Sent: Friday, February 04, 2011 8:36 AM
I am not even sure that the masses are even aware of the truth. They are being led, as a happy bunch of zombies, to their destruction, by "leaders" who betray them - for the profit of a few. Not much has changed from thousand of years ago. Remember the "Sheep of Panurge"? Give them "Bread and Games".
Below is the best short summary that I have seen...
WATCH: Mouseland:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqpFm7zAK90
Paul-Andre Larose
Durham Action, Oshawa (Durham Region), Ontario.
===================
23. Foreign hackers attack Canadian government
http://www.cbc.ca/politics/story/2011/02/16/
pol-weston-hacking.html
Computer systems at 3 key departments penetrated
Last Updated: Thursday, February 17, 2011 | 5:08 AM ET By Greg Weston, CBC News
An unprecedented cyberattack on the Canadian government also targeted Defence Research and Development Canada, making it the third key department compromised by hackers, CBC News has learned.
The attack, apparently from China, also gave foreign hackers access to highly classified federal information and also forced the Finance Department and Treasury Board — the federal government's two main economic nerve centres — off the internet.
Defence Research and Development Canada works to assist in the scientific and technological needs of the Canadian Forces. It is a civilian agency of the Department of National Defence.
The cyberattack, first detected in early January, left Canadian counter-espionage agents scrambling to determine how much sensitive government information may have been stolen and by whom.
Highly placed sources tell CBC News the cyberattacks were traced back to computer servers in China.
They caution, however, that there is no way of knowing whether the hackers are Chinese, or some other nationality routing their cybercrimes through China to cover their tracks.
So far, officials in Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government have been all but mum on the extraordinary breach of security.
The government initially issued a terse statement, passing it all off as merely an "attempt to access" federal networks. It has refused to release any further information.
MORE:
http://www.cbc.ca/politics/story/2011/02/16/
pol-weston-hacking.html
- - - - - -
Other hacking cases
February 2011: U.S. computer security firm McAfee reports hackers operating from China stole sensitive information from Western oil companies in the United States, Taiwan, Greece and Kazakhstan, beginning in November 2009.
March 2010: Citizen Lab and the SecDev Group discover computers at embassies and government departments in 103 countries, including the Dalai Lama's office and India, were compromised by an attack originating from servers in China. They dub the network involved "GhostNet."
January 2010: Google claims cyberattacks from China have hit it and at least 20 other companies. Google shuts down its China operations.
June 2009: A top-secret memo by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service warns that cyber attacks on government, university and industry computers have been growing "substantially."
February 2008: Quebec provincial police say they dismantled a computer hacking network that targeted unprotected computers around the world, including government computers.
1. EVENT: Wind Power in Saskatchewan - Provincial Overview – Feb. 25, 2011
2. EVENT: Former nuclear weapons officer rejects nuclear deterrence
3. Harding says no to nuclear waste
4. Opposition to radioactive shipment through Great Lakes growing
5. An appeal to Parliamentarians - plus - A Resolution on Radioactive Steam Generators
6. Canada fights against environmental protection across the border
7. Canadian Nuclear Safety Commisison - Educational Resources
8. Nuclear radiation is forever
9. Research finds radiation test cancer link
10. Canada is 'schizophrenic' on nuclear power, must choose side: Bruce Power CEO
11. Paul McKay's 100th Anniversary of Ontario "Switch On" session speech
12. No Nukes News - Feb. 14, 2011
13. JAPANESE GOVERNMENT BANK BEING ASKED FOR LOAN TO BUILD NEW TEXAS REACTORS
14. The truth behind India's nuclear renaissance
15. WATCH: A Time-Lapse Map of Every Nuclear Explosion Since 1945
16. Taylor points to U.S. role in F-35 debate
17. Respected Canadian negotiator removed from disarmament talks, resigns
18. WATCH: Steven Staples discusses F-35s on CTV Power Play
19. Governor-General honours veteran of the war on war
20. WATCH: Go figure: What would it cost to save the world?
21. Iraq delays purchase of US fighter jets
22. COMMENT: Larose: Re: Internet "control"
23. Foreign hackers attack Canadian government
==================
1. EVENT: Wind Power in Saskatchewan - Provincial Overview - February 25, 2011
http://www.cagbc.org/source/Events/
Event.cfm?EVENT=SK11RE0225§ion=Educat
Canada Green Building Council
The sites will be linked by videoconference
University of Regina
Education Building, Room 158 Regina
AND
University of Saskatchewan
Education Building Studio A (downstairs) Saskatoon
SaskPower's announcement 3 years ago of a net metering scheme created a new market in the province for farm-scale and home-scale wind power.
When is it appropriate to install this technology, what are the benefits and drawbacks, and how can it be integrated with environmentally-responsible design?
Tim Weis and Kelly Winder will speak to these questions.
Kevin Hudson will speak about Saskatoon Light and Power's plans for a single large turbine on the edge of the city.
The speakers are:
Kelly Winder - Research Engineer at the Saskatchewan Research Council
Tim Weis - Director of Renewable Energy and Efficiency at the Pembina
Institute
http://www.pembina.org/
Register:
http://www.picatic.com/ticket/event359978/
Event Contact htulloch@sk.cagbc.org
=====================
2. EVENT: March 1 - Former nuclear weapons officer rejects nuclear deterrence
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7358&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
February 17, 2011
Commander Green will be in Ottawa on Tuesday, March 1st to promote his new book and give a public lecture on the fallacies of nuclear deterrence.
Date: March 1, 2011
Location: Ottawa Public Library Auditorium (Main Branch)
120 Metcalfe Street, Ottawa, ON K1P 5M2
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
Contact: Rideau Institute – operations@rideauinstitute.ca, 613-565-9449
Commander Green served as a naval officer on nuclear-armed aircraft during the Cold War. In his book Security Without Nuclear Deterrence, Commander Green talks about his experiences and what led him to reject nuclear weapons as an element of international security.
Nuclear deterrence has not prevented non-nuclear states from attacking allies of nuclear weapon states. Examples include China entering the Korean War when the US had a nuclear monopoly in 1950; Argentina invading the British Falkland Islands in 1982; and Iraq invading close US ally Kuwait in 1990. In all these cases nuclear deterrence failed. The US in Korea and Vietnam, and the USSR in Afghanistan, preferred withdrawal to the ultimate ignominy of resorting to nuclear weapons to secure victory or revenge against a non-nuclear state.
====================
3. Harding says no to nuclear waste
http://www.panow.com/node/42483
Submitted on February 3, 2011 - 11:34am By Lisa Schick paNOW staff
Northern Saskatchewan could soon be home to a nuclear waste storage facility, but not if Jim Harding has anything to say about it.
Harding, a former environmental studies professor at the University of Waterloo, said he believes nuclear waste in Saskatchewan is the wrong way to go.
Not only are there environmental problems, but there’s also the cost of the program, he said.
According to Harding, the nuclear industry is saying the program will cost $30 million, but he said it will cost much more by the time everything, especially the waste management costs, are added up.
He cited nuclear waste storage sites in Germany, the U.S. and England which have had problems with growing costs.
Harding, also a big believer in renewable resources, said renewable power would be a much better investment of the money than would be put into the waste storage sites.
“If we were to put that kind of money into transition to renewables that don’t leave a waste stream, which carries its own costs as well as burdens, we’d not only not produce more waste, but we’d be creating the alternative which at some point we have to do anyway,” he said.
Harding is part of a group which is trying to bring new information to the masses.
There were some First Nations representatives he spoke with that told him they weren’t aware of any of the things he brought to their attention, Harding said.
This group, along with Harding, is holding talks along the Yellowhead highway, the route for the nuclear waste transport if the project goes through.
They hope to give information to the citizens this project would affect most who wouldn’t have had access to both sides of the debate, Harding said.
“We want to discuss what the plan of the industry is, propose an alternative, look at the real costs and alternative ways to do economic development in the north, and of course really be sure the public understands what these high level nuclear reactor wastes are,” said Harding.
Part of the reason many people are unaware that the debate exists, said Harding, is because of the provincial government’s passivity on the subject.
According to Harding they are sitting back and letting the nuclear industry do what they want in the province when they should be stepping in.
“We’re wondering why the provincial government is just allowing the industry to be negotiating with singe communities when this is actually a province-wide issue with implications for people all along the transportation routes,” said Harding.
He hopes that by bringing the issue of nuclear waste storage to the forefront of people’s minds it will become a big issue in the next provincial election.
English River and Pinehouse are the two communities in question regarding the potential storage facilties.
The nuclear waste would be transported from Ontario power plants on the number one highway and then up the Yellowhead highway, which goes through the Prince Albert city limits.
Jim Harding will be speaking at the JMC Public Library on Thursday at 7 p.m. in his series called “Why Saskatchewan Need a Nuclear Waste Ban.”
lschick@panow.com
====================
4. Opposition to radioactive shipment through Great Lakes growing
http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/making-waves/2011/02/
opposition-grows-radioactive-shipment-through-great-lakes
Emma Lui February 15, 2011
On February 4, 2011, the Canadian Nuclear safety Commission (CNSC) approved Bruce Power’s plan to ship 16 bus-size radioactive steam generators from Owen Sound to Nyköping, Sweden. Bruce Power has contracted Swedish company Studsvik to transport and decontaminate 90% of the steam generators. The scrap metal will be free released into the consumer market. This is the first of several shipments since Bruce Power has 64 steam generators that it plans to ship to Sweden. The decision, which had been expected in December, was released at 4:30 p.m. on a Friday afternoon. The timing of the release speaks to the controversy and opposition to the decision that the CNSC had expected.
Since the decision, opposition to the shipment has grown. The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, the Council of Canadians, the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility and Mouvement Sortons le Québec du Nucléaire immediately issued statements condemning the decision. The Mohawks of Akwasesne, Kahnawake and Tyendinaga released a joint statement
[ http://www.kahnawake.com/news/pr/pr02092011c.pdf ] last week expressing their opposition to the shipment. The mayors of Sarnia and Montreal have reiterated their resolve to stop the shipment in the media.
MORE:
http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/making-waves/2011/02/
opposition-grows-radioactive-shipment-through-great-lakes
===================
5. An appeal to Parliamentarians - plus - A Resolution on Radioactive Steam Generators
http://ccnr.org/Letter_MP_e_final.pdf
Montreal, February 14, 2010.
An appeal to Members of Parliament
Re: the lack of a policy on radioactive wastes from nuclear reactors (excluding irradiated nuclear fuel)
Dear Sir or Madam:
In the interests of good governance, we are asking you to take action now to prevent the possibility of several dangerous precedents about radioactive wastes becoming established in a policy vacuum.
We are writing in reference to Bruce Power’s current plan to ship 16 radioactive steam generators through the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway and across the Atlantic Ocean to Sweden.
The purpose of this shipment is to reduce the volume of Bruce Power’s radioactive waste by shipping to a facility in Sweden that will melt most of the contaminated metal, mix it with non-contaminated metal and then sell it as scrap for unrestricted use in commercial products.
The most radioactive portions of the steam generators – about 450 tonnes of the original 1600 tonnes – will be shipped back to Halifax and then trucked back to Bruce Power for permanent storage as radioactive waste.
If this shipment goes ahead, it will establish three precedents, each having far-reaching political implications:
PRECEDENT ONE:
It will be the first time that Canada has exported or imported radioactive wastes from a refurbished or decommissioned nuclear reactor.
PRECEDENT TWO:
It will also be the first time radioactive wastes from nuclear reactors have been shipped through the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway.
PRECEDENT THREE:
It will be the first time that radioactive waste materials from Canadian reactors have been introduced into the world’s scrap metal market.
In addition, the proposed shipment would contradict explicit assurances given during a 2005-2007 Environmental Assessment in which Bruce Power and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) staff declared that the steam generators are radioactive wastes, which cannot be recycled “for safety and environmental reasons.” The steam
generators were to be sent to the Western Waste Management Facility for storage in perpetuity.
The proposed shipment has raised a great deal of public concern. More than 200 municipalities along the transport route – including 120 in Quebec – oppose the shipment. First Nations and other aboriginal communities have identified the lack of consultation in this matter as a breach of the government’s duty to consult. Dozens of NGOs from North America and abroad have stated their opposition to the plan.
The CNSC, originally intending to have one of their staff members issue a license without any form of public consultation at all, responded to this outpouring of concern by agreeing to set aside two days to hear the views of 80 interveners. Moreover, in a ruling rare for this body, the CNSC extended the comment period for an additional 30 days. On February 4, however, they granted a licence for the transport of the steam generators.
But we believe this matter is far more than a mere licensing question – it is an important policy issue. The Parliament and the Government of Canada need to formulate a policy framework to address the challenges associated with the disposition of all radioactive wastes from nuclear reactors other than irradiated nuclear fuel (for which a policy framework does exist).
Such a policy framework would address the following questions:
What should Canada’s policy be with regard to the export/import of these wastes? Should Canada allow the transport of such wastes through the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River? Should Canada condone the dispersal of radioactive wastes into scrap used to manufacture consumer products? And should Bruce Power or any proponent be allowed to promise one course of action during an environmental assessment and then do the opposite after the assessment has been completed?
Today we are asking you to sign a resolution [below] calling on the Minister of Natural Resources to ensure that Bruce Power is not permitted to transport the steam generators until such time as Parliament and the Government of Canada have established a policy
framework that addresses these larger issues raised by the proposed shipment. There is no urgency for Bruce Power to ship the steam generators; Ontario Power Generation (OPG) planned to store them on the surface until 2043, and then underground thereafter.
Thank you for your time and attention to this important matter.
Gordon Edwards, Ph.D., Canadian co-chair,
Great Lakes United Task Force.
53 Dufferin, Hampstead QC, H3X 2X8;
(514) 489 2665 / ccnr@web.ca
= = = = = =
For a pdf version of this resolution:
http://ccnr.org/Resolution_MP_Senators.pdf
======================
6. Canada fights against environmental protection across the border
http://www.waterkeeper.ca/
American government promises $5 billion over 5 years for Great Lakes restoration while our Canadian government rubber-stamps nuclear shipment.
I grew up in Canada believing that despite our small population, our country was a major player in the world. We punched above our weight when it came to human rights, education and environmental protection. I carried this pride with me when I worked outside Canada. As Director of Waterkeeper Alliance I’ve traveled widely across North America working with Waterkeeper organizations. During these trips I’d always play up Canada’s scrappy underdog image. I’d say America is strong, but Canada is great. Sadly, as I head to New York this week for my 10th Annual Board gathering, I fear our brand has been lost.
The Canadian-US border cuts through the Great Lakes, making governance of the lakes necessarily international. The world’s largest system of fresh water in the world, over 40 million people rely on the Great Lakes for drinking water, recreation, and fishing. The basin faces a wide variety of threats, from agricultural run-off and development to landfills and nuclear power plants, that have destroyed shoreline habitat, introduced non-native species, contaminated sediments, and threatened to destroy over fifty threatened or endangered species.
While the Americans work to reverse the damage and raise environmental standards on the Great Lakes, the Canadian government is rolling back and watering down our laws.
An example of our government’s neglect for the environment is their lobbying efforts to derail the American’s efforts to improve shipping regulations. The perfect case study is Canada’s recent decision to allow private nuclear companies to ship radioactive waste on the Great Lakes. The decision exposes our drinking water to radioactive waste that exceeds international standards for ocean cargo by six times, and exceeds the fresh water standard by fifty times. Despite pleas from US cities, politicians, and non-profit groups, the Canadian government issued that precedent-setting license to Bruce Power last week. The license was granted without US partnership or agreement, and without involving the affected communities on both sides of the border.
In my twenty year environmental career, there has never been a better opportunity to work with American politicians and communities to dramatically improve our protection of the Great Lakes and restore much of what we have lost. Not only is Canada ignoring this opportunity, but openly trying to thwart it. Canadians need to tell their governments and industries, now is the time for action – not excuses. Now is the time to be great again.
Many RELATED ARTICLES:
http://www.waterkeeper.ca/
===================
7. Canadian Nuclear Safety Commisison - Educational Resources
http://www.nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/educ ... /index.cfm
Welcome to the CNSC’s educational resources pages. (Emphasis Added. Ed.)
Guided by Inspector Geiger, you’ll find some simple information about nuclear science – from inside the atom to how nuclear is used around the world.
Information is tailored to specific grades:
2-6 (Elementary school, grades two to six)
7-8 (Middle school, grades seven and eight)
9-12 (Secondary school, grades nine to twelve)
Games and puzzles
Below, you’ll also find links to educational material provided by many other organizations involved in the nuclear sector and other science areas.
(All Links are on URL above)
Government agencies
Natural Resources Canada
Environment Canada
Government of Canada’s Science Web site
US Nuclear Regulatory Commission Student’s Corner
Others
Canadian Nuclear Association: Education Web site
IAEA Youth Resources
Canada Museum of Science and Technology: Canada’s First Nuclear Reactor
Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame
Cameco Corporation: Uranium 101
BBC’s Schools Radiation and Matter Web site
Basics of nuclear energy by Dr. David P. Stern Emeritus, Goddard Space Flight Center
National Nuclear Science Week Web site (source: U.S. National Museum of Nuclear Science and History Web site)
==================
8. Nuclear radiation is forever
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/health/
Nuclear+radiation+forever/4240391/story.html
(check out the comments section in the article)
By Helen Caldicott And Dale Dewar, Citizen Special February 8, 2011
Like most Ontario towns, Port Hope, on the shores of Lake Ontario, has a water treatment plant supplying its drinking water. Incredibly, adjacent to this plant is a huge factory now owned by Cameco. The factory hovers over this picturesque town, emitting uranium gas and dust into the air and Lake Ontario as it manufactures uranium fuel rods for export.
Port Hope is the deep dark underbelly of the Canadian nuclear industry, representing dangers that so far, have escaped sufficient scrutiny and cleanup.
MORE:
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/health/
Nuclear+radiation+forever/4240391/story.html
========================
9. Research finds radiation test cancer link
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/health/
Research+finds+radiation+test+cancer+link/4241500/story.html
By Sharon Kirkey, Postmedia News February 8, 2011
Canadian researchers appear to have proven what, until now, had only been assumed: Radiation from widely used medical tests can increase the risk of cancer.
Montreal doctors who followed nearly 83,000 heart attack victims for five years found that exposure to low-dose ionizing radiation from common tests used to diagnose and treat heart problems are associated with an increased risk of cancer.
The risk is small, "but it's definitely there" -and the higher the level of exposure, the higher the risk, said Dr. Louise Pilote, director of the division of internal medicine at the McGill University Health Centre. "These are not benign tests."
For every 10 millisieverts of radiation, there was a three per cent increase in the chance of developing cancer over the next five years.
MORE:
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/health/
Research+finds+radiation+test+cancer+link/4241500/story.html
====================
10. Canada is 'schizophrenic' on nuclear power, must choose side: Bruce Power CEO
http://www.canadianbusiness.com/markets/
headline_news/article.jsp?content=b5709590
By: Maria Babbage, The Canadian Press
Posted: 01/20/2011 2:24 PM | | Last Modified: 01/20/2011 5:44 PM
TORONTO - Canada is "schizophrenic" when it comes to its nuclear industry and must decide soon whether it will support it politically or abandon a business that's here to stay, Bruce Power CEO Duncan Hawthorne said Thursday.
The plain-speaking former engineer pulled no punches as he waded into the debate over Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., which the Conservative government decided to put up for sale almost two years ago.
Hawthorne, whose company was reportedly in talks to buy the heavily subsidized Crown corporation, wouldn't confirm whether Bruce Power has in fact walked away from the table.
But it's clear that success in the nuclear business requires consistency something Canada lacks, he said.
"We've been schizophrenic," he said in a Toronto speech to the Empire Club of Canada.
"Do we want to kill it? Do we want to feed it? Do we want to sell it? Are we happy with someone else coming in, and we'll become passive and just import the technology?"
MORE:
http://www.canadianbusiness.com/markets/
headline_news/article.jsp?content=b5709590
==================
11. Paul McKay's 100th Anniversary of Ontario "Switch On" session speech
http://cpconference.ca/
Page.asp?PageID=924&ContentID=2830&AA_SiteLanguageID=1
"Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it." - George Santayana
"A cynic knows the cost of everything -- but the value of nothing." - Oscar Wilde
Canadians are widely reputed to be a peaceably pragmatic lot, not prone to claims of revolutionary high drama, divine destiny, or prima donna self-promotion. We can't claim a Paul Revere, a Joan of Arc, a Donald Trump or Lady Gaga.
Instead, we have Banting and Best's quiet discovery of insulin, Dr. Norman Bethune's battlefield blood transfusion kit, Alexander Graham Bell's crackling telephone, Massey-Ferguson tractors, the RIM Blackberry, the Tim Horton's drive-thru - innovations which succeeded because they worked.
So it may be tempting to assume that a condensed version of Ontario's 100-year history of electric power might be worthy of only a bored yawn, or an early exit for an advance coffee break.
I am here to convince you otherwise.
One hundred years ago, much of southern Ontario was literally and metaphorically electrified when the clean, renewable "white coal" of Niagara arrived in Toronto, Kitchener and London via the first publicly-owned transmission grid in North America.
MORE:
http://cpconference.ca/
Page.asp?PageID=924&ContentID=2830&AA_SiteLanguageID=1
=====================
12. No Nukes News - Feb. 14, 2011
If it takes investing in 21st Century green power at an added cost of a few bucks more per household each month, and sucking up our own failure to pay for past mistakes, perhaps it’s time to start paying these debts forward. I will leave you with a final question: What do you imagine our grandchildren might implore us to do if they could? – Paul McKay
As a citizen and a parent, I am appalled by your plan to build new nuclear projects. I implore you: do not pour any public money down this radioactive debt-hole. Please give real support to our growing green energy industry. I urge you to remove all caps on cleaner and greener energy sources in your energy plan. I also urge you to require that all new nuclear projects compete on a level playing field, by not allowing cost overruns to be passed on to ratepayers and taxpayers. – Tania Szablowski, Toronto resident, in a letter to Premier McGuinty.
You can send a letter to McGuinty too! Click here:
http://www.cleanairalliance.org/letter_to_dalton2
Order leaflets/postcards opposing the Darlington Newbuild:
http://www.cleanairalliance.org/
get_involved_order_pamphlets
Learn more about the province’s plans to build new reactors at Darlington:
http://stopdarlington.org/
----------------------------------------------------------------
Send a Valentines Email to Federal Environment Minister Peter Kent
Greenpeace has produced a special video for our special non-Environment Minister Peter Kent. It is a spoof on the eHarmony dating service. We call it Polluter Harmony or pHarmony.
Funny… And you can send the minister an email.
You can see it all at
www.polluterharmony.ca
----------------------------------------------------------------
Why is Electricity in ON Expensive?
Here’s the answer by Paul McKay
When the old Ontario Hydro effectively became bankrupt in 1999, about $30 billion in stranded debt was shifted to different government ledgers. Virtually all of it was due to unrecoverable nuclear costs. This was originally supposed to be paid down by 2012. But since 1999 Ontario ratepayers have made $36.3 billion in cumulative payments on this stranded debt -- yet $27.6 billion remains to be paid. Someday. Somehow.
$27.6 billion. How many in Ontario know of this debt, or what it means, or how it will be dealt with? It is all but invisible to the public. Our politicians want to keep it that way. Yet the press remains lazily indifferent to this serial negligence while devoting acres of outraged ink to microscopic payments paid to "solar baron" farmers who put up their own money to put Pv panels on their barns.
This stranded debt, more than any other single fact, tells us that our "public" utility is anything but publicly accountable, and that all the price signals in Ontario's power "market" are dangerously distorted because this lurking, $27.6 billion ice-berg of hidden debt is not treated as a generation cost.
So we have a perverse optical illusion: more than half of Ontario's energy comes from nuclear plants which appear far cheaper than they are, while new renewable projects appear far more expensive than their secretly-subsidized main rival.
http://cpconference.ca/
Page.asp?PageID=924&ContentID=2830
----------------------------------------------------------------
Chernobyl birds are small brained
Birds living around the site of the Chernobyl nuclear accident have 5% smaller brains, an effect directly linked to lingering background radiation. Smaller brain sizes are thought to be linked to reduced cognitive ability. The effect was most pronounced in younger birds, particularly those less than a year old. That suggests that many bird embryos did not survive at all, due to the negative effects on their developing brain.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/
newsid_9387000/9387395.stm
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Canadian commission OKs shipment with radioactive waste on Great Lakes
http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/
article?AID=/20110208/NEWS02/302089956/-1/ETN
Nuclear shipment angers municipalities
City of Montreal officials have joined critics from across Quebec and Ontario in condemning a decision to allow a huge shipment of radioactive waste to travel through the St. Lawrence Seaway.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/technology/
Nuclear+shipment+angers+municipalities/4235608/story.html
CNSC, Bruce Power called to the carpet over nuke shipment
A Commons committee intends to grill members of the Canada's nuclear regulator and Bruce Power over plans to ship used radioactive generators through the Great Lakes.
http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/
2011/02/06/17176581.html
Bruce Power scheme to ship radioactive nuclear waste a dangerous precedent
Justice for the environment - denied
http://www.sierraclub.ca/en/media/release/
bruce-power-scheme-ship-radioactive-nuclear-waste-dangerous-precedent
Critics of Bruce Power say fight is 'not over'
http://www.thestar.com/news/article/
934026--critics-of-bruce-power-say-fight-is-not-over
Nuclear waste shipment ignores rule of law: Madahbee
First Nations in the Great Lakes watershed are accusing a federal government agency of ignoring the rule of law by approving the shipment of nuclear waste through their territories without even notifying them.
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/
February2011/08/c8977.html
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'Barred' from Port Hope: An interview with Dr. Helen Caldicott
http://rabble.ca/news/2011/02/
barred-port-hope-interview-dr-helen-caldicott
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Pelham against coal-fired hydro plants
Pelham has joined other municipalities in urging the Ontario government to mothball coal-fired power stations. Jack Gibbons of the Ontario Clean Air Alliance asked town council Monday to pass a resolution supporting its "coal must go" campaign. It asks the government "to direct Ontario Power Generation to put its coal plants on standby reserve and only operate them if they are absolutely needed to keep the lights on in Ontario."
http://www.wellandtribune.ca/
ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2970828
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When the Dust Settles
Animated short on the impact of depleted uranium weapons and the international campaign against them, produced by the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons and IKV Pax Christi.
http://www.youtube.com/user/ICBUW
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Solar power: U.S. tries to cut costs, regain edges
Seizing on what President Obama called this generation's "Sputnik moment," the federal government has begun an effort to slash the cost of solar power by 75 percent and reclaim America's lead in the fast-growing global industry. The effort, called SunShot, aims to make photovoltaic solar power as inexpensive as electricity from plants burning fossil fuels by the end of the decade. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Friday the U.S. government would refocus its existing solar programs, which costs about $200 million a year. He also announced $27 million in new funding for companies exploring new solar technologies, including three in the Bay Area.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f ... 011/02/05/
MND51HJ27H.DTL
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Misinformation fouls the wind debate
http://envirolaw.com/misinformation-wind-debate/
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More Clean Energy Jobs Coming To Toronto
Ontario has already attracted more than $16 billion in private sector investment in the clean energy sector, and over 20 companies have announced plans to set up or expand operations in Ontario. In 2003, Ontario had 19 polluting coal units and no solar projects online. Today more than 2,900 solar projects are feeding electricity into Ontario's grid, eight coal units have already been shut down and by 2014 all coal units will be closed. Ontario's long term energy plan forecasts 10,700 MW of renewable energy - wind, solar and biomass - by 2018. This is equivalent to meeting the annual electricity requirements of two million homes.
http://www.tradingmarkets.com/news/press-release/
cls_shcay_more-clean-energy-jobs-coming-to-toronto-1473078.html
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Blowing Coal Away - Wind power now competitive with coal in some regions
http://www.grist.org/article/
2011-02-07-report-wind-power-now-competitive-with-coal-in-some-regions
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Ontario stops offshore wind power development
The Ontario government has called a stop to any offshore wind power projects in the province’s portion of the Great Lakes, until further scientific study is done.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/ontario-stops-offshore-wind-power-development/article1904138/
Ontario halts offshore wind-energy projects
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/technology/
Ontario+halts+offshore+wind+energy+projects/4271179/story.html
Ontario Places Moratorium on Offshore Wind DevelopmentEstimates by the non-profit Conference Board of Canada suggest Ontario has the potential to develop about 2,000 MW of offshore wind power.
http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/
news.display/id/21876
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Solar PV Becoming Cheaper than Gas in California?
The latest round of proposed contracts from a California utility for 250 MW of solar PV projects comes in below the price of natural gas.
We hear it every day: "Solar is too expensive." Well, not according to the California utility Southern California Edison.
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/
article/2011/02/solar-pv-becoming-cheaper-than-gas-in-california?cmpid=WNL-Wednesday-February9-2011
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Pulling the plug on phantom power can save hundreds
Just because you’re not using it doesn’t mean it’s not costing you. Phantom power can lurk in any corner of your home.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/
personal-finance/pulling-the-plug-on-phantom-power-can-save-hundreds/article1898324/
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Angela Bischoff, Outreach Director
Ontario Clean Air Alliance
Tel: 416 926 1907 x 246
625 Church Street, #402, Toronto, ON M4Y 2G1
angela@cleanairalliance.org
www.ontariosgreenfuture.ca
www.cleanairalliance.org
Our Facebook Group
No Nukes News
Health Power
Coal Must Go
=======================
13. JAPANESE GOVERNMENT BANK BEING ASKED FOR LOAN TO BUILD NEW TEXAS REACTORS - TELL JAPANESE GOVERNMENT: NO LOANS FOR NUCLEAR REACTORS IN U.S. (or anywhere else)!
http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5502/p/dia/action/
public/?action_KEY=5484
February 10, 2011
Dear Friends across the world,
We are asking for your help.
NRG Energy's proposed two-reactor South Texas nuclear project is widely considered the frontrunner to obtain the next U.S. Department of Energy loan "guarantee." Indeed, we're told a conditional loan guarantee (really, a direct loan from U.S. taxpayers) could be granted as early as next week.
Yet the South Texas project is in serious trouble. Construction cost estimates have spiraled from $5.6 Billion in 2006 to more than $18 Billion today. The City of San Antonio, which initially was to own 50% of the project, has reduced its share to 7.5% because of the escalating costs. NRG Energy is now desperately trying to find new partners and is offering the city of Austin's municipal utility a sweetheart deal for electricity from the proposed reactors--although even a sweetheart deal by nuclear standards could cause rate increases for Austin consumers.
And even if a DOE loan is awarded, that won't cover the full construction costs of the project.
Besides NRG Energy, Toshiba is also an investor in the project and last Spring, Tokyo Electric Power promised to invest $155 million in it as well.
So with those partners in hand, NRG has turned to Japan for more money. Specifically, the project is asking for billions in loans from the Japanese export-import bank, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC).
But why should Japan fund a highly-controversial, environmentally-destructive and extraordinarily expensive nuclear reactor project in the United States?
The simple answer is: Japan shouldn't. And we ask individuals from across the world to tell the Prime Minister and Cabinet exactly that from our action page here:
http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5502/p/dia/
action/public/?action_KEY=5484.
Organizations: We are coordinating an international sign-on letter to the Japanese Prime Minister and members of the Cabinet. You can read the letter here:
http://www.nirs.org/nukerelapse/stexas/
lettertojapaneseministryonsouthtexas211.pdf.
If your organization can sign on to this letter, please send us an e-mail with your name, organization name, city, state (if in U.S.) and country to nirsnet@nirs.org.
In many ways, Japan is at the heart of the so-called global nuclear renaissance. Toshiba, Hitachi and Mitsubishi design and manufacture reactors. Japan Steel Works is the only entity that currently can manufacture large reactor pressure vessels. Other Japanese companies also want to get in on the action.
Indeed, after the Texas reactors, Japan will be considering funding other nuclear projects in countries like Vietnam and India. Yet JBIC doesn't even have guidelines yet for funding nuclear power projects! (we'll be letting you know later how to get involved in the formulation of those guidelines).
Working with our colleagues at SEED Coalition and Public Citizen in Texas, as well as environmental groups in Japan, we've asked for a meeting with JBIC officials in Washington to discuss the issue. Not only would a JBIC loan for these reactors be objectionable for Texas, it would likely be an economic disaster for JBIC itself, and in turn the citizens of Japan whose taxes support JBIC. But so far, JBIC has turned down our requests for a meeting.
The action we ask you to take now is the first step in a longer, broader campaign. We likely will be targeting JBIC itself soon. And it isn't just Japan: export-import banks in France, the U.S. and elsewhere are also involved in spreading nuclear reactors and materials, radioactive waste, and radioactive contamination across the world. This isn't international cooperation; it's international devastation. And it has to stop. This is where we start. Please act now.
Thanks for all you do,
Michael Mariotte, Executive Director
Nuclear Information and Resource Service
nirsnet@nirs.org
www.nirs.org
P.S. You can also follow this campaign--and a lot of other news and actions--as well as post your own comments on our newest Facebook page here:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/
Nuclear-Information-and-Resource-Service/26490791479?v=wall&filter=1
===================
14. The truth behind India's nuclear renaissance
http://www.theecologist.org/blogs_and_comments/
commentators/other_comments/764515/the_truth_behind_indias_nuclear_renaissance.html
Jaitapur's French-built nuclear plant is a disaster in waiting, jeopardising biodiversity and local livelihoods, says activist Praful Bidwai
Praful Bidwai, The Ecologist, February 9 2011
The global "nuclear renaissance" touted a decade ago has not materialised.
The US's nuclear industry remains starved of new reactor orders since 1973, and western Europe's first reactor after Chernobyl (1986) is in serious trouble in Finland – 42 months behind schedule, 90 per cent over budget, and in bitter litigation. But India is forging ahead to create an artificial nuclear renaissance by quadrupling its nuclear capacity by 2020 and then tripling it by 2030 by pumping billions into reactor imports from France, Russia and America, and further subsidising the domestic Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL).
The first victim of this will be an extraordinarily precious ecosystem in the Konkan region of the mountain range that runs along India's west coast. This is one of the world's biodiversity "hotspots" and home to 6,000 species of flowering plants, mammals, birds and amphibians, including 325 threatened ones. It is the source of two major rivers. Botanists say it's India's richest area for endemic plants. With its magical combination of virgin rainforests, mountains and sea, it puts Goa in the shade.
NPCIL is planning to install six 1,650-MW reactors here, at Jaitapur in Maharashtra's Ratnagiri district, based on the European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) design of the French company Areva – the very same that's in trouble in Finland. The government has forcibly acquired 2,300 acres under a colonial law, ignoring protests. As construction begins, mountains will be flattened, trees uprooted, harbours razed, and a flourishing farming, horticultural and fisheries economy destroyed, jeopardising 40,000 people's survival.
MORE:
http://www.theecologist.org/blogs_and_comments/
commentators/other_comments/764515/the_truth_behind_indias_nuclear_renaissance.html
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15. WATCH: A Time-Lapse Map of Every Nuclear Explosion Since 1945
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=LLCF7vPanrY&feature=player_embedded
=======================
16. Taylor points to U.S. role in F-35 debate
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7350&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
February 16, 2011
Esprit de Corps editor and publisher Scott Taylor comments on the silent role of the U.S. government in the F-35 debate (Scott Taylor, “The silent US hand guiding Canada’s F-35 debate,” Embassy, 9 February 2011, full text here):
http://www.espritdecorps.ca/
index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=502:staples-ousts-the-brass&catid=37:politics&Itemid=97
Although no actual contract has been signed, the Harper Tories remain adamant that they will proceed with the purchase of the stealth aircraft, which, at an initial cost of $9 billion and an estimated $7 billion in future maintenance expenses, would make this the largest military project expenditure in Canada’s history….
Thanks to recent revelations made public via WikiLeaks, it is safe to surmise that the US State Department is the unseen puppeteer making Harper do the F-35 dance. The embarrassing documents contain American diplomatic correspondence detailing how they used a public “carrot” and a private “stick” approach to convince Norway to buy the F-35.
MORE:
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7350&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
=====================
17. Respected Canadian negotiator removed from disarmament talks, resigns
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7220&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
Posted: 10 Feb 2011 01:32 PM PST
Respected Canadian disarmament negotiator Earl Turcotte has been removed from his post following American complaints that his stance on the international Convention on Cluster Munitions was too aggressive. Turcotte has since informed his colleagues that he will be resigning from the Department of Foreign Affairs in order to independently advocate for the Convention, which he helped [...]
====================
18. WATCH: Steven Staples discusses F-35s on CTV Power Play
http://www.ceasefire.ca/?p=7239
Posted: 10 Feb 2011 01:18 PM PST
Watch Steven Staples discuss Canada’s controversial purchase of F-35s with Lt.-Gen. George Macdonald on CTV Power Play.
======================
19. Governor-General honours veteran of the war on war
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/
Somnia/article1878063/
CAMPBELL CLARK OTTAWA— From Friday's Globe and Mail Published Thursday, Jan. 20, 2011 9:41PM EST Last updated Friday, Jan. 21, 2011 7:38AM EST
- - - - - -
MORE:
Ernie Regehr:
http://disarmingconflict.ca/ernie-regehr/
It isn’t exactly the halcyon days of peace activism, when no-nukes marches pulled Canadians into the street. But you could argue that it’s a movement that wears a suit now, and internationally, has reached the zenith of its power among political elites. Through it all, Ernie Regehr has been a solid constant amid the flickering fashions of Canadian peaceniks.
Mr. Regehr co-founded Waterloo-based Project Ploughshares, a church-backed peace organization, in 1976, before the peace movement became modish in the last throes of the Cold War, and stuck with it through the decades as the movement differed over complex wars in places like Afghanistan.
Now 69, the modest Mr. Regehr, respected for his expertise even by opponents, will get a bit of bling to mark that career: Governor-General David Johnston will on Friday award him the Pearson Peace Medal, last bestowed on General Roméo Dallaire in 2004.
“He’s the dean of the peace movement in Canada,” said retired Senator Douglas Roche, a former Tory politician and anti-nuclear activist.
MORE:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/
Somnia/article1878063/
==================
20. WATCH: Go figure: What would it cost to save the world?
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7244&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
Posted: 12 Feb 2011 11:51 PM PST
$1.6 billion in military spending worldwide in 2010. What else could we have done with that money? Demilitarize.org shows some of the alternatives.
==================
21. Iraq delays purchase of US fighter jets
http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2011/02/14/1867021/
iraqis-in-baghdad-protest-bad.html
By REBECCA SANTANA - Associated Press February 14, 2011
BAGHDAD Iraq is delaying the purchase of 18 American fighter jets over budget problems and has decided to funnel the money into food for the poor instead, said the Iraqi government spokesman Monday.
Iraq, like, many Middle Eastern countries in the wake of the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, is under pressure to demonstrate its commitment to helping its own people. But delaying the purchase also leaves Iraq, which relies on departing American forces to protect its skies, vulnerable.
Ali al-Dabbagh told The Associated Press that the Iraqi government would postpone the expected purchase of the F-16 fighter jets and would instead use the money to beef up food rations. The Iraqi government gives food rations to many of its neediest citizens, who complain the rations have gotten smaller.
MORE:
http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2011/02/14/
1867021/iraqis-in-baghdad-protest-bad.html
==================
22. COMMENT: Larose: Re: Internet "control"
From: Paul-André Larose
Sent: Friday, February 04, 2011 8:36 AM
I am not even sure that the masses are even aware of the truth. They are being led, as a happy bunch of zombies, to their destruction, by "leaders" who betray them - for the profit of a few. Not much has changed from thousand of years ago. Remember the "Sheep of Panurge"? Give them "Bread and Games".
Below is the best short summary that I have seen...
WATCH: Mouseland:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqpFm7zAK90
Paul-Andre Larose
Durham Action, Oshawa (Durham Region), Ontario.
===================
23. Foreign hackers attack Canadian government
http://www.cbc.ca/politics/story/2011/02/16/
pol-weston-hacking.html
Computer systems at 3 key departments penetrated
Last Updated: Thursday, February 17, 2011 | 5:08 AM ET By Greg Weston, CBC News
An unprecedented cyberattack on the Canadian government also targeted Defence Research and Development Canada, making it the third key department compromised by hackers, CBC News has learned.
The attack, apparently from China, also gave foreign hackers access to highly classified federal information and also forced the Finance Department and Treasury Board — the federal government's two main economic nerve centres — off the internet.
Defence Research and Development Canada works to assist in the scientific and technological needs of the Canadian Forces. It is a civilian agency of the Department of National Defence.
The cyberattack, first detected in early January, left Canadian counter-espionage agents scrambling to determine how much sensitive government information may have been stolen and by whom.
Highly placed sources tell CBC News the cyberattacks were traced back to computer servers in China.
They caution, however, that there is no way of knowing whether the hackers are Chinese, or some other nationality routing their cybercrimes through China to cover their tracks.
So far, officials in Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government have been all but mum on the extraordinary breach of security.
The government initially issued a terse statement, passing it all off as merely an "attempt to access" federal networks. It has refused to release any further information.
MORE:
http://www.cbc.ca/politics/story/2011/02/16/
pol-weston-hacking.html
- - - - - -
Other hacking cases
February 2011: U.S. computer security firm McAfee reports hackers operating from China stole sensitive information from Western oil companies in the United States, Taiwan, Greece and Kazakhstan, beginning in November 2009.
March 2010: Citizen Lab and the SecDev Group discover computers at embassies and government departments in 103 countries, including the Dalai Lama's office and India, were compromised by an attack originating from servers in China. They dub the network involved "GhostNet."
January 2010: Google claims cyberattacks from China have hit it and at least 20 other companies. Google shuts down its China operations.
June 2009: A top-secret memo by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service warns that cyber attacks on government, university and industry computers have been growing "substantially."
February 2008: Quebec provincial police say they dismantled a computer hacking network that targeted unprotected computers around the world, including government computers.
- Oscar
- Site Admin
- Posts: 9965
- Joined: Wed May 03, 2006 3:23 pm
NUKE NEWS: February 25, 2011
by Oscar » Fri Feb 25, 2011 3:14 pm
NUKE NEWS: February 25, 2011
1. EVENT: Regina – March 11 - Pot Luck & Information Session - Dr. HARDING on Nuclear Waste
2. PARTICIPATE: Be Heard on March 3rd: No Stealth Fighters”
3. EVENT: Ottawa Conference, March 25 and 26, Physicians for Global Survival
4. Notice - Darlington New Nuclear Power Plant Project
5. HARDING: THE CHALLENGES OF ACHIEVING A NUCLEAR WASTE BAN
6. Council (of Canadians)chapters oppose nuclear waste dump in Saskatchewan
7. The Council of Canadians Statement on Nuclear Power and uranium Mining – 2008
8. COMMENTARY: LACK & WARD: Nuclear waste can't be managed
9. Not through our backyard
10. ADAMSON: LETTER: RE: Shipping Defunct Radioactive Steam Generators to Sweden
11. Analysts hike Cameco price targets on uranium spike
12. No Nukes News - Feb. 22, 2011
13. Former utilities board chairman cut off at hearing - New Brunswick - CBC News
14. An EPIC battle for Canada's energy future
15. Federal Plan Announced to Protect Grand Canyon From Uranium Mining
16. World Nuclear News - 15-21 February 2011
17. Canadian Military Exports to the Middle East & North Africa
18. MP proposes nuke-free Canadian Arctic
19. UN peacekeeping missions face shortfalls
20. WATCH: When the Dust Settles - (6.4 min.)
21. Africa: Global NATO Seeks To Recruit 50 New Military Partners
22. Moving Away From the Nuclear Button
23. WATCH: "Nobody Wins a Nuclear War" But "Success" is Possible
24. Boycott the UK census over links to Lockheed Martin, protesters say
=============
1. EVENT: Regina – March 11 - Pot Luck & Information Session - Dr. HARDING on Nuclear Waste
Saskatchewan is being targeted as a deep geological repository for the accumulated high level radioactive waste from the Bruce Power nuclear reactors in Ontario!
Learn more about the risks to human and ecological health at a Potluck & Information Session with Dr. Jim Harding, Retired Professor - University of Regina, Author of Canada’s Deadly Secret
Friday, March 11, 2011
Cathedral Neighbourhood Centre, 2900 13th Ave, Regina
Doors open at 6:00pm
Potluck at 6:30pm
Presentation at 7:00pm
**Bring food to share, a beverage, plate, cup and cutlery
Admission free. Donations welcome.
Sponsored by Clean Green Regina and Regina EcoLiving Inc.
For more information visit
www.cleangreensask.ca
Contact us at cleangreenregina@yahoo.ca
=================
2. PARTICIPATE: Be Heard on March 3rd: No Stealth Fighters”
http://www.ceasefire.ca/?p=7333
Be Heard on March 3rd: No Stealth Fighters
Thanks for signing-up
Campaign Tools: Be Heard on March 3rd – No Stealth Fighters
Nonviolence guru cited in Mideast revolutions
Be Heard on March 3rd: No Stealth Fighters
Posted: 21 Feb 2011 12:15 PM PST
Join us on March 3rd in a national day of action to tell Stephen Harper and your Member of Parliament No Stealth Fighters ! Ahead of the budget and possible elections, it’s more important than ever to be heard and voice your opposition to this multi-billion dollar purchase. The goal of the campaign is to send [...]
Thanks for signing-up
Posted: 21 Feb 2011 01:37 PM PST
Thank you for joining the campaign! Check your inbox shortly for an important message to share with your contacts. Please take a second to follow us on Facebook:
Campaign Tools: Be Heard on March 3rd – No Stealth Fighters
Posted: 21 Feb 2011 12:32 PM PST
Add Campaign Tools to your Website or Blog To add the petition and the banners to your site select the entire code on top of the object you want to appear on your site. Then copy and paste the code into your webpage or blog. Campaign Petition – Printed version (pdf) Leaflet: 10 reasons the [...]
Nonviolence guru cited in Mideast revolutions
Posted: 21 Feb 2011 12:31 PM PST
Credit for the “people power” revolutions that have swept longstanding despots out of power in the Middle East and now threaten many similar regimes goes first and foremost to the courageous people in those countries who have taken it upon themselves, often at great personal risk, to demand the right to rule their own lives. [...]
==================
3. EVENT: Ottawa Conference, March 25 and 26, Physicians for Global Survival
http://pgs.ca/?page_id=725
FACING OFF FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE in a Militarized World
Conflict Zones, Human Rights & Health Care
Featuring Dr. Helen Caldicott and more..
PGS conference on March 25/26 where Helen will be a guest speaker along with Ian Fairlie, CMA President Dr. Jeff Turnbull and gardening specialist Ed Lawrence ( speaking on Uranium in our Environment ) and many more …
Registration:
http://pgs.ca/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/
Registration-form-forOttawa-20111.doc
==================
4. Notice - Darlington New Nuclear Power Plant Project
From: Darlington Joint Review Panel-Commission d'examen Conjoint a Dar
Sent: Friday, February 25, 2011 12:23 PM
NOTE: “The Panel will also welcome written comments on the report from anyone, regardless of whether they have chosen to participate in the public hearing or not. “
Interested Parties - Please take note:
The Joint Review Panel today posted a Statement of Work, directing Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to “provide independent expert evaluation related to the adequacy of the assessment of cooling towers for condenser cooling, as presented in the Ontario Power Generation (OPG) Environmental impact Statement (EIS) for the Darlington New Nuclear Power Plant project. “ The Panel determined that the assistance of independent experts was required to assist with the interpretation of technical and scientific issues. The Panel assigned the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to manage the PNNL contract for this undertaking on its behalf.
The work by PNNL, as fully described in the Statement of Work, will be conveyed in a public report to the Joint Review Panel. The Final Report will be provided to the Panel and posted on the Canadian Environmental Assessment Registry Internet site no later than March 4, 2011. Interested parties and hearing participants will be notified when the report is posted.
The Joint Review Panel acknowledges that registered public hearing participants may wish to address aspects of the PNNL report at the hearing and encourages participants to do. The Panel will also welcome written comments on the report from anyone, regardless of whether they have chosen to participate in the public hearing or not. Sufficient opportunity for consideration of the report and response to the Joint Review Panel will be provided.
=====================
5. HARDING: THE CHALLENGES OF ACHIEVING A NUCLEAR WASTE BAN
http://forum.stopthehogs.com/phpBB2/
viewtopic.php?p=2031#2031
BY Jim Harding
Published in R-Town News on February 18, 2011
I don’t believe it would be good for Saskatchewan to “host” a nuclear waste dump. And there are indications that most Saskatchewan people feel the same way. Past polls have shown widespread opposition to bringing nuclear wastes here, and 80% of those participating in the Uranium Development Partnership (UDP) consultations in 2009 opposed a nuclear dump. But we know that popular democracy doesn’t necessarily win out in these David and Goliath conflicts. So what are the main challenges those wanting a nuclear waste ban will face?
In early February I was asked to speak on a nuclear waste ban at community forums in Saskatoon, Prince Albert and La Ronge. It was no surprise that fifty people came out in La Ronge and that Prince Albert had an even larger meeting than Saskatoon. It would take 18,000 truckloads to move existing and future radioactive high-level wastes (mainly from Ontario) to a northern Saskatchewan dump, and these would all be going nearby Prince Albert and La Ronge, day in and day out, for decades.
I wanted to present information that the broad public will not be getting from the industry’s Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO). Most people for example have no idea about the magnitude of the transportation that would be required to move 3.6 million fuel bundles across Canada. If people only hear the well-financed, one-sided industry view, there is no possibility of informed consent. And we know industry can be quite skilled at end-running democracy. I also wanted to listen and learn, and I heard a lot of passionate views, especially about the dilemmas facing northern communities. After this trip I am much clearer about what those wanting a nuclear waste ban are up against.
MORE:
http://forum.stopthehogs.com/phpBB2/
viewtopic.php?p=2031#2031
Other columns at:
http://jimharding.brinkster.net
==================
6. Council chapters oppose nuclear waste dump in Saskatchewan
http://www.canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=6534
Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011
The Toronto Star reports that, “Ottawa (is looking for) long-term solutions for the country’s nuclear waste (and) wants to build an underground mausoleum for millions of spent radioactive bundles that power nuclear plants in New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario. …In the ongoing search for a nuclear waste site (to store about two million highly radioactive bundles at a single site)…the federal government is paying close attention to public opinion (and has detected some openness for such a site) in New Brunswick and Saskatchewan.”
“The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) kicked off a process last spring to find a community willing to host an underground complex that would serve as a storage dump for all the country’s nuclear waste. …Obtained by The Canadian Press through Access to Information laws, (a NWMO) document summarizes public opinion in the four provinces that have nuclear-related industries and are the most likely sites of the underground repository. …(While noting opposition in Quebec), the report cited a more receptive climate for the multibillion-dollar project in New Brunswick and Saskatchewan.”
“The NWMO says seven communities across the country have formally expressed interest in hosting the underground repository: Creighton, English River First Nation and Pinehouse in Saskatchewan, and Ear Falls, Ignace, Schreiber and Hornepayne in Ontario. But these communities have only just reached the second stage of a nine-step process that will ultimately decide the repository’s location. At this point, they are entitled to receive information about what the project entails and are then vetted for suitability. …But before moving forward, officials will check the suitability of communities against criteria that could rule them out — including the presence of groundwater, fault lines or natural resources.”
“(NWMO communications manager Mike) Krizanic (has said that the) process was designed to incorporate as much input as possible from a wide variety of sources. This includes towns through which nuclear waste would pass on its way to the repository, and aboriginal groups whose treaties may be affected by the repository’s construction.”
THE COUNCIL OF CANADIANS
Our statement on nuclear power says, “The Council of Canadians rejects nuclear power because it poses an unacceptable risk to people and the environment. It is neither clean, safe, peaceful, nor economic. We are opposed to the further expansion of nuclear power in our country. Faced with climate change and diminishing energy resources globally, we recognize the need for a just transition away from a fossil fuel and nuclear dependent society, while ensuring Canadians access to basic energy needs, to sustainable, publicly funded and publicly delivered energy alternatives that benefit both workers and their communities. We support renewable, non-invasive energy sources (such as solar and wind power), energy efficiency and conservation.”
Council of Canadians chapters in Saskatchewan are organizing against the plan for nuclear waste to be transported from southern Ontario and dumped in their province. Prairies organizer Scott Harris highlights that, “Council of Canadians chapters are part of the Coalition for a Clean Green Saskatchewan, which is pushing for a nuclear waste ban in the province. As part of efforts to keep a nuclear waste ban out of Saskatchewan, chapters and the coalition have organized speaking events with nuclear expert Dr. Jim Harding, author of Canada’s Deadly Secret, in Wynard, Prince Albert, Saskatoon and La Ronge. The next presentation on the threat of a nuclear waste dump in Saskatchewan by Dr. Harding is taking place in Regina on Friday, March 11 at the Cathedral Neighbourhood Centre (2900-13 Avenue). Doors are at 6:00 pm, potluck at 6:30 pm, with the presentation beginning at 7:00.”
Concerns are also being raised about the route the nuclear waste would need to take. For instance, nuclear waste would need to travel approximately 2,896 kilometres from a nuclear plant in Clarington, Ontario to a possible dump site in Creighton, Saskatchewan. There are undoubtedly many communities, as well as numerous lakes, rivers and streams along this route that could be potentially affected by the transportation of these hazardous materials.
The Toronto Star article is at
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/
942080–document-sask-n-b-most-receptive-for-nuclear-waste-dump?bn=1.
= = = = =
Sask., N.B. reportedly receptive for nuclear waste dump
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/
942080–document-sask-n-b-most-receptive-for-nuclear-waste-dump?bn=1.
Jonathan Montpetit The Canadian Press
MONTREAL—The federal government is paying close attention to public opinion in the ongoing search for a nuclear waste site — and it detects some favourable signs in New Brunswick and Saskatchewan. [ . . . ]
====================
7. The Council of Canadians Statement on Nuclear Power and uranium Mining – 2008
http://www.canadians.org/energy/documents/
NuclearStatement-Oct08.pdf.
Council of Canadians statement on nuclear power and uranium mining
The Council of Canadians rejects nuclear power because it poses an unacceptable risk to people and the environment. It is neither clean, safe, peaceful, nor economic. We are opposed to the further expansion of nuclear power in our country. Faced with climate change and diminishing energy resources globally, we recognize the need for a just transition away from a fossil fuel and nuclear dependent society, while ensuring Canadians access to basic energy needs, to sustainable, publicly funded and publicly delivered energy alternatives that benefit both workers and their communities. We support renewable, non-invasive energy sources (such as solar and wind power), energy efficiency and conservation.
Nuclear power also requires uranium – the mining of which creates toxic tailings, poses water contamination and other environmental risks and health hazards. The Council of Canadians calls for a ban on all uranium exploration and mining; strengthening of legislation to ensure that any exploration or mining of other materials does not disturb or uncover uranium deposits; and fair, just transition programs for all communities and workers involved in the uranium mining industry.
Adopted by the Board of Directors, October 31, 2008
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8. COMMENTARY: LACK & WARD: Nuclear waste can't be managed
http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/ ... le/1380977
Published Thursday February 17th, 2011
Larry Lack and Lee Ann Ward
An article in a recent issue of our community newspaper, the St. Croix Courier, alerted us to $31,000 that reportedly has been offered to School District 10, Fundy High School, Eastern Charlotte Waterways (ECW), and Coastal Livelihoods Trust (CLT) by the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO), an organization that is funded by major players in Canada's nuclear industry.
We hope the groups that have been offered this funding (as well as the Fundy Community Foundation) will consider whether accepting this money is in the long-term interest of our communities or of our young people.
The NWMO is supposed to be designing and implementing long-term "solutions" to the problem of nuclear waste. In our opinion, it has done nothing except produce slick publications pushing questionable thinking. NWMO's supposed "solutions" for dealing with high-level nuclear waste (spent reactor fuel), involve storing it deep underground, and possibly keeping it "retrievable" in case someone figures out a practical way of re-using it.
MORE:
http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/opinion/
article/1380977
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9. Not through our backyard - A plan to ship worn-out nuclear generators from Canada to Sweden through British waters has many local officials in Scotland fuming
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/
story_print.html?id=4291521&sponsor=
writes Randy Boswell, Ottawa Citizen, Wed Feb 16 2011
It's been approved for a Great Lakes crossing by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, but a radioactive shipload of decommissioned steam generators from Ontario's Bruce Power plant is now headed for a rough ride overseas.
A coalition of British municipalities is urging the U.K. government to prevent the atomic cargo from passing close to Ireland and Scotland.
The Nuclear Free Local Authorities, an umbrella group that includes 75 local governments throughout the British Isles, has expressed its "deep alarm" that the Canadian shipment of "highly radioactive waste" -- 16 retired generators, each the size of a school bus -- is expected to skirt the British coastline sometime this year en route to a Swedish recycling plant.
About 90 per cent of the steel is to be decontaminated at the Studsvik recycling facility in Sweden and sold in world metal markets. The remaining radioactive material will be shipped back to Canada for long-term storage at the Bruce Power nuclear station, on the eastern shore of Lake Huron, about 250 kilometres northwest of Toronto.
Local officials from northern Scotland's Orkney Islands have expressed concerns about the planned three-week, transatlantic voyage -- probably by the heavy freighter MV Palessa -- with its cargo of Canadian generators. And the Scottish government has said it is "always concerned" about the movement of radioactive material and "will be seeking assurances that this waste is transported in a safe manner through Scottish waters."
"We don't want them passing by our waters and putting our communities at risk.”
The waste should remain in Canada and be safely managed there," NFLA chair Bailie George Regan said in announcing the launch of a campaign to stop the ship from passing by.
MORE:
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/
story_print.html?id=4291521&sponsor=
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10. ADAMSON: LETTER: RE: Shipping Defunct Radioactive Steam Generators to Sweden
From: Bill Adamson
To: mnr@parl.gc.ca ; Benoit.L@parl.gc.ca ; Allen.M@parl.gc.ca ; Anderson.D@parl.gc.ca ; Andrews.S@parl.gc.ca ; Brunelle.P@parl.gc.ca ; Coderre.D@parl.gc ; Cullen.N@parl.gc.ca ; Harris.R@parl.gc.ca ; Hoback.R@parl.gc.ca ; Pomerleau.R@parl.gc.ca ; Shory.D@parl.gc.ca ; Tonks.A@parl.gc.ca
Sent: Saturday, February 19, 2011 2:45 PM
LETTER TO THE MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS STANDING COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
Re: Shipping Defunct Radioactive Steam Generators to Sweden
You may have noticed there is a controversy ongoing about shipping to Sweden some 16 huge, discarded nuclear steam generators, each the size of a city bus, and weighing 100 tonnes each. Bruce Power made the plan and filed an application for a licence to transport, in order to salvage the two-inch steel cover shell.
Some argue that the shipments would be 6 times the amount of radiation which the IAEA specifies for transport, others argue that it would amount to 50 times the specified amount. Some say that the radioactive residue in the 5200 narrow pipes of some 920 kilometres in total length would be the size of a tennis ball. Others say there would be enough plutonium –239 to give several million workers their maximum allowable dose of radiation for life.
The truth of the matter is that no one really knows how much radioactive residue is in the pipes of each generator! Early in the game, a staff member of the CNSC stated clearly and honestly: “the interior cannot be accessed which does not allow direct confirmation of the estimated internal surface contamination levels. . . “ (Commission Member Document 10:H19, pp. 7,11—March 2006)
However, Bruce Power and later on, CNSC, took a radioactive reading on the outside of some of the pipes, and using some fancy formulas and mysterious math, concluded that the amount of radioactive residue in the pipes would be negligible. The huge steel two-inch shells on the outside of the generators were welded shut on both ends.
The staff members of Bruce Power and CNSC do not have the guts to don protective gear and use robotic machines to cut open one of the steam boilers, and take an actual, close-at-hand measurement of the radioactive chemicals on the interior of the pipes in these steam boilers. They are afraid of what they will find, and hence resort to various kinds of guestimates and hypothetical calculations.
Meanwhile, 103 interveners, 200 municipalities, 32 cities, many First Nations groups, USA Senators, and hundreds of citizens along the Great Lakes--St. Lawrence River Waterway are very alarmed and protesting about the radioactive risk of a potential disaster along their shores, and about the source of their many water systems. The CNSC ignores all these public expressions and does what it pleases!
It is informative, frequently, to review the legislative mandate of the CNSC:
“9. The objects of the Commission are to regulate the development , production and use of nuclear energy, and production, possession and use of nuclear substances, prescribed equipment and prescribed information in order to . . .to disseminate objective scientific, technical and regulatory information to the public concerning the activities of the Commission and the effects, on the environment and on the health and safety of persons, of the development, production and use referred to in paragraph (a).” (Nuclear Safety, Control Act (1997,c.9) )
The President, Commissioners, and Staff have overreached and extended their activities beyond their mandate. Instead of “regulating” the uranium/nuclear industry, they are actively “promoting” it, and have become “salesmen” for the industry. Note the 16 promotional presentations of the President during 2009, including to your own Standing Committee, all listed on the CNSC website. This leads to underlying assumptions and motivations for all the Commissioners and Staff in carrying out their activities.
The CNSC through Memos of Understanding, and Order-in-Council, without any parliamentary debate, have taken over most of the environmental regulations regarding uranium mining, in order to facilitate mining projects with the least possible environmental assessment. They have taken away considerable oversight and control from the CEAA.
An example of this is the new Midwest Mine Project in northern Saskatchewan. Plans were prepared and circulated for public perusal. Money from the CEAA was used to bring in Consultants like Dr. Chris Busby of Liverpool , England and Dr. Gordon Edwards of Montreal, who raised serious problems with the proposed open-pit mining project. These reports were never made public, were given to Regulatory Authorities, but held in suspension till the company made a statement—which was never forthcoming. Consequently, manipulations were undertaken whereby the proposed Midwest Mine is now to be considered a sub-unit of McClean Lake mine, so that it does not need an assessment process—even though it is 14 km distant from McClean Lake mine!
In Canada we have a rather unusual system for “regulating” nuclear affairs. For public hearings, we have a President and 4 to 7 Commissioners, sometimes referred to as a “Tribunal” (like the Roman army system), sitting on a dais, listening to proposed plans and projects.
So, there they sit, PLAYING GOD, making decisions about radioactive chemicals which will be dangerous to humans and environment for thousands of years. They know some facts about nuclear materials, but not a lot. Mostly, they turn to staff members for details. The recent public “webcasts” have been very revealing about the type of questions and comments which these Commissioners raise, and the ones they do not raise.
With a “façade” of consultation, citizens and groups are allowed to make interventions. If questions or dangers are raised by citizens, the Commissioners turn to the CNSC staff for detail. The response of staff is taken as authoritative and the final answer. There is no cross-examination, or stiff debate. Unlike other scientists, the staff rarely refer to other sources of corroboration for their views, or to peer-reviewed documents about nuclear complexities.
It is interesting to note that in the “Record of Proceedings, Including Reasons for Decision” (Application of Bruce Power -Feb. 4, 2011), the record states that for several dangers and concerns “CNSC staff concurred with Bruce Power“ (No.16); “CNSC staff stated that Bruce Power methodology to estimate the activity was acceptable.” (No. 17) It is intriguing to note that on at least 58 troubling concerns raised by the interveners, CNSC staff concurred with or accepted the specifics proposed by the industry, and that was the final decision maker! In many statements it was simply “The Commission is satisfied. . . “
So, you have an infallible staff, always giving correct answers to 7 Commissioners, who have ultimate authority—like God! There are no procedures for appeal. It seems so “un-Canadian” not to have any checks and balances!
We have here with us a neat and fully controlled “tautology,” a “self-contained system,” a “closed-circuit,” impervious to the influence of other agencies. ONLY MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT can overturn or modify the CNSC decision to grant a licence for transporting used, radioactive steam generators to Sweden.
Back in the 1950’s, the Nobel Prize winner, chemist and economist, Michael Polanyi in his 1958 book, Personal Knowledge warned of the need to check underlying assumptions and motives beneath structures of logic and scientific theories. He cautioned that scientific theories could be absolutely wrong. He wrote: “For the stability of the naturalistic system we currently accept, instead, rests on the same logical structure as Azande witchcraft beliefs. Any contradiction between a particular scientific notion and the facts of experience will be explained by other scientific notions. There is a ready reserve of possible scientific hypotheses available to explain any conceivable event. Secured by its circularity and defended by its epicyclical reserves, science may deny or at least cast aside as of no scientific interest, whole ranges of experience which to the unscientific mind appear both massive and vital.”
We have here in Canada, a very dangerous situation. It is imperative that MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT do a thorough investigation, and then act to protect the Canadian Public.
Dr. Bill Adamson,
304-1735 McKercher Dr.,
Saskatoon, SK. S7H 5N6
adamson.bl@shaw.ca
==================
11. Analysts hike Cameco price targets on uranium spike
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/
investment-ideas/features/eye-on-equities/analysts-hike-cameco-price-targets-on-uranium-spike/article1906558/
Darcy Keith | Globe and Mail Update Last updated Monday, Feb. 14, 2011 3:57PM EST
Uranium isn’t the headline-grabbing commodity that gold or oil are, but it’s been a rising star as of late thanks to tightening supplies and a buoyant demand outlook.
Over the last few months, the price of uranium has risen significantly, partly in response to a number of supply-related issues, including production difficulties at Energy Resources of Australia Ltd. and French conglomerate Areva. In the meantime, increased demand from Asian utilities promises to send demand for the nuclear fuel rising further.
MORE:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/
investment-ideas/features/eye-on-equities/analysts-hike-cameco-price-targets-on-uranium-spike/article1906558/
More related to this story (Links are on URL above)
Commodities put Canada in the driver's seat
Chinese energy needs send uranium market soaring
Cameco, Uravan to swap assets
=================
12. No Nukes News - Feb. 22, 2011
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Radiation leaks reported at nuke power research center in S.Korea Remember the radioisotope crisis? The root cause of that whole fiasco was AECL couldn't get two new radioisotope producing reactors to operate within safety standards. South Korean media reports that an AECL reactor of the same design experienced an accident yesterday leading to a radiation leak and an evacuation of the facility. Now remember Harper firing the nuclear safety watchdog for imposing safety standards? - SPSensil
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/
2011-02/20/c_13740677.htm
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Greenpeace activists in Spain drop a banner on a nuclear reactor!Spain is a world leader in green energy because Spanish activists keep pushing to shut down dirty power, like the Confrentes nuclear station.
Twenty Greenpeace activists entered the Confrentes nuclear station. Six climbed the cooling tower and painted the message "Nuclear Danger." Another group of activists deployed a banner with the slogan,
"Confrentes: close now." This peaceful protest showed the total lack of security Confrentes.
1 minute video:
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=l7Ex-0lwnns&feature=relmfu
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NDP Urges Panel to Nix Costly and Unnecessary New Nuclear Plant at Darlington
NDP Energy and Environment critic Peter Tabuns today urged the Federal Environmental Assessment Agency to reject a proposal for a new nuclear plant at Darlington. “Ontarians need relief from rising hydro rates – not another nuclear boondoggle,” said Tabuns, who noted that the average Ontario family of four pays over $500 a year paying debt retirement charges from past nuclear cost overruns.
“The McGuinty government has yet to justify the need for an expensive new nuclear plant,” said Tabuns. “They refuse to even consider more affordable options such as improving energy efficiency, lower cost renewable power, using natural gas for both heat and power, and increasing water power imports from Quebec.”
The McGuinty government has refused to confirm the cost of a new Darlington nuclear plant, but reports suggest that Atomic Energy of Canada Limited’s 2009 bid, which was rejected by the government, came in at $26-billion, making nuclear power almost twice as costly as wind power or hydro imports from Quebec.
http://ondpcaucus.com/en/
ndp-urges-panel-to-nix-costly-and-unnecessary-new-nuclear-plant-at-darlington/
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15 facts that Citizens need to know regarding the transport of Radioactive Steam Generators through the Great Lakes to Sweden for “Recycling”
http://ccnr.org/15_facts_c_e.pdf
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Fight for a World Without Coal
The writer and philosopher Wendell Berry, armed with little more than a copy of William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” and his conscience, has been camped out for three days with a handful of other activists in the governor’s outer office in Frankfort, Ky. Berry, who is 76 and the author of a number of important books including the “Unsettling of America” and “Life Is a Miracle,” has been sleeping on the floor of Gov. Steve Beshear’s reception area since Friday night with 13 others to protest the continued blasting of mountaintops in eastern Kentucky and the poisoning of watersheds, soil and air by coal companies. “Massive destruction is taking place and this is permanent destruction,” Berry said. “When you destroy a mountain, when you destroy a watershed, when you open the earth so as to permit the escape of trace minerals, acids and other harmful substances into the watershed it permanently affects people’s water supply downstream.”
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/
fight_for_a_world_without_coal_20110214/
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Coal's Hidden Costs Top $345 Billion In U.S: Study
The United States' reliance on coal to generate almost half of its electricity, costs the economy about $345 billion a year in hidden expenses not borne by miners or utilities, including health problems in mining communities and pollution around power plants, a study found.
Those costs would effectively triple the price of electricity produced by coal-fired plants, which are prevalent in part due to the their low cost of operation, the study led by a Harvard University researcher found.
"This is not borne by the coal industry, this is borne by us, in our taxes," said Paul Epstein, a Harvard Medical School instructor and the associate director of its Center for Health and the Global Environment, the study's lead author.
"The public cost is far greater than the cost of the coal itself. The impacts of this industry go way beyond just lighting our lights."
Accounting for all the ancillary costs associated with burning coal would add about 18 cents per kilowatt hour to the cost of electricity from coal-fired plants, shifting it from one of the cheapest sources of electricity to one of the most expensive.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/16/
us-usa-coal-study-idUSTRE71F4X820110216
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Ontario election sows green energy uncertainty
The outcome of an autumn election in Ontario could stunt a budding renewable energy industry in the Canadian province just as it is becoming one of the world's hot investment destinations. If the opposition Progressive Conservatives win power on October 6, the party has promised to scrap generous rates for renewable energy producers just two years after their launch by the Liberal government. That could threaten a program that has lured billions of dollars in investment and created thousands of jobs.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/14/
us-energy-ontario-idUSTRE71D52I20110214
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CELA Decries Off-Shore Wind Moratorium
http://www.cela.ca/newsevents/media-release/
cela-decries-shore-wind-moratorium
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Offshore wind 'flip-flop' draws ire; Companies say Ontario's decision to 'massacre' offshore industry will hurt renewable energy investment in the province
Ontario’s decision to put the brakes on all offshore wind power is drawing criticism from businesses behind several major wind projects in the province.
Executives in the renewable sector say the province's dramatic reversal, which effectively killed offshore plans, is highly damaging to Ontario's reputation as a leader in renewable energy. It also risks denting investment in an industry that was on the upswing as a result of the province’s green-energy policies.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/
ontarios-wind-power-flip-flop-draws-ire/article1910439/
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Province rules out Offshore Wind in Ontario
Last Friday, February 11th, the Province of Ontario announced it will not allow any new offshore wind developments in Ontario. This kills any future plans by Toronto Hydro to install wind turbines in Lake Ontario and provide Torontonians with clean, green power. It also creates a major gap in Toronto Hydro's long term renewable power plan that won't easily be filled by other renewable technologies.
The attack against wind power, citing health and environmental concerns, in Ontario has been relentless, effective and dishonest (see here). By incorrectly using health and environmental concerns to justify stopping offshore wind, Premier McGuinty's Government has also threatened the future of "on-shore" wind power by giving unjustified ammunition to wind opponents (see here.)
We need your help to stop this vocal minority of wind opponents.
Contact your MPP today (find their contact info here) and tell them you support wind power, including offshore wind in Lake Ontario. Let them also know you support wind power because nuclear and coal generation kills people and harms the environment. In contrast, no credible evidence shows offshore wind power, when properly sited, harms people or the environment. - Toronto Environmental Alliance
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The energy [r]evolution has begun
http://www.grist.org/article/
2011-02-19-the-energy-revolution-has-begun
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Global Solar Power Growth Doubled In 2010
Solar panel prices have halved since 2007.
The fortunes of the solar market contrasted with wind, which last year shrank for the first time in two decades as a result of a difficult market for project finance as well as uncertain regulatory support.
http://planetark.org/wen/61201
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Security Without Nuclear Deterrence: A World Without Nuclear Weapons - Lecture by Commander Robert Green
Friday, March 4 at 7:30 - 9:30 p.m.
Room B 142, Earth Sciences Centre, 5 Bancroft Avenue and 33 Willcocks Street, Toronto
Public event, no charge
Commander Robert Green served for twenty years in the British Royal Navy from 1962 to 1982. As a bombardier-navigator, he flew in Buccaneer nuclear strike aircraft and anti-submarine nuclear strike aircraft and anti-submarine helicopters. On promotion to Commander in 1978, he worked in the Ministry of Defence before his final appointment as Staff Officer (Intelligence) to the Commander-in-Chief Fleet during the Falklands War.
Commander Green chaired the UK affiliate of the World Court Project (1991-2004), an international citizen campaign which led to the International Court of Justice judgment in 1996 that the threat or use of nuclear weapons would generally be illegal. From 1998-2002 he was chair of the Strategic Planning Committee of the Middle Powers Initiative.
Now Co-Director with his wife, Dr Kate Dewes ONZM, of the Disarmament & Security Centre in New Zealand, he is the author of The Naked Nuclear Emperor: Debunking Nuclear Deterrence, and Fast Track to Zero Nuclear Weapons: The Middle Powers Initiative. His latest book, published in 2010, is called Security Without Nuclear Deterrence.
The event is organized by Science for Peace: sfp@physics.utoronto.ca, 416-978-3606
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greenprofit - Sustainable Solutions for Increasing your Bottom Line
March 20-21, Kingston, ON
Join Ontario innovators in business, industry, economic development, policy and research at the greenprofit Conference and Exhibition
http://www.greenprofit.ca/
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Facing Off for Social Justice in a Militarized World Conflict Zones, Human Rights and Health Care
Mar. 25/26, Ottawa, ON
Sponsored by Physicians for Global Survival
Agenda and registration:
http://pgs.ca/?page_id=725
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Angela Bischoff, Outreach Director
Ontario Clean Air Alliance
Tel: 416 926 1907 x 246
625 Church Street, #402, Toronto, ON M4Y 2G1
angela@cleanairalliance.org
www.ontariosgreenfuture.ca
www.cleanairalliance.org
Our Facebook Group
No Nukes News
Health Power
Coal Must Go
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13. Former utilities board chairman cut off at hearing - New Brunswick
From: Gordon Edwards
Sent: Sunday, February 20, 2011 11:23 AM
Background:
Years ago, New Brunswick's Public Utilities Board unanimously recommended against the refurbishment of the Point Lepreau nuclear reactor because it represented too great a financial risk and better alternatives were available. This advice was ignored by the N.B. government.
The Point Lepreau refurbishment was originally expected to take 18 months and cost about $1.4 billion. It is already 3 years behind schedule and about $1 billion over budget.
Gordon Edwards.
= = = =
Former utilities board chairman cut off at hearing
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/story/
2011/02/17/nb-nicholson-energy-hearings.html?sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4d60f63edb97e7b5%2C0
CBC News, Feb 17, 2011
A former chairman of the public utilities board was cut off as he made a presentation at the provincial energy hearings in Saint John.
The hearings, being held by the New Brunswick Energy Commission, are to lead to a 10-year energy plan for the province, including balancing energy prices, job creation and environmental protection.
David Nicholson had his presentation terminated in the middle of critical comments about government oversight of NB Power.
"I was surprised, with the experience that I have had, that they wouldn't not [sic] give me the opportunity to finish my prepared remarks," Nicholson said afterward. "I'm disappointed."
Nicholson was ousted as the chairman of the public utilities board five years ago by the former Bernard Lord government and was forbidden from speaking on energy issues as a condition of his severance package.
He showed up Thursday to speak to the current provincial energy commission — made up of Jeannot Volpé, the former Lord government energy and natural resources minister and Bill Thompson, former deputy energy minister.
When he criticized their years in office, he was cut off, saying his 10-minute time limit had expired.
MORE:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/story/
2011/02/17/nb-nicholson-energy-hearings.html?sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4d60f63edb97e7b5%2C0
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14. An EPIC battle for Canada's energy future
http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/Blog/
an-epic-battle-for-canadas-energy-future/blog/33239?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feb%202011%20Enews%20EN%20(2)&utm_content=
Blogpost by Keith Stewart - February 7, 2011 at 11:11
While reading the glowing assessment of the tar sands as Canada’s future in this morning’s Globe and Mail, I couldn’t help feeling that large chunks of the big picture were missing.
One of the key pieces in the behind-the-scenes battle over Canada’s energy future that has been circulating amongst decision-makers recently found its way into my in-box: A Strategy for Canada’s Global Energy Leadership.
This document was put together by the Energy Policy Institute of Canada (EPIC). Don’t be fooled by the name. EPIC isn’t some kind of think tank. It is a lobby group made up of over three dozen companies and industry associations dedicated to putting in place a national energy strategy to facilitate the rapid expansion of the tar sands and its associated pipeline infrastructure.
There is some window-dressing in the report for gas and nuclear, and even some platitudes around the benefits of renewable energy and conservation, but make no mistake: this is an agenda driven by the oil companies who make up its core and who are dedicated to the radical expansion of fossil fuel extraction as part of turning Canada into what Prime Minister Harper has called “an energy superpower”.
MORE:
http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/Blog/
an-epic-battle-for-canadas-energy-future/blog/33239?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feb%202011%20Enews%20EN%20(2)&utm_content
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15. Federal Plan Announced to Protect Grand Canyon From Uranium Mining
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/
2011/uranium-mining-02-17-2011.html
For Immediate Release, February 17, 2011
Contact: Roger Clark, Grand Canyon Trust, (928) 774-7488
Sandy Bahr, Sierra Club, (602) 999-5790
Taylor McKinnon, Center for Biological Diversity, (928) 310-6713
GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. — The Obama administration today announced a draft plan to protect 1 million acres of public land around Grand Canyon National Park from new uranium mining. Conservationists and tribal leaders hailed the move, citing thousands of new mining claims threatening Grand Canyon ’s watersheds, fragile seeps and springs, American Indian sacred sites, critical wildlife habitat and the region’s tourism-based economy.
“Tourism, not mining, is the mainstay of our region’s economy,” said Roger Clark with the Grand Canyon Trust. “BLM is grossly inflating revenue projections for uranium mining and fails to reveal that most revenues go to Utah or overseas—not Arizona . Uranium mining imposes long-term health risks on local communities and is costing federal taxpayers billions of dollars to clean the mess from its last boom. We simply cannot afford another round of this deadly legacy.”
MORE:
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/
2011/uranium-mining-02-17-2011.html
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16. World Nuclear News - 15-21 February 2011
http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/
?u=140c559a3b34d23ff7c6b48b9&id=8f4a1b3837&e=7a6d90bce5
NEW NUCLEAR:
Westinghouse announces Small Modular Reactor
18 February 2011
Westinghouse has officially "introduced" its 200 MWe Small Modular Reactor, and says it is preparing for a role in the US Department of Energy's demonstration program.
Lockheed Martin to supply ESBWR controls
17 February 2011
Lockheed Martin has partnered with GE-Hitachi (GEH) to design and supply digital control systems for GEH's Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR).
Milestones moved for American Centrifuge Plant
17 February 2011
USEC Inc and the US Department of Energy have agreed to modify milestones for the deployment of centrifuge enrichment technology at the American Centrifuge Plant.
Start-up of new Shimane unit delayed
15 February 2011
The fuelling and start-up of the Shimane 3 nuclear power reactor in Japan has been delayed by three months due to a fault with the control rod drive mechanism, Chugoku Electric Power Co announced.
WASTE & RECYCLING:
Slow progress towards US use of MOX
21 February 2011
While construction continues on a mixed oxide nuclear fuel plant at Savannah River, negotiations on where the fuel will be used remain in the early stages.
States sue NRC over on-site waste storage
16 February 2011
Three north-eastern US states - Connecticut, New York and Vermont - are suing the federal nuclear regulator for allowing the on-site storage of radioactive waste for up to 60 years, claiming the decision violates federal laws.
MORE:
http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/
?u=140c559a3b34d23ff7c6b48b9&id=8f4a1b3837&e=7a6d90bce5
=======================
17. Canadian Military Exports to the Middle East & North Africa
http://coat.ncf.ca/mideast/mideast.htm
Please distribute this information widely:
Start viewing the data here
http://coat.ncf.ca/mideast/mideast.htm
For decades, Canadian governments--Conservative and Liberal alike--have preached peace and human rights, while facilitating the steady flow of weapons, ammunition, tear gas, armoured vehicles and many other military and so-called "security" products to repressive, undemocratic regimes in the Middle East and North Africa. These governments are responsible for widespread, violent and systematic abuses of human rights, such as torture and murder. By exporting military and police products to these countries, Canada is complicit in aiding and abetting numerous authoritarian, U.S.-backed regimes that maintain a tight grip on power through propaganda, intimidation and sheer brute force.
Inspired by popular revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, and growing protests throughout the region, the Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT) has compiled information on military exports and produced data tables for 16 recipient countries in the Middle East and North Africa. COAT's tables show the value of "Munitions" in 22 categories from "Group 2" of Canada's "Export Control List," as published in reports by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) called "Export of Military Goods from Canada."
Here are links to the individual country tables showing Canada's munitions exports: (Links are on URL above. Ed.)
Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Turkey, UAE, Yemen
MORE:
http://coat.ncf.ca/mideast/mideast.htm
=====================================
"Operation SILENT PARTNER: Canada's Quiet Complicity in the Iraq War"
http://coat.ncf.ca/P4C/65/65.htm
From the current issue (#65) of COAT's magazine Press for Conversion! - also deals with Canada and the Middle East.
When the Liberal government proclaimed that Canada had refused to join the U.S. war against Iraq, many Canadians were understandably proud. Unfortunately, it was all a smoke-and-mirrors game. In reality, Canada did join the Iraq War in 2003 and our military has continued to support that war in many significant ways ever since. For instance:
* About 2,000 Canadian sailors--aboard eight, multi-billion dollar Canadian warships--participated in the Iraq War
* Canadian pilots flew warplanes in Iraq-war missions, including U.S. C-17s, a British MR2 and Canadian C-130s and CP-140s
* Top Canadian military officers received U.S., British and Canadian medals for their leadership roles in the Iraq War
These are just a few of the many facts detailed in COAT's current, 54-page issue of Press for Conversion!
Please support COAT's research! Take this opportunity to subscribe or renew your subscription to our magazine ($25 gets Canadians the next 4 issues, or $45 for the next 8 issues)
If you subscribe or renew now, we'll send you some free, extra copies of our latest issue!
Just mail an old-fashioned cheque to COAT:
COAT,541 McLeod St., Ottawa ON K1R 5R2
Or... Support COAT online
Visit the COAT website
http://coat.ncf.ca/
Thanks, Richard Sanders
Coordinator, COAT
==================
18. MP proposes nuke-free Canadian Arctic
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7392&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
Posted: 19 Feb 2011 09:50 PM PST
Yukon Member of Parliament Larry Bagnell has proposed a private member’s bill to make the Canadian Arctic a nuclear-weapon-free zone. Bill C-629, introduced on February 15th, which would make it a criminal offense to “possess, manufacture, test, store, transport or deploy a nuclear weapon in the Canadian Arctic.” The prohibition would not apply, however, to [...]
======================
19. UN peacekeeping missions face shortfalls
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7471&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
Posted: 23 Feb 2011 09:03 PM PST
The United Nations continues to set new records for the size and complexity of UN peacekeeping operations. But the missions are facing critical shortfalls in key equipment such as helicopters, the UN reports (“UN peacekeeping missions face shortfall of over a third in vital military helicopters,” UN News Service, 22 February 2001): “It remains the [...]
================
20. WATCH: When the Dust Settles - (6.4 min.)
http://www.youtube.com/user/ICBUW
Animated short on the impact of depleted uranium weapons and the international campaign against them, produced by the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons and IKV Pax Christi.
http://www.bandepleteduranium.org
http://www.twitter.com/icbuw
MORE Info:
http://forum.stopthehogs.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=96
===================
21. Africa: Global NATO Seeks To Recruit 50 New Military Partners
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23307
By Rick Rozoff Global Research, February 21, 2011 Stop NATO - 2011-02-20
A recent article in Kenya’s Africa Review cited sources in the African Union (AU) disclosing that the 28-member North Atlantic Treaty Organization is preparing to sign a military partnership treaty with the 53-nation AU.
The author of the article, relaying comments from AU officials in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where the organization has its headquarters, wrote that although “the stated aim is to counter global security threats and specifically threats against Africa, some observers read the pact as aiming to counter Chinese expansion in Africa.”
The feature further claimed that NATO is negotiating the opening of a liaison office at AU headquarters and that the North Atlantic Alliance’s legal department is working with its AU counterpart “to finalise the new pact, which will be signed soon.” [1]
The news story additionally divulged that Ramtane Lamamra, African Union Commissioner for Peace and Security, “confirmed that Nato is to sign a military cooperation agreement with the AU” with particular emphasis on consolidating the African Standby Force (ASF). The latter is intended to consist of brigades attached to the five Regional Economic Communities on the continent. (North, East, West, Central and Southern.) The West African Standby Force has been tasked the role of intervening in – which is to say invading and occupying – Ivory Coast since the announcement of presidential runoff election results in the country in December [2], and contributors to the East Africa Standby Brigade (EASBRIG), Uganda and Burundi, are engaged as combatants in the civil war in Somalia.
The AU’s Lamamra stated “Africa would like to learn from Nato on strategic airlift, advanced communications, rotation of important units among regions and to meet logistical challenges,” adding that “Nato was a good model on which to build the ASF.” [3]
MORE:
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23307
===================
22. Moving Away From the Nuclear Button
http://www.indepthnews.net/news/
news.php?key1=2011-02-1910:03:30&key2=1
By Ernest Corea IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis February 22, 2011
WASHINGTON D.C. (IDN) - Russia and the U.S. are expected to exchange information about their nuclear weapons stockpiles on March 22, 2011 as required under the provisions of the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). They last exchanged corresponding information in July 2009, under the previous START that ended in December that year.
In another development, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (France, China, Russia, the U.K. and the U.S.) are hoping to meet in June to examine actions required from commitments they made in connection with the 2010 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty review conference, the Global Security Newswire has reported, quoting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller.
These trends are considered "positive but tentative" among political observers, but they are rivalled by a separate, less than positive attempt by sections of the Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representative to eliminate 10 percent (over $1 billion) of the National Nuclear Security Administration's (NNSA) budget.
A news report points out that "NNSA maintains the nation's nuclear stockpile, runs the nuclear lab complex, and fights the illegal trade of nuclear technology and material. Non-proliferation programs face the most drastic reductions."
Whatever becomes of this effort, the Obama Administrations remains committed to the new START, as well as to related developments, although the excitement generated by recent events in the Middle East has moved some of these off the headlines.
MORE:
http://www.indepthnews.net/news/
news.php?key1=2011-02-1910:03:30&key2=1
===============
23. WATCH: "Nobody Wins a Nuclear War" But "Success" is Possible - Mixed Message of 1950s Air Force Film on a U.S.-Soviet Conflict
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nukevault/ebb336/index.htm
National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 336 Posted - February 19, 2011
For more information contact: William Burr - 202/994-7000
Washington, D.C., February 19, 2011 - "The Power of Decision" may be the first (and perhaps the only) U.S. government film depicting the Cold War nightmare of a U.S.-Soviet nuclear conflict. The U.S. Air Force produced it during 1956-1957 at the request of the Strategic Air Command. Unseen for years and made public for the first time by the National Security Archive, the film depicts the U.S. Air Force's implementation of war plan "Quick Strike" in response to a Soviet surprise attack against the United States and European and East Asian allies. By the end of the film, after the Air Force launches a massive bomber-missile "double-punch," millions of Americans, Russians, Europeans, and Japanese are dead.
Colonel Dodd, the narrator, asserts that "nobody wins a nuclear war because both sides are sure to suffer terrible damage." Despite the "catastrophic" damage described by a SAC briefer, one of the film's operating assumptions is that defeat is avoidable as long as the Soviet Union cannot impose its "will." The last few minutes of the film suggest that the United States will prevail because of its successful nuclear air offensive. One of the characters, General "Pete" Larson optimistically asserts that the Soviets "must quit; we have the air and the power and they know it." It is the Soviets, not the United States, who are sending out cease-fire pleas, picked up by the CIA.
Little is known about the production or subsequent distribution of "The Power of Decision." It was probably used for internal training purposes so that officers and airmen could prepare for the worst active-duty situation that they could encounter. Perhaps the relatively unruffled style of the film's performers was to help serve as a model for SAC officers if they ever had to follow orders that could produce a nuclear holocaust.
This film is from a DVD supplied by the U.S. National Archives' motion picture unit and is hosted by the Internet Archive's Moving Images Archive. Read the Air Force Descriptive Index Card.
View the complete film below or watch a four-minute clip of the film on the Archive's YouTube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/
nsarchive#p/a/u/0/hfhqZgg_bqQ
MORE:
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nukevault/ebb336/index.htm
==================
24. Boycott the UK census over links to Lockheed Martin, protesters say
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/feb/19/
census-boycott-lockheed-martin
We're ready to face £1,000 fine, declare anti-war protesters in row over role of US arms firm Lockheed Martin in data gathering
David Sharrock and Jamie Doward
guardian.co.uk, Saturday 19 February 2011 21.15 GMT
People are being urged to boycott next month's UK's census because the US arms manufacturer responsible for Trident is involved in gathering the information.
Protesters say they are willing to break the law and face a £1,000 fine and a criminal record by refusing to fill in the 32-page questionnaire. Resistance to the decennial census is growing as a coalition of anti-war groups, pacifists, religious organisations and digital activists begin raising public awareness about the role of Lockheed Martin, America's largest arms manufacturer.
The company, which makes Trident nuclear missiles, cluster bombs and F-16 fighter jets, won the £150m contract to run the census on behalf of the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
MORE:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/feb/19/
census-boycott-lockheed-martin
1. EVENT: Regina – March 11 - Pot Luck & Information Session - Dr. HARDING on Nuclear Waste
2. PARTICIPATE: Be Heard on March 3rd: No Stealth Fighters”
3. EVENT: Ottawa Conference, March 25 and 26, Physicians for Global Survival
4. Notice - Darlington New Nuclear Power Plant Project
5. HARDING: THE CHALLENGES OF ACHIEVING A NUCLEAR WASTE BAN
6. Council (of Canadians)chapters oppose nuclear waste dump in Saskatchewan
7. The Council of Canadians Statement on Nuclear Power and uranium Mining – 2008
8. COMMENTARY: LACK & WARD: Nuclear waste can't be managed
9. Not through our backyard
10. ADAMSON: LETTER: RE: Shipping Defunct Radioactive Steam Generators to Sweden
11. Analysts hike Cameco price targets on uranium spike
12. No Nukes News - Feb. 22, 2011
13. Former utilities board chairman cut off at hearing - New Brunswick - CBC News
14. An EPIC battle for Canada's energy future
15. Federal Plan Announced to Protect Grand Canyon From Uranium Mining
16. World Nuclear News - 15-21 February 2011
17. Canadian Military Exports to the Middle East & North Africa
18. MP proposes nuke-free Canadian Arctic
19. UN peacekeeping missions face shortfalls
20. WATCH: When the Dust Settles - (6.4 min.)
21. Africa: Global NATO Seeks To Recruit 50 New Military Partners
22. Moving Away From the Nuclear Button
23. WATCH: "Nobody Wins a Nuclear War" But "Success" is Possible
24. Boycott the UK census over links to Lockheed Martin, protesters say
=============
1. EVENT: Regina – March 11 - Pot Luck & Information Session - Dr. HARDING on Nuclear Waste
Saskatchewan is being targeted as a deep geological repository for the accumulated high level radioactive waste from the Bruce Power nuclear reactors in Ontario!
Learn more about the risks to human and ecological health at a Potluck & Information Session with Dr. Jim Harding, Retired Professor - University of Regina, Author of Canada’s Deadly Secret
Friday, March 11, 2011
Cathedral Neighbourhood Centre, 2900 13th Ave, Regina
Doors open at 6:00pm
Potluck at 6:30pm
Presentation at 7:00pm
**Bring food to share, a beverage, plate, cup and cutlery
Admission free. Donations welcome.
Sponsored by Clean Green Regina and Regina EcoLiving Inc.
For more information visit
www.cleangreensask.ca
Contact us at cleangreenregina@yahoo.ca
=================
2. PARTICIPATE: Be Heard on March 3rd: No Stealth Fighters”
http://www.ceasefire.ca/?p=7333
Be Heard on March 3rd: No Stealth Fighters
Thanks for signing-up
Campaign Tools: Be Heard on March 3rd – No Stealth Fighters
Nonviolence guru cited in Mideast revolutions
Be Heard on March 3rd: No Stealth Fighters
Posted: 21 Feb 2011 12:15 PM PST
Join us on March 3rd in a national day of action to tell Stephen Harper and your Member of Parliament No Stealth Fighters ! Ahead of the budget and possible elections, it’s more important than ever to be heard and voice your opposition to this multi-billion dollar purchase. The goal of the campaign is to send [...]
Thanks for signing-up
Posted: 21 Feb 2011 01:37 PM PST
Thank you for joining the campaign! Check your inbox shortly for an important message to share with your contacts. Please take a second to follow us on Facebook:
Campaign Tools: Be Heard on March 3rd – No Stealth Fighters
Posted: 21 Feb 2011 12:32 PM PST
Add Campaign Tools to your Website or Blog To add the petition and the banners to your site select the entire code on top of the object you want to appear on your site. Then copy and paste the code into your webpage or blog. Campaign Petition – Printed version (pdf) Leaflet: 10 reasons the [...]
Nonviolence guru cited in Mideast revolutions
Posted: 21 Feb 2011 12:31 PM PST
Credit for the “people power” revolutions that have swept longstanding despots out of power in the Middle East and now threaten many similar regimes goes first and foremost to the courageous people in those countries who have taken it upon themselves, often at great personal risk, to demand the right to rule their own lives. [...]
==================
3. EVENT: Ottawa Conference, March 25 and 26, Physicians for Global Survival
http://pgs.ca/?page_id=725
FACING OFF FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE in a Militarized World
Conflict Zones, Human Rights & Health Care
Featuring Dr. Helen Caldicott and more..
PGS conference on March 25/26 where Helen will be a guest speaker along with Ian Fairlie, CMA President Dr. Jeff Turnbull and gardening specialist Ed Lawrence ( speaking on Uranium in our Environment ) and many more …
Registration:
http://pgs.ca/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/
Registration-form-forOttawa-20111.doc
==================
4. Notice - Darlington New Nuclear Power Plant Project
From: Darlington Joint Review Panel-Commission d'examen Conjoint a Dar
Sent: Friday, February 25, 2011 12:23 PM
NOTE: “The Panel will also welcome written comments on the report from anyone, regardless of whether they have chosen to participate in the public hearing or not. “
Interested Parties - Please take note:
The Joint Review Panel today posted a Statement of Work, directing Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to “provide independent expert evaluation related to the adequacy of the assessment of cooling towers for condenser cooling, as presented in the Ontario Power Generation (OPG) Environmental impact Statement (EIS) for the Darlington New Nuclear Power Plant project. “ The Panel determined that the assistance of independent experts was required to assist with the interpretation of technical and scientific issues. The Panel assigned the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to manage the PNNL contract for this undertaking on its behalf.
The work by PNNL, as fully described in the Statement of Work, will be conveyed in a public report to the Joint Review Panel. The Final Report will be provided to the Panel and posted on the Canadian Environmental Assessment Registry Internet site no later than March 4, 2011. Interested parties and hearing participants will be notified when the report is posted.
The Joint Review Panel acknowledges that registered public hearing participants may wish to address aspects of the PNNL report at the hearing and encourages participants to do. The Panel will also welcome written comments on the report from anyone, regardless of whether they have chosen to participate in the public hearing or not. Sufficient opportunity for consideration of the report and response to the Joint Review Panel will be provided.
=====================
5. HARDING: THE CHALLENGES OF ACHIEVING A NUCLEAR WASTE BAN
http://forum.stopthehogs.com/phpBB2/
viewtopic.php?p=2031#2031
BY Jim Harding
Published in R-Town News on February 18, 2011
I don’t believe it would be good for Saskatchewan to “host” a nuclear waste dump. And there are indications that most Saskatchewan people feel the same way. Past polls have shown widespread opposition to bringing nuclear wastes here, and 80% of those participating in the Uranium Development Partnership (UDP) consultations in 2009 opposed a nuclear dump. But we know that popular democracy doesn’t necessarily win out in these David and Goliath conflicts. So what are the main challenges those wanting a nuclear waste ban will face?
In early February I was asked to speak on a nuclear waste ban at community forums in Saskatoon, Prince Albert and La Ronge. It was no surprise that fifty people came out in La Ronge and that Prince Albert had an even larger meeting than Saskatoon. It would take 18,000 truckloads to move existing and future radioactive high-level wastes (mainly from Ontario) to a northern Saskatchewan dump, and these would all be going nearby Prince Albert and La Ronge, day in and day out, for decades.
I wanted to present information that the broad public will not be getting from the industry’s Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO). Most people for example have no idea about the magnitude of the transportation that would be required to move 3.6 million fuel bundles across Canada. If people only hear the well-financed, one-sided industry view, there is no possibility of informed consent. And we know industry can be quite skilled at end-running democracy. I also wanted to listen and learn, and I heard a lot of passionate views, especially about the dilemmas facing northern communities. After this trip I am much clearer about what those wanting a nuclear waste ban are up against.
MORE:
http://forum.stopthehogs.com/phpBB2/
viewtopic.php?p=2031#2031
Other columns at:
http://jimharding.brinkster.net
==================
6. Council chapters oppose nuclear waste dump in Saskatchewan
http://www.canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=6534
Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011
The Toronto Star reports that, “Ottawa (is looking for) long-term solutions for the country’s nuclear waste (and) wants to build an underground mausoleum for millions of spent radioactive bundles that power nuclear plants in New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario. …In the ongoing search for a nuclear waste site (to store about two million highly radioactive bundles at a single site)…the federal government is paying close attention to public opinion (and has detected some openness for such a site) in New Brunswick and Saskatchewan.”
“The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) kicked off a process last spring to find a community willing to host an underground complex that would serve as a storage dump for all the country’s nuclear waste. …Obtained by The Canadian Press through Access to Information laws, (a NWMO) document summarizes public opinion in the four provinces that have nuclear-related industries and are the most likely sites of the underground repository. …(While noting opposition in Quebec), the report cited a more receptive climate for the multibillion-dollar project in New Brunswick and Saskatchewan.”
“The NWMO says seven communities across the country have formally expressed interest in hosting the underground repository: Creighton, English River First Nation and Pinehouse in Saskatchewan, and Ear Falls, Ignace, Schreiber and Hornepayne in Ontario. But these communities have only just reached the second stage of a nine-step process that will ultimately decide the repository’s location. At this point, they are entitled to receive information about what the project entails and are then vetted for suitability. …But before moving forward, officials will check the suitability of communities against criteria that could rule them out — including the presence of groundwater, fault lines or natural resources.”
“(NWMO communications manager Mike) Krizanic (has said that the) process was designed to incorporate as much input as possible from a wide variety of sources. This includes towns through which nuclear waste would pass on its way to the repository, and aboriginal groups whose treaties may be affected by the repository’s construction.”
THE COUNCIL OF CANADIANS
Our statement on nuclear power says, “The Council of Canadians rejects nuclear power because it poses an unacceptable risk to people and the environment. It is neither clean, safe, peaceful, nor economic. We are opposed to the further expansion of nuclear power in our country. Faced with climate change and diminishing energy resources globally, we recognize the need for a just transition away from a fossil fuel and nuclear dependent society, while ensuring Canadians access to basic energy needs, to sustainable, publicly funded and publicly delivered energy alternatives that benefit both workers and their communities. We support renewable, non-invasive energy sources (such as solar and wind power), energy efficiency and conservation.”
Council of Canadians chapters in Saskatchewan are organizing against the plan for nuclear waste to be transported from southern Ontario and dumped in their province. Prairies organizer Scott Harris highlights that, “Council of Canadians chapters are part of the Coalition for a Clean Green Saskatchewan, which is pushing for a nuclear waste ban in the province. As part of efforts to keep a nuclear waste ban out of Saskatchewan, chapters and the coalition have organized speaking events with nuclear expert Dr. Jim Harding, author of Canada’s Deadly Secret, in Wynard, Prince Albert, Saskatoon and La Ronge. The next presentation on the threat of a nuclear waste dump in Saskatchewan by Dr. Harding is taking place in Regina on Friday, March 11 at the Cathedral Neighbourhood Centre (2900-13 Avenue). Doors are at 6:00 pm, potluck at 6:30 pm, with the presentation beginning at 7:00.”
Concerns are also being raised about the route the nuclear waste would need to take. For instance, nuclear waste would need to travel approximately 2,896 kilometres from a nuclear plant in Clarington, Ontario to a possible dump site in Creighton, Saskatchewan. There are undoubtedly many communities, as well as numerous lakes, rivers and streams along this route that could be potentially affected by the transportation of these hazardous materials.
The Toronto Star article is at
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/
942080–document-sask-n-b-most-receptive-for-nuclear-waste-dump?bn=1.
= = = = =
Sask., N.B. reportedly receptive for nuclear waste dump
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/
942080–document-sask-n-b-most-receptive-for-nuclear-waste-dump?bn=1.
Jonathan Montpetit The Canadian Press
MONTREAL—The federal government is paying close attention to public opinion in the ongoing search for a nuclear waste site — and it detects some favourable signs in New Brunswick and Saskatchewan. [ . . . ]
====================
7. The Council of Canadians Statement on Nuclear Power and uranium Mining – 2008
http://www.canadians.org/energy/documents/
NuclearStatement-Oct08.pdf.
Council of Canadians statement on nuclear power and uranium mining
The Council of Canadians rejects nuclear power because it poses an unacceptable risk to people and the environment. It is neither clean, safe, peaceful, nor economic. We are opposed to the further expansion of nuclear power in our country. Faced with climate change and diminishing energy resources globally, we recognize the need for a just transition away from a fossil fuel and nuclear dependent society, while ensuring Canadians access to basic energy needs, to sustainable, publicly funded and publicly delivered energy alternatives that benefit both workers and their communities. We support renewable, non-invasive energy sources (such as solar and wind power), energy efficiency and conservation.
Nuclear power also requires uranium – the mining of which creates toxic tailings, poses water contamination and other environmental risks and health hazards. The Council of Canadians calls for a ban on all uranium exploration and mining; strengthening of legislation to ensure that any exploration or mining of other materials does not disturb or uncover uranium deposits; and fair, just transition programs for all communities and workers involved in the uranium mining industry.
Adopted by the Board of Directors, October 31, 2008
=================
8. COMMENTARY: LACK & WARD: Nuclear waste can't be managed
http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/ ... le/1380977
Published Thursday February 17th, 2011
Larry Lack and Lee Ann Ward
An article in a recent issue of our community newspaper, the St. Croix Courier, alerted us to $31,000 that reportedly has been offered to School District 10, Fundy High School, Eastern Charlotte Waterways (ECW), and Coastal Livelihoods Trust (CLT) by the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO), an organization that is funded by major players in Canada's nuclear industry.
We hope the groups that have been offered this funding (as well as the Fundy Community Foundation) will consider whether accepting this money is in the long-term interest of our communities or of our young people.
The NWMO is supposed to be designing and implementing long-term "solutions" to the problem of nuclear waste. In our opinion, it has done nothing except produce slick publications pushing questionable thinking. NWMO's supposed "solutions" for dealing with high-level nuclear waste (spent reactor fuel), involve storing it deep underground, and possibly keeping it "retrievable" in case someone figures out a practical way of re-using it.
MORE:
http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/opinion/
article/1380977
==================
9. Not through our backyard - A plan to ship worn-out nuclear generators from Canada to Sweden through British waters has many local officials in Scotland fuming
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/
story_print.html?id=4291521&sponsor=
writes Randy Boswell, Ottawa Citizen, Wed Feb 16 2011
It's been approved for a Great Lakes crossing by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, but a radioactive shipload of decommissioned steam generators from Ontario's Bruce Power plant is now headed for a rough ride overseas.
A coalition of British municipalities is urging the U.K. government to prevent the atomic cargo from passing close to Ireland and Scotland.
The Nuclear Free Local Authorities, an umbrella group that includes 75 local governments throughout the British Isles, has expressed its "deep alarm" that the Canadian shipment of "highly radioactive waste" -- 16 retired generators, each the size of a school bus -- is expected to skirt the British coastline sometime this year en route to a Swedish recycling plant.
About 90 per cent of the steel is to be decontaminated at the Studsvik recycling facility in Sweden and sold in world metal markets. The remaining radioactive material will be shipped back to Canada for long-term storage at the Bruce Power nuclear station, on the eastern shore of Lake Huron, about 250 kilometres northwest of Toronto.
Local officials from northern Scotland's Orkney Islands have expressed concerns about the planned three-week, transatlantic voyage -- probably by the heavy freighter MV Palessa -- with its cargo of Canadian generators. And the Scottish government has said it is "always concerned" about the movement of radioactive material and "will be seeking assurances that this waste is transported in a safe manner through Scottish waters."
"We don't want them passing by our waters and putting our communities at risk.”
The waste should remain in Canada and be safely managed there," NFLA chair Bailie George Regan said in announcing the launch of a campaign to stop the ship from passing by.
MORE:
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/
story_print.html?id=4291521&sponsor=
=================
10. ADAMSON: LETTER: RE: Shipping Defunct Radioactive Steam Generators to Sweden
From: Bill Adamson
To: mnr@parl.gc.ca ; Benoit.L@parl.gc.ca ; Allen.M@parl.gc.ca ; Anderson.D@parl.gc.ca ; Andrews.S@parl.gc.ca ; Brunelle.P@parl.gc.ca ; Coderre.D@parl.gc ; Cullen.N@parl.gc.ca ; Harris.R@parl.gc.ca ; Hoback.R@parl.gc.ca ; Pomerleau.R@parl.gc.ca ; Shory.D@parl.gc.ca ; Tonks.A@parl.gc.ca
Sent: Saturday, February 19, 2011 2:45 PM
LETTER TO THE MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS STANDING COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
Re: Shipping Defunct Radioactive Steam Generators to Sweden
You may have noticed there is a controversy ongoing about shipping to Sweden some 16 huge, discarded nuclear steam generators, each the size of a city bus, and weighing 100 tonnes each. Bruce Power made the plan and filed an application for a licence to transport, in order to salvage the two-inch steel cover shell.
Some argue that the shipments would be 6 times the amount of radiation which the IAEA specifies for transport, others argue that it would amount to 50 times the specified amount. Some say that the radioactive residue in the 5200 narrow pipes of some 920 kilometres in total length would be the size of a tennis ball. Others say there would be enough plutonium –239 to give several million workers their maximum allowable dose of radiation for life.
The truth of the matter is that no one really knows how much radioactive residue is in the pipes of each generator! Early in the game, a staff member of the CNSC stated clearly and honestly: “the interior cannot be accessed which does not allow direct confirmation of the estimated internal surface contamination levels. . . “ (Commission Member Document 10:H19, pp. 7,11—March 2006)
However, Bruce Power and later on, CNSC, took a radioactive reading on the outside of some of the pipes, and using some fancy formulas and mysterious math, concluded that the amount of radioactive residue in the pipes would be negligible. The huge steel two-inch shells on the outside of the generators were welded shut on both ends.
The staff members of Bruce Power and CNSC do not have the guts to don protective gear and use robotic machines to cut open one of the steam boilers, and take an actual, close-at-hand measurement of the radioactive chemicals on the interior of the pipes in these steam boilers. They are afraid of what they will find, and hence resort to various kinds of guestimates and hypothetical calculations.
Meanwhile, 103 interveners, 200 municipalities, 32 cities, many First Nations groups, USA Senators, and hundreds of citizens along the Great Lakes--St. Lawrence River Waterway are very alarmed and protesting about the radioactive risk of a potential disaster along their shores, and about the source of their many water systems. The CNSC ignores all these public expressions and does what it pleases!
It is informative, frequently, to review the legislative mandate of the CNSC:
“9. The objects of the Commission are to regulate the development , production and use of nuclear energy, and production, possession and use of nuclear substances, prescribed equipment and prescribed information in order to . . .to disseminate objective scientific, technical and regulatory information to the public concerning the activities of the Commission and the effects, on the environment and on the health and safety of persons, of the development, production and use referred to in paragraph (a).” (Nuclear Safety, Control Act (1997,c.9) )
The President, Commissioners, and Staff have overreached and extended their activities beyond their mandate. Instead of “regulating” the uranium/nuclear industry, they are actively “promoting” it, and have become “salesmen” for the industry. Note the 16 promotional presentations of the President during 2009, including to your own Standing Committee, all listed on the CNSC website. This leads to underlying assumptions and motivations for all the Commissioners and Staff in carrying out their activities.
The CNSC through Memos of Understanding, and Order-in-Council, without any parliamentary debate, have taken over most of the environmental regulations regarding uranium mining, in order to facilitate mining projects with the least possible environmental assessment. They have taken away considerable oversight and control from the CEAA.
An example of this is the new Midwest Mine Project in northern Saskatchewan. Plans were prepared and circulated for public perusal. Money from the CEAA was used to bring in Consultants like Dr. Chris Busby of Liverpool , England and Dr. Gordon Edwards of Montreal, who raised serious problems with the proposed open-pit mining project. These reports were never made public, were given to Regulatory Authorities, but held in suspension till the company made a statement—which was never forthcoming. Consequently, manipulations were undertaken whereby the proposed Midwest Mine is now to be considered a sub-unit of McClean Lake mine, so that it does not need an assessment process—even though it is 14 km distant from McClean Lake mine!
In Canada we have a rather unusual system for “regulating” nuclear affairs. For public hearings, we have a President and 4 to 7 Commissioners, sometimes referred to as a “Tribunal” (like the Roman army system), sitting on a dais, listening to proposed plans and projects.
So, there they sit, PLAYING GOD, making decisions about radioactive chemicals which will be dangerous to humans and environment for thousands of years. They know some facts about nuclear materials, but not a lot. Mostly, they turn to staff members for details. The recent public “webcasts” have been very revealing about the type of questions and comments which these Commissioners raise, and the ones they do not raise.
With a “façade” of consultation, citizens and groups are allowed to make interventions. If questions or dangers are raised by citizens, the Commissioners turn to the CNSC staff for detail. The response of staff is taken as authoritative and the final answer. There is no cross-examination, or stiff debate. Unlike other scientists, the staff rarely refer to other sources of corroboration for their views, or to peer-reviewed documents about nuclear complexities.
It is interesting to note that in the “Record of Proceedings, Including Reasons for Decision” (Application of Bruce Power -Feb. 4, 2011), the record states that for several dangers and concerns “CNSC staff concurred with Bruce Power“ (No.16); “CNSC staff stated that Bruce Power methodology to estimate the activity was acceptable.” (No. 17) It is intriguing to note that on at least 58 troubling concerns raised by the interveners, CNSC staff concurred with or accepted the specifics proposed by the industry, and that was the final decision maker! In many statements it was simply “The Commission is satisfied. . . “
So, you have an infallible staff, always giving correct answers to 7 Commissioners, who have ultimate authority—like God! There are no procedures for appeal. It seems so “un-Canadian” not to have any checks and balances!
We have here with us a neat and fully controlled “tautology,” a “self-contained system,” a “closed-circuit,” impervious to the influence of other agencies. ONLY MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT can overturn or modify the CNSC decision to grant a licence for transporting used, radioactive steam generators to Sweden.
Back in the 1950’s, the Nobel Prize winner, chemist and economist, Michael Polanyi in his 1958 book, Personal Knowledge warned of the need to check underlying assumptions and motives beneath structures of logic and scientific theories. He cautioned that scientific theories could be absolutely wrong. He wrote: “For the stability of the naturalistic system we currently accept, instead, rests on the same logical structure as Azande witchcraft beliefs. Any contradiction between a particular scientific notion and the facts of experience will be explained by other scientific notions. There is a ready reserve of possible scientific hypotheses available to explain any conceivable event. Secured by its circularity and defended by its epicyclical reserves, science may deny or at least cast aside as of no scientific interest, whole ranges of experience which to the unscientific mind appear both massive and vital.”
We have here in Canada, a very dangerous situation. It is imperative that MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT do a thorough investigation, and then act to protect the Canadian Public.
Dr. Bill Adamson,
304-1735 McKercher Dr.,
Saskatoon, SK. S7H 5N6
adamson.bl@shaw.ca
==================
11. Analysts hike Cameco price targets on uranium spike
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/
investment-ideas/features/eye-on-equities/analysts-hike-cameco-price-targets-on-uranium-spike/article1906558/
Darcy Keith | Globe and Mail Update Last updated Monday, Feb. 14, 2011 3:57PM EST
Uranium isn’t the headline-grabbing commodity that gold or oil are, but it’s been a rising star as of late thanks to tightening supplies and a buoyant demand outlook.
Over the last few months, the price of uranium has risen significantly, partly in response to a number of supply-related issues, including production difficulties at Energy Resources of Australia Ltd. and French conglomerate Areva. In the meantime, increased demand from Asian utilities promises to send demand for the nuclear fuel rising further.
MORE:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/
investment-ideas/features/eye-on-equities/analysts-hike-cameco-price-targets-on-uranium-spike/article1906558/
More related to this story (Links are on URL above)
Commodities put Canada in the driver's seat
Chinese energy needs send uranium market soaring
Cameco, Uravan to swap assets
=================
12. No Nukes News - Feb. 22, 2011
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Radiation leaks reported at nuke power research center in S.Korea Remember the radioisotope crisis? The root cause of that whole fiasco was AECL couldn't get two new radioisotope producing reactors to operate within safety standards. South Korean media reports that an AECL reactor of the same design experienced an accident yesterday leading to a radiation leak and an evacuation of the facility. Now remember Harper firing the nuclear safety watchdog for imposing safety standards? - SPSensil
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/
2011-02/20/c_13740677.htm
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Greenpeace activists in Spain drop a banner on a nuclear reactor!Spain is a world leader in green energy because Spanish activists keep pushing to shut down dirty power, like the Confrentes nuclear station.
Twenty Greenpeace activists entered the Confrentes nuclear station. Six climbed the cooling tower and painted the message "Nuclear Danger." Another group of activists deployed a banner with the slogan,
"Confrentes: close now." This peaceful protest showed the total lack of security Confrentes.
1 minute video:
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=l7Ex-0lwnns&feature=relmfu
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NDP Urges Panel to Nix Costly and Unnecessary New Nuclear Plant at Darlington
NDP Energy and Environment critic Peter Tabuns today urged the Federal Environmental Assessment Agency to reject a proposal for a new nuclear plant at Darlington. “Ontarians need relief from rising hydro rates – not another nuclear boondoggle,” said Tabuns, who noted that the average Ontario family of four pays over $500 a year paying debt retirement charges from past nuclear cost overruns.
“The McGuinty government has yet to justify the need for an expensive new nuclear plant,” said Tabuns. “They refuse to even consider more affordable options such as improving energy efficiency, lower cost renewable power, using natural gas for both heat and power, and increasing water power imports from Quebec.”
The McGuinty government has refused to confirm the cost of a new Darlington nuclear plant, but reports suggest that Atomic Energy of Canada Limited’s 2009 bid, which was rejected by the government, came in at $26-billion, making nuclear power almost twice as costly as wind power or hydro imports from Quebec.
http://ondpcaucus.com/en/
ndp-urges-panel-to-nix-costly-and-unnecessary-new-nuclear-plant-at-darlington/
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15 facts that Citizens need to know regarding the transport of Radioactive Steam Generators through the Great Lakes to Sweden for “Recycling”
http://ccnr.org/15_facts_c_e.pdf
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Fight for a World Without Coal
The writer and philosopher Wendell Berry, armed with little more than a copy of William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” and his conscience, has been camped out for three days with a handful of other activists in the governor’s outer office in Frankfort, Ky. Berry, who is 76 and the author of a number of important books including the “Unsettling of America” and “Life Is a Miracle,” has been sleeping on the floor of Gov. Steve Beshear’s reception area since Friday night with 13 others to protest the continued blasting of mountaintops in eastern Kentucky and the poisoning of watersheds, soil and air by coal companies. “Massive destruction is taking place and this is permanent destruction,” Berry said. “When you destroy a mountain, when you destroy a watershed, when you open the earth so as to permit the escape of trace minerals, acids and other harmful substances into the watershed it permanently affects people’s water supply downstream.”
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/
fight_for_a_world_without_coal_20110214/
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Coal's Hidden Costs Top $345 Billion In U.S: Study
The United States' reliance on coal to generate almost half of its electricity, costs the economy about $345 billion a year in hidden expenses not borne by miners or utilities, including health problems in mining communities and pollution around power plants, a study found.
Those costs would effectively triple the price of electricity produced by coal-fired plants, which are prevalent in part due to the their low cost of operation, the study led by a Harvard University researcher found.
"This is not borne by the coal industry, this is borne by us, in our taxes," said Paul Epstein, a Harvard Medical School instructor and the associate director of its Center for Health and the Global Environment, the study's lead author.
"The public cost is far greater than the cost of the coal itself. The impacts of this industry go way beyond just lighting our lights."
Accounting for all the ancillary costs associated with burning coal would add about 18 cents per kilowatt hour to the cost of electricity from coal-fired plants, shifting it from one of the cheapest sources of electricity to one of the most expensive.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/16/
us-usa-coal-study-idUSTRE71F4X820110216
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Ontario election sows green energy uncertainty
The outcome of an autumn election in Ontario could stunt a budding renewable energy industry in the Canadian province just as it is becoming one of the world's hot investment destinations. If the opposition Progressive Conservatives win power on October 6, the party has promised to scrap generous rates for renewable energy producers just two years after their launch by the Liberal government. That could threaten a program that has lured billions of dollars in investment and created thousands of jobs.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/14/
us-energy-ontario-idUSTRE71D52I20110214
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CELA Decries Off-Shore Wind Moratorium
http://www.cela.ca/newsevents/media-release/
cela-decries-shore-wind-moratorium
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Offshore wind 'flip-flop' draws ire; Companies say Ontario's decision to 'massacre' offshore industry will hurt renewable energy investment in the province
Ontario’s decision to put the brakes on all offshore wind power is drawing criticism from businesses behind several major wind projects in the province.
Executives in the renewable sector say the province's dramatic reversal, which effectively killed offshore plans, is highly damaging to Ontario's reputation as a leader in renewable energy. It also risks denting investment in an industry that was on the upswing as a result of the province’s green-energy policies.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/
ontarios-wind-power-flip-flop-draws-ire/article1910439/
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Province rules out Offshore Wind in Ontario
Last Friday, February 11th, the Province of Ontario announced it will not allow any new offshore wind developments in Ontario. This kills any future plans by Toronto Hydro to install wind turbines in Lake Ontario and provide Torontonians with clean, green power. It also creates a major gap in Toronto Hydro's long term renewable power plan that won't easily be filled by other renewable technologies.
The attack against wind power, citing health and environmental concerns, in Ontario has been relentless, effective and dishonest (see here). By incorrectly using health and environmental concerns to justify stopping offshore wind, Premier McGuinty's Government has also threatened the future of "on-shore" wind power by giving unjustified ammunition to wind opponents (see here.)
We need your help to stop this vocal minority of wind opponents.
Contact your MPP today (find their contact info here) and tell them you support wind power, including offshore wind in Lake Ontario. Let them also know you support wind power because nuclear and coal generation kills people and harms the environment. In contrast, no credible evidence shows offshore wind power, when properly sited, harms people or the environment. - Toronto Environmental Alliance
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The energy [r]evolution has begun
http://www.grist.org/article/
2011-02-19-the-energy-revolution-has-begun
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Global Solar Power Growth Doubled In 2010
Solar panel prices have halved since 2007.
The fortunes of the solar market contrasted with wind, which last year shrank for the first time in two decades as a result of a difficult market for project finance as well as uncertain regulatory support.
http://planetark.org/wen/61201
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Security Without Nuclear Deterrence: A World Without Nuclear Weapons - Lecture by Commander Robert Green
Friday, March 4 at 7:30 - 9:30 p.m.
Room B 142, Earth Sciences Centre, 5 Bancroft Avenue and 33 Willcocks Street, Toronto
Public event, no charge
Commander Robert Green served for twenty years in the British Royal Navy from 1962 to 1982. As a bombardier-navigator, he flew in Buccaneer nuclear strike aircraft and anti-submarine nuclear strike aircraft and anti-submarine helicopters. On promotion to Commander in 1978, he worked in the Ministry of Defence before his final appointment as Staff Officer (Intelligence) to the Commander-in-Chief Fleet during the Falklands War.
Commander Green chaired the UK affiliate of the World Court Project (1991-2004), an international citizen campaign which led to the International Court of Justice judgment in 1996 that the threat or use of nuclear weapons would generally be illegal. From 1998-2002 he was chair of the Strategic Planning Committee of the Middle Powers Initiative.
Now Co-Director with his wife, Dr Kate Dewes ONZM, of the Disarmament & Security Centre in New Zealand, he is the author of The Naked Nuclear Emperor: Debunking Nuclear Deterrence, and Fast Track to Zero Nuclear Weapons: The Middle Powers Initiative. His latest book, published in 2010, is called Security Without Nuclear Deterrence.
The event is organized by Science for Peace: sfp@physics.utoronto.ca, 416-978-3606
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greenprofit - Sustainable Solutions for Increasing your Bottom Line
March 20-21, Kingston, ON
Join Ontario innovators in business, industry, economic development, policy and research at the greenprofit Conference and Exhibition
http://www.greenprofit.ca/
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Facing Off for Social Justice in a Militarized World Conflict Zones, Human Rights and Health Care
Mar. 25/26, Ottawa, ON
Sponsored by Physicians for Global Survival
Agenda and registration:
http://pgs.ca/?page_id=725
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Angela Bischoff, Outreach Director
Ontario Clean Air Alliance
Tel: 416 926 1907 x 246
625 Church Street, #402, Toronto, ON M4Y 2G1
angela@cleanairalliance.org
www.ontariosgreenfuture.ca
www.cleanairalliance.org
Our Facebook Group
No Nukes News
Health Power
Coal Must Go
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13. Former utilities board chairman cut off at hearing - New Brunswick
From: Gordon Edwards
Sent: Sunday, February 20, 2011 11:23 AM
Background:
Years ago, New Brunswick's Public Utilities Board unanimously recommended against the refurbishment of the Point Lepreau nuclear reactor because it represented too great a financial risk and better alternatives were available. This advice was ignored by the N.B. government.
The Point Lepreau refurbishment was originally expected to take 18 months and cost about $1.4 billion. It is already 3 years behind schedule and about $1 billion over budget.
Gordon Edwards.
= = = =
Former utilities board chairman cut off at hearing
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/story/
2011/02/17/nb-nicholson-energy-hearings.html?sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4d60f63edb97e7b5%2C0
CBC News, Feb 17, 2011
A former chairman of the public utilities board was cut off as he made a presentation at the provincial energy hearings in Saint John.
The hearings, being held by the New Brunswick Energy Commission, are to lead to a 10-year energy plan for the province, including balancing energy prices, job creation and environmental protection.
David Nicholson had his presentation terminated in the middle of critical comments about government oversight of NB Power.
"I was surprised, with the experience that I have had, that they wouldn't not [sic] give me the opportunity to finish my prepared remarks," Nicholson said afterward. "I'm disappointed."
Nicholson was ousted as the chairman of the public utilities board five years ago by the former Bernard Lord government and was forbidden from speaking on energy issues as a condition of his severance package.
He showed up Thursday to speak to the current provincial energy commission — made up of Jeannot Volpé, the former Lord government energy and natural resources minister and Bill Thompson, former deputy energy minister.
When he criticized their years in office, he was cut off, saying his 10-minute time limit had expired.
MORE:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/story/
2011/02/17/nb-nicholson-energy-hearings.html?sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4d60f63edb97e7b5%2C0
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14. An EPIC battle for Canada's energy future
http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/Blog/
an-epic-battle-for-canadas-energy-future/blog/33239?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feb%202011%20Enews%20EN%20(2)&utm_content=
Blogpost by Keith Stewart - February 7, 2011 at 11:11
While reading the glowing assessment of the tar sands as Canada’s future in this morning’s Globe and Mail, I couldn’t help feeling that large chunks of the big picture were missing.
One of the key pieces in the behind-the-scenes battle over Canada’s energy future that has been circulating amongst decision-makers recently found its way into my in-box: A Strategy for Canada’s Global Energy Leadership.
This document was put together by the Energy Policy Institute of Canada (EPIC). Don’t be fooled by the name. EPIC isn’t some kind of think tank. It is a lobby group made up of over three dozen companies and industry associations dedicated to putting in place a national energy strategy to facilitate the rapid expansion of the tar sands and its associated pipeline infrastructure.
There is some window-dressing in the report for gas and nuclear, and even some platitudes around the benefits of renewable energy and conservation, but make no mistake: this is an agenda driven by the oil companies who make up its core and who are dedicated to the radical expansion of fossil fuel extraction as part of turning Canada into what Prime Minister Harper has called “an energy superpower”.
MORE:
http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/Blog/
an-epic-battle-for-canadas-energy-future/blog/33239?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feb%202011%20Enews%20EN%20(2)&utm_content
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15. Federal Plan Announced to Protect Grand Canyon From Uranium Mining
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/
2011/uranium-mining-02-17-2011.html
For Immediate Release, February 17, 2011
Contact: Roger Clark, Grand Canyon Trust, (928) 774-7488
Sandy Bahr, Sierra Club, (602) 999-5790
Taylor McKinnon, Center for Biological Diversity, (928) 310-6713
GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. — The Obama administration today announced a draft plan to protect 1 million acres of public land around Grand Canyon National Park from new uranium mining. Conservationists and tribal leaders hailed the move, citing thousands of new mining claims threatening Grand Canyon ’s watersheds, fragile seeps and springs, American Indian sacred sites, critical wildlife habitat and the region’s tourism-based economy.
“Tourism, not mining, is the mainstay of our region’s economy,” said Roger Clark with the Grand Canyon Trust. “BLM is grossly inflating revenue projections for uranium mining and fails to reveal that most revenues go to Utah or overseas—not Arizona . Uranium mining imposes long-term health risks on local communities and is costing federal taxpayers billions of dollars to clean the mess from its last boom. We simply cannot afford another round of this deadly legacy.”
MORE:
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/
2011/uranium-mining-02-17-2011.html
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16. World Nuclear News - 15-21 February 2011
http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/
?u=140c559a3b34d23ff7c6b48b9&id=8f4a1b3837&e=7a6d90bce5
NEW NUCLEAR:
Westinghouse announces Small Modular Reactor
18 February 2011
Westinghouse has officially "introduced" its 200 MWe Small Modular Reactor, and says it is preparing for a role in the US Department of Energy's demonstration program.
Lockheed Martin to supply ESBWR controls
17 February 2011
Lockheed Martin has partnered with GE-Hitachi (GEH) to design and supply digital control systems for GEH's Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR).
Milestones moved for American Centrifuge Plant
17 February 2011
USEC Inc and the US Department of Energy have agreed to modify milestones for the deployment of centrifuge enrichment technology at the American Centrifuge Plant.
Start-up of new Shimane unit delayed
15 February 2011
The fuelling and start-up of the Shimane 3 nuclear power reactor in Japan has been delayed by three months due to a fault with the control rod drive mechanism, Chugoku Electric Power Co announced.
WASTE & RECYCLING:
Slow progress towards US use of MOX
21 February 2011
While construction continues on a mixed oxide nuclear fuel plant at Savannah River, negotiations on where the fuel will be used remain in the early stages.
States sue NRC over on-site waste storage
16 February 2011
Three north-eastern US states - Connecticut, New York and Vermont - are suing the federal nuclear regulator for allowing the on-site storage of radioactive waste for up to 60 years, claiming the decision violates federal laws.
MORE:
http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/
?u=140c559a3b34d23ff7c6b48b9&id=8f4a1b3837&e=7a6d90bce5
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17. Canadian Military Exports to the Middle East & North Africa
http://coat.ncf.ca/mideast/mideast.htm
Please distribute this information widely:
Start viewing the data here
http://coat.ncf.ca/mideast/mideast.htm
For decades, Canadian governments--Conservative and Liberal alike--have preached peace and human rights, while facilitating the steady flow of weapons, ammunition, tear gas, armoured vehicles and many other military and so-called "security" products to repressive, undemocratic regimes in the Middle East and North Africa. These governments are responsible for widespread, violent and systematic abuses of human rights, such as torture and murder. By exporting military and police products to these countries, Canada is complicit in aiding and abetting numerous authoritarian, U.S.-backed regimes that maintain a tight grip on power through propaganda, intimidation and sheer brute force.
Inspired by popular revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, and growing protests throughout the region, the Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT) has compiled information on military exports and produced data tables for 16 recipient countries in the Middle East and North Africa. COAT's tables show the value of "Munitions" in 22 categories from "Group 2" of Canada's "Export Control List," as published in reports by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) called "Export of Military Goods from Canada."
Here are links to the individual country tables showing Canada's munitions exports: (Links are on URL above. Ed.)
Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Turkey, UAE, Yemen
MORE:
http://coat.ncf.ca/mideast/mideast.htm
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"Operation SILENT PARTNER: Canada's Quiet Complicity in the Iraq War"
http://coat.ncf.ca/P4C/65/65.htm
From the current issue (#65) of COAT's magazine Press for Conversion! - also deals with Canada and the Middle East.
When the Liberal government proclaimed that Canada had refused to join the U.S. war against Iraq, many Canadians were understandably proud. Unfortunately, it was all a smoke-and-mirrors game. In reality, Canada did join the Iraq War in 2003 and our military has continued to support that war in many significant ways ever since. For instance:
* About 2,000 Canadian sailors--aboard eight, multi-billion dollar Canadian warships--participated in the Iraq War
* Canadian pilots flew warplanes in Iraq-war missions, including U.S. C-17s, a British MR2 and Canadian C-130s and CP-140s
* Top Canadian military officers received U.S., British and Canadian medals for their leadership roles in the Iraq War
These are just a few of the many facts detailed in COAT's current, 54-page issue of Press for Conversion!
Please support COAT's research! Take this opportunity to subscribe or renew your subscription to our magazine ($25 gets Canadians the next 4 issues, or $45 for the next 8 issues)
If you subscribe or renew now, we'll send you some free, extra copies of our latest issue!
Just mail an old-fashioned cheque to COAT:
COAT,541 McLeod St., Ottawa ON K1R 5R2
Or... Support COAT online
Visit the COAT website
http://coat.ncf.ca/
Thanks, Richard Sanders
Coordinator, COAT
==================
18. MP proposes nuke-free Canadian Arctic
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7392&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
Posted: 19 Feb 2011 09:50 PM PST
Yukon Member of Parliament Larry Bagnell has proposed a private member’s bill to make the Canadian Arctic a nuclear-weapon-free zone. Bill C-629, introduced on February 15th, which would make it a criminal offense to “possess, manufacture, test, store, transport or deploy a nuclear weapon in the Canadian Arctic.” The prohibition would not apply, however, to [...]
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19. UN peacekeeping missions face shortfalls
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7471&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
Posted: 23 Feb 2011 09:03 PM PST
The United Nations continues to set new records for the size and complexity of UN peacekeeping operations. But the missions are facing critical shortfalls in key equipment such as helicopters, the UN reports (“UN peacekeeping missions face shortfall of over a third in vital military helicopters,” UN News Service, 22 February 2001): “It remains the [...]
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20. WATCH: When the Dust Settles - (6.4 min.)
http://www.youtube.com/user/ICBUW
Animated short on the impact of depleted uranium weapons and the international campaign against them, produced by the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons and IKV Pax Christi.
http://www.bandepleteduranium.org
http://www.twitter.com/icbuw
MORE Info:
http://forum.stopthehogs.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=96
===================
21. Africa: Global NATO Seeks To Recruit 50 New Military Partners
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23307
By Rick Rozoff Global Research, February 21, 2011 Stop NATO - 2011-02-20
A recent article in Kenya’s Africa Review cited sources in the African Union (AU) disclosing that the 28-member North Atlantic Treaty Organization is preparing to sign a military partnership treaty with the 53-nation AU.
The author of the article, relaying comments from AU officials in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where the organization has its headquarters, wrote that although “the stated aim is to counter global security threats and specifically threats against Africa, some observers read the pact as aiming to counter Chinese expansion in Africa.”
The feature further claimed that NATO is negotiating the opening of a liaison office at AU headquarters and that the North Atlantic Alliance’s legal department is working with its AU counterpart “to finalise the new pact, which will be signed soon.” [1]
The news story additionally divulged that Ramtane Lamamra, African Union Commissioner for Peace and Security, “confirmed that Nato is to sign a military cooperation agreement with the AU” with particular emphasis on consolidating the African Standby Force (ASF). The latter is intended to consist of brigades attached to the five Regional Economic Communities on the continent. (North, East, West, Central and Southern.) The West African Standby Force has been tasked the role of intervening in – which is to say invading and occupying – Ivory Coast since the announcement of presidential runoff election results in the country in December [2], and contributors to the East Africa Standby Brigade (EASBRIG), Uganda and Burundi, are engaged as combatants in the civil war in Somalia.
The AU’s Lamamra stated “Africa would like to learn from Nato on strategic airlift, advanced communications, rotation of important units among regions and to meet logistical challenges,” adding that “Nato was a good model on which to build the ASF.” [3]
MORE:
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23307
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22. Moving Away From the Nuclear Button
http://www.indepthnews.net/news/
news.php?key1=2011-02-1910:03:30&key2=1
By Ernest Corea IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis February 22, 2011
WASHINGTON D.C. (IDN) - Russia and the U.S. are expected to exchange information about their nuclear weapons stockpiles on March 22, 2011 as required under the provisions of the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). They last exchanged corresponding information in July 2009, under the previous START that ended in December that year.
In another development, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (France, China, Russia, the U.K. and the U.S.) are hoping to meet in June to examine actions required from commitments they made in connection with the 2010 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty review conference, the Global Security Newswire has reported, quoting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller.
These trends are considered "positive but tentative" among political observers, but they are rivalled by a separate, less than positive attempt by sections of the Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representative to eliminate 10 percent (over $1 billion) of the National Nuclear Security Administration's (NNSA) budget.
A news report points out that "NNSA maintains the nation's nuclear stockpile, runs the nuclear lab complex, and fights the illegal trade of nuclear technology and material. Non-proliferation programs face the most drastic reductions."
Whatever becomes of this effort, the Obama Administrations remains committed to the new START, as well as to related developments, although the excitement generated by recent events in the Middle East has moved some of these off the headlines.
MORE:
http://www.indepthnews.net/news/
news.php?key1=2011-02-1910:03:30&key2=1
===============
23. WATCH: "Nobody Wins a Nuclear War" But "Success" is Possible - Mixed Message of 1950s Air Force Film on a U.S.-Soviet Conflict
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nukevault/ebb336/index.htm
National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 336 Posted - February 19, 2011
For more information contact: William Burr - 202/994-7000
Washington, D.C., February 19, 2011 - "The Power of Decision" may be the first (and perhaps the only) U.S. government film depicting the Cold War nightmare of a U.S.-Soviet nuclear conflict. The U.S. Air Force produced it during 1956-1957 at the request of the Strategic Air Command. Unseen for years and made public for the first time by the National Security Archive, the film depicts the U.S. Air Force's implementation of war plan "Quick Strike" in response to a Soviet surprise attack against the United States and European and East Asian allies. By the end of the film, after the Air Force launches a massive bomber-missile "double-punch," millions of Americans, Russians, Europeans, and Japanese are dead.
Colonel Dodd, the narrator, asserts that "nobody wins a nuclear war because both sides are sure to suffer terrible damage." Despite the "catastrophic" damage described by a SAC briefer, one of the film's operating assumptions is that defeat is avoidable as long as the Soviet Union cannot impose its "will." The last few minutes of the film suggest that the United States will prevail because of its successful nuclear air offensive. One of the characters, General "Pete" Larson optimistically asserts that the Soviets "must quit; we have the air and the power and they know it." It is the Soviets, not the United States, who are sending out cease-fire pleas, picked up by the CIA.
Little is known about the production or subsequent distribution of "The Power of Decision." It was probably used for internal training purposes so that officers and airmen could prepare for the worst active-duty situation that they could encounter. Perhaps the relatively unruffled style of the film's performers was to help serve as a model for SAC officers if they ever had to follow orders that could produce a nuclear holocaust.
This film is from a DVD supplied by the U.S. National Archives' motion picture unit and is hosted by the Internet Archive's Moving Images Archive. Read the Air Force Descriptive Index Card.
View the complete film below or watch a four-minute clip of the film on the Archive's YouTube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/
nsarchive#p/a/u/0/hfhqZgg_bqQ
MORE:
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nukevault/ebb336/index.htm
==================
24. Boycott the UK census over links to Lockheed Martin, protesters say
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/feb/19/
census-boycott-lockheed-martin
We're ready to face £1,000 fine, declare anti-war protesters in row over role of US arms firm Lockheed Martin in data gathering
David Sharrock and Jamie Doward
guardian.co.uk, Saturday 19 February 2011 21.15 GMT
People are being urged to boycott next month's UK's census because the US arms manufacturer responsible for Trident is involved in gathering the information.
Protesters say they are willing to break the law and face a £1,000 fine and a criminal record by refusing to fill in the 32-page questionnaire. Resistance to the decennial census is growing as a coalition of anti-war groups, pacifists, religious organisations and digital activists begin raising public awareness about the role of Lockheed Martin, America's largest arms manufacturer.
The company, which makes Trident nuclear missiles, cluster bombs and F-16 fighter jets, won the £150m contract to run the census on behalf of the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
MORE:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/feb/19/
census-boycott-lockheed-martin
- Oscar
- Site Admin
- Posts: 9965
- Joined: Wed May 03, 2006 3:23 pm
NUKE NEWS: February 27, 2011
by Oscar » Sun Feb 27, 2011 7:06 pm
NUKE NEWS: February 27, 2011
1. EVENT: Screening: Into Eternity – Saskatoon – Apr. 1 – 3
2. EVENT: Small Modular Reactors 2011 – Mar. 28-31 – Washington, DC
3. Drilling Down - Regulation Lax as Gas Wells’ Tainted Water Hits Rivers
4. Radioactive Natural Gas Fracking Could Create New Era of "Love Canals"
5. We’re ready to reach for carbon-free future
6. WATCH: Uranium
7. New Brunswick doesn't want nuclear waste
8. Saskatchewan Environmental Society urges nuclear waste ban
9. They just keepin' on heapin' it on at Oldbury...
10. BINDER (CNSC): Nuclear power plants safe
11. (SK) GOVERNMENT COMMITS ADDITIONAL $36 MILLION TO CLEAN-UP OF LEGACY URANIUM MINE
12. Nuclear safety agency defends Great Lakes shipments
13. BINDER (CNSC): Response to the op-ed entitled “Nuclear radiation is forever”
14. Radioactive waste "cargo" on Great Lakes violates Haudenosaunee 7th Generation Philosophy
15. KIMO lambasts proposal for BP's radioactive waste shipment to traverse European marine waters
16. Urge PHMSA to undertake a Programmatic EIS on water-borne shipments of radioactive waste!
17. Chernobyl, 25 years on: cash plea for new roof to contain deadly remains
18. MSP sends dossier on depleted uranium to Defence Secretary: come clean on dirty bombs!
19. Peace River Environmental Society – Resources
20. 170+ ORGANIZATIONS SEND LETTER TO JAPANESE GOVT WARNING OF EXTRAORDINARY RISKS OF LOANS TO BUILD NEW REACTORS IN TEXAS
21. Uranium and dictatorship in the Central African Republic
22. NORAD role to expand?
23. Gates channels Vizzini
24. MANLY: LETTER: Re: Iranian or Canadian abuse?
25. DOBBIN: A party of thugs, liars, cheats, crooks, dirty tricksters – and Christians
26. Libya: Is Washington Pushing for Civil War to Justify a US-NATO Military Intervention?
27. History's shifting sands
28. VOW and vets find common cause
29. Robert Green op-ed in Embassy Magazine
30. The Security Budget vs. the Necessities of Americans.
31. War, Martial Law, and the Economic Crisis
32. Dictators are "Disposable": The Rise and Fall of America's Military Henchmen
33. Gingrich calls for eliminating EPA, expanding domestic energy production
============
1. EVENT: Screening: "Into Eternity" – Saskatoon – Apr. 1 - 3
Saskatoon Environmental Film Festival: April 1 - 3, 2011
Location: The Roxy Theatre, 320 20th Street West;
Opening Night Gala at Paved Arts, 424 20th St. West
Featuring - "Into Eternity" - 75 min. 2010
http://www.intoeternitythemovie.com/
Finland's is in the midst of a century long project to create a "permanent" storage facility for its nuclear waste. What does permanent mean in the context of a something that remains so powerful for 100 000 years? Mind bending cinematography and interviews with high ranking officials put this honourable/ludicrous/disingenuous effort in stunning chronological and geographical perspective.
To find out what other great films are playing, check out this link:
http://www.econet.sk.ca/filmfest/filmsstoon2011.html
====================
2. EVENT: Small Modular Reactors 2011 – Mar. 28-31 – Washington, DC
http://www.infocastinc.com/index.php/conference/smr11i
Come hear the perspectives of manufacturers, financiers, customers and reactor developers!
This unique, multi-national event will provide unparalleled insight into:
Government support for SMR commercialization
Commercialization of all leading SMR designs
Military, utility and other customer perspectives
Developing an SMR supply chain
Finance and investment outlook
Three Great Events in One:
Advanced SMR Technology Symposium
March 28, 2011
The latest technology breakthroughs emerging from academia and the labs
Building the Value Chain for Commercializing Small Modular Reactors 2011
March 29-30, 2011
Come hear the perspectives of reactor developers, regulators, manufacturers, financiers and customers!
Licensing Small Modular Reactors Workshop
March 31, 2011
Learn the latest on how to accelerate designs through the emerging SMR licensing process
Building the Value Chain for Commercializing Small Modular Reactors will bring together all of the communities in the SMR value chain to discuss how to build a new SMR industry. Leaders from the reactor developers, potential early adopter customers, defense contractors and manufacturers, utilities, and financial communities – communities that normally don’t communicate amongst themselves in the ordinary course of events – will be on hand to share their perspectives on what is needed to form an efficient and effective value chain to commercialize SMRs.
REGISTER:
http://www.infocastinc.com/index.php/conference/
smr11i/registration
=================
3. Drilling Down - Regulation Lax as Gas Wells’ Tainted Water Hits Rivers
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/27/us/27gas.html?ref=us
By IAN URBINA Published: February 26, 2011
QUOTE: “The Times also found never-reported studies by the E.P.A. and a confidential study by the drilling industry that all concluded that radioactivity in drilling waste cannot be fully diluted in rivers and other waterways.”
The American landscape is dotted with hundreds of thousands of new wells and drilling rigs, as the country scrambles to tap into this century’s gold rush — for natural gas.
The gas has always been there, of course, trapped deep underground in countless tiny bubbles, like frozen spills of seltzer water between thin layers of shale rock. But drilling companies have only in recent years developed techniques to unlock the enormous reserves, thought to be enough to supply the country with gas for heating buildings, generating electricity and powering vehicles for up to a hundred years.
So energy companies are clamoring to drill. And they are getting rare support from their usual sparring partners. Environmentalists say using natural gas will help slow climate change because it burns more cleanly than coal and oil. Lawmakers hail the gas as a source of jobs. They also see it as a way to wean the United States from its dependency on other countries for oil.
But the relatively new drilling method — known as high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking — carries significant environmental risks. It involves injecting huge amounts of water, mixed with sand and chemicals, at high pressures to break up rock formations and release the gas.
With hydrofracking, a well can produce over a million gallons of wastewater that is often laced with highly corrosive salts, carcinogens like benzene and radioactive elements like radium, all of which can occur naturally thousands of feet underground. Other carcinogenic materials can be added to the wastewater by the chemicals used in the hydrofracking itself.
While the existence of the toxic wastes has been reported, thousands of internal documents obtained by The New York Times from the Environmental Protection Agency, state regulators and drillers show that the dangers to the environment and health are greater than previously understood.
- - - SNIP - - -
And prospects for drillers in Pennsylvania are looking brighter.
In December, the Republican governor-elect, Tom Corbett, who during his campaign took more gas industry contributions than all his competitors combined, said he would reopen state land to new drilling, reversing a decision made by his predecessor, Edward G. Rendell. The change clears the way for as many as 10,000 wells on public land, up from about 25 active wells today.
In arguing against a proposed gas-extraction tax on the industry, Mr. Corbett said regulation of the industry had been too aggressive.
“I will direct the Department of Environmental Protection to serve as a partner with Pennsylvania businesses, communities and local governments,” Mr. Corbett says on his Web site. “It should return to its core mission protecting the environment based on sound science.”
=================
4. Radioactive Natural Gas Fracking Could Create New Era of "Love Canals"
http://www.sourcews.com/feb-markey-radi ... atural-gas
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 26, 2011
Contact: Eben Burnham-Snyder, Rep. Ed Markey, 202-225-6065 ofc
202-494-4486 cell; Giselle Barry, Rep. Ed Markey, 202-225-2836 ofc
202-510-3240 cell
Following Reports in The New York Times on Potential Fracking Dangers, Markey Queries EPA on Safety, Monitoring of Technology
WASHINGTON (February 26, 2011) - Responding to an investigative article published today by The New York Times on the high incidence of radioactive materials and other contaminants in the wastes produced from natural gas extraction, Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), the top Democrat on the Natural Resources Committee, immediately questioned the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on its oversight of these extractive practices.
The Times article shows that the radioactively contaminated wastewater derived from the so-called "fracking" process to produce natural gas from shale rock and other formations is being sent to sewage plants that do not have the capacity to remove radioactive radium or other materials, and these hazardous waste materials are then dumped into rivers and streams where they enter our drinking water supplies. Exposure to highly radioactive radium, one of the materials discussed in the Times report, can lead to cancer and other harmful health effects.
"I do not believe that the price for energy extracted from deep beneath the earth's surface should include a risk to the health of those who live above it," wrote Rep. Markey to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. "These discharges are also occurring with at least some
knowledge of the risks on the part of federal and state regulators and despite the clear dangers to public health and safety."
The letter can be found HERE:
http://markey.house.gov/docs/
epa_fracking_nyt_letter_02.26.11_.pdf
==================
5. We’re ready to reach for carbon-free future
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/technology/
ready+reach+carbon+free+future/4330917/story.html
Stephen Janzen Edmonton Journal 2011 Feb 23 pg A15
We normally think of the people responding to economic surveys as fairly conservative. Those who monitor the economy or take an interest in the economy are not considered the most radical thinkers. Such surveys usually ask stock questions about the overall performance of the economy, and our latest study did just that.
But the latest Western Economic Expectations survey also asked 130 economists and financial analysts for their thoughts about environmental issues specifically carbon and whether it should be priced at a certain level or not. The responses to this theme merit our attention.
A striking tone of optimism, one could almost call it activism, punctuated the overall results. About 80 per cent agreed that it is realistic for Canada to become a global leader in renewable energy production, although few expected to be free from the use of carbon-based fuels 30 years from now. More than 66 per cent of respondents supported nuclear power generation in their province. Support for nuclear power ranged from 80 per cent in Saskatchewan to a low of 57 per cent in British Columbia. Surprisingly, support in Alberta was 72 per cent. (Emphasis Added. Ed.)
Enthusiastic responses were also received to our question on carbon reduction efforts. A majority of respondents 60.8 per cent disagreed with the survey statement: “Canada should wait to see what the United States will do before implementing its own carbon-reduction policies.”
MORE:
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/technology/
ready+reach+carbon+free+future/4330917/story.html
====================
6. WATCH: Uranium
http://www.nfb.ca/film/Uranium
Magnus Isacsson, 1990, 47 min 59 s
This documentary looks at the hazards of uranium mining in Canada. Toxic and radioactive waste pose environmental threats while the traditional economic and spiritual lives of the Aboriginal people who occupy this land have been violated. Given our limited knowledge of the associated risks, this film questions the validity of continuing the mining operations.
==================
7. New Brunswick doesn't want nuclear waste
http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/n ... le/1383875
Waste storage repository still years away but N.B. already paying into construction fund
by Alan Cochrane, Times & transcript staff, Sat. Feb. 26th, 2011
Canada's Nuclear Waste Management Organization is still looking for a place to construct an $8-billion underground repository for nuclear waste, but so far no New Brunswick communities have expressed an interest in getting involved and the provincial government is definitely not interested.
"We are not pursuing a nuclear waste site anywhere in this province," Premier David Alward flatly stated this week when asked about the idea.
Mike Krizanc, communications manager for the NWMO, said yesterday that seven communities -- three in Saskatchewan and four in Ontario -- have filed official expressions of interest. But any potential sites will go through a rigourous screening process that could take eight to 10 years.
"There's no firm timeline on this. We're going to take the time to answer all the questions for them so people in those communities can make an informed decision that is in their own best interest. We're certainly not going to force this on anyone," Krizanc said.
Newspaper reports earlier this week cited NWMO internal documents that suggested Saskatchewan -- along with New Brunswick - was more receptive to a nuclear-waste site than Ontario and Quebec. But Krizanc said that "receptiveness" was limited to some media reports and editorials. So far, no one in New Brunswick has come forward with a willingness for such a facility. He said a notice of interest would have to come from an elected body such as a municipal council or First Nations council.
The NWMO kicked off a process last spring looking for a community willing to host an underground complex that would serve as a long-term storage facility for all of Canada's nuclear waste. The selection process could take up to 10 years.
MORE:
http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/n ... le/1383875
=====================
8. Saskatchewan Environmental Society urges nuclear waste ban
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/technology/
urges+nuclear+waste/4329830/story.html
BY JAMES WOOD, THE STAR PHOENIX FEBRUARY 23, 2011
Saskatchewan should consider legislation banning the importation of nuclear waste into the province, the Saskatchewan Environmental Society said this week as it issued a position paper on nuclear waste storage.
Saskatchewan is being eyed as a potential site for underground storage of nuclear waste by the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO), although a decision is likely a decade away. Three northern communities have expressed interest as a possible host.
A Canadian Press story this week cited NWMO internal documents that suggested Saskatchewan -along with New Brunswick -was more receptive to a nuclear waste site than Ontario and Quebec.
- - - SNIP - - -
The Saskatchewan Party government has said provincial residents don't want nuclear waste in the province, but in 2009 said it was "reserving decisions" on whether it would support communities seeking such a facility.
Energy and Resources Minister Bill Boyd said Tuesday any discussions about a nuclear waste facility in the province were "blue-skying."
"This is not an area that we feel is something that the province would want to move forward in. We don't see that as an opportunity. We have not had any companies coming forward and saying they would want to set up operations in Saskatchewan."
Boyd said the government has not considered legislation barring nuclear waste from entering the province.
jwood@thestarphoenix.com
=================
9. They just keepin' on heapin' it on at Oldbury...
http://acehoffman.blogspot.com/2011/02/
they-just-keepin-on-heapin-it-on-at.html
February 19th, 2011
Dear Readers,
A UK nuclear power plant, Oldbury Unit 2, is getting a six month license extension (through June 2011) so that it can be shut down the same month as Oldbury Unit 1 is scheduled to shut down -- unless further license extensions are granted: They are also vying for a 2012 closure "in order to use up spare fuel at the site".
What a LOUSY reason to keep a nuclear power plant operating!
MORE:
http://acehoffman.blogspot.com/2011/02/
they-just-keepin-on-heapin-it-on-at.html
====================
10. BINDER (CNSC): Nuclear power plants safe
http://www.windsorstar.com/opinion/
Nuclear+power+plants+safe/4101373/story.html
BY MICHAEL BINDER, WINDSOR STAR JANUARY 13, 2011
Re: Wind power is healthy, guest column, by Gideon Forman, Jan. 6. (Below)
I'm compelled to respond to Gideon Forman's groundless statements on the health impacts of nuclear energy in his Jan. 6 column, Wind power is healthy.
Studies have shown over and over that people living near nuclear power plants are as healthy as the rest of the population.
When Forman mentions the 2008 German study, he fails to tell you that both its authors and the German Radiological Protection Commission specifically ruled out radiation as a reason for the presence of some clusters of childhood leukemia near the nuclear plants.
Recent British and French epidemiological studies that used the same methodology as the German study did not find any increase in risk of childhood cancer in people living near their respective nuclear facilities.
All industrial activities have some form of releases to the environment; nuclear has a regulator that ensures operations are safe.
I would like to reinforce that the very small controlled releases of nuclear facilities do not pose any risk to people and the environment.
Finally, nuclear waste is not a burden for future generations. In fact, it is safely stored and managed.
MORE:
http://www.windsorstar.com/opinion/
Nuclear+power+plants+safe/4101373/story.html
- - - - -
Wind power is healthy
http://www.windsorstar.com/opinion/
Wind+power+healthy/4067328/story.html
BY GIDEON FORMAN, SPECIAL TO THE WINDSOR STAR JANUARY 6, 2011
If we take seriously the protection of human health we have to phase out coal and nuclear-powered electricity.
Coal kills hundreds of Ontarians and triggers over 120,000 illnesses (e. g., asthma attacks) annually.
It is also the most climate-destructive fuel around, emitting twice as much carbon as natural gas does. Whether the issue is respiratory disease or global warming, coal is a catastrophe.
But nuclear is extremely unhealthy as well. A scientific review by the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment found all functioning reactors release radioactive materials on a routine basis.
A 2008 German government study showed children (younger than five) living within five kilometres of a nuclear plant are at elevated risk for leukemia. And Scientific American recently reported nukes harm the climate: "Nuclear power results in up to 25 times more carbon emissions than wind energy, when reactor construction and uranium refining and transport are considered."
But to phase out conventional power we need to use less energy and switch over to renewables, including wind turbines.
MORE:
http://www.windsorstar.com/opinion/
Wind+power+healthy/4067328/story.html
==================
11. (SK) GOVERNMENT COMMITS ADDITIONAL $36 MILLION TO CLEAN-UP OF LEGACY URANIUM MINE
http://www.gov.sk.ca/
news?newsId=7683ce47-672a-4d44-b756-4e4280925a36
News Release - February 25, 2011
The Saskatchewan government has committed an additional $36.2 million to the clean-up of an abandoned uranium mine site in northern Saskatchewan.
The Gunnar site is an abandoned uranium mine site the provincial and federal governments are cleaning up in the Uranium City area. The Saskatchewan Research Council, which has been managing the process for the past four years, has identified additional remediation work required on the site. Project costs have also risen beyond the original estimates developed prior to 2004.
"We are serious about our environmental commitments and will spend what is necessary to clean up the Gunnar site," Energy and Resources Deputy Minister Kent Campbell said. "Environmental protection and the public health and safety of northerners are our prime concerns."
This "Cold War legacy mine" was a small, short-term mining operation from the 1950s and 1960s near Uranium City. Following completion of operations, the uranium mine was abandoned at a time when environmental controls for decommissioning and reclaiming such sites were limited or non-existent. Responsibility for bringing the site up to today's standards cannot be placed with the mining companies involved since they no longer exist.
Four years ago the two levels of government signed an agreement for the clean-up of legacy mine sites. In a parallel process, the provincial government established a world-leading Institutional Control Program and Registry to address the long-term management of abandoned and existing mine sites, including those for uranium.
"Saskatchewan's modern-day mining industry is highly regulated and practises strong environmental stewardship," Campbell said. "The industry has worked with our ministry to develop a modern program that is considered a world-class standard for the long-term management of decommissioned mine sites."
The federal government is expected to commit equal funding to the Gunnar clean-up. -30-
For more information, contact:
Roy Schneider, Energy and Resources, Regina
Phone: 306-787-1691
===================
12. Nuclear safety agency defends Great Lakes shipments
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/02/11/
nuclear-briefing.html
Officials dismiss concerns over nuclear steam boilers as 'fearmongering'
Last Updated: Friday, February 11, 2011 | 3:35 PM ET By Max Paris,
Environment Unit, CBC News
The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission is blasting what it calls "misinformation" and "fearmongering" about its decision to allow Bruce Power to transport 16 decommissioned nuclear steam boilers through the Great Lakes to Sweden for recycling.
"The word nuclear, every time it appears... there is the fearmongering," said Ramzi Jammal, executive vice-president of the nuclear watchdog.
In a rare technical briefing, Jammal and three other high-ranking commission officials say the shipment was routine and completely safe.
Before granting the power company permission, the commission ran through a series of "implausible" scenarios.
Among them was the possibility of the boilers cracking open and contaminants leaking out ‹ a near-impossible event according to Patsy Thompson, CNSC director general of environmental and radiation protection and assessment.
"At no time, if there is an accident and radioactive material is released, would there be a situation where drinking water supply plants would be at risk," Thompson said.
The level of radiation coming out of the sealed boilers was well below even a medical dose of radiation, the officials said.
But that was cold comfort to David Ullrich, executive director of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, an umbrella group that advocates on behalf of municipalities along those waterways.
"We are not reassured," he said. "I think it is unfortunate that they have chosen to characterize opposition and questions about the shipment as fearmongering."
The issues being raised are legitimate, Ullrich added.
MORE:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/
2011/02/11/nuclear-briefing.html
==============
13. BINDER (CNSC): Response to the op-ed entitled “Nuclear radiation is forever” published in the Ottawa Citizen on February 8, 2011
http://www.nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/mediacentre/issues/
letters_to_the_editor/February-9-2011-Response-Ottawa-Citizen.cfm#
Dear Editor:
I was surprised that the Ottawa Citizen chose to run an Op-Ed
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/opinion/
Nuclear+radiation+forever/4240391/story.html
written by Helen Caldicott and Dale Dewar, two individuals who continue to misinform the citizens of Port Hope. (Below. Ed.)
As Canada¹s nuclear regulator, we are compelled to ensure that your readers understand the facts based on sound science and not the fictitious biases of a few.
Concerned readers should know that Port Hope residents are as healthy as the rest of the Canadian population. This has been demonstrated by 13 epidemiological, peer-reviewed studies conducted over several decades by reputable and independent bodies.
The CNSC recently published a synthesis report
[ http://www.nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/mycommunity/
facilities/porthope/health_studies.cfm ]
that was presented during open houses held in the community.
Findings were compared with 40 international epidemiological studies on similar populations, and the conclusion was clear: the health of Port Hope residents is no different than that of other Canadians.
The CNSC provides strict regulatory oversight of both uranium processing and clean up activities taking place in the community to ensure there are negligible impacts to the health and safety of residents and their environment.
I invite your readers to visit our Web site at nuclearsafety.gc.ca to get the facts about Canada¹s nuclear sector.
Michael Binder, President
Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission
= = = =
COMMENT: Hughes: Re: Binder's Surprise
Sent to CNSC on Feb. 25, 2011
I'm really curious why Mr. Binder was so "surprised that the Ottawa Citizen chose to run an Op-Ed entitled Nuclear Radiation is Forever".
Was he surprised at the 'freedom of the press' . . . such as it is?
Or, was he surprised that there are actually people who are capable of presenting their own 'facts' on the needless, dangerous, archaic nuclear industry-with-tembling-hands-out-for-the-next-bag-of-government-subsidy-money?
Or was he surprised that there is, in fact, another side to the blind, narrow vision that provides him his corner office?????
The serfs are enlightened and no longer swallow the industry's propaganda as 'gospel'. . .
Surprise!!
Elaine Hughes
Archerwill, SK
= = = = =
Nuclear radiation is forever
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/health/
Nuclear+radiation+forever/4240391/story.html
(check out the comments section in the article)
By Helen Caldicott And Dale Dewar, Citizen Special February 8, 2011
Like most Ontario towns, Port Hope, on the shores of Lake Ontario, has a water treatment plant supplying its drinking water. Incredibly, adjacent to this plant is a huge factory now owned by Cameco. The factory hovers over this picturesque town, emitting uranium gas and dust into the air and Lake Ontario as it manufactures uranium fuel rods for export.
Port Hope is the deep dark underbelly of the Canadian nuclear industry, representing dangers that so far, have escaped sufficient scrutiny and cleanup. [ . . . ]
=================
14. Radioactive waste "cargo" on Great Lakes violates Haudenosaunee 7th Generation Philosophy
http://www.beyondnuclear.org/home/2011/2/22/
radioactive-waste-cargo-on-great-lakes-violates-haudenosaune.html
February 22, 2011
An op-ed in the Toronto Star by associate professor of environment at the University of Toronto, Stephen Bede Scharper, points out that in addition to being the drinking water supply and source of fisheries, the Great Lakes are also the source of emotional and spiritual sustenance for more than 35 million people in the U.S., Canada, and numerous Native American First Nations. Thus it's easy to see how Bruce Power's shipment of 16 plutonium-contaminated steam generators on the Great Lakes, approved by the Canadian Nuclear Safety (sic) Commission on Feb. 4th, would violate not only the Haudenosaunee Seventh Generation Spiritual Philosophy, but also the Precautionary Principle. Speaking of the Haudenosaunee, the Mohawk Nations have spoken out strongly against this shipment, as have a number of other First Nations coalitions in Ontario and Quebec. The fight now may now be moving into the Canadian courts, as well as to the U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. PHMSA's approval is required before the shipment can enter U.S. waters on the Great Lakes. A growing environmental coalition is calling on PHMSA to undertake a full Environmental Impact Statement, complete with public hearings and a public comment period.
================
15. KIMO lambasts proposal for BP's radioactive waste shipment to traverse European marine waters
http://www.beyondnuclear.org/home/2011/2/19/
kimo-lambasts-proposal-for-bps-radioactive-waste-shipment-to.html
February 19, 2011
KIMO (Kommunenes Internasjonale Miljøorganisasjon, which translates as Local Authorities International Environmental Organisation) -- a European environmental coalition of municipal authorities dedicated to protecting their marine environment homelands -- has spoken out strongly against Bruce Power's (BP) proposal to ship 16 plutonium-contaminated steam generators to Sweden for so-called "recycling." The Studsvik radioactive metal "recycling" facility -- besides contaminating the recycled metal supply with hazardous radioactivity -- also spews radioactive discharges into the Baltic Sea, which does not sit well with KIMO. As also reported on its homepage, KIMO has also spoken out against the hazards of so-called "floating" nuclear power plants, as proposed by the Russian nuclear establishment (the French nuclear establishment, for its part, has proposed underwater atomic reactors for deployment on the ocean floor -- perhaps to complement the radioactive waste its La Hague reprocessing facility already spews into the English Channel?!).
=======================
16. Urge PHMSA to undertake a Programmatic EIS on water-borne shipments of radioactive waste!
http://www.beyondnuclear.org/home/2011/2/24/
urge-phmsa-to-undertake-a-programmatic-eis-on-water-borne-sh.html
Thursday Feb242011
The U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is the federal agency that must approve Bruce Power's controversial and risky proposed shipment of 16 radioactive steam generators, originating in Ontario and bound for Sweden, before it enters U.S. territorial waters on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River. PHMSA is infamous for its negligence in major oil pipeline leaks into rivers, deadly natural gas pipeline explosions, and the cozy relationships between the agency's top leadership and the very companies and industries PHMSA is supposed to regulate.
Thanks to 7 Great Lakes U.S. Senators, it was revealed that PHMSA has previously rubberstamped approvals for 17 water-borne shipments of large, radioactive nuclear components in the past. These shipments travelled on rivers, bays, and sea coasts across the U.S., and even on the waters of Lake Michigan. PHMSA very quietly granted "approvals or special permits" for shipping radioactive steam generators, reactor pressure vessels, pressurizers, and reactor vessel heads with little or no notice to, or attention from, the public, media, emergency responders, or elected officials.
Given the radiological risks of these shipments, and the precedent they set for shipping high-level radioactive wastes by water, PHMSA must undertake a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). This should include an adequate period for submission of public comments, including public hearings across the U.S. in places that have been targeted in the past for such shipments, or could be in the future.
Contact PHMSA Administrator Cynthia L. Quarterman, urging her to undertake a PEIS -- including a public comment period and public hearings -- in order to fully comply with NEPA, as she assured the U.S. Senators that she would.
You can email her at phmsa.administrator@dot.gov; fax her at (202) 366-3666; phone her at (202) 366-4433; or send her a letter at Cynthia L. Quarterman, Administrator, U.S. Department of Transportation, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, East Building, 2nd Floor, Mail Stop: E27-300, 1200 New Jersey Ave., SE, Washington, DC 20590. Also, contact your U.S. Senators and U.S. Representative via the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and request that they urge PHMSA Administrator Quarterman to do a PEIS as well. Additional information on the Bruce Power radioactive steam generator shipment from Canada to Sweden can be found on Beyond Nuclear's Canada website section.
====================
17. Chernobyl, 25 years on: cash plea for new roof to contain deadly remains
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/feb/27/
chernobyl-new-roof-british-funds
Britain urged to contribute £43m of £640m cost as Ukraine marks anniversary of world's worst nuclear accident
Terry Macalister in Chernobyl
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 27 February 2011 17.53 GMT
Britain is coming under increasing pressure to provide Ukraine with an extra €50m (£43m) to construct a new contamination shield over the top of the stricken Chernobyl nuclear plant before the old one collapses.
Officials from the European commission said governments around the world were being urged to find €750m to help build a more sophisticated roof over the burnt-out reactor and storage for 200 tonnes of highly radioactive fuel.
Jean-Paul Joulia, from the commission's nuclear safety unit, admitted the cost of just this aspect of the Chernobyl clean-up was running at €1.5bn – double the original estimate – partly due to "some delays" to some projects.
But he said he was confident that foreign governments would stump up the money needed for the shield, even in today's financially difficult climate. "I am optimistic the international community is committed to this. It is important for a number of reasons," he said.
MORE:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/
2011/feb/27/chernobyl-new-roof-british-funds
==================
18. MSP sends dossier on depleted uranium to Defence Secretary: come clean on dirty bombs!
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php? ... &aid=23178
Character assassination used to silence DU opponents.
Dr Bill Wilson MSP
February 9, 2011 - Dr Bill Wilson MSP (SNP) has sent the Defence Secretary, Liam Fox, a dossier containing what he describes as "significant evidence pointing to the devastating effects of depleted uranium (DU) on the health of armed services personnel and civilians, and of the UK and USA’s attempts to suppress such evidence and prevent the investigation of the effects of DU" and called on the UK Government to take appropriate action... [ . . . . ]
================
19. Peace River Environmental Society – Resources
http://www.peaceriverenvironmentalsociety.org/
Nuclear%20books,movies,audio.htm
===================
20. 170+ ORGANIZATIONS SEND LETTER TO JAPANESE GOVT WARNING OF EXTRAORDINARY RISKS OF LOANS TO BUILD NEW REACTORS IN TEXAS LETTER:
http://www.nirs.org/nukerelapse/stexas/ ... ter211.pdf
PRESS RELEASE:
http://www.nirs.org/nukerelapse/stexas/jbicpr22411.pdf
February 25, 2011
Dear Friends,
Thank you to the more than 170 organizations that signed the group letter to the Prime Minister of Japan and key Cabinet officials urging the government to reject proposed loans to build two new nuclear reactors in south Texas.
More than 135 U.S. groups signed, along with 21 Japanese organizations and groups from 13 other countries. This was true international cooperation!
The letter and press release can be found on the front page of NIRS website. While NIRS has sent the release to more than 1500 media contacts worldwide, we ask groups that signed to download the press release and send it to your local media as well as post it on your own blogs, websites, etc.
Meanwhile, we are still collecting signatures on the similar petition to the Prime Minister and Cabinet. If you haven't signed it yet, please do so now. We are expecting to send in the petition, accompanied by a new press release, late next week, so there is still time to sign and help spread the word to your friends and colleagues.
We will also be getting this petition directly to the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC)--the government's export-import bank that is considering this loan. JBIC is also going to be asked to fund other nuclear projects around the world.
This is just the beginning of a major international campaign to stop all government bank funding of nuclear projects. It's not just Japan, it's also ex-im banks in France, the U.S., Korea and elsewhere. Nuclear power exists only because of the forced support by taxpayers across the world. It's time to put the risk back where it belongs: squarely on the shoulders of the utilities and reactor manufacturers that want this dangerous and dirty technology. If they're not willing to take the risk--and they're not; well, tough, neither are we.
We hope you'll help us continue and expand this campaign with a small tax-deductible contribution, either on our donation page or by sending a check to us at NIRS, 6930 Carroll Avenue, #340, Takoma Park, MD 20912. We especially hope you'll consider setting up a small monthly recurring donation: it's easy to do on our donation page, you can end it at any time, and it really helps!
Thanks for all you do,
Michael Mariotte, Executive Director
Nuclear Information and Resource Service
nirsnet@nirs.org
www.nirs.org
=================
21. Uranium and dictatorship in the Central African Republic
http://www.togoforum.com/
index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=654:uranium-and-dictatorship-in-the-central-african-republic&catid=41:africa&Itemid=2
18 February 2011 By Juliette Abandokwe
http://julietteabandokwe.blogspot.com/2011/02/
corporate-responsibility-and.html
The Central African Republic lies in the heart of Africa. But nobody sees anything of what is going on there, and nobody hears the cries of the impoverished and poorest people in Africa. 1.6 million internally displaced people out of less than 4 million inhabitants have been fleeing the effects of everlasting internal conflicts, trapped between rebel groups and government troops, as well as high levels of institutionalized zaraguina banditry. President Bozizé basically has absolutely no control over the national territory, and is just sitting on his war booty in Bangui, virtually shooting at anybody who dares to threaten his position. The capital and its surrounding have been turned into a vast bunker, and when you go there, you get the impression that the country’s boundary is what you see fiercely guarded around Bangui.
The entire international community, represented by various UN agencies as well as western embassies, witness widespread misery and gross human rights abuses on a daily basis, as well as extreme levels of corruption and systematic looting of the nations’s national treasury and natural resources by the ruling clan.
MORE:
http://www.togoforum.com/
index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=654:uranium-and-dictatorship-in-the-central-african-republic&catid=41:africa&Itemid=2
===================
22. NORAD role to expand?
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7266&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
Posted: 13 Feb 2011 08:29 PM PST
Last week's perimeter security talks between Prime Minister Harper and President Obama included an interesting proposal of expanding NORAD to cover land and sea operations. The proposed new deal would integrate Canada-U.S. command structures, headquarters, and operations with regards to continental security. (John Ivison, "NORAD could be expanded to land and sea," The National Post, 11 February 2011). The plan resonates the 2002 Canada-U.S. combined defence plan that would have placed Canada under the sphere of U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM). [ . . . ]
==================
23. Gates channels Vizzini
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7479&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
Posted: 25 Feb 2011 08:34 PM PST
U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has warned against getting involved in future land wars in Asia (Thom Shanker, “Gates Warns Against Any More Wars Like Iraq or Afghanistan,” New York Times, 25 February 2011): Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates bluntly told an audience of West Point cadets on Friday that it would be unwise [...]
====================
24. MANLY: LETTER: Re: Iranian or Canadian abuse?
From: Paul Manly
To: Cannon, Lawrence
Cc: Vancouver Sun ; The Calgary Sun ; Rob Oliphant, MP ; S.McDowall McDowall ; National Post ; Obee, Dave (Times-Colonist) ; lmcquaig@sympatico.ca ; lettertoed@thestar.ca ;letters@thegazette.canwest.com ; letters@globeandmail.com ; Kennedy.G@parl.gc.ca ; Fry.H@parl.gc.ca ; Times Colonist ; The Ottawa Citizen ; national@cbc.ca ; cbcnews@cbc.ca ; Jean - Riding 1 Crowder ; Harper.S@parl.gc.ca ; Giles Duceppe ; Jack Layton ; Michael Ignatieff
Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2011 12:24 PM
Subject: Re: Iranian or Canadian abuse?
Dear Mr. Cannon
As an accredited journalist working at the G20, I was shocked by what I documented on video. The police abuse of power at the designated protest site at Queens Park was an absolute outrage and a very dangerous precedent for how future exercises of democratic and constitutional rights by citizens could be suppressed by police under government orders.
I don't give away footage very often but I have handed over more than 20 minutes of raw footage to the CBC for the upcoming Fifth Estate program dealing with the police abuse at the G20 in Toronto. The other case where I have given footage away is the video I shot of three undercover police officers disguised as radicals with masks and rocks attacking their own riot squad in Montebello Quebec in 2007. We have learned in the recent court case of one of the protesters arrested in Montebello that these police officers were acting under orders to shut the protest down. This was another outrageous attack against the fundamental democratic freedoms of Canadian citizens and deserves a proper public inquiry.
The fifth estate documentary on G20 is on this Friday February 25 at 9:00 p.m. on channel 6. The show is repeated again on the weekend on Sunday at 10:00 a.m., and on CBC's channel 26 on Saturday at 8:00 p.m., Sunday 7:00 p.m. Tuesday 10:00 p.m.
As a journalist, I have worked in developing countries with despotic leaders who treat their citizens and journalists with disdain, I have now witnessed this same kind of oppression here in Canada not once but twice. There is a pattern emerging. Please watch and learn Mr. Cannon! The defense of democratic rights and freedoms begins at home here in Canada!
Sincerely
Paul Manly paul@manlymedia.com
250 729-1254
================
25. DOBBIN: A party of thugs, liars, cheats, crooks, dirty tricksters – and Christians
http://murraydobbin.ca/2011/02/25/
a-party-of-thugs-liars-cheats-crooks-dirty-tricksters-and-christians/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MurrayDobbin+%28Murray+Dobbin%27s+Blog%29
Posted: 25 Feb 2011 03:18 PM PST
Do any of the alleged Christians who support the government of Stephen Harper have any trouble with the fact that his government is the most morally corrupt party in Canadian history? Does their fantasy that he will end abortions sometime in the future allow them to rationalize what he does on an almost daily basis that violates what most people accept as Christian values?
I have always suspected that Stephen Harper became an evangelical Christian to enhance his ability to reconstruct Canada on the US model of free markets and minimalist government. It would fit with his military-like discipline and end-justifies-the-means approach. He knows that most Canadians are not naturally free-marketeers eager to dismantle the Canadian activist state. But wrap it up in Christian clothing and presto, you have a core of 20% who will follow you anywhere.
I have tracked Harper’s political career for twenty years and for the first part of that period I also tracked Preston Manning. The two men present an interesting contrast. Manning really was a Christian and I always found it interesting that while he would bend the truth to the breaking point and was a master practitioner of what I called calculated ambiguity (able to deliver totally different messages in the same statement) he never in my experience actually lied.
MORE:
http://murraydobbin.ca/2011/02/25/
a-party-of-thugs-liars-cheats-crooks-dirty-tricksters-and-christians/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MurrayDobbin+%28Murray+Dobbin%27s+Blog%29
==============
26. Libya: Is Washington Pushing for Civil War to Justify a US-NATO Military Intervention?
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23375
By Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya Global Research, February 25, 2011
One should be opposed to dictatorship, but one should not forget the issue of foreign domination.
Is Tripoli being set up for a civil war to justify U.S. and NATO military intervention in oil-rich Libya?
Is “manufactured destruction” or “creative destruction” at work?
If Qaddafi is not ousted, are the talks about sanctions a prelude to an Iraq-like intervention?
Something is Rotten in the so-called “Jamahiriya” of Libya
There is no question that Colonel Muammar Al-Gaddafi (Al-Qaddafi) is a dictator. He has been the dictator and so-called “qaid” of Libya for about 42 years. Yet, it appears that tensions are being ratcheted up and the flames of revolt are being fanned inside Libya. This includes earlier statements by the British Foreign Secretary William Hague that Colonel Qaddafi had fled Libya to Venezuela. [1] This statement served to electrify the revolt against Qaddafi and his regime in Libya.
Although all three have dictatorship in common, Qaddafi’s Libya is quite different from Ben Ali’s Tunisia or Mubarak’s Egypt. The Libyan leadership is not outright subservient to the United States and the European Union. Unlike the cases of Tunisia and Egypt, the relationship that exists between Qaddafi and both the U.S. and E.U. is a modus vivendi. Simply put, Qaddafi is an independent Arab dictator and not a “managed dictator” like Ben Ali and Mubarak.
In Tunisia and Egypt the status quo prevails, the military machine and neo-liberalism remain intact; this works for the interests of the United States and the European Union. In Libya, however, upsetting the established order is a U.S. and E.U. objective.
The U.S. and the E.U. now seek to capitalize on the revolt against Qaddafi and his dictatorship with the hopes of building a far stronger position in Libya than ever before. Weapons are also being brought into Libya from its southern borders to promote revolt. The destabilization of Libya would also have significant implications for North Africa, West Africa, and global energy reserves.
MORE:
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23375
=================
27. History's shifting sands
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/
2011/02/201122518445333563.html
The revolutions sweeping the Arab world indicate a tectonic shift in the global balance of people power.
Mark LeVine Last Modified: 26 Feb 2011 12:58 GMT
For decades, even centuries, the peoples of the Arab world have been told by Europeans and, later, Americans that their societies were stagnant and backward. According to Lord Cromer, author of the 1908 pseudo-history Modern Egypt, their progress was "arrested" by the very fact of their being Muslim, by virtue of which their minds were as "strange" to that of a modern Western man "as would be the mind of an inhabitant of Saturn".
The only hope of reshaping their minds towards a more earthly disposition was to accept Western tutelage, supervision, and even rule "until such time as they [we]re able to stand alone," in the words of the League of Nations' Mandate. Whether it was Napoleon claiming fraternité with Egyptians in fin-de-18e-siècle Cairo or George W. Bush claiming similar amity with Iraqis two centuries later, the message, and the means of delivering it, have been consistent.
Ever since Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti, the great Egyptian chronicler of the French invasion of Egypt, brilliantly dissected Napoleon's epistle to Egyptians, the peoples of the Middle East have seen through the Western protestations of benevolence and altruism to the naked self-interest that has always laid at the heart of great power politics. But the hypocrisy behind Western policies never stopped millions of people across the region from admiring and fighting for the ideals of freedom, progress and democracy they promised.
Even with the rise of a swaggeringly belligerent American foreign policy after September 11 on the one hand, and of China as a viable economic alternative to US global dominance on the other, the US' melting pot democracy and seemingly endless potential for renewal and growth offered a model for the future.
MORE:
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/
2011/02/201122518445333563.html
===============
28. VOW and vets find common cause
http://vowpeace.org/cms/News/View/11-01 ... Cause.aspx
By CAROLYN GREEN, Halifax Chronice-Herald Wed, Jan 26 2011
Last November, veterans who gathered in Halifax's Grand Parade, to protest deteriorating support and services from Veterans Affairs Canada, were joined by members of the Nova Scotia Voice of Women for Peace.
Last fall, Canadian war veterans turned out in public squares across Canada in a national day of protest. They gathered to protest what the new group Canadian Veterans Advocacy describes as an ongoing deterioration in support and services from Veterans Affairs.
In downtown Halifax, vets who gathered in the Grand Parade were joined by the Nova Scotia Voice of Women for Peace. It may be surprising to see a peace group supporting the cause of former soldiers. Yet some Voice of Women (VOW) members, which include a small number of female veterans, have been quick to see our common cause as we struggle to expose the hidden consequences and costs of war.
First, we share an understanding of the horrific consequences of war, especially for the human victims. The recognition of vets and their families as victims of war is a very important addition to the already long list of the negative effects of war.
It is no surprise that the government would prefer to keep the extent and nature of vets’ problems hidden. This attitude was dramatized last year in the Veterans Affairs scandal concerning former vets Sean Bruyea and Louise Richard, who dared to publicly criticize the New Veterans Charter.
(Changes have been tabled to this 2006 law, which introduced a lump-sum payment for injured vets, but took away their lifelong pension.) Veterans Affairs bureaucrats accessed their private medical records and circulated them in the hopes of ruining their credibility as spokespersons for the vets.
Efforts to cover up the veterans’ complaints have backfired, making vets so angry they are going public with their stories. The media have covered stories about fundraising for poverty-stricken vets in Calgary and homeless vets in Toronto. Other stories have exposed the extent of the "hidden" injuries of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and MTBI (mild traumatic brain injury).
MORE:
http://vowpeace.org/cms/News/View/
11-01-26/VOW_and_Vets_find_common_Cause.aspx
___
Carolyn Green is writing on behalf of Nova Scotia Voice of Women for Peace.
====================
29. Robert Green op-ed in Embassy Magazine
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7459&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
Posted: 24 Feb 2011 09:37 PM PST
Retired Royal Navy Commander Robert Green explains his views on nuclear deterrence in an article in the February 23rd, 2011 issue of Embassy Magazine (reprinted in full at Defence Watch): Nuclear deterrence has not prevented non-nuclear states from attacking allies of nuclear weapon states. Examples include China entering the Korean War when the US had [...]
====================
30. The Security Budget vs. the Necessities of Americans.
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23323
By Kevin Zeese Global Research, February 22, 2011
How does military spending impact Americans?
President Obama and the Congress have taken 66% of discretionary spending in the federal budget off the table –the SecurityBudget – while proposing a freeze to the rest of the budget and deep cuts to some programs that provide necessities for the American people. His budget crystalizes a choice that U.S. presidents have been making since President Eisenhower warned of the military-industrial complex – investment in the military vs. investment in the civilian economy.
The bloated and sacrosanct security budget – the military, domestic security and intelligence budgets –all saw rapid growth under President Bush when the DoD doubled its budget. Under President Obama the trend has continued with record military, intelligence and domestic security budgets.
MORE:
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23323
==================
31. War, Martial Law, and the Economic Crisis
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23354
Excerpt from "The Global Economic Crisis: The Great Depression of the XXI Century"
By Peter Dale Scott Global Research, February 23, 2011
EXCERPT:
Continuity of Operations (COOP)
The Army’s New Role in 2001: Not Protecting American Society, but Controlling It. This new role for the Army is not wholly unprecedented. The U.S. military had been training troops and police in "civil disturbance planning" for the last three decades. The master plan, Department of Defense Civil Disturbance Plan 55-2, or "Operation Garden Plot," was developed in 1968 in response to the major protests and disturbances of the 1960s.
a. In 1985, the Chief of Staff of the Army established the Army Survival, Recovery, and Reconstitution System (ASRRS) to ensure the continuity of essential Army missions and functions.
ASRRS doctrine was focused primarily on a response to the worst case 1980’s threat of a massive nuclear laydown on CONUS as a result of a confrontation with the Soviet Union.
b. The end of the Cold War and the breakup of the former Soviet Union significantly reduced the probability of a major nuclear attack on CONUS but the probability of other threats has increased. Army organizations must be prepared for any contingency with a potential for interruption of normal operations.
To emphasize that Army continuity of operations planning is now focused on the full all-hazards threat spectrum, the name "ASRRS" has been replaced by the more generic title "Continuity of Operations (COOP) Program.[7]
MORE:
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23354
====================
32. Dictators are "Disposable": The Rise and Fall of America's Military Henchmen
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23252
History Repeats Itself? From the "King of Java" to the Pharaoh of Egypt
By Michel Chossudovsky Global Research, February 18, 2011
From Suharto to Mubarak: History Repeats Itself?
President Suharto of Indonesia was deposed following mass protests in May 1998.
The Western media in chorus pointed to "democratization": the "King of Java" had been deposed by mass protests, much in the same way as Hosni Mubarak, described by today's media as "The Pharaoh of Egypt". [ . . . ]
=================
33. Gingrich calls for eliminating EPA, expanding domestic energy production
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/
143279-gingrich-calls-for-elimnating-epa-expanding-domestic-energy-production
By Andrew Restuccia - 02/10/11 01:38 PM ET
QUOTE: "Gingrich also said the nuclear regulatory process should be streamlined and lawmakers should focus on pushing small reactors that can be constructed quickly. “There’s a whole new generation of very small nuclear power plants that are very, very safe,” he said."
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich called Thursday for abolishing the Environmental Protection Agency and passing energy legislation that expands domestic oil production and streamlines nuclear licensing.
In a wide-ranging speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, Gingrich called for replacing the EPA with an Environmental Solutions Agency that focuses on technology-driven solutions to addressing the country’s environmental problems.
Gingrich said the Obama EPA is “made up of self-selected bureaucrats” that are seeking to pass wide-ranging regulations that would harm the economy. Instead, he called for an agency that focused on “science, technology, markets and incentives.”
It’s not the first time that Gingrich has called for getting rid of the EPA, but it’s certainly the most high-profile speech he’s delivered on the subject. CPAC is watched closely by conservatives all over the country and Gingrich’s recommendations are certain to make waves.
- - - -SNIP - - -
Nor should the EPA should not put restrictions on a controversial gas drilling process called hydraulic fracturing, in which chemicals, water and sand are injected into the ground to get access to valuable natural gas reserves, he said.
Gingrich also said the nuclear regulatory process should be streamlined and lawmakers should focus on pushing small reactors that can be constructed quickly.
“There’s a whole new generation of very small nuclear power plants that are very, very safe,” he said.
1. EVENT: Screening: Into Eternity – Saskatoon – Apr. 1 – 3
2. EVENT: Small Modular Reactors 2011 – Mar. 28-31 – Washington, DC
3. Drilling Down - Regulation Lax as Gas Wells’ Tainted Water Hits Rivers
4. Radioactive Natural Gas Fracking Could Create New Era of "Love Canals"
5. We’re ready to reach for carbon-free future
6. WATCH: Uranium
7. New Brunswick doesn't want nuclear waste
8. Saskatchewan Environmental Society urges nuclear waste ban
9. They just keepin' on heapin' it on at Oldbury...
10. BINDER (CNSC): Nuclear power plants safe
11. (SK) GOVERNMENT COMMITS ADDITIONAL $36 MILLION TO CLEAN-UP OF LEGACY URANIUM MINE
12. Nuclear safety agency defends Great Lakes shipments
13. BINDER (CNSC): Response to the op-ed entitled “Nuclear radiation is forever”
14. Radioactive waste "cargo" on Great Lakes violates Haudenosaunee 7th Generation Philosophy
15. KIMO lambasts proposal for BP's radioactive waste shipment to traverse European marine waters
16. Urge PHMSA to undertake a Programmatic EIS on water-borne shipments of radioactive waste!
17. Chernobyl, 25 years on: cash plea for new roof to contain deadly remains
18. MSP sends dossier on depleted uranium to Defence Secretary: come clean on dirty bombs!
19. Peace River Environmental Society – Resources
20. 170+ ORGANIZATIONS SEND LETTER TO JAPANESE GOVT WARNING OF EXTRAORDINARY RISKS OF LOANS TO BUILD NEW REACTORS IN TEXAS
21. Uranium and dictatorship in the Central African Republic
22. NORAD role to expand?
23. Gates channels Vizzini
24. MANLY: LETTER: Re: Iranian or Canadian abuse?
25. DOBBIN: A party of thugs, liars, cheats, crooks, dirty tricksters – and Christians
26. Libya: Is Washington Pushing for Civil War to Justify a US-NATO Military Intervention?
27. History's shifting sands
28. VOW and vets find common cause
29. Robert Green op-ed in Embassy Magazine
30. The Security Budget vs. the Necessities of Americans.
31. War, Martial Law, and the Economic Crisis
32. Dictators are "Disposable": The Rise and Fall of America's Military Henchmen
33. Gingrich calls for eliminating EPA, expanding domestic energy production
============
1. EVENT: Screening: "Into Eternity" – Saskatoon – Apr. 1 - 3
Saskatoon Environmental Film Festival: April 1 - 3, 2011
Location: The Roxy Theatre, 320 20th Street West;
Opening Night Gala at Paved Arts, 424 20th St. West
Featuring - "Into Eternity" - 75 min. 2010
http://www.intoeternitythemovie.com/
Finland's is in the midst of a century long project to create a "permanent" storage facility for its nuclear waste. What does permanent mean in the context of a something that remains so powerful for 100 000 years? Mind bending cinematography and interviews with high ranking officials put this honourable/ludicrous/disingenuous effort in stunning chronological and geographical perspective.
To find out what other great films are playing, check out this link:
http://www.econet.sk.ca/filmfest/filmsstoon2011.html
====================
2. EVENT: Small Modular Reactors 2011 – Mar. 28-31 – Washington, DC
http://www.infocastinc.com/index.php/conference/smr11i
Come hear the perspectives of manufacturers, financiers, customers and reactor developers!
This unique, multi-national event will provide unparalleled insight into:
Government support for SMR commercialization
Commercialization of all leading SMR designs
Military, utility and other customer perspectives
Developing an SMR supply chain
Finance and investment outlook
Three Great Events in One:
Advanced SMR Technology Symposium
March 28, 2011
The latest technology breakthroughs emerging from academia and the labs
Building the Value Chain for Commercializing Small Modular Reactors 2011
March 29-30, 2011
Come hear the perspectives of reactor developers, regulators, manufacturers, financiers and customers!
Licensing Small Modular Reactors Workshop
March 31, 2011
Learn the latest on how to accelerate designs through the emerging SMR licensing process
Building the Value Chain for Commercializing Small Modular Reactors will bring together all of the communities in the SMR value chain to discuss how to build a new SMR industry. Leaders from the reactor developers, potential early adopter customers, defense contractors and manufacturers, utilities, and financial communities – communities that normally don’t communicate amongst themselves in the ordinary course of events – will be on hand to share their perspectives on what is needed to form an efficient and effective value chain to commercialize SMRs.
REGISTER:
http://www.infocastinc.com/index.php/conference/
smr11i/registration
=================
3. Drilling Down - Regulation Lax as Gas Wells’ Tainted Water Hits Rivers
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/27/us/27gas.html?ref=us
By IAN URBINA Published: February 26, 2011
QUOTE: “The Times also found never-reported studies by the E.P.A. and a confidential study by the drilling industry that all concluded that radioactivity in drilling waste cannot be fully diluted in rivers and other waterways.”
The American landscape is dotted with hundreds of thousands of new wells and drilling rigs, as the country scrambles to tap into this century’s gold rush — for natural gas.
The gas has always been there, of course, trapped deep underground in countless tiny bubbles, like frozen spills of seltzer water between thin layers of shale rock. But drilling companies have only in recent years developed techniques to unlock the enormous reserves, thought to be enough to supply the country with gas for heating buildings, generating electricity and powering vehicles for up to a hundred years.
So energy companies are clamoring to drill. And they are getting rare support from their usual sparring partners. Environmentalists say using natural gas will help slow climate change because it burns more cleanly than coal and oil. Lawmakers hail the gas as a source of jobs. They also see it as a way to wean the United States from its dependency on other countries for oil.
But the relatively new drilling method — known as high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking — carries significant environmental risks. It involves injecting huge amounts of water, mixed with sand and chemicals, at high pressures to break up rock formations and release the gas.
With hydrofracking, a well can produce over a million gallons of wastewater that is often laced with highly corrosive salts, carcinogens like benzene and radioactive elements like radium, all of which can occur naturally thousands of feet underground. Other carcinogenic materials can be added to the wastewater by the chemicals used in the hydrofracking itself.
While the existence of the toxic wastes has been reported, thousands of internal documents obtained by The New York Times from the Environmental Protection Agency, state regulators and drillers show that the dangers to the environment and health are greater than previously understood.
- - - SNIP - - -
And prospects for drillers in Pennsylvania are looking brighter.
In December, the Republican governor-elect, Tom Corbett, who during his campaign took more gas industry contributions than all his competitors combined, said he would reopen state land to new drilling, reversing a decision made by his predecessor, Edward G. Rendell. The change clears the way for as many as 10,000 wells on public land, up from about 25 active wells today.
In arguing against a proposed gas-extraction tax on the industry, Mr. Corbett said regulation of the industry had been too aggressive.
“I will direct the Department of Environmental Protection to serve as a partner with Pennsylvania businesses, communities and local governments,” Mr. Corbett says on his Web site. “It should return to its core mission protecting the environment based on sound science.”
=================
4. Radioactive Natural Gas Fracking Could Create New Era of "Love Canals"
http://www.sourcews.com/feb-markey-radi ... atural-gas
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 26, 2011
Contact: Eben Burnham-Snyder, Rep. Ed Markey, 202-225-6065 ofc
202-494-4486 cell; Giselle Barry, Rep. Ed Markey, 202-225-2836 ofc
202-510-3240 cell
Following Reports in The New York Times on Potential Fracking Dangers, Markey Queries EPA on Safety, Monitoring of Technology
WASHINGTON (February 26, 2011) - Responding to an investigative article published today by The New York Times on the high incidence of radioactive materials and other contaminants in the wastes produced from natural gas extraction, Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), the top Democrat on the Natural Resources Committee, immediately questioned the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on its oversight of these extractive practices.
The Times article shows that the radioactively contaminated wastewater derived from the so-called "fracking" process to produce natural gas from shale rock and other formations is being sent to sewage plants that do not have the capacity to remove radioactive radium or other materials, and these hazardous waste materials are then dumped into rivers and streams where they enter our drinking water supplies. Exposure to highly radioactive radium, one of the materials discussed in the Times report, can lead to cancer and other harmful health effects.
"I do not believe that the price for energy extracted from deep beneath the earth's surface should include a risk to the health of those who live above it," wrote Rep. Markey to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. "These discharges are also occurring with at least some
knowledge of the risks on the part of federal and state regulators and despite the clear dangers to public health and safety."
The letter can be found HERE:
http://markey.house.gov/docs/
epa_fracking_nyt_letter_02.26.11_.pdf
==================
5. We’re ready to reach for carbon-free future
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/technology/
ready+reach+carbon+free+future/4330917/story.html
Stephen Janzen Edmonton Journal 2011 Feb 23 pg A15
We normally think of the people responding to economic surveys as fairly conservative. Those who monitor the economy or take an interest in the economy are not considered the most radical thinkers. Such surveys usually ask stock questions about the overall performance of the economy, and our latest study did just that.
But the latest Western Economic Expectations survey also asked 130 economists and financial analysts for their thoughts about environmental issues specifically carbon and whether it should be priced at a certain level or not. The responses to this theme merit our attention.
A striking tone of optimism, one could almost call it activism, punctuated the overall results. About 80 per cent agreed that it is realistic for Canada to become a global leader in renewable energy production, although few expected to be free from the use of carbon-based fuels 30 years from now. More than 66 per cent of respondents supported nuclear power generation in their province. Support for nuclear power ranged from 80 per cent in Saskatchewan to a low of 57 per cent in British Columbia. Surprisingly, support in Alberta was 72 per cent. (Emphasis Added. Ed.)
Enthusiastic responses were also received to our question on carbon reduction efforts. A majority of respondents 60.8 per cent disagreed with the survey statement: “Canada should wait to see what the United States will do before implementing its own carbon-reduction policies.”
MORE:
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/technology/
ready+reach+carbon+free+future/4330917/story.html
====================
6. WATCH: Uranium
http://www.nfb.ca/film/Uranium
Magnus Isacsson, 1990, 47 min 59 s
This documentary looks at the hazards of uranium mining in Canada. Toxic and radioactive waste pose environmental threats while the traditional economic and spiritual lives of the Aboriginal people who occupy this land have been violated. Given our limited knowledge of the associated risks, this film questions the validity of continuing the mining operations.
==================
7. New Brunswick doesn't want nuclear waste
http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/n ... le/1383875
Waste storage repository still years away but N.B. already paying into construction fund
by Alan Cochrane, Times & transcript staff, Sat. Feb. 26th, 2011
Canada's Nuclear Waste Management Organization is still looking for a place to construct an $8-billion underground repository for nuclear waste, but so far no New Brunswick communities have expressed an interest in getting involved and the provincial government is definitely not interested.
"We are not pursuing a nuclear waste site anywhere in this province," Premier David Alward flatly stated this week when asked about the idea.
Mike Krizanc, communications manager for the NWMO, said yesterday that seven communities -- three in Saskatchewan and four in Ontario -- have filed official expressions of interest. But any potential sites will go through a rigourous screening process that could take eight to 10 years.
"There's no firm timeline on this. We're going to take the time to answer all the questions for them so people in those communities can make an informed decision that is in their own best interest. We're certainly not going to force this on anyone," Krizanc said.
Newspaper reports earlier this week cited NWMO internal documents that suggested Saskatchewan -- along with New Brunswick - was more receptive to a nuclear-waste site than Ontario and Quebec. But Krizanc said that "receptiveness" was limited to some media reports and editorials. So far, no one in New Brunswick has come forward with a willingness for such a facility. He said a notice of interest would have to come from an elected body such as a municipal council or First Nations council.
The NWMO kicked off a process last spring looking for a community willing to host an underground complex that would serve as a long-term storage facility for all of Canada's nuclear waste. The selection process could take up to 10 years.
MORE:
http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/n ... le/1383875
=====================
8. Saskatchewan Environmental Society urges nuclear waste ban
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/technology/
urges+nuclear+waste/4329830/story.html
BY JAMES WOOD, THE STAR PHOENIX FEBRUARY 23, 2011
Saskatchewan should consider legislation banning the importation of nuclear waste into the province, the Saskatchewan Environmental Society said this week as it issued a position paper on nuclear waste storage.
Saskatchewan is being eyed as a potential site for underground storage of nuclear waste by the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO), although a decision is likely a decade away. Three northern communities have expressed interest as a possible host.
A Canadian Press story this week cited NWMO internal documents that suggested Saskatchewan -along with New Brunswick -was more receptive to a nuclear waste site than Ontario and Quebec.
- - - SNIP - - -
The Saskatchewan Party government has said provincial residents don't want nuclear waste in the province, but in 2009 said it was "reserving decisions" on whether it would support communities seeking such a facility.
Energy and Resources Minister Bill Boyd said Tuesday any discussions about a nuclear waste facility in the province were "blue-skying."
"This is not an area that we feel is something that the province would want to move forward in. We don't see that as an opportunity. We have not had any companies coming forward and saying they would want to set up operations in Saskatchewan."
Boyd said the government has not considered legislation barring nuclear waste from entering the province.
jwood@thestarphoenix.com
=================
9. They just keepin' on heapin' it on at Oldbury...
http://acehoffman.blogspot.com/2011/02/
they-just-keepin-on-heapin-it-on-at.html
February 19th, 2011
Dear Readers,
A UK nuclear power plant, Oldbury Unit 2, is getting a six month license extension (through June 2011) so that it can be shut down the same month as Oldbury Unit 1 is scheduled to shut down -- unless further license extensions are granted: They are also vying for a 2012 closure "in order to use up spare fuel at the site".
What a LOUSY reason to keep a nuclear power plant operating!
MORE:
http://acehoffman.blogspot.com/2011/02/
they-just-keepin-on-heapin-it-on-at.html
====================
10. BINDER (CNSC): Nuclear power plants safe
http://www.windsorstar.com/opinion/
Nuclear+power+plants+safe/4101373/story.html
BY MICHAEL BINDER, WINDSOR STAR JANUARY 13, 2011
Re: Wind power is healthy, guest column, by Gideon Forman, Jan. 6. (Below)
I'm compelled to respond to Gideon Forman's groundless statements on the health impacts of nuclear energy in his Jan. 6 column, Wind power is healthy.
Studies have shown over and over that people living near nuclear power plants are as healthy as the rest of the population.
When Forman mentions the 2008 German study, he fails to tell you that both its authors and the German Radiological Protection Commission specifically ruled out radiation as a reason for the presence of some clusters of childhood leukemia near the nuclear plants.
Recent British and French epidemiological studies that used the same methodology as the German study did not find any increase in risk of childhood cancer in people living near their respective nuclear facilities.
All industrial activities have some form of releases to the environment; nuclear has a regulator that ensures operations are safe.
I would like to reinforce that the very small controlled releases of nuclear facilities do not pose any risk to people and the environment.
Finally, nuclear waste is not a burden for future generations. In fact, it is safely stored and managed.
MORE:
http://www.windsorstar.com/opinion/
Nuclear+power+plants+safe/4101373/story.html
- - - - -
Wind power is healthy
http://www.windsorstar.com/opinion/
Wind+power+healthy/4067328/story.html
BY GIDEON FORMAN, SPECIAL TO THE WINDSOR STAR JANUARY 6, 2011
If we take seriously the protection of human health we have to phase out coal and nuclear-powered electricity.
Coal kills hundreds of Ontarians and triggers over 120,000 illnesses (e. g., asthma attacks) annually.
It is also the most climate-destructive fuel around, emitting twice as much carbon as natural gas does. Whether the issue is respiratory disease or global warming, coal is a catastrophe.
But nuclear is extremely unhealthy as well. A scientific review by the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment found all functioning reactors release radioactive materials on a routine basis.
A 2008 German government study showed children (younger than five) living within five kilometres of a nuclear plant are at elevated risk for leukemia. And Scientific American recently reported nukes harm the climate: "Nuclear power results in up to 25 times more carbon emissions than wind energy, when reactor construction and uranium refining and transport are considered."
But to phase out conventional power we need to use less energy and switch over to renewables, including wind turbines.
MORE:
http://www.windsorstar.com/opinion/
Wind+power+healthy/4067328/story.html
==================
11. (SK) GOVERNMENT COMMITS ADDITIONAL $36 MILLION TO CLEAN-UP OF LEGACY URANIUM MINE
http://www.gov.sk.ca/
news?newsId=7683ce47-672a-4d44-b756-4e4280925a36
News Release - February 25, 2011
The Saskatchewan government has committed an additional $36.2 million to the clean-up of an abandoned uranium mine site in northern Saskatchewan.
The Gunnar site is an abandoned uranium mine site the provincial and federal governments are cleaning up in the Uranium City area. The Saskatchewan Research Council, which has been managing the process for the past four years, has identified additional remediation work required on the site. Project costs have also risen beyond the original estimates developed prior to 2004.
"We are serious about our environmental commitments and will spend what is necessary to clean up the Gunnar site," Energy and Resources Deputy Minister Kent Campbell said. "Environmental protection and the public health and safety of northerners are our prime concerns."
This "Cold War legacy mine" was a small, short-term mining operation from the 1950s and 1960s near Uranium City. Following completion of operations, the uranium mine was abandoned at a time when environmental controls for decommissioning and reclaiming such sites were limited or non-existent. Responsibility for bringing the site up to today's standards cannot be placed with the mining companies involved since they no longer exist.
Four years ago the two levels of government signed an agreement for the clean-up of legacy mine sites. In a parallel process, the provincial government established a world-leading Institutional Control Program and Registry to address the long-term management of abandoned and existing mine sites, including those for uranium.
"Saskatchewan's modern-day mining industry is highly regulated and practises strong environmental stewardship," Campbell said. "The industry has worked with our ministry to develop a modern program that is considered a world-class standard for the long-term management of decommissioned mine sites."
The federal government is expected to commit equal funding to the Gunnar clean-up. -30-
For more information, contact:
Roy Schneider, Energy and Resources, Regina
Phone: 306-787-1691
===================
12. Nuclear safety agency defends Great Lakes shipments
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/02/11/
nuclear-briefing.html
Officials dismiss concerns over nuclear steam boilers as 'fearmongering'
Last Updated: Friday, February 11, 2011 | 3:35 PM ET By Max Paris,
Environment Unit, CBC News
The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission is blasting what it calls "misinformation" and "fearmongering" about its decision to allow Bruce Power to transport 16 decommissioned nuclear steam boilers through the Great Lakes to Sweden for recycling.
"The word nuclear, every time it appears... there is the fearmongering," said Ramzi Jammal, executive vice-president of the nuclear watchdog.
In a rare technical briefing, Jammal and three other high-ranking commission officials say the shipment was routine and completely safe.
Before granting the power company permission, the commission ran through a series of "implausible" scenarios.
Among them was the possibility of the boilers cracking open and contaminants leaking out ‹ a near-impossible event according to Patsy Thompson, CNSC director general of environmental and radiation protection and assessment.
"At no time, if there is an accident and radioactive material is released, would there be a situation where drinking water supply plants would be at risk," Thompson said.
The level of radiation coming out of the sealed boilers was well below even a medical dose of radiation, the officials said.
But that was cold comfort to David Ullrich, executive director of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, an umbrella group that advocates on behalf of municipalities along those waterways.
"We are not reassured," he said. "I think it is unfortunate that they have chosen to characterize opposition and questions about the shipment as fearmongering."
The issues being raised are legitimate, Ullrich added.
MORE:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/
2011/02/11/nuclear-briefing.html
==============
13. BINDER (CNSC): Response to the op-ed entitled “Nuclear radiation is forever” published in the Ottawa Citizen on February 8, 2011
http://www.nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/mediacentre/issues/
letters_to_the_editor/February-9-2011-Response-Ottawa-Citizen.cfm#
Dear Editor:
I was surprised that the Ottawa Citizen chose to run an Op-Ed
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/opinion/
Nuclear+radiation+forever/4240391/story.html
written by Helen Caldicott and Dale Dewar, two individuals who continue to misinform the citizens of Port Hope. (Below. Ed.)
As Canada¹s nuclear regulator, we are compelled to ensure that your readers understand the facts based on sound science and not the fictitious biases of a few.
Concerned readers should know that Port Hope residents are as healthy as the rest of the Canadian population. This has been demonstrated by 13 epidemiological, peer-reviewed studies conducted over several decades by reputable and independent bodies.
The CNSC recently published a synthesis report
[ http://www.nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/mycommunity/
facilities/porthope/health_studies.cfm ]
that was presented during open houses held in the community.
Findings were compared with 40 international epidemiological studies on similar populations, and the conclusion was clear: the health of Port Hope residents is no different than that of other Canadians.
The CNSC provides strict regulatory oversight of both uranium processing and clean up activities taking place in the community to ensure there are negligible impacts to the health and safety of residents and their environment.
I invite your readers to visit our Web site at nuclearsafety.gc.ca to get the facts about Canada¹s nuclear sector.
Michael Binder, President
Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission
= = = =
COMMENT: Hughes: Re: Binder's Surprise
Sent to CNSC on Feb. 25, 2011
I'm really curious why Mr. Binder was so "surprised that the Ottawa Citizen chose to run an Op-Ed entitled Nuclear Radiation is Forever".
Was he surprised at the 'freedom of the press' . . . such as it is?
Or, was he surprised that there are actually people who are capable of presenting their own 'facts' on the needless, dangerous, archaic nuclear industry-with-tembling-hands-out-for-the-next-bag-of-government-subsidy-money?
Or was he surprised that there is, in fact, another side to the blind, narrow vision that provides him his corner office?????
The serfs are enlightened and no longer swallow the industry's propaganda as 'gospel'. . .
Surprise!!
Elaine Hughes
Archerwill, SK
= = = = =
Nuclear radiation is forever
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/health/
Nuclear+radiation+forever/4240391/story.html
(check out the comments section in the article)
By Helen Caldicott And Dale Dewar, Citizen Special February 8, 2011
Like most Ontario towns, Port Hope, on the shores of Lake Ontario, has a water treatment plant supplying its drinking water. Incredibly, adjacent to this plant is a huge factory now owned by Cameco. The factory hovers over this picturesque town, emitting uranium gas and dust into the air and Lake Ontario as it manufactures uranium fuel rods for export.
Port Hope is the deep dark underbelly of the Canadian nuclear industry, representing dangers that so far, have escaped sufficient scrutiny and cleanup. [ . . . ]
=================
14. Radioactive waste "cargo" on Great Lakes violates Haudenosaunee 7th Generation Philosophy
http://www.beyondnuclear.org/home/2011/2/22/
radioactive-waste-cargo-on-great-lakes-violates-haudenosaune.html
February 22, 2011
An op-ed in the Toronto Star by associate professor of environment at the University of Toronto, Stephen Bede Scharper, points out that in addition to being the drinking water supply and source of fisheries, the Great Lakes are also the source of emotional and spiritual sustenance for more than 35 million people in the U.S., Canada, and numerous Native American First Nations. Thus it's easy to see how Bruce Power's shipment of 16 plutonium-contaminated steam generators on the Great Lakes, approved by the Canadian Nuclear Safety (sic) Commission on Feb. 4th, would violate not only the Haudenosaunee Seventh Generation Spiritual Philosophy, but also the Precautionary Principle. Speaking of the Haudenosaunee, the Mohawk Nations have spoken out strongly against this shipment, as have a number of other First Nations coalitions in Ontario and Quebec. The fight now may now be moving into the Canadian courts, as well as to the U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. PHMSA's approval is required before the shipment can enter U.S. waters on the Great Lakes. A growing environmental coalition is calling on PHMSA to undertake a full Environmental Impact Statement, complete with public hearings and a public comment period.
================
15. KIMO lambasts proposal for BP's radioactive waste shipment to traverse European marine waters
http://www.beyondnuclear.org/home/2011/2/19/
kimo-lambasts-proposal-for-bps-radioactive-waste-shipment-to.html
February 19, 2011
KIMO (Kommunenes Internasjonale Miljøorganisasjon, which translates as Local Authorities International Environmental Organisation) -- a European environmental coalition of municipal authorities dedicated to protecting their marine environment homelands -- has spoken out strongly against Bruce Power's (BP) proposal to ship 16 plutonium-contaminated steam generators to Sweden for so-called "recycling." The Studsvik radioactive metal "recycling" facility -- besides contaminating the recycled metal supply with hazardous radioactivity -- also spews radioactive discharges into the Baltic Sea, which does not sit well with KIMO. As also reported on its homepage, KIMO has also spoken out against the hazards of so-called "floating" nuclear power plants, as proposed by the Russian nuclear establishment (the French nuclear establishment, for its part, has proposed underwater atomic reactors for deployment on the ocean floor -- perhaps to complement the radioactive waste its La Hague reprocessing facility already spews into the English Channel?!).
=======================
16. Urge PHMSA to undertake a Programmatic EIS on water-borne shipments of radioactive waste!
http://www.beyondnuclear.org/home/2011/2/24/
urge-phmsa-to-undertake-a-programmatic-eis-on-water-borne-sh.html
Thursday Feb242011
The U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is the federal agency that must approve Bruce Power's controversial and risky proposed shipment of 16 radioactive steam generators, originating in Ontario and bound for Sweden, before it enters U.S. territorial waters on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River. PHMSA is infamous for its negligence in major oil pipeline leaks into rivers, deadly natural gas pipeline explosions, and the cozy relationships between the agency's top leadership and the very companies and industries PHMSA is supposed to regulate.
Thanks to 7 Great Lakes U.S. Senators, it was revealed that PHMSA has previously rubberstamped approvals for 17 water-borne shipments of large, radioactive nuclear components in the past. These shipments travelled on rivers, bays, and sea coasts across the U.S., and even on the waters of Lake Michigan. PHMSA very quietly granted "approvals or special permits" for shipping radioactive steam generators, reactor pressure vessels, pressurizers, and reactor vessel heads with little or no notice to, or attention from, the public, media, emergency responders, or elected officials.
Given the radiological risks of these shipments, and the precedent they set for shipping high-level radioactive wastes by water, PHMSA must undertake a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). This should include an adequate period for submission of public comments, including public hearings across the U.S. in places that have been targeted in the past for such shipments, or could be in the future.
Contact PHMSA Administrator Cynthia L. Quarterman, urging her to undertake a PEIS -- including a public comment period and public hearings -- in order to fully comply with NEPA, as she assured the U.S. Senators that she would.
You can email her at phmsa.administrator@dot.gov; fax her at (202) 366-3666; phone her at (202) 366-4433; or send her a letter at Cynthia L. Quarterman, Administrator, U.S. Department of Transportation, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, East Building, 2nd Floor, Mail Stop: E27-300, 1200 New Jersey Ave., SE, Washington, DC 20590. Also, contact your U.S. Senators and U.S. Representative via the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and request that they urge PHMSA Administrator Quarterman to do a PEIS as well. Additional information on the Bruce Power radioactive steam generator shipment from Canada to Sweden can be found on Beyond Nuclear's Canada website section.
====================
17. Chernobyl, 25 years on: cash plea for new roof to contain deadly remains
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/feb/27/
chernobyl-new-roof-british-funds
Britain urged to contribute £43m of £640m cost as Ukraine marks anniversary of world's worst nuclear accident
Terry Macalister in Chernobyl
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 27 February 2011 17.53 GMT
Britain is coming under increasing pressure to provide Ukraine with an extra €50m (£43m) to construct a new contamination shield over the top of the stricken Chernobyl nuclear plant before the old one collapses.
Officials from the European commission said governments around the world were being urged to find €750m to help build a more sophisticated roof over the burnt-out reactor and storage for 200 tonnes of highly radioactive fuel.
Jean-Paul Joulia, from the commission's nuclear safety unit, admitted the cost of just this aspect of the Chernobyl clean-up was running at €1.5bn – double the original estimate – partly due to "some delays" to some projects.
But he said he was confident that foreign governments would stump up the money needed for the shield, even in today's financially difficult climate. "I am optimistic the international community is committed to this. It is important for a number of reasons," he said.
MORE:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/
2011/feb/27/chernobyl-new-roof-british-funds
==================
18. MSP sends dossier on depleted uranium to Defence Secretary: come clean on dirty bombs!
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php? ... &aid=23178
Character assassination used to silence DU opponents.
Dr Bill Wilson MSP
February 9, 2011 - Dr Bill Wilson MSP (SNP) has sent the Defence Secretary, Liam Fox, a dossier containing what he describes as "significant evidence pointing to the devastating effects of depleted uranium (DU) on the health of armed services personnel and civilians, and of the UK and USA’s attempts to suppress such evidence and prevent the investigation of the effects of DU" and called on the UK Government to take appropriate action... [ . . . . ]
================
19. Peace River Environmental Society – Resources
http://www.peaceriverenvironmentalsociety.org/
Nuclear%20books,movies,audio.htm
===================
20. 170+ ORGANIZATIONS SEND LETTER TO JAPANESE GOVT WARNING OF EXTRAORDINARY RISKS OF LOANS TO BUILD NEW REACTORS IN TEXAS LETTER:
http://www.nirs.org/nukerelapse/stexas/ ... ter211.pdf
PRESS RELEASE:
http://www.nirs.org/nukerelapse/stexas/jbicpr22411.pdf
February 25, 2011
Dear Friends,
Thank you to the more than 170 organizations that signed the group letter to the Prime Minister of Japan and key Cabinet officials urging the government to reject proposed loans to build two new nuclear reactors in south Texas.
More than 135 U.S. groups signed, along with 21 Japanese organizations and groups from 13 other countries. This was true international cooperation!
The letter and press release can be found on the front page of NIRS website. While NIRS has sent the release to more than 1500 media contacts worldwide, we ask groups that signed to download the press release and send it to your local media as well as post it on your own blogs, websites, etc.
Meanwhile, we are still collecting signatures on the similar petition to the Prime Minister and Cabinet. If you haven't signed it yet, please do so now. We are expecting to send in the petition, accompanied by a new press release, late next week, so there is still time to sign and help spread the word to your friends and colleagues.
We will also be getting this petition directly to the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC)--the government's export-import bank that is considering this loan. JBIC is also going to be asked to fund other nuclear projects around the world.
This is just the beginning of a major international campaign to stop all government bank funding of nuclear projects. It's not just Japan, it's also ex-im banks in France, the U.S., Korea and elsewhere. Nuclear power exists only because of the forced support by taxpayers across the world. It's time to put the risk back where it belongs: squarely on the shoulders of the utilities and reactor manufacturers that want this dangerous and dirty technology. If they're not willing to take the risk--and they're not; well, tough, neither are we.
We hope you'll help us continue and expand this campaign with a small tax-deductible contribution, either on our donation page or by sending a check to us at NIRS, 6930 Carroll Avenue, #340, Takoma Park, MD 20912. We especially hope you'll consider setting up a small monthly recurring donation: it's easy to do on our donation page, you can end it at any time, and it really helps!
Thanks for all you do,
Michael Mariotte, Executive Director
Nuclear Information and Resource Service
nirsnet@nirs.org
www.nirs.org
=================
21. Uranium and dictatorship in the Central African Republic
http://www.togoforum.com/
index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=654:uranium-and-dictatorship-in-the-central-african-republic&catid=41:africa&Itemid=2
18 February 2011 By Juliette Abandokwe
http://julietteabandokwe.blogspot.com/2011/02/
corporate-responsibility-and.html
The Central African Republic lies in the heart of Africa. But nobody sees anything of what is going on there, and nobody hears the cries of the impoverished and poorest people in Africa. 1.6 million internally displaced people out of less than 4 million inhabitants have been fleeing the effects of everlasting internal conflicts, trapped between rebel groups and government troops, as well as high levels of institutionalized zaraguina banditry. President Bozizé basically has absolutely no control over the national territory, and is just sitting on his war booty in Bangui, virtually shooting at anybody who dares to threaten his position. The capital and its surrounding have been turned into a vast bunker, and when you go there, you get the impression that the country’s boundary is what you see fiercely guarded around Bangui.
The entire international community, represented by various UN agencies as well as western embassies, witness widespread misery and gross human rights abuses on a daily basis, as well as extreme levels of corruption and systematic looting of the nations’s national treasury and natural resources by the ruling clan.
MORE:
http://www.togoforum.com/
index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=654:uranium-and-dictatorship-in-the-central-african-republic&catid=41:africa&Itemid=2
===================
22. NORAD role to expand?
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7266&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
Posted: 13 Feb 2011 08:29 PM PST
Last week's perimeter security talks between Prime Minister Harper and President Obama included an interesting proposal of expanding NORAD to cover land and sea operations. The proposed new deal would integrate Canada-U.S. command structures, headquarters, and operations with regards to continental security. (John Ivison, "NORAD could be expanded to land and sea," The National Post, 11 February 2011). The plan resonates the 2002 Canada-U.S. combined defence plan that would have placed Canada under the sphere of U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM). [ . . . ]
==================
23. Gates channels Vizzini
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7479&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
Posted: 25 Feb 2011 08:34 PM PST
U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has warned against getting involved in future land wars in Asia (Thom Shanker, “Gates Warns Against Any More Wars Like Iraq or Afghanistan,” New York Times, 25 February 2011): Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates bluntly told an audience of West Point cadets on Friday that it would be unwise [...]
====================
24. MANLY: LETTER: Re: Iranian or Canadian abuse?
From: Paul Manly
To: Cannon, Lawrence
Cc: Vancouver Sun ; The Calgary Sun ; Rob Oliphant, MP ; S.McDowall McDowall ; National Post ; Obee, Dave (Times-Colonist) ; lmcquaig@sympatico.ca ; lettertoed@thestar.ca ;letters@thegazette.canwest.com ; letters@globeandmail.com ; Kennedy.G@parl.gc.ca ; Fry.H@parl.gc.ca ; Times Colonist ; The Ottawa Citizen ; national@cbc.ca ; cbcnews@cbc.ca ; Jean - Riding 1 Crowder ; Harper.S@parl.gc.ca ; Giles Duceppe ; Jack Layton ; Michael Ignatieff
Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2011 12:24 PM
Subject: Re: Iranian or Canadian abuse?
Dear Mr. Cannon
As an accredited journalist working at the G20, I was shocked by what I documented on video. The police abuse of power at the designated protest site at Queens Park was an absolute outrage and a very dangerous precedent for how future exercises of democratic and constitutional rights by citizens could be suppressed by police under government orders.
I don't give away footage very often but I have handed over more than 20 minutes of raw footage to the CBC for the upcoming Fifth Estate program dealing with the police abuse at the G20 in Toronto. The other case where I have given footage away is the video I shot of three undercover police officers disguised as radicals with masks and rocks attacking their own riot squad in Montebello Quebec in 2007. We have learned in the recent court case of one of the protesters arrested in Montebello that these police officers were acting under orders to shut the protest down. This was another outrageous attack against the fundamental democratic freedoms of Canadian citizens and deserves a proper public inquiry.
The fifth estate documentary on G20 is on this Friday February 25 at 9:00 p.m. on channel 6. The show is repeated again on the weekend on Sunday at 10:00 a.m., and on CBC's channel 26 on Saturday at 8:00 p.m., Sunday 7:00 p.m. Tuesday 10:00 p.m.
As a journalist, I have worked in developing countries with despotic leaders who treat their citizens and journalists with disdain, I have now witnessed this same kind of oppression here in Canada not once but twice. There is a pattern emerging. Please watch and learn Mr. Cannon! The defense of democratic rights and freedoms begins at home here in Canada!
Sincerely
Paul Manly paul@manlymedia.com
250 729-1254
================
25. DOBBIN: A party of thugs, liars, cheats, crooks, dirty tricksters – and Christians
http://murraydobbin.ca/2011/02/25/
a-party-of-thugs-liars-cheats-crooks-dirty-tricksters-and-christians/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MurrayDobbin+%28Murray+Dobbin%27s+Blog%29
Posted: 25 Feb 2011 03:18 PM PST
Do any of the alleged Christians who support the government of Stephen Harper have any trouble with the fact that his government is the most morally corrupt party in Canadian history? Does their fantasy that he will end abortions sometime in the future allow them to rationalize what he does on an almost daily basis that violates what most people accept as Christian values?
I have always suspected that Stephen Harper became an evangelical Christian to enhance his ability to reconstruct Canada on the US model of free markets and minimalist government. It would fit with his military-like discipline and end-justifies-the-means approach. He knows that most Canadians are not naturally free-marketeers eager to dismantle the Canadian activist state. But wrap it up in Christian clothing and presto, you have a core of 20% who will follow you anywhere.
I have tracked Harper’s political career for twenty years and for the first part of that period I also tracked Preston Manning. The two men present an interesting contrast. Manning really was a Christian and I always found it interesting that while he would bend the truth to the breaking point and was a master practitioner of what I called calculated ambiguity (able to deliver totally different messages in the same statement) he never in my experience actually lied.
MORE:
http://murraydobbin.ca/2011/02/25/
a-party-of-thugs-liars-cheats-crooks-dirty-tricksters-and-christians/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MurrayDobbin+%28Murray+Dobbin%27s+Blog%29
==============
26. Libya: Is Washington Pushing for Civil War to Justify a US-NATO Military Intervention?
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23375
By Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya Global Research, February 25, 2011
One should be opposed to dictatorship, but one should not forget the issue of foreign domination.
Is Tripoli being set up for a civil war to justify U.S. and NATO military intervention in oil-rich Libya?
Is “manufactured destruction” or “creative destruction” at work?
If Qaddafi is not ousted, are the talks about sanctions a prelude to an Iraq-like intervention?
Something is Rotten in the so-called “Jamahiriya” of Libya
There is no question that Colonel Muammar Al-Gaddafi (Al-Qaddafi) is a dictator. He has been the dictator and so-called “qaid” of Libya for about 42 years. Yet, it appears that tensions are being ratcheted up and the flames of revolt are being fanned inside Libya. This includes earlier statements by the British Foreign Secretary William Hague that Colonel Qaddafi had fled Libya to Venezuela. [1] This statement served to electrify the revolt against Qaddafi and his regime in Libya.
Although all three have dictatorship in common, Qaddafi’s Libya is quite different from Ben Ali’s Tunisia or Mubarak’s Egypt. The Libyan leadership is not outright subservient to the United States and the European Union. Unlike the cases of Tunisia and Egypt, the relationship that exists between Qaddafi and both the U.S. and E.U. is a modus vivendi. Simply put, Qaddafi is an independent Arab dictator and not a “managed dictator” like Ben Ali and Mubarak.
In Tunisia and Egypt the status quo prevails, the military machine and neo-liberalism remain intact; this works for the interests of the United States and the European Union. In Libya, however, upsetting the established order is a U.S. and E.U. objective.
The U.S. and the E.U. now seek to capitalize on the revolt against Qaddafi and his dictatorship with the hopes of building a far stronger position in Libya than ever before. Weapons are also being brought into Libya from its southern borders to promote revolt. The destabilization of Libya would also have significant implications for North Africa, West Africa, and global energy reserves.
MORE:
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23375
=================
27. History's shifting sands
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/
2011/02/201122518445333563.html
The revolutions sweeping the Arab world indicate a tectonic shift in the global balance of people power.
Mark LeVine Last Modified: 26 Feb 2011 12:58 GMT
For decades, even centuries, the peoples of the Arab world have been told by Europeans and, later, Americans that their societies were stagnant and backward. According to Lord Cromer, author of the 1908 pseudo-history Modern Egypt, their progress was "arrested" by the very fact of their being Muslim, by virtue of which their minds were as "strange" to that of a modern Western man "as would be the mind of an inhabitant of Saturn".
The only hope of reshaping their minds towards a more earthly disposition was to accept Western tutelage, supervision, and even rule "until such time as they [we]re able to stand alone," in the words of the League of Nations' Mandate. Whether it was Napoleon claiming fraternité with Egyptians in fin-de-18e-siècle Cairo or George W. Bush claiming similar amity with Iraqis two centuries later, the message, and the means of delivering it, have been consistent.
Ever since Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti, the great Egyptian chronicler of the French invasion of Egypt, brilliantly dissected Napoleon's epistle to Egyptians, the peoples of the Middle East have seen through the Western protestations of benevolence and altruism to the naked self-interest that has always laid at the heart of great power politics. But the hypocrisy behind Western policies never stopped millions of people across the region from admiring and fighting for the ideals of freedom, progress and democracy they promised.
Even with the rise of a swaggeringly belligerent American foreign policy after September 11 on the one hand, and of China as a viable economic alternative to US global dominance on the other, the US' melting pot democracy and seemingly endless potential for renewal and growth offered a model for the future.
MORE:
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/
2011/02/201122518445333563.html
===============
28. VOW and vets find common cause
http://vowpeace.org/cms/News/View/11-01 ... Cause.aspx
By CAROLYN GREEN, Halifax Chronice-Herald Wed, Jan 26 2011
Last November, veterans who gathered in Halifax's Grand Parade, to protest deteriorating support and services from Veterans Affairs Canada, were joined by members of the Nova Scotia Voice of Women for Peace.
Last fall, Canadian war veterans turned out in public squares across Canada in a national day of protest. They gathered to protest what the new group Canadian Veterans Advocacy describes as an ongoing deterioration in support and services from Veterans Affairs.
In downtown Halifax, vets who gathered in the Grand Parade were joined by the Nova Scotia Voice of Women for Peace. It may be surprising to see a peace group supporting the cause of former soldiers. Yet some Voice of Women (VOW) members, which include a small number of female veterans, have been quick to see our common cause as we struggle to expose the hidden consequences and costs of war.
First, we share an understanding of the horrific consequences of war, especially for the human victims. The recognition of vets and their families as victims of war is a very important addition to the already long list of the negative effects of war.
It is no surprise that the government would prefer to keep the extent and nature of vets’ problems hidden. This attitude was dramatized last year in the Veterans Affairs scandal concerning former vets Sean Bruyea and Louise Richard, who dared to publicly criticize the New Veterans Charter.
(Changes have been tabled to this 2006 law, which introduced a lump-sum payment for injured vets, but took away their lifelong pension.) Veterans Affairs bureaucrats accessed their private medical records and circulated them in the hopes of ruining their credibility as spokespersons for the vets.
Efforts to cover up the veterans’ complaints have backfired, making vets so angry they are going public with their stories. The media have covered stories about fundraising for poverty-stricken vets in Calgary and homeless vets in Toronto. Other stories have exposed the extent of the "hidden" injuries of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and MTBI (mild traumatic brain injury).
MORE:
http://vowpeace.org/cms/News/View/
11-01-26/VOW_and_Vets_find_common_Cause.aspx
___
Carolyn Green is writing on behalf of Nova Scotia Voice of Women for Peace.
====================
29. Robert Green op-ed in Embassy Magazine
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7459&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
Posted: 24 Feb 2011 09:37 PM PST
Retired Royal Navy Commander Robert Green explains his views on nuclear deterrence in an article in the February 23rd, 2011 issue of Embassy Magazine (reprinted in full at Defence Watch): Nuclear deterrence has not prevented non-nuclear states from attacking allies of nuclear weapon states. Examples include China entering the Korean War when the US had [...]
====================
30. The Security Budget vs. the Necessities of Americans.
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23323
By Kevin Zeese Global Research, February 22, 2011
How does military spending impact Americans?
President Obama and the Congress have taken 66% of discretionary spending in the federal budget off the table –the SecurityBudget – while proposing a freeze to the rest of the budget and deep cuts to some programs that provide necessities for the American people. His budget crystalizes a choice that U.S. presidents have been making since President Eisenhower warned of the military-industrial complex – investment in the military vs. investment in the civilian economy.
The bloated and sacrosanct security budget – the military, domestic security and intelligence budgets –all saw rapid growth under President Bush when the DoD doubled its budget. Under President Obama the trend has continued with record military, intelligence and domestic security budgets.
MORE:
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23323
==================
31. War, Martial Law, and the Economic Crisis
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23354
Excerpt from "The Global Economic Crisis: The Great Depression of the XXI Century"
By Peter Dale Scott Global Research, February 23, 2011
EXCERPT:
Continuity of Operations (COOP)
The Army’s New Role in 2001: Not Protecting American Society, but Controlling It. This new role for the Army is not wholly unprecedented. The U.S. military had been training troops and police in "civil disturbance planning" for the last three decades. The master plan, Department of Defense Civil Disturbance Plan 55-2, or "Operation Garden Plot," was developed in 1968 in response to the major protests and disturbances of the 1960s.
a. In 1985, the Chief of Staff of the Army established the Army Survival, Recovery, and Reconstitution System (ASRRS) to ensure the continuity of essential Army missions and functions.
ASRRS doctrine was focused primarily on a response to the worst case 1980’s threat of a massive nuclear laydown on CONUS as a result of a confrontation with the Soviet Union.
b. The end of the Cold War and the breakup of the former Soviet Union significantly reduced the probability of a major nuclear attack on CONUS but the probability of other threats has increased. Army organizations must be prepared for any contingency with a potential for interruption of normal operations.
To emphasize that Army continuity of operations planning is now focused on the full all-hazards threat spectrum, the name "ASRRS" has been replaced by the more generic title "Continuity of Operations (COOP) Program.[7]
MORE:
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23354
====================
32. Dictators are "Disposable": The Rise and Fall of America's Military Henchmen
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23252
History Repeats Itself? From the "King of Java" to the Pharaoh of Egypt
By Michel Chossudovsky Global Research, February 18, 2011
From Suharto to Mubarak: History Repeats Itself?
President Suharto of Indonesia was deposed following mass protests in May 1998.
The Western media in chorus pointed to "democratization": the "King of Java" had been deposed by mass protests, much in the same way as Hosni Mubarak, described by today's media as "The Pharaoh of Egypt". [ . . . ]
=================
33. Gingrich calls for eliminating EPA, expanding domestic energy production
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/
143279-gingrich-calls-for-elimnating-epa-expanding-domestic-energy-production
By Andrew Restuccia - 02/10/11 01:38 PM ET
QUOTE: "Gingrich also said the nuclear regulatory process should be streamlined and lawmakers should focus on pushing small reactors that can be constructed quickly. “There’s a whole new generation of very small nuclear power plants that are very, very safe,” he said."
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich called Thursday for abolishing the Environmental Protection Agency and passing energy legislation that expands domestic oil production and streamlines nuclear licensing.
In a wide-ranging speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, Gingrich called for replacing the EPA with an Environmental Solutions Agency that focuses on technology-driven solutions to addressing the country’s environmental problems.
Gingrich said the Obama EPA is “made up of self-selected bureaucrats” that are seeking to pass wide-ranging regulations that would harm the economy. Instead, he called for an agency that focused on “science, technology, markets and incentives.”
It’s not the first time that Gingrich has called for getting rid of the EPA, but it’s certainly the most high-profile speech he’s delivered on the subject. CPAC is watched closely by conservatives all over the country and Gingrich’s recommendations are certain to make waves.
- - - -SNIP - - -
Nor should the EPA should not put restrictions on a controversial gas drilling process called hydraulic fracturing, in which chemicals, water and sand are injected into the ground to get access to valuable natural gas reserves, he said.
Gingrich also said the nuclear regulatory process should be streamlined and lawmakers should focus on pushing small reactors that can be constructed quickly.
“There’s a whole new generation of very small nuclear power plants that are very, very safe,” he said.
- Oscar
- Site Admin
- Posts: 9965
- Joined: Wed May 03, 2006 3:23 pm
NUKE NEWS: March 5, 2011
by Oscar » Sat Mar 05, 2011 5:59 pm
NUKE NEWS: March 5, 2011
1. Letters urgently needed! by March 10th re: radioactive generators-Natural Resources Committee/Background/CROSS Letter
2. EVENT: Potluck & Information with Jim Harding on March 11, 2011 in Regina
3. EVENT : The Dangers of Nuclear War - Montreal – March 18
4. EVENT: Conference: Facing Off For Social Justice in a Militarized World – Ottawa – March 25/26
5. Lessons to be Learned from Bruce Power "Alpha" Contamination
6. Chernobyl was lesson in nuclear peril: Gorbachev
7. EVENT: An appeal from Russia: 25 years since Chernobyl -- join the event in April 2011!
8. WALL LAUNCHES NEW CENTRE FOR RESEARCH IN NUCLEAR MEDICINE AND MATERIALS SCIENCE AT U OF S
9. Nuclear waste process wasteful
10. No Nukes News - Mar. 2, 2011
11. Little profit for African countries from uranium mining
12. For Facebook users – No Stealth Fighters profile photo
13. “Regional” nuclear war would have global effects
14. New Data! Canada's Arms Exports to the Middle East!
15. WATCH: Bradley Manning Hit with New Charges in WikiLeaks Case, Including "Aiding the Enemy"
16. How robots are transforming war / VIDEO
17. WATCH: Arrest of CIA Agent Sheds Light on American Covert War in Pakistan, Straining U.S.-Pakistani Relations (Part II)
18. WATCH: Michael Hastings: Army Deploys Psychological Operations on U.S. Senators in Afghanistan
19. U.S. And NATO Escalate World’s Deadliest War On Both Sides Of Afghan-Pakistani Border
20. An Empire of Lies: The CIA and the Western Media
21. LIBYA – Behind the Scenes
================
1. Letters urgently needed! by March 10th re: radioactive generators-Natural Resources Committee:
RNNR@parl.gc.ca
Next week the members of the Natural Resources Committee (link below) will hear (on March 8th & 10th, in Ottawa, on the Hill) some expert witnesses report on both sides of the matter of having Bruce Power ship 16 radioactive steam generators to Sweden for what they call "recycling," but what really amounts to sending Cda's nuclear waste into the global scrap metal supply - headed for all of us, no doubt, eventually.
http://www2.parl.gc.ca/CommitteeBusiness/
CommitteeMembership.aspx?Cmte=RNNR&Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=40&Ses=3
We need you to write to them!!
HERE: RNNR@parl.gc.ca
= = = = =
BACKGROUND:
Opponents plan next step to stop Bruce Power shipments
http://www.owensoundsuntimes.com/
ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2984802
By Paul Jankowski, Owen Sound SUN TIMES Staff, February 18, 2011
Opponents on both sides of the Canada-U. S. border are continuing efforts to stop the shipment by Bruce Power of 16 decommissioned radioactive steam generators through the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway.
Sierra Club Canada was to hold a conference call today to discuss a possible court appeal of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission's Feb. 4 decision to grant Bruce Power a licence to transport the generators, which the company and CNSC consider low-level nuclear waste, to Sweden, John Bennett, the club's executive director, said Thursday. The CNSC decision can be appealed to the Federal Court of Canada within 30 days of being handed down, according to Aurele Gervais, the spokesman for the commission. [ . . . ]
= = = = =
NFLA opposes decision to transport huge Canadian radioactive waste generator shipments across UK and Irish territorial waters - 9 February 2011
http://www.nuclearpolicy.info/docs/news/
Canadian_radwaste_shipments.pdf
= = = = =
LETTER: CROSS: Bruce Power Shipment of Radioactive Steam Generators to Sweden
From: Joseph Cross
To: RNNR@parl.gc.ca
Sent: Saturday, March 05, 2011 10:32 AM
Subject: Bruce Power Shipment of Radioactive Steam Generators to Sweden
Dear Members of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Natural Resources:
In the matter of shipping defunct radioactive steam generators to Sweden, I am registering my opposition to this outrageous act. When it comes to anything toxic or radioactive, if it is built or made in Canada, it stays in Canada. Ultimately, it is best for us to learn to deal with toxic waste instead of putting it out of sight, and out of mind and into the hands of others to deal with.
What an absurd shifting of our responsibility onto another country. If this is Bruce Power's idea of proper recycling practices they had better rethink it.
Here is what I propose as being a win-win situation:
- A Best Management Practice would be for each one of Bruce Power's senior staff get some 'hands on experience' in dealing with their own waste by having them personally clean, inspect, and disassemble the generators.
- Then melt the generators down on Bruce's own site for reusing or reselling. Of course then all the materials would then meet acceptable levels of radiation.
- This exercise alone will likely make them more careful in what exactly is being handled by others, and more aware of safety precautions.
- The end result is that shipping costs are eliminated, as well as carbon emissions from shipping.
- It would eliminate the backlash that hundreds of municipalities, individuals, cities and First Nations groups, U.S. Senators have against Bruce's proposed plan.
- It would reduce any potential accident on the Great Lakes or St. Lawrence River Waterway.
- With the high cost of metals these days, it would keep the recyclables here in Canada. No doubt those sixteen huge generators would be worth a lot more money in another form.
- Most importantly it would be a good exercise in learning to take responsibility, and how many corporate CEO's or senior staff can say that these days?
Now, how can you argue against all that logic? It sure beats what Bruce Power is proposing.
Yours truly,
Sharon Cross
Cranbrook, BC
====================
2. EVENT: Potluck & Information with Jim Harding on March 11, 2011 in Regina - Saskatchewan is being Targeted to be Canada's Nuclear Waste Dump
Friday March 11th, 2011
Cathedral Neighbourhood Centre,
2900-13th Avenue, Regina, SK.
Open at 6 pm, potluck at 6:30 pm, presentation at 7 pm.
Bring food to share, a beverage, cutlery, plate and cup
Admission free. Donations welcome.
Sponsored by Clean Green Regina and Regina EcoLiving Inc.
Please circulate around to your friends and family.
=====================
3. EVENT : The Dangers of Nuclear War - Montreal – March 18
The Centre for Research on Globalization invites you to a conference on The Dangers of Nuclear War
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23477
Helen Caldicott - Distinguished author, physician and co-founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility
The event will be chaired by Michel Chossudovsky
Friday, March 18, 2011 7 pm
Centre St-Pierre
1212, rue Panet (at the corner of René-Lévesque)
Montréal, QC H2L 2Y7
(parking is available)
Subway: Station Beaudry
Get directions
The presentation will be in English, followed by a Q & A period in both English and French
Coffee, cookies and donuts as of 6:30 pm
There are a limited number of seats:
Reserved Seats for Global Research Members and people travelling from out of town. Send a reservation request to:
crgjulie@yahoo.ca
Dr. Helen Caldicott, has devoted the last 38 years to an international campaign to educate the public about the medical hazards of the nuclear age and the necessary changes in human behavior to stop environmental destruction.
MORE :
For more information on Dr. Helen Caldicott, visit her web site:
http://www.helencaldicott.com
=================
4. EVENT: Conference: Facing Off For Social Justice in a Militarized World – Ottawa – March 25/26
http://pgs.ca/?page_id=725
Saint Paul University, 223 Main St, Ottawa, ON
March 25 and 26, Ottawa, ON
Radiation and health, physicians in conflict zones, social determinants of health and many more topics will be presented as this conference in Ottawa. Key note speakers include renowned gardening specialist, Mr. Ed Lawrence on a panel with Drs. Cathy Vakil and Art Wiebe discussing uranium in the environment – Dr. Helen Caldicott and President of the Canadian Medical Association, Dr. Jeff Turnbull.
Please note: Evening sessions are $10 to cover cost of renting auditorium – Friday evening includes a wine and cheese reception.
Agenda for March 25 and 26
http://pgs.ca/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/Program.pdf
PGS AGM and board meeting will take place on Friday, March 25 from 8:30-4:30 – in the PGS office 208-145 Spruce St – members are welcome to attend
=================
5. Lessons to be Learned from Bruce Power "Alpha" Contamination
From: Gordon Edwards
Sent: Monday, February 28, 2011 11:30 AM
Background:
We know that many hundreds of workers have inhaled radioactive plutonium-contaminated dust into their bodies due to negligence and/or incompetence on the part of Bruce Power. That material will remain in their bodies for a long, long time, irradiating their tissues constantly -- even when they sleep.
In the press the word "plutonium" is not mentioned. Instead, the phrase "alpha contamination" is used.
There are three principal types of atomic radiation, called alpha, beta, and gamma.
Gamma is the most penetrating and the easiest to measure; gamma rays are like x-rays, only more energetic -- and therefore more damaging to living tissue.
Beta is much less penetrating; beta rays should really be called beta particles, because they are in fact very high-speed electrons -- like miniature bullets -- that can only penetrate a short distance in living tissue.
Beta radiation is particularly dangerous when the beta-emitting material has been ingested, inhaled, or absorbed through the skin into the body.
Alpha is the least penetrating form of atomic radiation; an alpha ray should really be called an alpha particle, because it is an electrically charged particle travelling extremely fast, about 8000 times heavier than a beta particle.
Alpha radiation cannot penetrate through a sheet of paper or through the dead layer of skin on the outside of our bodies. Hence alpha rays are harmless outside the body.
But inside the body, alpha rays are far more dangerous than beta rays or gamma rays. In fact the deadliest radioactive materials in the 20th century have been alpha emitters --plutonium-239, radium-226, radon-222, polonium-210 and uranium are all alpha-emitting radioactive materials.
See
http://ccnr.org/alpha_in_lung.html
The "alpha contamination" mentioned in the following article is mainly plutonium-contaminated dust that had been deposited on the insides of the pipes leading from the core of the reactor. See
http://ccnr.org/paulson_legacy.html
This same kind of plutonium dust accounts for 90 percent of the mass of the radioactive materials inside the used steam generators that Bruce Power wants to ship through the Great Lakes to Sweden -- see
http://ccnr.org
Gordon Edwards.
= = = = = = =
Lessons to be Learned from Bruce Power Contamination
http://www.independent.on.ca/site/?q=node/999
Workers may have long wait for results
By Josh Howald, Kincardine Independent, Feb. 24 2011
Early testing indicates that while no workers will be adversely affected from the alpha radiation contamination at Bruce Power, there are lessons to be learned from the situation.
That point was hammered home by the president of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC), Michael Binder, at a CNSC Public Hearing held in Ottawa Thursday morning.
Binder and the board questioned why Bruce Power would not have learned from a similar situation that occurred at the Point LePreau Nuclear Generating Station less than two years ago.
It also came out that as many as 583 people may have had contact with alpha radiation in the vault of Bruce A, Unit 1. A total of 195 people are being tested for alpha radiation contamination.
MORE:
http://www.independent.on.ca/site/?q=node/999
======================
6. Chernobyl was lesson in nuclear peril: Gorbachev
http://www.nuclearpowerdaily.com/reports/
Chernobyl_was_lesson_in_nuclear_peril_Gorbachev_999.html
by Staff Writers Paris (AFP) March 1, 2011
QUOTE: "Gorbachev described Chernobyl as "a warning sign" for countries dependent on nuclear power or keen to turn to it."
The upcoming 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster is a brutal reminder of the dangers of nuclear power, proliferation and terrorism, former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev said on Tuesday.
"The true scope of the tragedy still remains beyond comprehension and is a shocking reminder of the reality of the nuclear threat," Gorbachev said in an essay published by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a watchdog organisation on nuclear security.
The April 26 1986 explosion at the Soviet power plant in the Ukraine, caused by an unauthorised test that went wrong, unleashed a reactor fire and radioactive fallout that contaminated swathes of the former Soviet Union and Western Europe.
The death toll ranges from a UN 2005 estimate of 4,000 to tens or even hundreds of thousands, proposed by non-governmental groups.
Environment problems include long-term contamination of water resources and soil and damage to wildlife that is still unclear, while the economic cost has been put in the hundreds of billions of dollars.
Gorbachev described Chernobyl as "a warning sign" for countries dependent on nuclear power or keen to turn to it.
==================
7. EVENT: An appeal from Russia: 25 years since Chernobyl -- join the event in April 2011!
From: chernobyl-25@bellona.ru
Date: March 1, 2011 8:21:34 AM EST (CA)
Dear Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility,
The year 2011 marks the 25th anniversary of the day that affected the lives of millions of people around the world. On April 26, 1986 the Chernobyl disaster occurred.
We want people to remember once again the immense danger associated with nuclear power plants. We want all the people in the world to remember the Chernobyl disaster. Unfortunately, many people have not even heard about this striking example of the dangers inherent in nuclear energy.
We invite you to join the international event "Chernobyl-25". We urge people around the world to remember the Chernobyl disaster on its 25th anniversary.
What is it about?
First of all, we are looking for partners in the cities, which are located near nuclear power plants all over the world:
http://www.bellona.ru/filearchive/
fil_List_of_worlds_nuclear_power_plants.pdf
We suggest that at the time the explosion happened at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (April 26, 01.23,47 Moscow time, time zone UTC +03.00) you light 25 candles on one of the squares of your city in memory of the event.
You can check your time zone and the difference in time zones at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_zone.
Depending on your wishes and the country in which the event will be held you may adjust the scheduling.
---------------------------------------------------
What do you need to do to join the international event "Chernobyl-25"?
1. Inform us of your desire to hold an event in your city by email
chernobyl-25@bellona.ru
2. Send a press release to local and national media so that as many people as possible can be informed about this event.
3. Organize the event on April 26, 2011.
---------------------------------------------------
We understand that many NGOs work in countries with nondemocratic regimes.
Therefore, we ask that you observe country’s laws regarding public functions. If your organization can’t participate in the memorial event but you know of another one that might, please feel free to pass this message along.
Remember to check out our Facebook page Chernobyl 25!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chernobyl-25/
169839423040473
---------------------------------------------------
This letter has been sent by The Bellona Foundation
(http://bellona.org/),
an international environmental rights organization that has offices in Oslo, Norway; St. Petersburg and Murmansk, Russia; Brussels, Belgium and Washington, USA. The Chernobyl-25 memorial event is coordinated by Bellona’s office in St. Petersburg.
====================
8. WALL LAUNCHES NEW CENTRE FOR RESEARCH IN NUCLEAR MEDICINE AND MATERIALS SCIENCE AT U OF S
http://www.gov.sk.ca/
news?newsId=d5453e12-8e41-4f30-a9af-1cd0c5bae957
News Release - March 2, 2011
Premier Brad Wall and Minister responsible for Innovation Rob Norris today announced $30 million in funding over seven years to establish a new research centre at the University of Saskatchewan that will re-establish the province as an international leader in nuclear science and nuclear medicine.
"In the early 1950's, scientists at the University of Saskatchewan pioneered the use of Cobalt 60 for cancer treatment," Wall said. "Today we are taking another important step in re-capturing that international leadership position in nuclear medicine and expanding it to include research in materials science and small reactor design."
The province's $30 million investment in nuclear research builds on January's announcement of $12 million in funding from the federal and provincial governments to build a new linear accelerator and support research into the production of medical isotopes at the Canadian Light Source.
"Our province produces 10.2 million kilograms of uranium annually, and as the Premier is fond of saying, the next ounce of yellowcake we add value to will be the first," Norris said. "Today's announcement and some other exciting announcements in the coming days and weeks, are significant signposts on the road to developing excellence in a number of different nuclear-related fields."
University of Saskatchewan President Peter MacKinnon welcomed the provincial investment and said the new research centre will complement and strengthen the university's existing nuclear research infrastructure. That includes the Canadian Light Source synchrotron, the Saskatchewan Research Council's SLOWPOKE research reactor and the university's STOR-M Tokamak fusion reactor.
"Our new research centre will focus on nuclear science and engineering, materials and neutron science and nuclear health sciences," MacKinnon said. "It will also facilitate an expansion of academic programs in nuclear engineering, nuclear and reactor physics and radiochemistry.
"With this exciting new multi-disciplinary centre, the U of S will build on its historical strengths to become an international centre of excellence in nuclear research, training and innovation, as well as in studies into the full environmental and social context of nuclear development," MacKinnon said. "We will be able to hire new faculty researchers, support many graduate students and seize new opportunities for leading-edge research."
Norris said the new centre will make Saskatchewan the focal point for nuclear research and development in Western Canada.
"The new centre will spark research partnerships with industry, universities and other research institutions," Norris said. "Work will include development of advanced materials for construction, aerospace and small reactor designs, and medical imaging for diagnosis of cancer and heart disease."
"Our government has long been committed to innovation, and this new centre marks a bold start to a new venture," Wall said. "I look forward to more exciting announcements here at the University of Saskatchewan in the days and weeks to come that will build on today's investment in nuclear research." -30-
For more information, contact:
Kathy Young, Executive Council, Regina
Phone: 306-787-0425
Email: kathy.young@gov.sk.ca
Michael Robin, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon
Phone: 306-966-1425
Email: michael.robin@usask.ca
= = = = = =
PET-CT SCAN FOR SASKATCHEWAN PART OF SIGNIFICANT NUCLEAR INVESTMENT
http://www.gov.sk.ca/
news?newsId=b18f788c-e152-4ebc-a109-fe82a755dc6b
News Release - March 4, 2011
A $17 million government investment in an advanced research cyclotron sets the stage for a $6 million investment that will bring PET-CT (Positron Emission Tomography - Computerized Tomography) scan services to Saskatchewan. [ . . . ]
= = = = =
Watch: Sask. funds nuclear research:
http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/News/Canada/
Saskatchewan/ID=1826595723
= = = = =
Sk. spending $30M on nuclear research centre
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/03/02/
sk-nuclear-money-1102.html
CBC News Posted: Mar 2, 2011 11:50 AM ET Last Updated: Mar 2, 2011 12:12 PM ET
The Saskatchewan government will spend $30 million to create a new nuclear research centre at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon.
The money, to be spent over seven years, will be used to expand nuclear medicine but also materials science and small reactor design, Premier Brad Wall said in a news release.
University of Saskatchewan president Peter MacKinnon said the research centre will focus on nuclear science and engineering, materials and neutron science and nuclear health sciences. [ . . . ]
= = = = =
Sask. gov't to spend $30 million on nuclear medicine and research centre
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/health/
Sask+spend+million+nuclear+medicine+research+centre/4371707/story.html
THE STAR PHOENIX MARCH 2, 2011
A new nuclear medicine and research centre at the University of Saskatchewan also includes a mandate to develop materials for small reactor designs.
The provincial government is using $30 million over seven years to establish the centre for research in nuclear medicine and materials at the U of S. The research centre will help Saskatchewan reclaim its leadership position on nuclear science, especially in the area of medicine, says the province. [ . . . ]
==================
9. Nuclear waste process wasteful
http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/f ... le/1385067
Published Wednesday March 2nd, 2011
The Canadian Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) has been in New
Brunswick talking about the possibility of establishing an underground nuclear waste site in this province. That's a waste of time and money.
New Brunswickers have made their feelings crystal clear on all things nuclear related in this province. They do not want a nuclear waste storage site nor do they want uranium mining, period, end of discussion. Premier David Alward himself leaves no doubt: "We are not pursuing a nuclear waste site anywhere in this province."
Why is the NWMO bothering to visit? Its Communications Manager Mike Krizanc said "We're certainly not going to force this on anyone." He also notes seven communities, three in Saskatchewan and four in Ontario, have actually filed expressions of interest in having the site. And Mr. Krizanc admits that a NWMO report suggesting there is "receptiveness" to a nuclear waste site in New Brunswick is based on nothing but unspecified media reports. Thin evidence indeed! [ . . . ]
= = = =
Waste storage repository still years away but N.B. already paying into construction fund
http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/n ... le/1383875
by Alan Cochrane Times & transcript staff February 26th, 2011
Canada's Nuclear Waste Management Organization is still looking for a place to construct an $8-billion underground repository for nuclear waste, but so far no New Brunswick communities have expressed an interest in getting involved and the provincial government is definitely not interested. [ . . . ]
===================
10. No Nukes News - Mar. 2, 2011
The cost of this technology continues to escalate despite billions in subsidies to both existing and proposed plants. Instead of committing billions in new subsidies that would further distort the market in favor of nuclear power, we should focus on more cost-effective energy sources that will reduce carbon emissions more quickly and with less risk. – Ellen Vancko, manager of Union of Concerned Scientist’s Nuclear Energy and Climate Change Project
During my 8 years in the White House, every nuclear weapons proliferation issue we dealt with was connected to a nuclear reactor program. – Al Gore
Wind and solar energy are the new Niagara Falls. They can do a similar job of replacing polluting power from coal or nuclear plants to power a prosperous Ontario in the twentyfirst century. – Keith Stewart, Greenpeace
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Ontario’s Stranded Nuclear Debt - Payment Required
It’s time to cut up the nuclear credit card and get a firm hold on nuclear spending. It is time to stop taxpayer-financed nuclear bailouts. Please contact Premier McGuinty and Opposition Leader Tim Hudak and tell them that you don’t want Ontario’s taxpayers to guarantee the repayments of OPG’s borrowings for its proposed Darlington Re-Build Project.
Click here to send them your letter now.
For more information, please read our new factsheet:
Ontario’s Stranded Nuclear Debt: A Cautionary Tale:
http://www.cleanairalliance.org/files/nukedebt.pdf
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After 50 Years, Nuclear Power is Still Not Viable without Subsidies
A report released by the Union of Concerned Scientists found that more than 30 subsidies have supported every stage of the nuclear fuel cycle, from uranium mining to long-term waste storage. Added together, these subsidies often have exceeded the average market price of the power produced.
http://www.ucsusa.org/news/press_release/
nuclear-power-subsidies-report-0504.html
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Darlington Nuclear New Build Written Submission – from Lake Ontario Waterkeeper
OPG expresses a preference for once-through cooling, the most destructive cooling technology option available from an ecological perspective.
http://www.waterkeeper.ca/2011/02/22/
official-darlington-new-nuclear-build-written-submission/
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Ontario Greens call for affordable alternatives to new nuclear
http://gpo.ca/statement/
ontario-greens-call-affordable-alternatives-new-nuclear
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MP proposes nuke-free Canadian Arctic
Yukon Member of Parliament Larry Bagnell has proposed a private member’s bill to make the Canadian Arctic a nuclear-weapon-free zone. Bill C-629, introduced on February 15th, would make it a criminal offense to “possess, manufacture, test, store, transport or deploy a nuclear weapon in the Canadian Arctic.”
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7392&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
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Phase out subsidies to the fossil fuel industry
Please email the Prime Minister and your Member of Parliament to call on the federal government to use the 2011 budget as an opportunity to end special tax breaks for oil, coal and gas companies. Just click here to send your letter:
http://action.davidsuzuki.org/subsidy
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Province pushes lean energy - New projects focus on wind, solar; opposition targets cost increases
The McGuinty government forged ahead Thursday with a new slate of new green energy projects despite growing political controversy. Energy Minister Brad Duguid said 40 contracts have been offered for new renewable projects that will be built in the next one to three years. Thirty-five of the projects are solar, four are wind and the other is a small hydroelectric.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/technology/
Province+pushes+lean+energy/4344516/story.html
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Windy Myths: Get the Facts
http://www.canwea.ca/wind-energy/
myths_e.php
http://www.whywind.org/pb/
wp_a1b4e1bf/wp_a1b4e1bf.html
Support Wind Energy in Ontario – send a quick email
In response to a proposed wind farm near Wainfleet, Ontario, a member of the local council Alderman David Wyatt, moved a motion calling for a halt to the project. He’s even proposing a moratorium on wind farms for all of Ontario! Please take a moment and email the Wainfleet Town Council here:
http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5654/p/dia/
action/public/?action_KEY=5526
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California moves on 33 percent Renewable Portfolio Standard by 2020
The California Senate moved on Thursday to make California home to the toughest renewable energy standard in the nation, voting to require the state's utilities to get one-third of their energy from renewable sources by 2020.
http://www.sustainablebusinessoregon.co ... l/2011/02/
california-moves-on-33-percent-rps.html
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Elected Officials Challenged: COME CLEAN!
Concerned about coal? Water? Green jobs? Ontario’s greenbelt? Then let your politicians know! Click here to send them a message, asking them to be clear on their positions.
http://comeclean.ca/
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Forming a Community Power Co-op: Webinar
Thursday March 10th, 10 - 11:30 a.m. EST
What are the benefits of forming a co-operative? What are the steps (and time frames) involved? What has been the experience of leaders in Ontario who are preparing community co-op share offerings? Join co-op development authority Russ Christiansen, TREC's SolarShare Project Lead Mike Brigham along with CEPP Program Managers Evan Ferrari and Laura Tozer as they answer these questions and more.
To register for this free event, send an email to:
jgaudette@communityenergyprogram.ca
Login instructions will be sent to registrants on Wednesday, March 9th, 2011.
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Security Without Nuclear Deterrence
With Alyn Ware
Friday March 4, 7:30 pm.
Rm B 142, Earth Sci Blg.5 Bancroft Ave & 33 Willcocks St. University of Toronto
Alyn Ware is prominent in the campaign for nuclear disarmament. He is Vice President of the International Peace Bureau and was the 2009 recipient of the Right Livelihood Award (the “Alternative Nobel Peace Prize). If you cannot attend the evening event, you are welcome to attend Alyn's meeting with students at 2:00 pm on the same day, Friday, at the Trinity College dining room.
The event is organized by Science for Peace:
sfp@physics.utoronto.ca,
416-978-3606.
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Angela Bischoff, Outreach Director
Ontario Clean Air Alliance
Tel: 416 926 1907 x 246
625 Church Street, #402, Toronto, ON M4Y 2G1
angela@cleanairalliance.org
www.cleanairalliance.org
www.ontariosgreenfuture.ca
Our Facebook Group
No Nukes News
Health Power
Coal Must Go
==================
11. Little profit for African countries from uranium mining
http://somo.nl/news-en/
little-profit-for-african-countries-from-uranium-mining/
Press release Amsterdam, 1 March 2011
Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO)
World Information Service on Energy (WISE)
New report on unfavourable financial arrangements from uranium mining
For African countries, the revenue derived from the uranium mining operations of multinational corporations is - despite the high price of uranium - minimal, uncertain and volatile. The financial agreements that these countries make with the uranium producers regarding their share in the profits are the primary reason for this state of affairs. These contracts are often the result of negotiations that take place behind closed doors. This is the conclusion of the report “Radioactive Revenues: Financial Flows between Uranium Mining Companies and African Governments” published today by SOMO and WISE on the eve of the 5th Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) Global Conference in Paris.
The report Radioactive Revenues analyses the financial aspects of uranium mining in the main African uranium producing countries - Namibia, Niger, Malawi and South Africa - and examines the activities of the four largest multinational uranium mining companies in Africa: the French AREVA group, the English-Australian Rio Tinto, the Australian Paladin Energy and the South-Africa-based AngloGold Ashanti.
Download publication – Radioactive Revenues:
http://somo.nl/publications-en/Publication_3629/view
Currently, one-fifth of all uranium worldwide is mined in Africa, and production is expected to double in the next two years. Nevertheless, uranium mining remains an uncertain source of revenue for African countries given the unstable price of uranium and the dependence on corporate profits. The primary sources of revenue from uranium mining for African countries are corporate income taxes and royalties
(a percentage of uranium sales).
MORE:
http://somo.nl/news-en/
little-profit-for-african-countries-from-uranium-mining/
Contacts for the press
Joseph Wilde-Ramsing (SOMO): E: j.wilde@somo.nl,
T: 0031 (0)20 6391291, M: 0031 (0)6 42697343
Peer de Rijk (WISE): E: wiseamster@antenna.nl,
M: 0031 (0)6 20000626
- - - - - -
More information on uranium mining on SOMO's website
http://somo.nl/news-en/
uranium-workers-namibia-unaware-of-severe-health-risks/view?set_language=en%20
More information on the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative
http://eiti.org/
The EITI sets a global standard for transparency in oil, gas and mining.
====================
12. For Facebook users – No Stealth Fighters profile photo
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7506&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
Posted: 01 Mar 2011 03:55 PM PST
We’re very excited about the launch of our Canada-wide campaign on March 3rd to say to Prime Minister Harper: “No Stealth Fighters!” In the lead-up to the start of the campaign this week, please upload this photo as your Facebook profile picture to let everyone know how you feel about this multi-billion-dollar purchase. On March [ . . . ]
=================
13. “Regional” nuclear war would have global effects
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7539&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
Posted: 03 Mar 2011 10:17 PM PST
New research indicates that a “regional”, limited nuclear war would have even more devastating global consequences than previously expected. In addition to creating a global “nuclear haze” effect that would lead to global famine, a nuclear war involving as few as 100 Hiroshima-size nuclear bombs could cause serious depletion of the world’s ozone layer, leading [...]
==================
14. New Data! Canada's Arms Exports to the Middle East!
From: coat@list.openconcept.ca
Sent: Tuesday, March 01, 2011 11:52 AM
Subject: [COAT] New Data! Canada's Arms Exports to the Middle East!
Support COAT's research: Please spread the word to friends, colleagues, media, government, etc.
NEW data now online!
Canada's Military Exports to the Middle East & North Africa
In an effort to expose Canadian complicity in arming oppressive and undemocratic regimes in the Middle East and North Africa, the Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT) has compiled a wealth of information. COAT has packaged the material into four online sets of data tables:
MORE:
http://forum.stopthehogs.com/phpBB2/
viewtopic.php?p=2044#2044
===================
15. WATCH: Bradley Manning Hit with New Charges in WikiLeaks Case, Including "Aiding the Enemy"
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/3/3/
bradley_manning_hit_with_new_charges
March 3, 2011
The U.S. Army has filed 22 additional charges against Army Private Bradley Manning, who is alleged to have illegally downloaded hundreds of thousands of classified U.S. military and State Department documents that were then publicly released by WikiLeaks. One of the new charges, "aiding the enemy," could carry a death sentence. We speak with Glenn Greenwald, constitutional law attorney and legal blogger for Salon.com. "Although the charging document doesn’t say who the 'enemy' is here, it’s only two possibilities," Greenwald says. "Either they mean WikiLeaks … or any kind of leak now of classified information to newspapers, where your intent is not to aid the Taliban but to expose wrongdoing." [includes rush transcript]
======================
16. How robots are transforming war / VIDEO
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/02/23/
technology-robots-war.html
Film producer Leslea Mair talks about new documentary Remote Control War
CBC News Posted: Feb 23, 2011 7:56 PM ET Last Updated: Feb 24, 2011 1:09 PM ET
Sleek, pilotless drones soar over the mountains between Afghanistan and Pakistan, dropping bombs and killing people down below. At lunchtime, the U.S. soldiers controlling them pop down to the local fast food joint for a burger — in Indian Springs, Nev.
That is the reality of modern warfare as portrayed in a new documentary titled Remote Control War, which premieres Thursday evening on CBC-TV.
The film looks at the rise of military robotics since the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003. The U.S. alone now has a fleet of 7,000 military robots in the air and another 12,000 on the ground. Canada and 42 other countries also use military robots.
The documentary questions what the trend means for militaries and civilians around the world. And it also offers a glimpse of what the military robots of the future might look like, from a tank-treaded, camera-laden robot armed with machine guns zipping through the woods to swarms of autonomous bird-sized flying robots working together on a collective mission.
CBC News spoke to Leslea Mair, president and CEO of Zoot Films, who co-produced Remote Control War.
MORE:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/02/23/
technology-robots-war.html
- - - -
WATCH: Remote Control War – 45 min.
http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/doczone/
video.html?ID=1815694494
WATCH: Remote Control War - Trailer
http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/doczone/
video.html?ID=1775629745
Robots that kill. In the movies, this scenario is presented as a future in which things have gone terribly wrong. But, as revealed in the new Zoot Pictures documentary Remote Control War, such robots are no longer science fiction. [ . . . ]
======================
17. WATCH: Arrest of CIA Agent Sheds Light on American Covert War in Pakistan, Straining U.S.-Pakistani Relations (Part II)
http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2011/2/23/
arrest_of_cia_agent_sheds_light_on_american_covert_war_in_pakistan_straining_us_pakistani_relations_part_ii
WATCH: PART I:
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/2/23/
arrest_of_cia_agent_sheds_light
February 23, 2011
U.S. officials have admitted an American detained in Pakistan for the murder of two men was a CIA agent and a former employee of the private security firm Blackwater, now called Xe Services. Up until Monday, the Obama administration had insisted Raymond Davis was a diplomat who had acted in self-defense. The arrest of Davis has soured relations between the United States and Pakistan and revealed a web of covert U.S. operations inside the country, part of a secret war run by the CIA. The Guardian of London first reported Davis’s CIA link on Sunday and noted that many U.S. news outlets knew about his connection to the CIA but did not report on it at the request of U.S. officials. We speak with Declan Walsh, the Pakistan correspondent for The Guardian, who first broke the story. [ Transcript. ]
==================
18. WATCH: Michael Hastings: Army Deploys Psychological Operations on U.S. Senators in Afghanistan
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/3/4/
michael_hastings_army_deploys_psy_ops
March 4, 2011
Federal law prohibits the military from using propaganda and psychological tactics on U.S. citizens, but that is exactly what may have happened in Afghanistan, according to reporter Michael Hastings, who joins us to speak about his recent exposé for Rolling Stone magazine, "Another Runaway General: Army Deploys Psy-Ops on U.S. Senators." In the article, Hastings writes that Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, the commander of NATO Training Mission in Afghanistan, illegally employed psychological operations to manipulate visiting U.S. senators into providing more troops and funding for the war effort. Watch/Listen/Read
===================
19. U.S. And NATO Escalate World’s Deadliest War On Both Sides Of Afghan-Pakistani Border
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23453
By Rick Rozoff Global Research, March 1, 2011
The United States and its military allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization have entered the third month of war in Afghanistan this year, which President Barack Obama in December of 2009 announced as the year in which American and other foreign occupation forces would be reduced preparatory to their full withdrawal.
Within months of the U.S. head of state’s claim, the commander-in-chief had over 90,000 troops in the conquered country and currently there are 60,000 more from some fifty other nations serving in NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). The total number exceeds that of any foreign military force ever before stationed in Afghanistan. The presence of American and allied troops, beginning as it did on October 7, 2001, is the longest in the Asian nation’s history, with U.S. forces already in the country for several months longer than Soviet troops were stationed there from late 1979 until early 1989.
Since Obama’s pledge that U.S. and NATO troop strength would be reduced this year – not a firm deadline but an evasion, a self-serving lie designed to take the sting out of the announcement of increased troop deployments, one the international community, self-styled and genuine, chose to take at face value – the world’s only ongoing war of occupation has stretched into not only the longest armed conflict in Afghanistan’s history but also in that of the U.S.
MORE:
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23453
=================
20. An Empire of Lies: The CIA and the Western Media
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23432
By Jonathan Cook Global Research, February 28, 2011
Last week the Guardian, Britain’s main liberal newspaper, ran an exclusive report on the belated confessions of an Iraqi exile, Rafeed al-Janabi, codenamed “Curveball” by the CIA. Eight years ago, Janabi played a key behind-the-scenes role -- if an inadvertent one -- in making possible the US invasion of Iraq. His testimony bolstered claims by the Bush administration that Iraq’s president, Saddam Hussein, had developed an advanced programme producing weapons of mass destruction. [ . . . ]
===================
21. LIBYA – Behind the Scenes:
Libyan oil, not democracy, fuelling the West
http://www.thestar.com/article/
946900--walkom-libyan-oil-not-democracy-fuelling-the-west
March 02, 2011 Thomas Walkom
Why does Stephen Harper seem more engaged in Libya’s would-be revolution than he was in Egypt’s? The answer is simple. Oil.
This also explains, incidentally, the curious nature of Ottawa’s economic sanctions against the Libyan regime of dictator Moammar Gadhafi. Canadian firms — most notably Montreal-based SNC-Lavalin and Calgary-based Suncor Energy — are not permitted to engage in financial transactions with the Libyan government. But they are allowed to continue operating commercially in Libya. [ . . . ]
= = = = =
WATCH: Prof. Horace Campbell: Peace & Justice Movement Should Oppose U.S.-Led Intervention in Libya
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/3/2/
prof_horace_campbell_peace_justice_movement
Forces aligned with Libyan leader Col. Muammar Gaddafi have launched new assaults to regain control of several towns captured in a popular uprising over the past two weeks. Meanwhile, two U.S. warships have moved through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean Sea toward Libya under orders by U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates. As talk of potential Western military intervention grows, we speak to Horace Campbell, a professor of African American studies and political science at Syracuse University. [includes rush transcript]
= = = =
Chavez Says Gaddafi Accepted Proposal for Goodwill Commission in Libya
http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/6036
By Juan Reardon - Venezuelanalysis.com
Mérida, March 3rd 2011 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – According to Al Jazeera news reports and President Chávez, Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi has accepted Chávez’s proposal for an International Peace Commission to mediate a peaceful political solution to the violent conflict underway in the North African nation. Chávez made the proposal on Monday, insisting that all mediation efforts must respect both national sovereignty and the Libyan people’s right to self-determination.
Venezuela’s Minister of Communication and Information Andrés Izarra on Wednesday confirmed that Chávez and Gaddafi discussed the goodwill commission during a telephone conversation held a day earlier. [ . . . ]
= = = = =
SNC Lavalin confirms it's building jail in Libya
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/02/24/
snc-lavalin-prison022411.html
The Canadian Press Posted: Feb 24, 2011 7:56 PM ET Last Updated: Feb 24, 2011 9:08 PM ET
QUOTE: “"Quebec people do not want our country, our people, our businesses, collaborating with dictators."”
SNC-Lavalin has confirmed it has a contract to build a detention centre in Libya, a country currently gripped by violence as pro-democracy protesters clash with hardline government forces.
The Montreal-based engineering giant has said the facility will be the "first to be built according to international human rights standards."
"We think this is an important step forward for this country and an opportunity for us as a company to share values that we think are essential to all citizens of the world," Leslie Quinton, the company's vice-president of global communications said in an email Thursday.
Quinton denied reports that SNC-Lavalin was concealing the project.
"It is one of the thousands of projects we work on yearly, not all of which are announced by press release." [ . . . ]
= = = = =
REPO: Libya disinformation: a quick follow-up
From: Marjaleena Repo
Sent: Friday, March 04, 2011 2:58 PM
Subject: Libya disinformation: a quick follow-up
Dear Friends,
I'm sending this quick follow-up, in response to many of you asking for more information about the disinformation on Libya when available.
Today Star-Phoenix in Saskatoon published my op-ed piece, titling it "Crisis in Libya set up to serve West's interests" (with references removed to the Bush-Blair war crimes in Iraq and CBC's habit of referring to Gaddafi as the "Mad Dog of Africa"):
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/opinion/
Crisis+Libya+serve+West+interests/4381976/story.html
Today, also, this verification of a significant lie about Gaddafi's much referred to "atrocity" of firing on the demonstrators from military
aircrafts:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-01/
gates-says-navy-ships-move-for-libyan-aid-u-s-options-1-.html
"Gates and Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also said they have seen no confirmation of reports that Qaddafi has used aircraft to fire on Libyans."
Below are a number of articles that fill in the picture, from Information Clearinghouse. Do study them, utilize them to challenge the lies, and pass them on to help vaccinate other Canadians and friends abroad against this latest onslaught of dangerous lies and falsehoods, meant to create a lynch mentality among us.
I'm reposting the Simple Guide to Action, slightly revised, as thought needs to be followed up by action! Would love to know what experiences people are having calling politicians — please send reports!
A SIMPLE ACTION PLAN ANYONE CAN FOLLOW:
1) Question everything that the media says about Libya! The list of systematic disinformation gets longer every day and the CBC is spearheading this relentless toxic brew in Canada — its news and public affairs programmes need to be vigorously challenged. Most of them have call-back phone numbers and e-mail addresses. Target the programmes that you listen to or watch regularly. Talk up your skepticism and criticisms!
2) Let our opposition parliamentarians know that you don't buy into the so-called "Responsibility to Protect" (RTP) and consider it a dangerous doctrine.
The quickest way to find their contact phone numbers and e-mail addresses is at
http://webinfo.parl.gc.ca/MembersOfParliament/
MainMPsCompleteList.aspx?TimePeriod=Current&Language=E
Here are some key parliamentarians to contact for starters.
Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff is at IgnatM@parl.gc.ca tel 613-995-9364
NDP leader Jack Layton is at LaytoJ@parl.gc.ca tel 613-995-7224
Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae is at RaeB@parl.gc.ca tel 613-992-5234
NDP foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar Dewar.P@parl.gc.ca tel 613-996-5322
Remember that each call or e-mail matters, and can lead to the "tipping point " of introducing rational thinking into the mdia and into the political discourse that has so far been frothing-at-the mouth belligerent and ideological.
3) MORE URGENT THAN EVER: Strengthen your resistance by reading Jean Bricmont's powerful and clarifying Humanitarian imperialism: Using human rights to sell war , (what an appropriate title!) available from
www.davidorchard.com.
Read review in Counterpunch at http://www.counterpunch.org/sherman06062007.html
Note that there are many more valuable demystifying books on www.davidorchard.com, a great source for a book club of defensive reading! (Each friend buys a book and reports on it to the group.)
------
The Anti-Empire Report - The Enduring Mystique of the Marshall Plan
By William Blum
Let's have a look at the Marshall Plan outside the official and popular versions.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.inf ... e27602.htm
- - - - -
Who is Muammar Gaddafi?
By Antonio Cesar Oliveira
How can you call someone a dictator leader who overthrew a corrupt monarchy, modernized the country, won the highest HDI in Africa, and applied a direct democracy system of government?
http://www.informationclearinghouse.inf ... e27593.htm
- - - - -
Unverified Misreporting on Libya
By Stephen Lendman
America's media, Britain's state-controlled BBC, other Western sources, and Al Jazeera are spreading unverified or false reports on Libya's uprising.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.inf ... e27595.htm
- - - - - -
World Cheers as the CIA Plunges Libya Into Chaos
By David Rothscum
How was Libya doing under the rule of Gadaffi? How bad did the people have it? Were they oppressed as we now commonly accept as fact? Let us look at the facts for a moment.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.inf ... e27596.htm
- - - - - -
Did Gaddaffi Bomb His Own People?[/b
]Airstrikes In Libya Did Not Take Place - Russian Military : By RT
The reports of Libya mobilizing its air force against its own people spread quickly around the world. However, Russia's military chiefs say they have been monitoring from space -- and the pictures tell a different story.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.inf ... e27594.htm
=================
[b]22. Join the Global Resistance - Independent media is battling against disinformation
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23058
Global Research, February 10, 2011
There can be no denying it: these are exciting times and changes are unfolding at unprecedented rates. Few can claim not to have some knowledge of the widespread protests that have been rocking Tunisia and Egypt this past month, and indeed the word "revolution" is on many people's lips.
We are witnessing large-scale unrest, entire populations who refuse to be exploited and continue living in poverty at the hands of a small ruling elite, manipulated by foreign interests, who prosper while their nations flounder.
Does this pattern sound familiar? This, in fact, describes the undercurrents of populations not just in faraway countries; the spirit of resistance is bubbling up in our own backyards and across neighbouring borders.
Here at Global Research, our correspondents and volunteers are devoting a great deal of time and energy into covering and analyzing the news as it happens. We are exceedingly grateful for their efforts and excited to convey their research through our websites, to ensure it reaches as many readers as possible.
MORE:
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23058
=====================
23. Fresh Issue for Spring Election: Democracy
http://murraydobbin.ca/2011/02/28/
fresh-issue-for-spring-election-democracy/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MurrayDobbin+%28Murray+Dobbin%27s+Blog%29
Posted: 28 Feb 2011 11:36 AM PST
The odds now seem to favour a spring election, as Stephen Harper headed out across the country with his cabinet ministers to announce over $300 million in goodies. In anticipating yet another campaign, it is worth remembering that without the NDP, Canadian politics (outside Quebec) would look an awful lot like the U.S.: two political parties, economically and socially right-wing, both with a recent history of dismantling the activist state and gutting its revenue base through huge tax cuts. All the while pretending to compete for our hearts and minds.
To be sure, the Conservatives — who should rightfully be called the Republican Party — are by several degrees worse than the Liberal Party. Stephen Harper runs a ruthless autocracy with contempt for every aspect of democratic governance from watch dog organizations to parliamentary committees to access to information, and topped off with a relentless assault on the political culture through the defunding of civil society.
It now turns out that the Harper government may be much more corrupt than even the existing record shows. The Canadian Press did an FOI on the Integrity Commissioner’s office formerly headed up by the now discredited Christiane Ouimet. The documents revealed 42 of the 228 cases under scrutiny involved alleged misuse of taxpayer dollars, approximately 50 involved charges of “gross mismanagement” and an incredible 60 complaints involved contraventions of Acts of Parliament. Not a single complaint resulted in any action.
MORE:
http://murraydobbin.ca/2011/02/28/
fresh-issue-for-spring-election-democracy/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MurrayDobbin+%28Murray+Dobbin%27s+Blog%29
1. Letters urgently needed! by March 10th re: radioactive generators-Natural Resources Committee/Background/CROSS Letter
2. EVENT: Potluck & Information with Jim Harding on March 11, 2011 in Regina
3. EVENT : The Dangers of Nuclear War - Montreal – March 18
4. EVENT: Conference: Facing Off For Social Justice in a Militarized World – Ottawa – March 25/26
5. Lessons to be Learned from Bruce Power "Alpha" Contamination
6. Chernobyl was lesson in nuclear peril: Gorbachev
7. EVENT: An appeal from Russia: 25 years since Chernobyl -- join the event in April 2011!
8. WALL LAUNCHES NEW CENTRE FOR RESEARCH IN NUCLEAR MEDICINE AND MATERIALS SCIENCE AT U OF S
9. Nuclear waste process wasteful
10. No Nukes News - Mar. 2, 2011
11. Little profit for African countries from uranium mining
12. For Facebook users – No Stealth Fighters profile photo
13. “Regional” nuclear war would have global effects
14. New Data! Canada's Arms Exports to the Middle East!
15. WATCH: Bradley Manning Hit with New Charges in WikiLeaks Case, Including "Aiding the Enemy"
16. How robots are transforming war / VIDEO
17. WATCH: Arrest of CIA Agent Sheds Light on American Covert War in Pakistan, Straining U.S.-Pakistani Relations (Part II)
18. WATCH: Michael Hastings: Army Deploys Psychological Operations on U.S. Senators in Afghanistan
19. U.S. And NATO Escalate World’s Deadliest War On Both Sides Of Afghan-Pakistani Border
20. An Empire of Lies: The CIA and the Western Media
21. LIBYA – Behind the Scenes
================
1. Letters urgently needed! by March 10th re: radioactive generators-Natural Resources Committee:
RNNR@parl.gc.ca
Next week the members of the Natural Resources Committee (link below) will hear (on March 8th & 10th, in Ottawa, on the Hill) some expert witnesses report on both sides of the matter of having Bruce Power ship 16 radioactive steam generators to Sweden for what they call "recycling," but what really amounts to sending Cda's nuclear waste into the global scrap metal supply - headed for all of us, no doubt, eventually.
http://www2.parl.gc.ca/CommitteeBusiness/
CommitteeMembership.aspx?Cmte=RNNR&Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=40&Ses=3
We need you to write to them!!
HERE: RNNR@parl.gc.ca
= = = = =
BACKGROUND:
Opponents plan next step to stop Bruce Power shipments
http://www.owensoundsuntimes.com/
ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2984802
By Paul Jankowski, Owen Sound SUN TIMES Staff, February 18, 2011
Opponents on both sides of the Canada-U. S. border are continuing efforts to stop the shipment by Bruce Power of 16 decommissioned radioactive steam generators through the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway.
Sierra Club Canada was to hold a conference call today to discuss a possible court appeal of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission's Feb. 4 decision to grant Bruce Power a licence to transport the generators, which the company and CNSC consider low-level nuclear waste, to Sweden, John Bennett, the club's executive director, said Thursday. The CNSC decision can be appealed to the Federal Court of Canada within 30 days of being handed down, according to Aurele Gervais, the spokesman for the commission. [ . . . ]
= = = = =
NFLA opposes decision to transport huge Canadian radioactive waste generator shipments across UK and Irish territorial waters - 9 February 2011
http://www.nuclearpolicy.info/docs/news/
Canadian_radwaste_shipments.pdf
= = = = =
LETTER: CROSS: Bruce Power Shipment of Radioactive Steam Generators to Sweden
From: Joseph Cross
To: RNNR@parl.gc.ca
Sent: Saturday, March 05, 2011 10:32 AM
Subject: Bruce Power Shipment of Radioactive Steam Generators to Sweden
Dear Members of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Natural Resources:
In the matter of shipping defunct radioactive steam generators to Sweden, I am registering my opposition to this outrageous act. When it comes to anything toxic or radioactive, if it is built or made in Canada, it stays in Canada. Ultimately, it is best for us to learn to deal with toxic waste instead of putting it out of sight, and out of mind and into the hands of others to deal with.
What an absurd shifting of our responsibility onto another country. If this is Bruce Power's idea of proper recycling practices they had better rethink it.
Here is what I propose as being a win-win situation:
- A Best Management Practice would be for each one of Bruce Power's senior staff get some 'hands on experience' in dealing with their own waste by having them personally clean, inspect, and disassemble the generators.
- Then melt the generators down on Bruce's own site for reusing or reselling. Of course then all the materials would then meet acceptable levels of radiation.
- This exercise alone will likely make them more careful in what exactly is being handled by others, and more aware of safety precautions.
- The end result is that shipping costs are eliminated, as well as carbon emissions from shipping.
- It would eliminate the backlash that hundreds of municipalities, individuals, cities and First Nations groups, U.S. Senators have against Bruce's proposed plan.
- It would reduce any potential accident on the Great Lakes or St. Lawrence River Waterway.
- With the high cost of metals these days, it would keep the recyclables here in Canada. No doubt those sixteen huge generators would be worth a lot more money in another form.
- Most importantly it would be a good exercise in learning to take responsibility, and how many corporate CEO's or senior staff can say that these days?
Now, how can you argue against all that logic? It sure beats what Bruce Power is proposing.
Yours truly,
Sharon Cross
Cranbrook, BC
====================
2. EVENT: Potluck & Information with Jim Harding on March 11, 2011 in Regina - Saskatchewan is being Targeted to be Canada's Nuclear Waste Dump
Friday March 11th, 2011
Cathedral Neighbourhood Centre,
2900-13th Avenue, Regina, SK.
Open at 6 pm, potluck at 6:30 pm, presentation at 7 pm.
Bring food to share, a beverage, cutlery, plate and cup
Admission free. Donations welcome.
Sponsored by Clean Green Regina and Regina EcoLiving Inc.
Please circulate around to your friends and family.
=====================
3. EVENT : The Dangers of Nuclear War - Montreal – March 18
The Centre for Research on Globalization invites you to a conference on The Dangers of Nuclear War
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23477
Helen Caldicott - Distinguished author, physician and co-founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility
The event will be chaired by Michel Chossudovsky
Friday, March 18, 2011 7 pm
Centre St-Pierre
1212, rue Panet (at the corner of René-Lévesque)
Montréal, QC H2L 2Y7
(parking is available)
Subway: Station Beaudry
Get directions
The presentation will be in English, followed by a Q & A period in both English and French
Coffee, cookies and donuts as of 6:30 pm
There are a limited number of seats:
Reserved Seats for Global Research Members and people travelling from out of town. Send a reservation request to:
crgjulie@yahoo.ca
Dr. Helen Caldicott, has devoted the last 38 years to an international campaign to educate the public about the medical hazards of the nuclear age and the necessary changes in human behavior to stop environmental destruction.
MORE :
For more information on Dr. Helen Caldicott, visit her web site:
http://www.helencaldicott.com
=================
4. EVENT: Conference: Facing Off For Social Justice in a Militarized World – Ottawa – March 25/26
http://pgs.ca/?page_id=725
Saint Paul University, 223 Main St, Ottawa, ON
March 25 and 26, Ottawa, ON
Radiation and health, physicians in conflict zones, social determinants of health and many more topics will be presented as this conference in Ottawa. Key note speakers include renowned gardening specialist, Mr. Ed Lawrence on a panel with Drs. Cathy Vakil and Art Wiebe discussing uranium in the environment – Dr. Helen Caldicott and President of the Canadian Medical Association, Dr. Jeff Turnbull.
Please note: Evening sessions are $10 to cover cost of renting auditorium – Friday evening includes a wine and cheese reception.
Agenda for March 25 and 26
http://pgs.ca/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/Program.pdf
PGS AGM and board meeting will take place on Friday, March 25 from 8:30-4:30 – in the PGS office 208-145 Spruce St – members are welcome to attend
=================
5. Lessons to be Learned from Bruce Power "Alpha" Contamination
From: Gordon Edwards
Sent: Monday, February 28, 2011 11:30 AM
Background:
We know that many hundreds of workers have inhaled radioactive plutonium-contaminated dust into their bodies due to negligence and/or incompetence on the part of Bruce Power. That material will remain in their bodies for a long, long time, irradiating their tissues constantly -- even when they sleep.
In the press the word "plutonium" is not mentioned. Instead, the phrase "alpha contamination" is used.
There are three principal types of atomic radiation, called alpha, beta, and gamma.
Gamma is the most penetrating and the easiest to measure; gamma rays are like x-rays, only more energetic -- and therefore more damaging to living tissue.
Beta is much less penetrating; beta rays should really be called beta particles, because they are in fact very high-speed electrons -- like miniature bullets -- that can only penetrate a short distance in living tissue.
Beta radiation is particularly dangerous when the beta-emitting material has been ingested, inhaled, or absorbed through the skin into the body.
Alpha is the least penetrating form of atomic radiation; an alpha ray should really be called an alpha particle, because it is an electrically charged particle travelling extremely fast, about 8000 times heavier than a beta particle.
Alpha radiation cannot penetrate through a sheet of paper or through the dead layer of skin on the outside of our bodies. Hence alpha rays are harmless outside the body.
But inside the body, alpha rays are far more dangerous than beta rays or gamma rays. In fact the deadliest radioactive materials in the 20th century have been alpha emitters --plutonium-239, radium-226, radon-222, polonium-210 and uranium are all alpha-emitting radioactive materials.
See
http://ccnr.org/alpha_in_lung.html
The "alpha contamination" mentioned in the following article is mainly plutonium-contaminated dust that had been deposited on the insides of the pipes leading from the core of the reactor. See
http://ccnr.org/paulson_legacy.html
This same kind of plutonium dust accounts for 90 percent of the mass of the radioactive materials inside the used steam generators that Bruce Power wants to ship through the Great Lakes to Sweden -- see
http://ccnr.org
Gordon Edwards.
= = = = = = =
Lessons to be Learned from Bruce Power Contamination
http://www.independent.on.ca/site/?q=node/999
Workers may have long wait for results
By Josh Howald, Kincardine Independent, Feb. 24 2011
Early testing indicates that while no workers will be adversely affected from the alpha radiation contamination at Bruce Power, there are lessons to be learned from the situation.
That point was hammered home by the president of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC), Michael Binder, at a CNSC Public Hearing held in Ottawa Thursday morning.
Binder and the board questioned why Bruce Power would not have learned from a similar situation that occurred at the Point LePreau Nuclear Generating Station less than two years ago.
It also came out that as many as 583 people may have had contact with alpha radiation in the vault of Bruce A, Unit 1. A total of 195 people are being tested for alpha radiation contamination.
MORE:
http://www.independent.on.ca/site/?q=node/999
======================
6. Chernobyl was lesson in nuclear peril: Gorbachev
http://www.nuclearpowerdaily.com/reports/
Chernobyl_was_lesson_in_nuclear_peril_Gorbachev_999.html
by Staff Writers Paris (AFP) March 1, 2011
QUOTE: "Gorbachev described Chernobyl as "a warning sign" for countries dependent on nuclear power or keen to turn to it."
The upcoming 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster is a brutal reminder of the dangers of nuclear power, proliferation and terrorism, former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev said on Tuesday.
"The true scope of the tragedy still remains beyond comprehension and is a shocking reminder of the reality of the nuclear threat," Gorbachev said in an essay published by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a watchdog organisation on nuclear security.
The April 26 1986 explosion at the Soviet power plant in the Ukraine, caused by an unauthorised test that went wrong, unleashed a reactor fire and radioactive fallout that contaminated swathes of the former Soviet Union and Western Europe.
The death toll ranges from a UN 2005 estimate of 4,000 to tens or even hundreds of thousands, proposed by non-governmental groups.
Environment problems include long-term contamination of water resources and soil and damage to wildlife that is still unclear, while the economic cost has been put in the hundreds of billions of dollars.
Gorbachev described Chernobyl as "a warning sign" for countries dependent on nuclear power or keen to turn to it.
==================
7. EVENT: An appeal from Russia: 25 years since Chernobyl -- join the event in April 2011!
From: chernobyl-25@bellona.ru
Date: March 1, 2011 8:21:34 AM EST (CA)
Dear Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility,
The year 2011 marks the 25th anniversary of the day that affected the lives of millions of people around the world. On April 26, 1986 the Chernobyl disaster occurred.
We want people to remember once again the immense danger associated with nuclear power plants. We want all the people in the world to remember the Chernobyl disaster. Unfortunately, many people have not even heard about this striking example of the dangers inherent in nuclear energy.
We invite you to join the international event "Chernobyl-25". We urge people around the world to remember the Chernobyl disaster on its 25th anniversary.
What is it about?
First of all, we are looking for partners in the cities, which are located near nuclear power plants all over the world:
http://www.bellona.ru/filearchive/
fil_List_of_worlds_nuclear_power_plants.pdf
We suggest that at the time the explosion happened at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (April 26, 01.23,47 Moscow time, time zone UTC +03.00) you light 25 candles on one of the squares of your city in memory of the event.
You can check your time zone and the difference in time zones at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_zone.
Depending on your wishes and the country in which the event will be held you may adjust the scheduling.
---------------------------------------------------
What do you need to do to join the international event "Chernobyl-25"?
1. Inform us of your desire to hold an event in your city by email
chernobyl-25@bellona.ru
2. Send a press release to local and national media so that as many people as possible can be informed about this event.
3. Organize the event on April 26, 2011.
---------------------------------------------------
We understand that many NGOs work in countries with nondemocratic regimes.
Therefore, we ask that you observe country’s laws regarding public functions. If your organization can’t participate in the memorial event but you know of another one that might, please feel free to pass this message along.
Remember to check out our Facebook page Chernobyl 25!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chernobyl-25/
169839423040473
---------------------------------------------------
This letter has been sent by The Bellona Foundation
(http://bellona.org/),
an international environmental rights organization that has offices in Oslo, Norway; St. Petersburg and Murmansk, Russia; Brussels, Belgium and Washington, USA. The Chernobyl-25 memorial event is coordinated by Bellona’s office in St. Petersburg.
====================
8. WALL LAUNCHES NEW CENTRE FOR RESEARCH IN NUCLEAR MEDICINE AND MATERIALS SCIENCE AT U OF S
http://www.gov.sk.ca/
news?newsId=d5453e12-8e41-4f30-a9af-1cd0c5bae957
News Release - March 2, 2011
Premier Brad Wall and Minister responsible for Innovation Rob Norris today announced $30 million in funding over seven years to establish a new research centre at the University of Saskatchewan that will re-establish the province as an international leader in nuclear science and nuclear medicine.
"In the early 1950's, scientists at the University of Saskatchewan pioneered the use of Cobalt 60 for cancer treatment," Wall said. "Today we are taking another important step in re-capturing that international leadership position in nuclear medicine and expanding it to include research in materials science and small reactor design."
The province's $30 million investment in nuclear research builds on January's announcement of $12 million in funding from the federal and provincial governments to build a new linear accelerator and support research into the production of medical isotopes at the Canadian Light Source.
"Our province produces 10.2 million kilograms of uranium annually, and as the Premier is fond of saying, the next ounce of yellowcake we add value to will be the first," Norris said. "Today's announcement and some other exciting announcements in the coming days and weeks, are significant signposts on the road to developing excellence in a number of different nuclear-related fields."
University of Saskatchewan President Peter MacKinnon welcomed the provincial investment and said the new research centre will complement and strengthen the university's existing nuclear research infrastructure. That includes the Canadian Light Source synchrotron, the Saskatchewan Research Council's SLOWPOKE research reactor and the university's STOR-M Tokamak fusion reactor.
"Our new research centre will focus on nuclear science and engineering, materials and neutron science and nuclear health sciences," MacKinnon said. "It will also facilitate an expansion of academic programs in nuclear engineering, nuclear and reactor physics and radiochemistry.
"With this exciting new multi-disciplinary centre, the U of S will build on its historical strengths to become an international centre of excellence in nuclear research, training and innovation, as well as in studies into the full environmental and social context of nuclear development," MacKinnon said. "We will be able to hire new faculty researchers, support many graduate students and seize new opportunities for leading-edge research."
Norris said the new centre will make Saskatchewan the focal point for nuclear research and development in Western Canada.
"The new centre will spark research partnerships with industry, universities and other research institutions," Norris said. "Work will include development of advanced materials for construction, aerospace and small reactor designs, and medical imaging for diagnosis of cancer and heart disease."
"Our government has long been committed to innovation, and this new centre marks a bold start to a new venture," Wall said. "I look forward to more exciting announcements here at the University of Saskatchewan in the days and weeks to come that will build on today's investment in nuclear research." -30-
For more information, contact:
Kathy Young, Executive Council, Regina
Phone: 306-787-0425
Email: kathy.young@gov.sk.ca
Michael Robin, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon
Phone: 306-966-1425
Email: michael.robin@usask.ca
= = = = = =
PET-CT SCAN FOR SASKATCHEWAN PART OF SIGNIFICANT NUCLEAR INVESTMENT
http://www.gov.sk.ca/
news?newsId=b18f788c-e152-4ebc-a109-fe82a755dc6b
News Release - March 4, 2011
A $17 million government investment in an advanced research cyclotron sets the stage for a $6 million investment that will bring PET-CT (Positron Emission Tomography - Computerized Tomography) scan services to Saskatchewan. [ . . . ]
= = = = =
Watch: Sask. funds nuclear research:
http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/News/Canada/
Saskatchewan/ID=1826595723
= = = = =
Sk. spending $30M on nuclear research centre
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/03/02/
sk-nuclear-money-1102.html
CBC News Posted: Mar 2, 2011 11:50 AM ET Last Updated: Mar 2, 2011 12:12 PM ET
The Saskatchewan government will spend $30 million to create a new nuclear research centre at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon.
The money, to be spent over seven years, will be used to expand nuclear medicine but also materials science and small reactor design, Premier Brad Wall said in a news release.
University of Saskatchewan president Peter MacKinnon said the research centre will focus on nuclear science and engineering, materials and neutron science and nuclear health sciences. [ . . . ]
= = = = =
Sask. gov't to spend $30 million on nuclear medicine and research centre
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/health/
Sask+spend+million+nuclear+medicine+research+centre/4371707/story.html
THE STAR PHOENIX MARCH 2, 2011
A new nuclear medicine and research centre at the University of Saskatchewan also includes a mandate to develop materials for small reactor designs.
The provincial government is using $30 million over seven years to establish the centre for research in nuclear medicine and materials at the U of S. The research centre will help Saskatchewan reclaim its leadership position on nuclear science, especially in the area of medicine, says the province. [ . . . ]
==================
9. Nuclear waste process wasteful
http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/f ... le/1385067
Published Wednesday March 2nd, 2011
The Canadian Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) has been in New
Brunswick talking about the possibility of establishing an underground nuclear waste site in this province. That's a waste of time and money.
New Brunswickers have made their feelings crystal clear on all things nuclear related in this province. They do not want a nuclear waste storage site nor do they want uranium mining, period, end of discussion. Premier David Alward himself leaves no doubt: "We are not pursuing a nuclear waste site anywhere in this province."
Why is the NWMO bothering to visit? Its Communications Manager Mike Krizanc said "We're certainly not going to force this on anyone." He also notes seven communities, three in Saskatchewan and four in Ontario, have actually filed expressions of interest in having the site. And Mr. Krizanc admits that a NWMO report suggesting there is "receptiveness" to a nuclear waste site in New Brunswick is based on nothing but unspecified media reports. Thin evidence indeed! [ . . . ]
= = = =
Waste storage repository still years away but N.B. already paying into construction fund
http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/n ... le/1383875
by Alan Cochrane Times & transcript staff February 26th, 2011
Canada's Nuclear Waste Management Organization is still looking for a place to construct an $8-billion underground repository for nuclear waste, but so far no New Brunswick communities have expressed an interest in getting involved and the provincial government is definitely not interested. [ . . . ]
===================
10. No Nukes News - Mar. 2, 2011
The cost of this technology continues to escalate despite billions in subsidies to both existing and proposed plants. Instead of committing billions in new subsidies that would further distort the market in favor of nuclear power, we should focus on more cost-effective energy sources that will reduce carbon emissions more quickly and with less risk. – Ellen Vancko, manager of Union of Concerned Scientist’s Nuclear Energy and Climate Change Project
During my 8 years in the White House, every nuclear weapons proliferation issue we dealt with was connected to a nuclear reactor program. – Al Gore
Wind and solar energy are the new Niagara Falls. They can do a similar job of replacing polluting power from coal or nuclear plants to power a prosperous Ontario in the twentyfirst century. – Keith Stewart, Greenpeace
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Ontario’s Stranded Nuclear Debt - Payment Required
It’s time to cut up the nuclear credit card and get a firm hold on nuclear spending. It is time to stop taxpayer-financed nuclear bailouts. Please contact Premier McGuinty and Opposition Leader Tim Hudak and tell them that you don’t want Ontario’s taxpayers to guarantee the repayments of OPG’s borrowings for its proposed Darlington Re-Build Project.
Click here to send them your letter now.
For more information, please read our new factsheet:
Ontario’s Stranded Nuclear Debt: A Cautionary Tale:
http://www.cleanairalliance.org/files/nukedebt.pdf
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After 50 Years, Nuclear Power is Still Not Viable without Subsidies
A report released by the Union of Concerned Scientists found that more than 30 subsidies have supported every stage of the nuclear fuel cycle, from uranium mining to long-term waste storage. Added together, these subsidies often have exceeded the average market price of the power produced.
http://www.ucsusa.org/news/press_release/
nuclear-power-subsidies-report-0504.html
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Darlington Nuclear New Build Written Submission – from Lake Ontario Waterkeeper
OPG expresses a preference for once-through cooling, the most destructive cooling technology option available from an ecological perspective.
http://www.waterkeeper.ca/2011/02/22/
official-darlington-new-nuclear-build-written-submission/
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Ontario Greens call for affordable alternatives to new nuclear
http://gpo.ca/statement/
ontario-greens-call-affordable-alternatives-new-nuclear
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MP proposes nuke-free Canadian Arctic
Yukon Member of Parliament Larry Bagnell has proposed a private member’s bill to make the Canadian Arctic a nuclear-weapon-free zone. Bill C-629, introduced on February 15th, would make it a criminal offense to “possess, manufacture, test, store, transport or deploy a nuclear weapon in the Canadian Arctic.”
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7392&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
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Phase out subsidies to the fossil fuel industry
Please email the Prime Minister and your Member of Parliament to call on the federal government to use the 2011 budget as an opportunity to end special tax breaks for oil, coal and gas companies. Just click here to send your letter:
http://action.davidsuzuki.org/subsidy
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Province pushes lean energy - New projects focus on wind, solar; opposition targets cost increases
The McGuinty government forged ahead Thursday with a new slate of new green energy projects despite growing political controversy. Energy Minister Brad Duguid said 40 contracts have been offered for new renewable projects that will be built in the next one to three years. Thirty-five of the projects are solar, four are wind and the other is a small hydroelectric.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/technology/
Province+pushes+lean+energy/4344516/story.html
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Windy Myths: Get the Facts
http://www.canwea.ca/wind-energy/
myths_e.php
http://www.whywind.org/pb/
wp_a1b4e1bf/wp_a1b4e1bf.html
Support Wind Energy in Ontario – send a quick email
In response to a proposed wind farm near Wainfleet, Ontario, a member of the local council Alderman David Wyatt, moved a motion calling for a halt to the project. He’s even proposing a moratorium on wind farms for all of Ontario! Please take a moment and email the Wainfleet Town Council here:
http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5654/p/dia/
action/public/?action_KEY=5526
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California moves on 33 percent Renewable Portfolio Standard by 2020
The California Senate moved on Thursday to make California home to the toughest renewable energy standard in the nation, voting to require the state's utilities to get one-third of their energy from renewable sources by 2020.
http://www.sustainablebusinessoregon.co ... l/2011/02/
california-moves-on-33-percent-rps.html
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Elected Officials Challenged: COME CLEAN!
Concerned about coal? Water? Green jobs? Ontario’s greenbelt? Then let your politicians know! Click here to send them a message, asking them to be clear on their positions.
http://comeclean.ca/
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Forming a Community Power Co-op: Webinar
Thursday March 10th, 10 - 11:30 a.m. EST
What are the benefits of forming a co-operative? What are the steps (and time frames) involved? What has been the experience of leaders in Ontario who are preparing community co-op share offerings? Join co-op development authority Russ Christiansen, TREC's SolarShare Project Lead Mike Brigham along with CEPP Program Managers Evan Ferrari and Laura Tozer as they answer these questions and more.
To register for this free event, send an email to:
jgaudette@communityenergyprogram.ca
Login instructions will be sent to registrants on Wednesday, March 9th, 2011.
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Security Without Nuclear Deterrence
With Alyn Ware
Friday March 4, 7:30 pm.
Rm B 142, Earth Sci Blg.5 Bancroft Ave & 33 Willcocks St. University of Toronto
Alyn Ware is prominent in the campaign for nuclear disarmament. He is Vice President of the International Peace Bureau and was the 2009 recipient of the Right Livelihood Award (the “Alternative Nobel Peace Prize). If you cannot attend the evening event, you are welcome to attend Alyn's meeting with students at 2:00 pm on the same day, Friday, at the Trinity College dining room.
The event is organized by Science for Peace:
sfp@physics.utoronto.ca,
416-978-3606.
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Angela Bischoff, Outreach Director
Ontario Clean Air Alliance
Tel: 416 926 1907 x 246
625 Church Street, #402, Toronto, ON M4Y 2G1
angela@cleanairalliance.org
www.cleanairalliance.org
www.ontariosgreenfuture.ca
Our Facebook Group
No Nukes News
Health Power
Coal Must Go
==================
11. Little profit for African countries from uranium mining
http://somo.nl/news-en/
little-profit-for-african-countries-from-uranium-mining/
Press release Amsterdam, 1 March 2011
Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO)
World Information Service on Energy (WISE)
New report on unfavourable financial arrangements from uranium mining
For African countries, the revenue derived from the uranium mining operations of multinational corporations is - despite the high price of uranium - minimal, uncertain and volatile. The financial agreements that these countries make with the uranium producers regarding their share in the profits are the primary reason for this state of affairs. These contracts are often the result of negotiations that take place behind closed doors. This is the conclusion of the report “Radioactive Revenues: Financial Flows between Uranium Mining Companies and African Governments” published today by SOMO and WISE on the eve of the 5th Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) Global Conference in Paris.
The report Radioactive Revenues analyses the financial aspects of uranium mining in the main African uranium producing countries - Namibia, Niger, Malawi and South Africa - and examines the activities of the four largest multinational uranium mining companies in Africa: the French AREVA group, the English-Australian Rio Tinto, the Australian Paladin Energy and the South-Africa-based AngloGold Ashanti.
Download publication – Radioactive Revenues:
http://somo.nl/publications-en/Publication_3629/view
Currently, one-fifth of all uranium worldwide is mined in Africa, and production is expected to double in the next two years. Nevertheless, uranium mining remains an uncertain source of revenue for African countries given the unstable price of uranium and the dependence on corporate profits. The primary sources of revenue from uranium mining for African countries are corporate income taxes and royalties
(a percentage of uranium sales).
MORE:
http://somo.nl/news-en/
little-profit-for-african-countries-from-uranium-mining/
Contacts for the press
Joseph Wilde-Ramsing (SOMO): E: j.wilde@somo.nl,
T: 0031 (0)20 6391291, M: 0031 (0)6 42697343
Peer de Rijk (WISE): E: wiseamster@antenna.nl,
M: 0031 (0)6 20000626
- - - - - -
More information on uranium mining on SOMO's website
http://somo.nl/news-en/
uranium-workers-namibia-unaware-of-severe-health-risks/view?set_language=en%20
More information on the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative
http://eiti.org/
The EITI sets a global standard for transparency in oil, gas and mining.
====================
12. For Facebook users – No Stealth Fighters profile photo
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7506&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
Posted: 01 Mar 2011 03:55 PM PST
We’re very excited about the launch of our Canada-wide campaign on March 3rd to say to Prime Minister Harper: “No Stealth Fighters!” In the lead-up to the start of the campaign this week, please upload this photo as your Facebook profile picture to let everyone know how you feel about this multi-billion-dollar purchase. On March [ . . . ]
=================
13. “Regional” nuclear war would have global effects
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7539&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
Posted: 03 Mar 2011 10:17 PM PST
New research indicates that a “regional”, limited nuclear war would have even more devastating global consequences than previously expected. In addition to creating a global “nuclear haze” effect that would lead to global famine, a nuclear war involving as few as 100 Hiroshima-size nuclear bombs could cause serious depletion of the world’s ozone layer, leading [...]
==================
14. New Data! Canada's Arms Exports to the Middle East!
From: coat@list.openconcept.ca
Sent: Tuesday, March 01, 2011 11:52 AM
Subject: [COAT] New Data! Canada's Arms Exports to the Middle East!
Support COAT's research: Please spread the word to friends, colleagues, media, government, etc.
NEW data now online!
Canada's Military Exports to the Middle East & North Africa
In an effort to expose Canadian complicity in arming oppressive and undemocratic regimes in the Middle East and North Africa, the Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT) has compiled a wealth of information. COAT has packaged the material into four online sets of data tables:
MORE:
http://forum.stopthehogs.com/phpBB2/
viewtopic.php?p=2044#2044
===================
15. WATCH: Bradley Manning Hit with New Charges in WikiLeaks Case, Including "Aiding the Enemy"
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/3/3/
bradley_manning_hit_with_new_charges
March 3, 2011
The U.S. Army has filed 22 additional charges against Army Private Bradley Manning, who is alleged to have illegally downloaded hundreds of thousands of classified U.S. military and State Department documents that were then publicly released by WikiLeaks. One of the new charges, "aiding the enemy," could carry a death sentence. We speak with Glenn Greenwald, constitutional law attorney and legal blogger for Salon.com. "Although the charging document doesn’t say who the 'enemy' is here, it’s only two possibilities," Greenwald says. "Either they mean WikiLeaks … or any kind of leak now of classified information to newspapers, where your intent is not to aid the Taliban but to expose wrongdoing." [includes rush transcript]
======================
16. How robots are transforming war / VIDEO
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/02/23/
technology-robots-war.html
Film producer Leslea Mair talks about new documentary Remote Control War
CBC News Posted: Feb 23, 2011 7:56 PM ET Last Updated: Feb 24, 2011 1:09 PM ET
Sleek, pilotless drones soar over the mountains between Afghanistan and Pakistan, dropping bombs and killing people down below. At lunchtime, the U.S. soldiers controlling them pop down to the local fast food joint for a burger — in Indian Springs, Nev.
That is the reality of modern warfare as portrayed in a new documentary titled Remote Control War, which premieres Thursday evening on CBC-TV.
The film looks at the rise of military robotics since the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003. The U.S. alone now has a fleet of 7,000 military robots in the air and another 12,000 on the ground. Canada and 42 other countries also use military robots.
The documentary questions what the trend means for militaries and civilians around the world. And it also offers a glimpse of what the military robots of the future might look like, from a tank-treaded, camera-laden robot armed with machine guns zipping through the woods to swarms of autonomous bird-sized flying robots working together on a collective mission.
CBC News spoke to Leslea Mair, president and CEO of Zoot Films, who co-produced Remote Control War.
MORE:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/02/23/
technology-robots-war.html
- - - -
WATCH: Remote Control War – 45 min.
http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/doczone/
video.html?ID=1815694494
WATCH: Remote Control War - Trailer
http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/doczone/
video.html?ID=1775629745
Robots that kill. In the movies, this scenario is presented as a future in which things have gone terribly wrong. But, as revealed in the new Zoot Pictures documentary Remote Control War, such robots are no longer science fiction. [ . . . ]
======================
17. WATCH: Arrest of CIA Agent Sheds Light on American Covert War in Pakistan, Straining U.S.-Pakistani Relations (Part II)
http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2011/2/23/
arrest_of_cia_agent_sheds_light_on_american_covert_war_in_pakistan_straining_us_pakistani_relations_part_ii
WATCH: PART I:
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/2/23/
arrest_of_cia_agent_sheds_light
February 23, 2011
U.S. officials have admitted an American detained in Pakistan for the murder of two men was a CIA agent and a former employee of the private security firm Blackwater, now called Xe Services. Up until Monday, the Obama administration had insisted Raymond Davis was a diplomat who had acted in self-defense. The arrest of Davis has soured relations between the United States and Pakistan and revealed a web of covert U.S. operations inside the country, part of a secret war run by the CIA. The Guardian of London first reported Davis’s CIA link on Sunday and noted that many U.S. news outlets knew about his connection to the CIA but did not report on it at the request of U.S. officials. We speak with Declan Walsh, the Pakistan correspondent for The Guardian, who first broke the story. [ Transcript. ]
==================
18. WATCH: Michael Hastings: Army Deploys Psychological Operations on U.S. Senators in Afghanistan
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/3/4/
michael_hastings_army_deploys_psy_ops
March 4, 2011
Federal law prohibits the military from using propaganda and psychological tactics on U.S. citizens, but that is exactly what may have happened in Afghanistan, according to reporter Michael Hastings, who joins us to speak about his recent exposé for Rolling Stone magazine, "Another Runaway General: Army Deploys Psy-Ops on U.S. Senators." In the article, Hastings writes that Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, the commander of NATO Training Mission in Afghanistan, illegally employed psychological operations to manipulate visiting U.S. senators into providing more troops and funding for the war effort. Watch/Listen/Read
===================
19. U.S. And NATO Escalate World’s Deadliest War On Both Sides Of Afghan-Pakistani Border
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23453
By Rick Rozoff Global Research, March 1, 2011
The United States and its military allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization have entered the third month of war in Afghanistan this year, which President Barack Obama in December of 2009 announced as the year in which American and other foreign occupation forces would be reduced preparatory to their full withdrawal.
Within months of the U.S. head of state’s claim, the commander-in-chief had over 90,000 troops in the conquered country and currently there are 60,000 more from some fifty other nations serving in NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). The total number exceeds that of any foreign military force ever before stationed in Afghanistan. The presence of American and allied troops, beginning as it did on October 7, 2001, is the longest in the Asian nation’s history, with U.S. forces already in the country for several months longer than Soviet troops were stationed there from late 1979 until early 1989.
Since Obama’s pledge that U.S. and NATO troop strength would be reduced this year – not a firm deadline but an evasion, a self-serving lie designed to take the sting out of the announcement of increased troop deployments, one the international community, self-styled and genuine, chose to take at face value – the world’s only ongoing war of occupation has stretched into not only the longest armed conflict in Afghanistan’s history but also in that of the U.S.
MORE:
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23453
=================
20. An Empire of Lies: The CIA and the Western Media
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23432
By Jonathan Cook Global Research, February 28, 2011
Last week the Guardian, Britain’s main liberal newspaper, ran an exclusive report on the belated confessions of an Iraqi exile, Rafeed al-Janabi, codenamed “Curveball” by the CIA. Eight years ago, Janabi played a key behind-the-scenes role -- if an inadvertent one -- in making possible the US invasion of Iraq. His testimony bolstered claims by the Bush administration that Iraq’s president, Saddam Hussein, had developed an advanced programme producing weapons of mass destruction. [ . . . ]
===================
21. LIBYA – Behind the Scenes:
Libyan oil, not democracy, fuelling the West
http://www.thestar.com/article/
946900--walkom-libyan-oil-not-democracy-fuelling-the-west
March 02, 2011 Thomas Walkom
Why does Stephen Harper seem more engaged in Libya’s would-be revolution than he was in Egypt’s? The answer is simple. Oil.
This also explains, incidentally, the curious nature of Ottawa’s economic sanctions against the Libyan regime of dictator Moammar Gadhafi. Canadian firms — most notably Montreal-based SNC-Lavalin and Calgary-based Suncor Energy — are not permitted to engage in financial transactions with the Libyan government. But they are allowed to continue operating commercially in Libya. [ . . . ]
= = = = =
WATCH: Prof. Horace Campbell: Peace & Justice Movement Should Oppose U.S.-Led Intervention in Libya
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/3/2/
prof_horace_campbell_peace_justice_movement
Forces aligned with Libyan leader Col. Muammar Gaddafi have launched new assaults to regain control of several towns captured in a popular uprising over the past two weeks. Meanwhile, two U.S. warships have moved through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean Sea toward Libya under orders by U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates. As talk of potential Western military intervention grows, we speak to Horace Campbell, a professor of African American studies and political science at Syracuse University. [includes rush transcript]
= = = =
Chavez Says Gaddafi Accepted Proposal for Goodwill Commission in Libya
http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/6036
By Juan Reardon - Venezuelanalysis.com
Mérida, March 3rd 2011 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – According to Al Jazeera news reports and President Chávez, Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi has accepted Chávez’s proposal for an International Peace Commission to mediate a peaceful political solution to the violent conflict underway in the North African nation. Chávez made the proposal on Monday, insisting that all mediation efforts must respect both national sovereignty and the Libyan people’s right to self-determination.
Venezuela’s Minister of Communication and Information Andrés Izarra on Wednesday confirmed that Chávez and Gaddafi discussed the goodwill commission during a telephone conversation held a day earlier. [ . . . ]
= = = = =
SNC Lavalin confirms it's building jail in Libya
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/02/24/
snc-lavalin-prison022411.html
The Canadian Press Posted: Feb 24, 2011 7:56 PM ET Last Updated: Feb 24, 2011 9:08 PM ET
QUOTE: “"Quebec people do not want our country, our people, our businesses, collaborating with dictators."”
SNC-Lavalin has confirmed it has a contract to build a detention centre in Libya, a country currently gripped by violence as pro-democracy protesters clash with hardline government forces.
The Montreal-based engineering giant has said the facility will be the "first to be built according to international human rights standards."
"We think this is an important step forward for this country and an opportunity for us as a company to share values that we think are essential to all citizens of the world," Leslie Quinton, the company's vice-president of global communications said in an email Thursday.
Quinton denied reports that SNC-Lavalin was concealing the project.
"It is one of the thousands of projects we work on yearly, not all of which are announced by press release." [ . . . ]
= = = = =
REPO: Libya disinformation: a quick follow-up
From: Marjaleena Repo
Sent: Friday, March 04, 2011 2:58 PM
Subject: Libya disinformation: a quick follow-up
Dear Friends,
I'm sending this quick follow-up, in response to many of you asking for more information about the disinformation on Libya when available.
Today Star-Phoenix in Saskatoon published my op-ed piece, titling it "Crisis in Libya set up to serve West's interests" (with references removed to the Bush-Blair war crimes in Iraq and CBC's habit of referring to Gaddafi as the "Mad Dog of Africa"):
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/opinion/
Crisis+Libya+serve+West+interests/4381976/story.html
Today, also, this verification of a significant lie about Gaddafi's much referred to "atrocity" of firing on the demonstrators from military
aircrafts:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-01/
gates-says-navy-ships-move-for-libyan-aid-u-s-options-1-.html
"Gates and Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also said they have seen no confirmation of reports that Qaddafi has used aircraft to fire on Libyans."
Below are a number of articles that fill in the picture, from Information Clearinghouse. Do study them, utilize them to challenge the lies, and pass them on to help vaccinate other Canadians and friends abroad against this latest onslaught of dangerous lies and falsehoods, meant to create a lynch mentality among us.
I'm reposting the Simple Guide to Action, slightly revised, as thought needs to be followed up by action! Would love to know what experiences people are having calling politicians — please send reports!
A SIMPLE ACTION PLAN ANYONE CAN FOLLOW:
1) Question everything that the media says about Libya! The list of systematic disinformation gets longer every day and the CBC is spearheading this relentless toxic brew in Canada — its news and public affairs programmes need to be vigorously challenged. Most of them have call-back phone numbers and e-mail addresses. Target the programmes that you listen to or watch regularly. Talk up your skepticism and criticisms!
2) Let our opposition parliamentarians know that you don't buy into the so-called "Responsibility to Protect" (RTP) and consider it a dangerous doctrine.
The quickest way to find their contact phone numbers and e-mail addresses is at
http://webinfo.parl.gc.ca/MembersOfParliament/
MainMPsCompleteList.aspx?TimePeriod=Current&Language=E
Here are some key parliamentarians to contact for starters.
Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff is at IgnatM@parl.gc.ca tel 613-995-9364
NDP leader Jack Layton is at LaytoJ@parl.gc.ca tel 613-995-7224
Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae is at RaeB@parl.gc.ca tel 613-992-5234
NDP foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar Dewar.P@parl.gc.ca tel 613-996-5322
Remember that each call or e-mail matters, and can lead to the "tipping point " of introducing rational thinking into the mdia and into the political discourse that has so far been frothing-at-the mouth belligerent and ideological.
3) MORE URGENT THAN EVER: Strengthen your resistance by reading Jean Bricmont's powerful and clarifying Humanitarian imperialism: Using human rights to sell war , (what an appropriate title!) available from
www.davidorchard.com.
Read review in Counterpunch at http://www.counterpunch.org/sherman06062007.html
Note that there are many more valuable demystifying books on www.davidorchard.com, a great source for a book club of defensive reading! (Each friend buys a book and reports on it to the group.)
------
The Anti-Empire Report - The Enduring Mystique of the Marshall Plan
By William Blum
Let's have a look at the Marshall Plan outside the official and popular versions.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.inf ... e27602.htm
- - - - -
Who is Muammar Gaddafi?
By Antonio Cesar Oliveira
How can you call someone a dictator leader who overthrew a corrupt monarchy, modernized the country, won the highest HDI in Africa, and applied a direct democracy system of government?
http://www.informationclearinghouse.inf ... e27593.htm
- - - - -
Unverified Misreporting on Libya
By Stephen Lendman
America's media, Britain's state-controlled BBC, other Western sources, and Al Jazeera are spreading unverified or false reports on Libya's uprising.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.inf ... e27595.htm
- - - - - -
World Cheers as the CIA Plunges Libya Into Chaos
By David Rothscum
How was Libya doing under the rule of Gadaffi? How bad did the people have it? Were they oppressed as we now commonly accept as fact? Let us look at the facts for a moment.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.inf ... e27596.htm
- - - - - -
Did Gaddaffi Bomb His Own People?[/b
]Airstrikes In Libya Did Not Take Place - Russian Military : By RT
The reports of Libya mobilizing its air force against its own people spread quickly around the world. However, Russia's military chiefs say they have been monitoring from space -- and the pictures tell a different story.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.inf ... e27594.htm
=================
[b]22. Join the Global Resistance - Independent media is battling against disinformation
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23058
Global Research, February 10, 2011
There can be no denying it: these are exciting times and changes are unfolding at unprecedented rates. Few can claim not to have some knowledge of the widespread protests that have been rocking Tunisia and Egypt this past month, and indeed the word "revolution" is on many people's lips.
We are witnessing large-scale unrest, entire populations who refuse to be exploited and continue living in poverty at the hands of a small ruling elite, manipulated by foreign interests, who prosper while their nations flounder.
Does this pattern sound familiar? This, in fact, describes the undercurrents of populations not just in faraway countries; the spirit of resistance is bubbling up in our own backyards and across neighbouring borders.
Here at Global Research, our correspondents and volunteers are devoting a great deal of time and energy into covering and analyzing the news as it happens. We are exceedingly grateful for their efforts and excited to convey their research through our websites, to ensure it reaches as many readers as possible.
MORE:
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23058
=====================
23. Fresh Issue for Spring Election: Democracy
http://murraydobbin.ca/2011/02/28/
fresh-issue-for-spring-election-democracy/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MurrayDobbin+%28Murray+Dobbin%27s+Blog%29
Posted: 28 Feb 2011 11:36 AM PST
The odds now seem to favour a spring election, as Stephen Harper headed out across the country with his cabinet ministers to announce over $300 million in goodies. In anticipating yet another campaign, it is worth remembering that without the NDP, Canadian politics (outside Quebec) would look an awful lot like the U.S.: two political parties, economically and socially right-wing, both with a recent history of dismantling the activist state and gutting its revenue base through huge tax cuts. All the while pretending to compete for our hearts and minds.
To be sure, the Conservatives — who should rightfully be called the Republican Party — are by several degrees worse than the Liberal Party. Stephen Harper runs a ruthless autocracy with contempt for every aspect of democratic governance from watch dog organizations to parliamentary committees to access to information, and topped off with a relentless assault on the political culture through the defunding of civil society.
It now turns out that the Harper government may be much more corrupt than even the existing record shows. The Canadian Press did an FOI on the Integrity Commissioner’s office formerly headed up by the now discredited Christiane Ouimet. The documents revealed 42 of the 228 cases under scrutiny involved alleged misuse of taxpayer dollars, approximately 50 involved charges of “gross mismanagement” and an incredible 60 complaints involved contraventions of Acts of Parliament. Not a single complaint resulted in any action.
MORE:
http://murraydobbin.ca/2011/02/28/
fresh-issue-for-spring-election-democracy/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MurrayDobbin+%28Murray+Dobbin%27s+Blog%29
- Oscar
- Site Admin
- Posts: 9965
- Joined: Wed May 03, 2006 3:23 pm
NUKE NEWS: March 11, 2011
by Oscar » Fri Mar 11, 2011 12:35 pm
NUKE NEWS: March 11, 2011
1. EVENT : The Dangers of Nuclear War - Montreal – March 18
2. EVENT: 2011 SEN Saskatoon – Apr. 1 – 3 - Environmental Film Festival - ”See the Change, Bee the Change”
3. Japan earthquake update (1755 CET)
4. HOFFMAN: One step closer to Genpatsu-Shinsai... and a million people dead...
5. Japan earthquake triggers nuclear shutdown
6. PREMIER BRAD WALL LEADS TRADE MISSION TO INDIA
7. Kent: ‘Clean up’ Great Lakes while Government allows shipment of radioactive generators (3 articles)
8. OMERS and SNC-Lavalin to bid for AECL
9. LETTER: HARVEY: We need more radiation research
10. WATCH: Reconstruction of Radioactive Plume from Chernobyl
11. Fears over new leak at Chernobyl spark plea for radiation shield
12. No Nukes News - Mar. 9, 2011
13. Canadian military spending higher than any time since WWII: study - Report
14. Parliamentary Budget Office reports F-35 to cost Canada nearly $30 billion
15. Civil war in Libya, intervention by the West already a reality
16. Petroleum and Empire in North Africa. NATO Invasion of Libya Underway - Muamar Gaddafi Accused of Genocide
17. NATO’s Inevitable War: The Flood of Lies regarding Libya
18. WATCH: Supreme Court Rejects Privacy Rights for Corporations in FOIA Cases
19. Free Press Lauds Court for Unanimous Decision in Corporate Personhood Case
20. Mountain Lake Park, Maryland Adopts Community Rights Ordinance That Bans Drilling for Natural Gas
21. Republicans attack Obama's environmental protection from all sides
22. WATCH: My Fear is that Climate Change is the Biggest Crisis of All”: Naomi Klein Warns Global Warming Could Be Exploited by Capitalism and Militarism
23. HARDING: IS CANADA’S DEMOCRACY AND OUR CHANCE FOR SUSTAINABILITY SLIPPING AWAY?
24. PARIS: The New Solitudes
25. On the road to the Harper government's tipping point
26. Liberals will push for election over Tories' disrespect for democracy=============
"In the dark of the moon,
In the flying snow, in the dead of winter,
War spreading, families dying, the world in danger
I walk the rocky hillside, sowing clover." ~Wendell Berry
= = = = = =
1. EVENT : The Dangers of Nuclear War - Montreal – March 18
The Centre for Research on Globalization invites you to a conference on The Dangers of Nuclear War
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23477
Helen Caldicott - Distinguished author, physician and co-founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility
The event will be chaired by Michel Chossudovsky
Friday, March 18, 2011 7 pm
Centre St-Pierre
1212, rue Panet (at the corner of René-Lévesque)
Montréal, QC H2L 2Y7
(parking is available)
Subway: Station Beaudry
Get directions
The presentation will be in English, followed by a Q & A period in both English and French
Coffee, cookies and donuts as of 6:30 pm
There are a limited number of seats:
Reserved Seats for Global Research Members and people travelling from out of town. Send a reservation request to:
crgjulie@yahoo.ca
Dr. Helen Caldicott, has devoted the last 38 years to an international campaign to educate the public about the medical hazards of the nuclear age and the necessary changes in human behavior to stop environmental destruction.
For more information on Dr. Helen Caldicott, visit her web site:
http://www.helencaldicott.com
===================
2. EVENT: 2011 SEN Saskatoon – Apr. 1 – 3 - Environmental Film Festival - ”See the Change, Bee the Change”
Details at www.econet.sk.ca
***NOTE: April 3: 2 pm Into Eternity (75 min) Michael Poellet of the Inter Church Uranium Committee will lead a Q & A session on Nuclear Waste Repositories
At the ROXY Theatre
Friday April 1
7:00 pm Environmental Activist Awards honouring Allyson Brady, Robert Regnier and Michael Finley
8:15 pm In the Wake of the Flood (48 min)
9 pm Green Un-Gala at Paved Arts Centre
Saturday April 2
12 pm Strong Coffee (48 min)
2 – 4 pm SHORTS: Downstream; Avatar Sands; Green Porno; The Story of Bottled Water
4 pm Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change (54 min); Homeland (57 min)
7 pm Pisim Project (47 min) Q & A with Filmmaker Marcel Petit
9 pm The Age of Stupid (90 min)
Sunday April 3
12 pm Vanishing of the Bees (90 min) followed by workshop
on Bee Keeping by Barry Brown, U. of S.
2 pm Into Eternity (75 min) Michael Poellet of the Inter Church Uranium Committee will lead a Q & A session on Nuclear Waste Repositories
4 – 6 pm A Sense of Wonder (55 min); For the Next Seven Generations
Thanks to our Sponsors: SaskEnergy, SIAST, Stantec, Briarpatch, SCIC, SFL,Riversdale BID, Riversdale Community Assoc., Sask. Beekeepers Assoc., SEN, U. of S. Office of Sustainability, Saskatoon Curbside Recycling, UNAC, PAVED, Saskatoon Food Coalition, ESSA, Caffe Sola, Maestar, MPet Productions.
--
SASKATCHEWAN ECO NETWORK
535 8th Street East
Saskatoon SK S7H 0P9
Phone: 306-652-1275
info@econet.sk.ca
http://www.econet.sk.ca
===================
3. Japan earthquake update (1755 CET)
http://www.iaea.org/press/?p=1115
11 March 2011
Announcements, Featured
Japanese authorities have informed the IAEA’s Incident and Emergency Centre (IEC) that they have ordered the evacuation of residents within a three-kilometre radius of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, and told people within a 10-kilometre radius to remain indoors.
The Japanese authorities say there has so far been no release of radiation from any of the nuclear power plants affected by today’s earthquake and aftershocks.
“The IAEA continues to stand ready to provide technical assistance of any kind, should Japan request this,” IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano said.
The IAEA’s IEC continues to liaise with the Japanese authorities, and is in full response mode to monitor the situation closely round the clock.
==================
4. HOFFMAN: One step closer to Genpatsu-Shinsai... and a million people dead...
http://acehoffman.blogspot.com/2011/03/
one-step-closer-to-genpatsu-shinsai-and.html
by Ace Hoffman 3/11/11- - -
QUOTE: “The Japanese have a phrase for that: Genpatsu-Shinsai -- a meltdown triggered by an earthquake.”
- - - - -
Dear Readers,
Talk about a warning! I don't get many calls at 1 am, let alone 3 am, but I got both tonight.
53 countries -- including mine -- are under threat of tsunami waves. According to the Kyoto News Service, at least 11 nuclear reactors in Japan have automatically shut down.
First it was a 7.2 earthquake two days ago, near Honshu, Japan. Then a 6.0. Then two more 6-range earthquakes, followed by an 8.9 mega-quake about five hours ago -- the largest in Japan's history -- that triggered tsunami alerts, warnings, and advisories all around the Pacific. The waves haven't hit our area -- yet.
We're supposed to see waves of "only" a foot or so here in California, in a few hours. But sometimes tsunami waves converge as they hit the coast and are significantly larger than expected. Sometimes they pile up on each other as they hit the shore. I doubt they've shut the San Onofre and Diablo Canyon nuclear reactors down as a precaution... They should do so, of course. Permanently.
Right now, every news service is showing videos of waves pushing large boats into buildings and dragging cars, trucks and even houses -- and presumably people -- out to sea. Fires are raging up and down the coast of Japan.
In a nuclear reactor in Northeastern Japan, something in the turbine room caught fire and is burning as I write this. No radiation leakage anywhere, so far... other than the usual, constant radiation releases from every nuclear reactor, everywhere. (Always called trivial by authorities, even these leaks are not.)
Any large releases might not be announced for days or weeks, if ever. They don't want to cause a panic, of course...
It looks just like what happened during the Indonesian earthquake, when perhaps 250,000 people were killed. The death toll is apparently going to be orders of magnitude less.
But if nukes get involved, it could just as easily be orders of magnitude MORE, if the earthquake or the tsunami triggers a meltdown of a nuclear reactor.
The Japanese have a phrase for that: Genpatsu-Shinsai -- a meltdown triggered by an earthquake.
MORE:
http://acehoffman.blogspot.com/2011/03/
one-step-closer-to-genpatsu-shinsai-and.html
===================
5. Japan earthquake triggers nuclear shutdown
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12711707
11 March 2011 Last updated at 11:26 ET
By Mark Kinver Science and environment reporter, BBC News
Japan's prime minister has declared a "nuclear emergency" after a number of reactors shut down after a massive earthquake hit the country.
Eleven reactors at four nuclear power stations automatically shut down, but officials said one reactor's cooling system failed to operate correctly.
Under Japanese law, an emergency must be declared if a cooling system fails.
In total, the country has 55 reactors providing about one-third of the nation's electricity.
In a statement, the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum released a statement that said Prime Minister Naoto Kan had declared the emergency "in case prompt action" had to be taken, but added that "no release of radioactive material" had been detected.
MORE:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12711707
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6. PREMIER BRAD WALL LEADS TRADE MISSION TO INDIA
http://www.gov.sk.ca/
news?newsId=08789655-964d-45fa-98c6-99404a9d3845
News Release - March 7, 2011
First visit by a Saskatchewan Premier to India and Bangladesh
QUOTES: "The visit is also an opportunity to encourage India to finalize arrangements that will allow our province to be a supplier of high-quality uranium, a fuel that can play a major role in meeting India's emerging energy needs."
"The Indian mission will also have an important investment attraction component as well. Many Indian corporations rank among the largest in the world. They are actively seeking partnerships in the development of oil, gas, uranium, potash and rare earth minerals - things Saskatchewan has in abundance."
Premier Brad Wall leaves March 8 for a trade mission to India and Bangladesh. With the help of the Saskatchewan Trade and Export Partnership (STEP), Premier Wall's primary mission is to protect existing jobs and create more through increasing exports to these two countries. The mission includes 41 companies, three post-secondary institutions and five associations.
"The livelihoods of 18,000 Saskatchewan farm families are directly dependant on these markets," Wall said. "The purpose of this mission is simple: We're going to say thanks for your business, and work to find new opportunities."
Saskatchewan's exports to India accounted for more than 40 per cent of Canada's total exports to that country ($2.1 billion in 2009). Bangladesh is Saskatchewan's second largest pulse export market. Saskatchewan's exports to this country have grown at a rate of 90 per cent per year, over the last five years.
The visit is also an opportunity to encourage India to finalize arrangements that will allow our province to be a supplier of high-quality uranium, a fuel that can play a major role in meeting India's emerging energy needs.
Premier Wall also said there is some work to be done in the area of trade liberalization.
"In 2009, Saskatchewan's potash, lentil and pea exporters paid about $85 million in duties on these three products, which works out to about nine per cent of the value of these exports," Wall said. "That's too high, and represents lost revenue for our producers. We will be encouraging freer trade."
"I made a promise that our government would expand our horizons and look around the globe to find new markets for Saskatchewan products," Wall said. "I will be doing what ever I can to use the good offices of the Premier of Saskatchewan to enhance the outcome of this important trade mission."
The Indian mission will also have an important investment attraction component as well. Many Indian corporations rank among the largest in the world. They are actively seeking partnerships in the development of oil, gas, uranium, potash and rare earth minerals - things Saskatchewan has in abundance. -30-
For more information, contact:
Kathy Young
Executive Council
Regina
Phone: 306-787-0425
Email: kathy.young@gov.sk.ca
=================
7. Kent: ‘Clean up’ Great Lakes while Government allows shipment of radioactive generators (3 articles)
Kent to outline support for Great Lakes clean-up today
http://www.canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=6757
March 7, 2011
The Globe and Mail reports this morning that, “Federal Environment Minister Peter Kent will visit Burlington, Ont., Monday to outline the support from the Harper government to help clean up the Great Lakes.”
While the Harper government acknowledged in its 2010 federal budget delivered last March that “millions of Canadians depend on the Great Lakes for their drinking water” and says that “cleaning up the Great Lakes is a key objective of our Government’s Action Plan for Clean Water”, that budget allocated a mere $8 million a year to Environment Canada to “implement its action plan to protect the Great Lakes”.
In contrast, on the 2008 campaign trail, presidential candidate Barack Obama pledged $5 billion over 10 years ($500 million a year) to clean up the Great Lakes. In 2009, Congress authorized $475 million a year for the 2010-14 period, with that funding likely to continue after that period. As the new US budget develops, Obama has proposed that the annual allocation be reduced to $300-$350 million in 2011 given budget shortfalls. The Republicans in Congress have been proposing $225 million a year. While the Government of Canada should do a full report on the funding required to clean up the Great Lakes, by any measure, the $8 million allocated by them for the Great Lakes is unacceptable.
For a listing of the serious threats facing the Great Lakes please see
http://www.canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=3796.
The Council of Canadians argues that the Great Lakes must be protected as a commons, public trust and bio-region.
Update: The Canadian Press reports that, “Ottawa is kicking in almost $3 million for the clean up of parts of the Great Lakes. The money, announced today, will go toward 43 remediation projects in areas of concern. The Great Lakes Sustainability Fund is used, among other things, to restore fish and wildlife habitat, get rid of contaminated sediment and control wastewater pollution. One area of concern is Hamilton Harbour and area. The remediation there aims to improve essential habitat and water quality, and control carp. The work will also include planting 6,500 native plants in project areas.”
That’s at
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/
arts-and-life/life/greenpage/environment/ottawa-spends-almost-3-million-to-clean-up-parts-of-the-great-lakes-117521983.html.
= = = = =
Bruce Power gets OK to ship 16 radioactive generators through Great Lakes
http://www.trurodaily.com/News/Canada%20-%20World/
Society/2011-02-04/article-2200041/Bruce-Power-gets-OK-to-ship-16-radioactive-generators-through-Great-Lakes/1
Published on February 4, 2011
OTTAWA - Bruce Power has been given the go-ahead to transport 16 decommissioned steam generators from southwestern Ontario to Sweden for recycling.
On Friday, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission issued Bruce Power a transport licence that will be valid until Feb. 3, 2012.
Environmentalists, First Nations and residents along the proposed route had expressed concerns about shipping the radioactive, school bus-sized generators through the Great Lakes from Owen Sound, Ont. [ . . . ]
= = = =
Radioactive Steam Generators on the Great Lakes
http://www.canadians.org/water/issues/G ... index.html
Bruce Power has applied for a licence at the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) to ship 16 radioactive steam generators through the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway to Sweden. Bruce Power plans to recycle 90% of the 16 steam generators by contracting Swedish company Studsvik to ship, decontaminate, melt down and sell the metal on consumer markets. Studsvik will return 10% of the most radioactive parts to Bruce Power. Bruce Power currently has a contract with Studsvik to ship and recycle 32 steam generators.
City mayors, US Senators, environmental groups, First Nations communities and other civil society groups have raised many important concerns about this shipment. The total radioactive level exceeds the legal limits set out in International Atomic Energy Agency's Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material by 50 times. Public consultation has been inadequate. There are many unanswered questions concerning Bruce Power's application and emergency response plan. This could set a dangerous precedent for regularly shipping radioactive waste that exceeds legal limits through the Great Lakes. Nearly 80 groups provided written submissions and half of them intervened at a public hearing on Sept. 28-29, 2010. After accepting supplementary information from interveners, the CNSC is currently in discussions about whether or not to permit Bruce Power to ship the generators to Sweden.
Media highlights: (All Links are at: http://www.canadians.org/water/issues/Great_Lakes/index.html )
NEWS: Nuclear shipment is safe: watchdog, The Montreal Gazette, February 21, 2011
NEWS: Battle to stop radioactive shipments, Shetland Marine News, February 15, 2011
NEWS: Plan to ship radioactive material on the Detroit River gains steam, Detroit Metro Times, February 9, 2011
NEWS: Nuclear shipment gets green light, Kahnawake News, February 8, 2011
MEDIA RELEASE: Council of Canadians condemns CNSC approval of radioactive shipments through Great Lakes, February 5, 2011
Action alerts:
ACTION ALERT: Demand that Ontario refuse permission for radioactive shipments on the Great Lakes March 2, 2011
ACTION ALERT: Say no to shipping radioactive waste through the Great Lakes! October 14, 2010
================
8. OMERS and SNC-Lavalin to bid for AECL
http://www.davis.ca/en/blog/
Environmental-Energy-and-Resources-Law/2011/03/01/OMERS-and-SNC-Lavalin-to-bid-for-AECL
Posted Tue, 1 March 2011 13:09:00 EST by Andrew Lord
On Monday, Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System ("OMERS") confirmed rumours that it would back SNC-Lavalin Group Ltd.'s bid to acquire the commercial business of Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. from the Canadian government. OMERS and SNC-Lavalin hope to acquire the AECL division that supplies and service nuclear reactors. The government intends to retain ownership of AECL's research and medical isotope business.
OMERS and SNC-Lavalin may be bidding against Bruce Power. Bruce Power had withdrawn a bid in January. However, OMERS Chief Executive Michael Nobrega hinted that Bruce Power was back at the table as the only other bidder. Interestingly, OMERS is also a shareholder of Bruce Power. [ . . . ]
= = = = = =
SNC-Lavalin, OMERS pension fund in talks on acquiring AECL - paper
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/23/
snclavalin-idUSN2315283920110223
by Nicole Mordant, edited by Rob Wilson, Reuters, Wed Feb 23, 2011
* In "exclusive negotiations" with Ottawa, paper says
* Canada govt put AECL reactor unit up for sale in 2009
VANCOUVER Feb 23 (Reuters) - SNC-Lavalin Group Inc ( SNC.TO) is in talks with one of Canada's largest public pension managers over a joint bid to buy Atomic Energy of Canada's nuclear power reactor business from the federal government, a newspaper reported on Wednesday.
SNC-Lavalin, one of the world's biggest engineering and construction companies, is talking with the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement system on buying AECL's Candu unit, which designs and builds reactors for electricity generating stations, the Globe and Mail said
SNC-Lavalin has entered into the "exclusive negotiations stage of talks" with Ottawa on the purchase, the newspaper said, quoting an unnamed source familiar with the discussions. [ . . . ]
==================
9. LETTER: HARVEY: We need more radiation research
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/technology/
need+more+radiation+research/4388781/story.html#ixzz1FrSBVoyY
Ottawa Citizen March 5, 2011
Re: Nuclear radiation is forever. Feb. 8, and Port Hope is safe, Feb. 10.
Although dramatic in tone, the oped by Helen Caldicott and Dale Dewar on Feb. 8 did not, to my knowledge, contain errors of fact. The historical material presented at the beginning of the article is a matter of public record.
More controversial, perhaps, are statements regarding the health studies done to date on the residents of Port Hope. These appear to be what has generated the letter of objection from Michael Binder of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC), although Binder has neglected to state in his letter exactly what he feels is erroneous.
- - - -SNIP - - -
In their second-last paragraph, Caldicott and Dewar make two other points which I believe are underappreciated. One is that, at the beginning of the nuclear age, the relationship between radiation and genes was little understood. The science of genetics has advanced by leaps and bounds since then, and we know much more about what radiation does to genes on a molecular level. We know less about what this subtle damage means for higher organisms, such as ourselves. We still lack the technology and the resources to track these changes in a population. A precautionary approach would dictate that we do not expose our genetic material to this damage until we understand what we are doing. It is not reversible.
A second point is that there was an agreement, not entirely a voluntary one, in 1959 between the World Health Organization and the International Atomic Energy Agency, which allowed the IAEA to prohibit WHO from doing or publicizing research into the effects of radiation on human populations.
Incredibly, this remains in effect. It has seriously hampered international research in this area all this time.
LINDA HARVEY, MD
McDonald's Corners. Ontario
==================
10. WATCH: Reconstruction of Radioactive Plume from Chernobyl (takes a minute for film to download)
http://zerodegreeburn.com/chernobyl/
This is a reconstruction of the Chernobyl radioactive plume by the French Government's official agency on radiation and nuclear matters, the Institut de Radioprotection et Surete Nucleaire.
It is based on weather patterns for the time period April 26 to May 6 when the fire was burning inside the stricken reactor, and on known Cs-137 measurements.
It is a remarkably graphic illustration of the huge extent of the radioactive contamination of East and West Europe (and eventually the rest of the Northern Hemisphere) by the Chernobyl catastrophe.
After you have opened this page please wait for 1 or 2 minutes while the film (15 MB) is downloaded to your computer: it then starts automatically.
WATCH:
http://zerodegreeburn.com/chernobyl/film_nuage_web.swf
==================
11. Fears over new leak at Chernobyl spark plea for radiation shield
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/
fears-over-new-leak-at-chernobyl-spark-plea-for-radiation-shield-2227550.html
Shaun Walker in Chernobyl, The Independent, Monday, 28 Feb. 2011
Fears that the destroyed nuclear reactor at Chernobyl could collapse and again leak deadly radiation have prompted European agencies to seek hundreds of millions of pounds to fund the construction of a vast steel building to encase the site.
For a graphic view and for more information on the structure, see:
http://www.nuclearpowerdaily.com/reports/
Work_begins_on_new_sarcophagus_for_Chernobyl_reactor_999.html
As the 25th anniversary of the worst nuclear accident in history approaches, there is a funding shortfall of �740m (�631m) for projects to build a "shelter" over the destroyed reactor and to safely store nuclear fuel from the other nuclear reactors at the site.
The new shelter for the destroyed reactor is being funded by the European Union and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in co-operation with the Ukrainian government, but European officials say they urgently need countries to pledge money
for the project, which is under way but underfunded. They hope that a conference in April, ahead of the anniversary of the disaster, will see governments donate the missing funds.
MORE:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/
fears-over-new-leak-at-chernobyl-spark-plea-for-radiation-shield-2227550.html
======================
12. No Nukes News - Mar. 9, 2011
We have not experienced an energy transition in our lifetimes but we must move to the green energy of the 21st century - renewables and major increases in energy efficiency. Europe has over 800 offshore wind projects, the U.S. has none. We are being left behind. We need to accelerate the transition to green energy. – Robert Repetto, environmental economist
Socialism collapsed because it did not allow prices to tell the economic truth. Capitalism may collapse because it does not allow prices to tell the ecological truth. - Oystein Dahle, former Vice President of Exxon Norway.
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Please click here now to send McGuinty and Hudak a letter!
http://www.cleanairalliance.org/nuke_debt
Tell them it’s time to cut up the nuclear credit card and get a firm hold on nuclear spending. It is time to stop taxpayer-financed nuclear bailouts.
For more information, please read our new factsheet, Ontario’s Stranded Nuclear Debt: A Cautionary Tale.
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Demand that Ontario refuse permission for radioactive shipments on the Great Lakes.
Sign the petition:
http://canadians.org/action/2011/great-lakes.html
Environmental groups commence legal proceedings against proposed shipment of radioactive waste through the Great Lakes
http://www.sierraclub.ca/en/
trade-and-environment/media/release/environmental-groups-commence-legal-proceedings-against-proposed
Nuclear waste gets recycled into goods
Improper disposal of equipment is allowing radioactive materials to contaminate metals for consumer items.
http://articles.latimes.com/2008/nov/12 ... ioactive12
Groups urge feds to stall 'nuclear garbage' shipment; Eighty-three MPs sign petition
http://www.montrealgazette.com/technology/
Groups+urge+feds+stall+nuclear+garbage+shipment/4407434/story.html
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Ontario Hydro Charges
Hansard Report – Provincial Gov’t debate in the House on Mar. 3 about ON’s stranded nuclear debt
http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/house-proceedings/
house_detail.do?Date=2011-03-02&Parl=39&Sess=2&locale=en#P865_219053
And here’s the discussion in the House, same day, about new nuclear projects.
http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/
house-proceedings/house_detail.do?Date=2011-03-02&Parl=39&Sess=2&locale=en#P448_112732
There are lots of different numbers thrown around by the various parties. The actual pay downs of the provincial debt retirement fund can be found in OCAA’s report Ontario’s Stranded Nuclear Debt:
http://www.cleanairalliance.org/files/nukedebt.pdf
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Funding shortfall puts Chernobyl reactor shelter in jeopardy
As the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident quickly approaches, European agencies are warning there is a multi-million dollar funding shortfall to build a steel shelter over the stricken reactor.
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/
946723--funding-shortfall-puts-chernobyl-reactor-shelter-in-jeopardy
Fears over new leak at Chernobyl spark plea for radiation shield
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/
fears-over-new-leak-at-chernobyl-spark-plea-for-radiation-
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What Next for the WHO and IAEA? Chernobyl, 25 Years Later
http://www.counterpunch.org/sherman03042011.html
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A sniff test for Ontario’s green politicians
With elections in the air, green groups are seeing red in Ontario: They detect a more toxic political environment in the coming provincial campaign.
Previously, green was good. Coal was bad. Soot stank. Politicians eagerly harvested eco-votes. But the broad consensus that crossed party lines is evaporating, replaced by rival visions of green energy, eco-fees and the Greenbelt. Anti-environmentalism has energized much of the political opposition, placing the Liberals on the defensive.
http://www.thestar.com/article/
947708--cohn-a-sniff-test-for-ontario-s-green-politicians
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Submission to the Darlington Hearings from Mouvement Vert Mauricie
Incredible submission opposing the proposed Darlington nuclear new-build. The first 4 pages are French, but the rest is in English. It’s a large doc, so many take some seconds to open, but well worth the wait!
http://ccnr.org/MVM_final.pdf
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OPG a little early with its April Fool’s day prank
Apparently, April Fool’s day has come early this year. How else to explain the ads Ontario Power Generation (OPG) is running in today’s Globe and Mail and Toronto Star? OPG is making the astounding claim that its last three major nuclear projects were completed “on budget”. Here’s the truth:
http://www.cleanairalliance.org/files/a ... ington.pdf
- In 1999 OPG forecast that the cost of returning its shutdown Pickering A Unit 4 nuclear reactor to service would be $457 million. The real cost was 2.7 times higher at $1.25 billion.
- In 1999 OPG estimated that it would cost $213 million to return its shutdown Pickering A Unit 1 nuclear reactor to service. The actual cost was 4.8 times higher at $1.016 billion.
- In 1975 OPG’s predecessor company, Ontario Hydro, said that it would cost $3.2 billion to build the Darlington Nuclear Station. The real cost was 4.5 times higher at $14.319 billion.
Every nuclear project in Ontario’s history has gone massively over budget. On average, the real costs of Ontario’s nuclear projects have exceeded their original cost estimates by 2.5 times.
Please contact Energy Minister Duguid (and cc me) and tell him that you don’t want OPG to use our money to pay for false advertising. Enough is enough. It is time to respect Ontario’s taxpayers.
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Federal government to cut environmental spending
The Harper government is projecting some major cuts to several of its environmental initiatives, including climate change and clean air, over the next year, according to newly released federal estimates.
http://www.canada.com/business/
Federal+government+environmental+spending/4367709/story.html
Harper guts environment funding
http://greenparty.ca/media-release/2011-03-02/
harper-government-guts-environmental-funding
Harper government cuts to environment programs bad policy and bad for future generations
http://atlantic.sierraclub.ca/en/node/3895
ACTION ALERT: Budget cuts to Environment Canada are unacceptable
News agencies are reporting that the Harper government is planning a $222-million or 20% reduction in spending at Environment Canada. This includes a $141 million cut to climate change and clean air initiatives, as well as a $19.5-million cut to a federal action plan dealing with contaminated federal sites, and about $3-million in reductions for compliance promotion and enforcement for wildlife and pollution.
Meanwhile, in 2010 to 2011, Environment Canada’s program activities amount to just over one billion dollars while National Defence spending is over twenty billion. This is further evidence that the Harper government is out of step with the views of Canadians. According to recent Environics poll, seventy-one percent of Canadians strongly or somewhat agreed with the statement, "money spent on wars and the military would all be better spent on efforts that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the impacts of climate change.”
TAKE ACTION! Tell the Prime Minister, Environment Minister Peter Kent and the leaders of the opposition that you are opposed to this decision.
Send them a letter here:
http://canadians.org/action/2011/env-can-cutbacks.html
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Foreseeing a sunny future for solar - The founder of Canadian Solar says boom in solar power 'inevitable'
http://www.therecord.com/news/business/article/
496678--shawn-qu-foresees-a-sunny-future-for-the-world
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Save ecoENERGY
Click on the link below to send a letter to the Prime Minister showing your support for the ecoENERGY Retrofit - Homes program.
http://saveecoenergy.blogspot.com.
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greenprofit - Sustainable Solutions for Increasing your Bottom Line
March 20-21, Kingston, ON
Join Ontario innovators in business, industry, economic development, policy and research at the greenprofit Conference and Exhibition
http://www.greenprofit.ca/
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Facing Off for Social Justice in a Militarized World Conflict Zones, Human Rights and Health Care
Mar. 25/26, Ottawa, ON
Sponsored by Physicians for Global Survival
Agenda and registration:
http://pgs.ca/?page_id=725
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ComeClean.ca challenges Ontario's elected officials to come clean and give clear answers about where they stand on clean energy jobs, burning dirty coal, clean water and pesticides and the Greenbelt.
Tell our elected officials to come clean on what matters to you.
Sign the petition:
http://wfc2.wiredforchange.com/o/8298/p/dia/action/
public/?action_KEY=253
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No Nuclear Fools Day
Save the Date: Wed. Mar. 30, 7:30 p.m.
Music and laughs with the Ontario Clean Air Alliance
Deets to follow…
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Angela Bischoff, Outreach Director
Ontario Clean Air Alliance
Tel: 416 926 1907 x 246
625 Church Street, #402, Toronto, ON M4Y 2G1
angela@cleanairalliance.org
www.cleanairalliance.org
www.ontariosgreenfuture.ca
Our Facebook Group
No Nukes News
Health Power
Coal Must Go
=====================
13. Canadian military spending higher than any time since WWII: study - Report
http://www.policyalternatives.ca/newsro ... -releases/
canadian-military-spending-higher-any-time-wwii-study
National Office | News Release
Issue(s): Economy and economic indicators, Government finance, International relations, Peace & conflict March 9, 2011
OTTAWA—Twelve years of budget increases have left Canadian military spending higher than at any time since the end of the Second World War, says a study released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
According to the study, by Bill Robinson, Senior Advisor with the Rideau Institute, Canada will spend at least $22.3 billion on its military forces in 2010-11—an increase of 54% since 9/11.
“Canada is the 13th largest military spender in the world and the 6th largest within the 26-member NATO alliance,” says Robinson.
Canada’s mission in Afghanistan has absorbed a significant part of the recent increases in Canadian military spending but this has come at the cost of Canada’s ability to contribute to UN peacekeeping operations and its ability to fund non-military contributions to global security and humanitarian action. Canada currently contributes just 56 military personnel to UN peacekeeping operations, making Canada 60th on the list of 102 contributing countries.
If the extra $90 billion to $110 billion that Canada has committed itself to spend over the next 17 years on its post–Cold War military budget build-up were spent instead on aid, it would be enable us to meet the 0.7% Official Development Assistance target and to provide additional resources for climate change aid.
“Canada could make a much greater contribution to global security and humanitarian action by shifting resources to non-military security efforts and to peacekeeping operations,” Robinson says. “Such a shift would make Canada truly a great power in the world of development assistance and humanitarian aid. This is an arena in which Canada could ‘punch above its weight’ on an issue crucial to human welfare and global security.”
–30–
For more information contact Kerri-Anne Finn, CCPA Senior Communications Officer, at 613-563-1341 x306.
- - - - -
REPORT: http://www.policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/
publications/National%20Office/2011/03/Canadian%20Military%20Spending%202010.pdf
===============
14. Parliamentary Budget Office reports F-35 to cost Canada nearly $30 billion
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7570&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
Posted: 10 Mar 2011 07:17 PM PST
Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page has reported that the price tag for the F-35 stealth fighters that the Harper government wants to buy is likely to end up much higher than the government has been suggesting. Page’s report, which echoes concerns voiced by F-35 critics, warns that the real figure could end up close to [...]
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15. Civil war in Libya, intervention by the West already a reality
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23543
By William Bowles Global Research, March 6, 2011 williambowles.info
"Defence secretary Liam Fox today confirmed that a British diplomatic team is in Libya talking to rebel forces." -'SAS unit 'held by Libyan rebels'', The Independent, 6 March 2011
According to the Wikipedia site 'a civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state' which seems to be a pretty accurate description of events in Libya as they unfold. The problem is identifying who is contesting for state power as there seems to be no single group in charge of the opposition.
One group wants no outside interference whatsoever (the opposition National Libyan Council?), another (the Libyan Revolutionary Council?), led apparently by the former justice minister (according to an interview on Channel 4 News 04/3/11), wants air strikes and a no-fly zone, in other words invasion.
And this goes to the very heart of events as it's impossible to know who the opposition is or what it is that they want aside from Ghadafi's removal. Reports carried in the MSM reveal what looks like rag-tag groups of quite heavily armed men, a far cry from the unarmed masses that rose up in Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere.
Thus at this critical point in time, we have to firstly wait and see if Ghadafi prevails (not an impossibility if the opposition can't get its act together without outside assistance). If he does, it opens up an entirely new can of worms. Having compared Ghadafi to Hitler with the West demanding he be investigated for alleged war crimes, the Empire has backed itself into a corner. Under these circumstances, a 'no-fly zone' would be a distinct possibility, disastrous though it would be.
It's a tricky situation for the Empire's strategists. What to do? The best approach would be covert assistance, arms, logistics and intel along with sanctions and international isolation (already in place), thus echoing Hillary Clinton's words about not 'being seen as interfering'.
Coup or insurrection?
MORE:
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23543
==================
16. Petroleum and Empire in North Africa. NATO Invasion of Libya Underway - Muamar Gaddafi Accused of Genocide
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23481
By Keith Harmon Snow Global Research, March 2, 2011 allthingspass.com
Are events unfolding in Libya, Tunisia and Egypt more about petro-terrorism or about freedom and democracy? How much oil is there in North Africa? Who is in control of that oil? What is the relationship between the West and Muamar Gaddafi? Is he really the terrorist we've all been led to believe he is? Who is the Libyan "opposition" and who are the "rebels" we read about?
Presented with this story are petroleum industry concessions maps ** for North Africa that people might want to ponder in between the Western propaganda on Libya. Amidst the full-court press of propaganda presented by the western media and State Department disinformation apparatus we find that Muamar Gaddafi is even accused of committing genocide against his own people. Are there double standards at work?
On September 1, 1969 the pro-western regime that had ruled in Libya was overthrown by Colonel Muamar Gaddafi and his officers. At the time, Libya was home to the largest US Air Base (Wheelus Air Base) in North Africa. Agreements between the USA and Libya signed in 1951 and 1954 granted the USAF the use of Wheelus Air Base and its El Watia gunnery range for gunnery and bombing training and for transport and bombing stopovers until 1971. During the Cold War the base was pivotal to expanding US military power under the Strategic Air Command, and an essential base for fighter and reconnaissance missions. The Pentagon also used the base -- and the remote Libyan desert -- for missile launch testing: the launch area was located 15 miles east of Tripoli. Considered a 'little America on the shores of the Mediteranean', the base housed some 4600 US military personnel until its evacuation in 1970.
With the discovery of oil in Libya in 1959, a very poor desert country became a very rich little western protectorate. US and European companies had huge stakes in the extremely lucrative petroleum and banking sectors, but these were soon nationalized by Gaddafi. Thus Libya overnight joined the list of US 'enemy' or 'rogue' states that sought autonomy and self-determination outside the expanding sphere of western Empire. Further cementing western hatred of the new regime, Libya played a leading role of the 1973 oil embargo against the US and maintained cooperative relations with the Soviet Union. Gaddafi also reportedly channeled early oil wealth into national free health care and education.
MORE:
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23481
==================
17. NATO’s Inevitable War: The Flood of Lies regarding Libya
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23518
By Fidel Castro Ruz Global Research, March 4, 2011
In contrast with what is happening in Egypt and Tunisia, Libya occupies the first spot on the Human Development Index for Africa and it has the highest life expectancy on the continent. Education and health receive special attention from the State. The cultural level of its population is without a doubt the highest. Its problems are of a different sort. The population wasn’t lacking food and essential social services. The country needed an abundant foreign labour force to carry out ambitious plans for production and social development.
For that reason, it provided jobs for hundreds of thousands of workers from Egypt, Tunisia, China and other countries. It had enormous incomes and reserves in convertible currencies deposited in the banks of the wealthy countries from which they acquired consumer goods and even sophisticated weapons that were supplied exactly by the same countries that today want to invade it in the name of human rights.
The colossal campaign of lies, unleashed by the mass media, resulted in great confusion in world public opinion. Some time will go by before we can reconstruct what has really happened in Libya, and we can separate the true facts from the false ones that have been spread.
Serious and prestigious broadcasting companies such as Telesur, saw themselves with the obligation to send reporters and cameramen to the activities of one group and those on the opposing side, so that they could inform about what was really happening.
MORE:
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23518
===================
18. WATCH: Supreme Court Rejects Privacy Rights for Corporations in FOIA Cases
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/3/2/headlines/
supreme_court_rejects_privacy_rights_for_corporations_in_foia_cases
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled corporations have no right to "personal privacy" when it comes to government documents released under the Freedom of Information Act. The unanimous decision bears on the telecom giant AT&T’s effort to prevent the release of government documents in a case with the Federal Communications Commission dating back to 2004. AT&T had argued it should be exempted from the Freedom of Information Act request because corporations are defined as "persons" under U.S. law.
================
19. Free Press Lauds Court for Unanimous Decision in Corporate Personhood Case
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2011/03/01-19
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 1, 2011 12:40 PM
CONTACT: Free Press Jenn Ettinger, 202-265-1490 x 35
WASHINGTON - March 1 - On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously against AT&T’s claim that personal privacy rights prevent the federal government from disclosing agency records that might reveal corporate wrongdoing to the public. The case, Federal Communications Commission v. AT&T, No. 09-1279, holds that AT&T may not invoke FOIA exemptions that protect “personal privacy” in order to stop FCC disclosure of documents that refer to it.
In November, Free Press filed an amicus curiae brief in the case outlining the significant impact of withholding information from public disclosure.
Free Press Policy Counsel Aparna Sridhar made the following statement:
“This is a huge win for advocates of government transparency, and we are so pleased that the Court unanimously and categorically rejected AT&T’s claim that corporations are entitled to the same privacy rights as individuals under FOIA. This decision means that corporations cannot hide behind claims of personal privacy in order to protect their business practices from public scrutiny.
“We join the Court in hoping AT&T doesn’t take this loss personally.” ###
- - - -
Free Press is a national, nonpartisan organization working to reform the media. Through education, organizing and advocacy, we promote diverse and independent media ownership, strong public media, and universal access to communications.
Learn more at
www.freepress.net
==================
20. Mountain Lake Park, Maryland Adopts Community Rights Ordinance That Bans Drilling for Natural Gas
http://www.celdf.org/
celdf-press-release-mountain-lake-park-maryland-adopts-community-rights-ordinance-that-bans-drilling-for-natural-gas-
“The people have rights. Corporations can’t be licensed to take them away” – Mayor Leo Martin
The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund
Pennsylvania Community Rights Network
P.O. Box 2016 Chambersburg, Pennsylvania 17201
www.celdf.org
MEDIA RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 3, 2011
CONTACT: Ben Price, (717) 254-3233
benprice@celdf.org
(Thursday, March 3, 2011) Mountain Lake Park in Garrett County, Maryland tonight joined Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in adopting unanimously a Community Bill of Rights that also “removes legal powers from gas extraction corporations within the Town.”
Ordinance No. 2011-01 was introduced to Council by Mayor Leo Martin for a First Reading of the bill, titled Mountain Lake Park’s Community Protection from Natural Gas Extraction Ordinance, on January 6th of this year, and a public hearing on the measure was held February 3rd.
At the heart of the Ordinance is this statement of law: “It shall be unlawful for any corporation to engage in the extraction of natural gas within the Town of Mountain Lake Park, with the exception of gas wells installed and operating at the time of enactment of this Ordinance.”
The bill also recognizes the right of the people to “a form of governance where they live which recognizes that all power is inherent in the people, that all free governments are founded on the people’s authority and consent, and that corporate entities and their directors and managers shall not enjoy special privileges or powers under the law which make community majorities subordinate to them.”
Following adoption of the ordinance, Mayor Martin commented: "Our town government is responsible for the health, safety, and rights our citizens. When the county, state, and federal governments fail in their duties it is our duty to take action.”
Also included in the ordinance is a local Bill of Rights that asserts legal protections for the right to water; the rights of natural communities and eco-systems; the right to local self-government, and the right of the people to enforce and protect these rights by banning corporate activities that would violate them, through the police powers of their municipal government.
MORE:
http://www.celdf.org/
celdf-press-release-mountain-lake-park-maryland-adopts-community-rights-ordinance-that-bans-drilling-for-natural-gas-
====================
21. Republicans attack Obama's environmental protection from all sides
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/04/
republicans-attack-obamas-environmental-protection
Environmental protection in US under attack from extremist Tea Partiers backed by big business
Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Friday 4 March 2011 20.05 GMT
It started on a sultry day in Houston when hundreds of protesters, mostly oil company employees, were bussed to a concert hall in their lunch hour to rally against a historic first step by Congress to reduce the pollution that causes climate change.
The event marked the start of a backlash by wealthy industry owners and conservative activists against Barack Obama's green agenda. Now it has snowballed into what green campaigners say is the greatest assault on environmental protection that America has ever seen.
MORE:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/04/
republicans-attack-obamas-environmental-protection
===============
22. WATCH: My Fear is that Climate Change is the Biggest Crisis of All”: Naomi Klein Warns Global Warming Could Be Exploited by Capitalism and Militarism
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/3/9/
my_fear_is_that_climate_change
Award-winning journalist Naomi Klein has been reporting on global warming and the climate justice movement for years. “My fear is that climate change is the biggest crisis of all,” Klein says. “If we don’t come up with a positive vision of how climate change can make our economies and our world more just, more livable, cleaner, fairer, then this crisis will be exploited to militarize our economies, to create fortress continents. And we’re really facing a choice. What we really need now is for the people fighting for economic justice and environmental justice to come together.” [includes rush transcript]
Filed under Climate Change, Naomi Klein, Author Interviews, BP Oil Spill
=======================
23. HARDING: IS CANADA’S DEMOCRACY AND OUR CHANCE FOR SUSTAINABILITY SLIPPING AWAY?
http://forum.stopthehogs.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=510
BY Jim Harding Published in R-Town News on March 4, 2011
First in Tunisia, then Egypt and now Libya, youth are risking their lives to topple oil-rich authoritarian leaders, many who obtained their military might with western backing. Meanwhile, as we sit at our TVs watching with some astonishment as these protests become popular revolutions, our own country is steadily moving towards more authoritarian rule.
Has the quality of our democracy been slipping away as Canada itself becomes an “energy superpower”? Is there anything about Canada that makes us immune to this happening? When you look at what has occurred in five short years of Harper’s rule, it seems time to blow the warning whistle.
The growing list of how Harper’s tightly-controlled rule is moving us away from democracy is discussed in “The New Solitudes” by Erna Paris in the March 2011 The Walrus. I suggest you read it carefully if you care about the future of our country. Paris lists many concrete examples of how our democracy is being whittled away, and you begin to see a pattern to Harper’s ongoing assaults on Canadian society. Here are just a few examples.
MORE:
http://forum.stopthehogs.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=510
===================
24. PARIS: The New Solitudes
http://www.walrusmagazine.com/articles/
2011.03-politics-the-new-solitudes/
Canada was once defined by the schism between English and French. Today, our divide is increasingly ideological. Can it be bridged?
By Erna Paris Illustration by Barry Blitt Politics From the March 2011 magazine
It was November 26, 2009, and I happened to be in Ottawa with a few hours to spare; so, on a citizen’s whim, I decided to drop in on Question Period in Canada’s House of Commons. I was a small girl the first time I sat in the historic visitors’ gallery that looms over the rows of members’ seats on both sides of the political divide. My father was determined that his children witness what he thought were essential places and events, and the House was high on his parental to-do list. I was properly impressed by the sight of grown-ups debating across the parliamentary aisle, waving sheaves of papers at one another and occasionally jabbing the air with their index fingers. I was too young to understand what they were talking about, but Dad’s lesson sank in, and I’ve been attending Question Period intermittently ever since.
In retrospect, I’m glad I visited the House that day, although I didn’t feel that way afterward. I thought I knew enough about our dysfunctional Parliament, but I wasn’t prepared for the dismay I felt as I watched Canada’s elected members challenge one another over one of the most critical issues to confront the country in a generation. The debate centred on the scandalous detainee transfer affair, which had once again exploded into public view. Richard Colvin, formerly a high-ranking diplomat in Afghanistan, had revealed that for seventeen months, starting in May 2006, he had informed his superiors in Ottawa that prisoners detained by the Canadian military, then transferred to Afghan security forces, were being tortured. His reports were consistently ignored, he charged. Worse still, he was ordered to stop putting his intelligence gathering into writing.
MORE:
http://www.walrusmagazine.com/articles/
2011.03-politics-the-new-solitudes/
=================
25. On the road to the Harper government's tipping point
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/opinion/
on-the-road-to-the-harper-governments-tipping-point/article1933110/
LAWRENCE MARTIN | Columnist profile | E-mail
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
Published Tuesday, Mar. 08, 2011 5:00AM EST
Last updated Tuesday, Mar. 08, 2011 9:03AM EST
It’s not the parts that count but the sum of the parts. Which invites the question: Is anyone doing the math?
Just recently, four senior Conservatives (including two senators) were charged with willfully exceeding spending limits in the 2006 campaign that brought the Tories to power. The “in and out” financing scheme came at the same time that Stephen Harper was promising a new era of transparency and accountability. [ . . . ]
===============
26. Liberals will push for election over Tories' disrespect for democracy
http://www2.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/news/
story.html?id=4417860
BY ANDREW MAYEDA, POSTMEDIA NEWS MARCH 10, 2011 3:47 PM
Liberals will push for election over Tories' disrespect for democracy
Andrew Mayeda, Postmedia News
Published: Thursday, March 10, 2011
OTTAWA - The federal Liberals say they're ready to fight an election over the Harper government's lack of respect for democracy, despite Prime Minister Stephen Harper's argument that Canadians are more concerned about the fragile economic recovery.
The prime minister on Thursday downplayed twin rulings by the House of Commons Speaker that could lead to the government being found in contempt of Parliament.
"You win some, you lose some," he said. [ . . . ]
1. EVENT : The Dangers of Nuclear War - Montreal – March 18
2. EVENT: 2011 SEN Saskatoon – Apr. 1 – 3 - Environmental Film Festival - ”See the Change, Bee the Change”
3. Japan earthquake update (1755 CET)
4. HOFFMAN: One step closer to Genpatsu-Shinsai... and a million people dead...
5. Japan earthquake triggers nuclear shutdown
6. PREMIER BRAD WALL LEADS TRADE MISSION TO INDIA
7. Kent: ‘Clean up’ Great Lakes while Government allows shipment of radioactive generators (3 articles)
8. OMERS and SNC-Lavalin to bid for AECL
9. LETTER: HARVEY: We need more radiation research
10. WATCH: Reconstruction of Radioactive Plume from Chernobyl
11. Fears over new leak at Chernobyl spark plea for radiation shield
12. No Nukes News - Mar. 9, 2011
13. Canadian military spending higher than any time since WWII: study - Report
14. Parliamentary Budget Office reports F-35 to cost Canada nearly $30 billion
15. Civil war in Libya, intervention by the West already a reality
16. Petroleum and Empire in North Africa. NATO Invasion of Libya Underway - Muamar Gaddafi Accused of Genocide
17. NATO’s Inevitable War: The Flood of Lies regarding Libya
18. WATCH: Supreme Court Rejects Privacy Rights for Corporations in FOIA Cases
19. Free Press Lauds Court for Unanimous Decision in Corporate Personhood Case
20. Mountain Lake Park, Maryland Adopts Community Rights Ordinance That Bans Drilling for Natural Gas
21. Republicans attack Obama's environmental protection from all sides
22. WATCH: My Fear is that Climate Change is the Biggest Crisis of All”: Naomi Klein Warns Global Warming Could Be Exploited by Capitalism and Militarism
23. HARDING: IS CANADA’S DEMOCRACY AND OUR CHANCE FOR SUSTAINABILITY SLIPPING AWAY?
24. PARIS: The New Solitudes
25. On the road to the Harper government's tipping point
26. Liberals will push for election over Tories' disrespect for democracy=============
"In the dark of the moon,
In the flying snow, in the dead of winter,
War spreading, families dying, the world in danger
I walk the rocky hillside, sowing clover." ~Wendell Berry
= = = = = =
1. EVENT : The Dangers of Nuclear War - Montreal – March 18
The Centre for Research on Globalization invites you to a conference on The Dangers of Nuclear War
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23477
Helen Caldicott - Distinguished author, physician and co-founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility
The event will be chaired by Michel Chossudovsky
Friday, March 18, 2011 7 pm
Centre St-Pierre
1212, rue Panet (at the corner of René-Lévesque)
Montréal, QC H2L 2Y7
(parking is available)
Subway: Station Beaudry
Get directions
The presentation will be in English, followed by a Q & A period in both English and French
Coffee, cookies and donuts as of 6:30 pm
There are a limited number of seats:
Reserved Seats for Global Research Members and people travelling from out of town. Send a reservation request to:
crgjulie@yahoo.ca
Dr. Helen Caldicott, has devoted the last 38 years to an international campaign to educate the public about the medical hazards of the nuclear age and the necessary changes in human behavior to stop environmental destruction.
For more information on Dr. Helen Caldicott, visit her web site:
http://www.helencaldicott.com
===================
2. EVENT: 2011 SEN Saskatoon – Apr. 1 – 3 - Environmental Film Festival - ”See the Change, Bee the Change”
Details at www.econet.sk.ca
***NOTE: April 3: 2 pm Into Eternity (75 min) Michael Poellet of the Inter Church Uranium Committee will lead a Q & A session on Nuclear Waste Repositories
At the ROXY Theatre
Friday April 1
7:00 pm Environmental Activist Awards honouring Allyson Brady, Robert Regnier and Michael Finley
8:15 pm In the Wake of the Flood (48 min)
9 pm Green Un-Gala at Paved Arts Centre
Saturday April 2
12 pm Strong Coffee (48 min)
2 – 4 pm SHORTS: Downstream; Avatar Sands; Green Porno; The Story of Bottled Water
4 pm Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change (54 min); Homeland (57 min)
7 pm Pisim Project (47 min) Q & A with Filmmaker Marcel Petit
9 pm The Age of Stupid (90 min)
Sunday April 3
12 pm Vanishing of the Bees (90 min) followed by workshop
on Bee Keeping by Barry Brown, U. of S.
2 pm Into Eternity (75 min) Michael Poellet of the Inter Church Uranium Committee will lead a Q & A session on Nuclear Waste Repositories
4 – 6 pm A Sense of Wonder (55 min); For the Next Seven Generations
Thanks to our Sponsors: SaskEnergy, SIAST, Stantec, Briarpatch, SCIC, SFL,Riversdale BID, Riversdale Community Assoc., Sask. Beekeepers Assoc., SEN, U. of S. Office of Sustainability, Saskatoon Curbside Recycling, UNAC, PAVED, Saskatoon Food Coalition, ESSA, Caffe Sola, Maestar, MPet Productions.
--
SASKATCHEWAN ECO NETWORK
535 8th Street East
Saskatoon SK S7H 0P9
Phone: 306-652-1275
info@econet.sk.ca
http://www.econet.sk.ca
===================
3. Japan earthquake update (1755 CET)
http://www.iaea.org/press/?p=1115
11 March 2011
Announcements, Featured
Japanese authorities have informed the IAEA’s Incident and Emergency Centre (IEC) that they have ordered the evacuation of residents within a three-kilometre radius of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, and told people within a 10-kilometre radius to remain indoors.
The Japanese authorities say there has so far been no release of radiation from any of the nuclear power plants affected by today’s earthquake and aftershocks.
“The IAEA continues to stand ready to provide technical assistance of any kind, should Japan request this,” IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano said.
The IAEA’s IEC continues to liaise with the Japanese authorities, and is in full response mode to monitor the situation closely round the clock.
==================
4. HOFFMAN: One step closer to Genpatsu-Shinsai... and a million people dead...
http://acehoffman.blogspot.com/2011/03/
one-step-closer-to-genpatsu-shinsai-and.html
by Ace Hoffman 3/11/11- - -
QUOTE: “The Japanese have a phrase for that: Genpatsu-Shinsai -- a meltdown triggered by an earthquake.”
- - - - -
Dear Readers,
Talk about a warning! I don't get many calls at 1 am, let alone 3 am, but I got both tonight.
53 countries -- including mine -- are under threat of tsunami waves. According to the Kyoto News Service, at least 11 nuclear reactors in Japan have automatically shut down.
First it was a 7.2 earthquake two days ago, near Honshu, Japan. Then a 6.0. Then two more 6-range earthquakes, followed by an 8.9 mega-quake about five hours ago -- the largest in Japan's history -- that triggered tsunami alerts, warnings, and advisories all around the Pacific. The waves haven't hit our area -- yet.
We're supposed to see waves of "only" a foot or so here in California, in a few hours. But sometimes tsunami waves converge as they hit the coast and are significantly larger than expected. Sometimes they pile up on each other as they hit the shore. I doubt they've shut the San Onofre and Diablo Canyon nuclear reactors down as a precaution... They should do so, of course. Permanently.
Right now, every news service is showing videos of waves pushing large boats into buildings and dragging cars, trucks and even houses -- and presumably people -- out to sea. Fires are raging up and down the coast of Japan.
In a nuclear reactor in Northeastern Japan, something in the turbine room caught fire and is burning as I write this. No radiation leakage anywhere, so far... other than the usual, constant radiation releases from every nuclear reactor, everywhere. (Always called trivial by authorities, even these leaks are not.)
Any large releases might not be announced for days or weeks, if ever. They don't want to cause a panic, of course...
It looks just like what happened during the Indonesian earthquake, when perhaps 250,000 people were killed. The death toll is apparently going to be orders of magnitude less.
But if nukes get involved, it could just as easily be orders of magnitude MORE, if the earthquake or the tsunami triggers a meltdown of a nuclear reactor.
The Japanese have a phrase for that: Genpatsu-Shinsai -- a meltdown triggered by an earthquake.
MORE:
http://acehoffman.blogspot.com/2011/03/
one-step-closer-to-genpatsu-shinsai-and.html
===================
5. Japan earthquake triggers nuclear shutdown
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12711707
11 March 2011 Last updated at 11:26 ET
By Mark Kinver Science and environment reporter, BBC News
Japan's prime minister has declared a "nuclear emergency" after a number of reactors shut down after a massive earthquake hit the country.
Eleven reactors at four nuclear power stations automatically shut down, but officials said one reactor's cooling system failed to operate correctly.
Under Japanese law, an emergency must be declared if a cooling system fails.
In total, the country has 55 reactors providing about one-third of the nation's electricity.
In a statement, the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum released a statement that said Prime Minister Naoto Kan had declared the emergency "in case prompt action" had to be taken, but added that "no release of radioactive material" had been detected.
MORE:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12711707
===================
6. PREMIER BRAD WALL LEADS TRADE MISSION TO INDIA
http://www.gov.sk.ca/
news?newsId=08789655-964d-45fa-98c6-99404a9d3845
News Release - March 7, 2011
First visit by a Saskatchewan Premier to India and Bangladesh
QUOTES: "The visit is also an opportunity to encourage India to finalize arrangements that will allow our province to be a supplier of high-quality uranium, a fuel that can play a major role in meeting India's emerging energy needs."
"The Indian mission will also have an important investment attraction component as well. Many Indian corporations rank among the largest in the world. They are actively seeking partnerships in the development of oil, gas, uranium, potash and rare earth minerals - things Saskatchewan has in abundance."
Premier Brad Wall leaves March 8 for a trade mission to India and Bangladesh. With the help of the Saskatchewan Trade and Export Partnership (STEP), Premier Wall's primary mission is to protect existing jobs and create more through increasing exports to these two countries. The mission includes 41 companies, three post-secondary institutions and five associations.
"The livelihoods of 18,000 Saskatchewan farm families are directly dependant on these markets," Wall said. "The purpose of this mission is simple: We're going to say thanks for your business, and work to find new opportunities."
Saskatchewan's exports to India accounted for more than 40 per cent of Canada's total exports to that country ($2.1 billion in 2009). Bangladesh is Saskatchewan's second largest pulse export market. Saskatchewan's exports to this country have grown at a rate of 90 per cent per year, over the last five years.
The visit is also an opportunity to encourage India to finalize arrangements that will allow our province to be a supplier of high-quality uranium, a fuel that can play a major role in meeting India's emerging energy needs.
Premier Wall also said there is some work to be done in the area of trade liberalization.
"In 2009, Saskatchewan's potash, lentil and pea exporters paid about $85 million in duties on these three products, which works out to about nine per cent of the value of these exports," Wall said. "That's too high, and represents lost revenue for our producers. We will be encouraging freer trade."
"I made a promise that our government would expand our horizons and look around the globe to find new markets for Saskatchewan products," Wall said. "I will be doing what ever I can to use the good offices of the Premier of Saskatchewan to enhance the outcome of this important trade mission."
The Indian mission will also have an important investment attraction component as well. Many Indian corporations rank among the largest in the world. They are actively seeking partnerships in the development of oil, gas, uranium, potash and rare earth minerals - things Saskatchewan has in abundance. -30-
For more information, contact:
Kathy Young
Executive Council
Regina
Phone: 306-787-0425
Email: kathy.young@gov.sk.ca
=================
7. Kent: ‘Clean up’ Great Lakes while Government allows shipment of radioactive generators (3 articles)
Kent to outline support for Great Lakes clean-up today
http://www.canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=6757
March 7, 2011
The Globe and Mail reports this morning that, “Federal Environment Minister Peter Kent will visit Burlington, Ont., Monday to outline the support from the Harper government to help clean up the Great Lakes.”
While the Harper government acknowledged in its 2010 federal budget delivered last March that “millions of Canadians depend on the Great Lakes for their drinking water” and says that “cleaning up the Great Lakes is a key objective of our Government’s Action Plan for Clean Water”, that budget allocated a mere $8 million a year to Environment Canada to “implement its action plan to protect the Great Lakes”.
In contrast, on the 2008 campaign trail, presidential candidate Barack Obama pledged $5 billion over 10 years ($500 million a year) to clean up the Great Lakes. In 2009, Congress authorized $475 million a year for the 2010-14 period, with that funding likely to continue after that period. As the new US budget develops, Obama has proposed that the annual allocation be reduced to $300-$350 million in 2011 given budget shortfalls. The Republicans in Congress have been proposing $225 million a year. While the Government of Canada should do a full report on the funding required to clean up the Great Lakes, by any measure, the $8 million allocated by them for the Great Lakes is unacceptable.
For a listing of the serious threats facing the Great Lakes please see
http://www.canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=3796.
The Council of Canadians argues that the Great Lakes must be protected as a commons, public trust and bio-region.
Update: The Canadian Press reports that, “Ottawa is kicking in almost $3 million for the clean up of parts of the Great Lakes. The money, announced today, will go toward 43 remediation projects in areas of concern. The Great Lakes Sustainability Fund is used, among other things, to restore fish and wildlife habitat, get rid of contaminated sediment and control wastewater pollution. One area of concern is Hamilton Harbour and area. The remediation there aims to improve essential habitat and water quality, and control carp. The work will also include planting 6,500 native plants in project areas.”
That’s at
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/
arts-and-life/life/greenpage/environment/ottawa-spends-almost-3-million-to-clean-up-parts-of-the-great-lakes-117521983.html.
= = = = =
Bruce Power gets OK to ship 16 radioactive generators through Great Lakes
http://www.trurodaily.com/News/Canada%20-%20World/
Society/2011-02-04/article-2200041/Bruce-Power-gets-OK-to-ship-16-radioactive-generators-through-Great-Lakes/1
Published on February 4, 2011
OTTAWA - Bruce Power has been given the go-ahead to transport 16 decommissioned steam generators from southwestern Ontario to Sweden for recycling.
On Friday, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission issued Bruce Power a transport licence that will be valid until Feb. 3, 2012.
Environmentalists, First Nations and residents along the proposed route had expressed concerns about shipping the radioactive, school bus-sized generators through the Great Lakes from Owen Sound, Ont. [ . . . ]
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Radioactive Steam Generators on the Great Lakes
http://www.canadians.org/water/issues/G ... index.html
Bruce Power has applied for a licence at the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) to ship 16 radioactive steam generators through the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway to Sweden. Bruce Power plans to recycle 90% of the 16 steam generators by contracting Swedish company Studsvik to ship, decontaminate, melt down and sell the metal on consumer markets. Studsvik will return 10% of the most radioactive parts to Bruce Power. Bruce Power currently has a contract with Studsvik to ship and recycle 32 steam generators.
City mayors, US Senators, environmental groups, First Nations communities and other civil society groups have raised many important concerns about this shipment. The total radioactive level exceeds the legal limits set out in International Atomic Energy Agency's Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material by 50 times. Public consultation has been inadequate. There are many unanswered questions concerning Bruce Power's application and emergency response plan. This could set a dangerous precedent for regularly shipping radioactive waste that exceeds legal limits through the Great Lakes. Nearly 80 groups provided written submissions and half of them intervened at a public hearing on Sept. 28-29, 2010. After accepting supplementary information from interveners, the CNSC is currently in discussions about whether or not to permit Bruce Power to ship the generators to Sweden.
Media highlights: (All Links are at: http://www.canadians.org/water/issues/Great_Lakes/index.html )
NEWS: Nuclear shipment is safe: watchdog, The Montreal Gazette, February 21, 2011
NEWS: Battle to stop radioactive shipments, Shetland Marine News, February 15, 2011
NEWS: Plan to ship radioactive material on the Detroit River gains steam, Detroit Metro Times, February 9, 2011
NEWS: Nuclear shipment gets green light, Kahnawake News, February 8, 2011
MEDIA RELEASE: Council of Canadians condemns CNSC approval of radioactive shipments through Great Lakes, February 5, 2011
Action alerts:
ACTION ALERT: Demand that Ontario refuse permission for radioactive shipments on the Great Lakes March 2, 2011
ACTION ALERT: Say no to shipping radioactive waste through the Great Lakes! October 14, 2010
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8. OMERS and SNC-Lavalin to bid for AECL
http://www.davis.ca/en/blog/
Environmental-Energy-and-Resources-Law/2011/03/01/OMERS-and-SNC-Lavalin-to-bid-for-AECL
Posted Tue, 1 March 2011 13:09:00 EST by Andrew Lord
On Monday, Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System ("OMERS") confirmed rumours that it would back SNC-Lavalin Group Ltd.'s bid to acquire the commercial business of Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. from the Canadian government. OMERS and SNC-Lavalin hope to acquire the AECL division that supplies and service nuclear reactors. The government intends to retain ownership of AECL's research and medical isotope business.
OMERS and SNC-Lavalin may be bidding against Bruce Power. Bruce Power had withdrawn a bid in January. However, OMERS Chief Executive Michael Nobrega hinted that Bruce Power was back at the table as the only other bidder. Interestingly, OMERS is also a shareholder of Bruce Power. [ . . . ]
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SNC-Lavalin, OMERS pension fund in talks on acquiring AECL - paper
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/23/
snclavalin-idUSN2315283920110223
by Nicole Mordant, edited by Rob Wilson, Reuters, Wed Feb 23, 2011
* In "exclusive negotiations" with Ottawa, paper says
* Canada govt put AECL reactor unit up for sale in 2009
VANCOUVER Feb 23 (Reuters) - SNC-Lavalin Group Inc ( SNC.TO) is in talks with one of Canada's largest public pension managers over a joint bid to buy Atomic Energy of Canada's nuclear power reactor business from the federal government, a newspaper reported on Wednesday.
SNC-Lavalin, one of the world's biggest engineering and construction companies, is talking with the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement system on buying AECL's Candu unit, which designs and builds reactors for electricity generating stations, the Globe and Mail said
SNC-Lavalin has entered into the "exclusive negotiations stage of talks" with Ottawa on the purchase, the newspaper said, quoting an unnamed source familiar with the discussions. [ . . . ]
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9. LETTER: HARVEY: We need more radiation research
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/technology/
need+more+radiation+research/4388781/story.html#ixzz1FrSBVoyY
Ottawa Citizen March 5, 2011
Re: Nuclear radiation is forever. Feb. 8, and Port Hope is safe, Feb. 10.
Although dramatic in tone, the oped by Helen Caldicott and Dale Dewar on Feb. 8 did not, to my knowledge, contain errors of fact. The historical material presented at the beginning of the article is a matter of public record.
More controversial, perhaps, are statements regarding the health studies done to date on the residents of Port Hope. These appear to be what has generated the letter of objection from Michael Binder of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC), although Binder has neglected to state in his letter exactly what he feels is erroneous.
- - - -SNIP - - -
In their second-last paragraph, Caldicott and Dewar make two other points which I believe are underappreciated. One is that, at the beginning of the nuclear age, the relationship between radiation and genes was little understood. The science of genetics has advanced by leaps and bounds since then, and we know much more about what radiation does to genes on a molecular level. We know less about what this subtle damage means for higher organisms, such as ourselves. We still lack the technology and the resources to track these changes in a population. A precautionary approach would dictate that we do not expose our genetic material to this damage until we understand what we are doing. It is not reversible.
A second point is that there was an agreement, not entirely a voluntary one, in 1959 between the World Health Organization and the International Atomic Energy Agency, which allowed the IAEA to prohibit WHO from doing or publicizing research into the effects of radiation on human populations.
Incredibly, this remains in effect. It has seriously hampered international research in this area all this time.
LINDA HARVEY, MD
McDonald's Corners. Ontario
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10. WATCH: Reconstruction of Radioactive Plume from Chernobyl (takes a minute for film to download)
http://zerodegreeburn.com/chernobyl/
This is a reconstruction of the Chernobyl radioactive plume by the French Government's official agency on radiation and nuclear matters, the Institut de Radioprotection et Surete Nucleaire.
It is based on weather patterns for the time period April 26 to May 6 when the fire was burning inside the stricken reactor, and on known Cs-137 measurements.
It is a remarkably graphic illustration of the huge extent of the radioactive contamination of East and West Europe (and eventually the rest of the Northern Hemisphere) by the Chernobyl catastrophe.
After you have opened this page please wait for 1 or 2 minutes while the film (15 MB) is downloaded to your computer: it then starts automatically.
WATCH:
http://zerodegreeburn.com/chernobyl/film_nuage_web.swf
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11. Fears over new leak at Chernobyl spark plea for radiation shield
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/
fears-over-new-leak-at-chernobyl-spark-plea-for-radiation-shield-2227550.html
Shaun Walker in Chernobyl, The Independent, Monday, 28 Feb. 2011
Fears that the destroyed nuclear reactor at Chernobyl could collapse and again leak deadly radiation have prompted European agencies to seek hundreds of millions of pounds to fund the construction of a vast steel building to encase the site.
For a graphic view and for more information on the structure, see:
http://www.nuclearpowerdaily.com/reports/
Work_begins_on_new_sarcophagus_for_Chernobyl_reactor_999.html
As the 25th anniversary of the worst nuclear accident in history approaches, there is a funding shortfall of �740m (�631m) for projects to build a "shelter" over the destroyed reactor and to safely store nuclear fuel from the other nuclear reactors at the site.
The new shelter for the destroyed reactor is being funded by the European Union and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in co-operation with the Ukrainian government, but European officials say they urgently need countries to pledge money
for the project, which is under way but underfunded. They hope that a conference in April, ahead of the anniversary of the disaster, will see governments donate the missing funds.
MORE:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/
fears-over-new-leak-at-chernobyl-spark-plea-for-radiation-shield-2227550.html
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12. No Nukes News - Mar. 9, 2011
We have not experienced an energy transition in our lifetimes but we must move to the green energy of the 21st century - renewables and major increases in energy efficiency. Europe has over 800 offshore wind projects, the U.S. has none. We are being left behind. We need to accelerate the transition to green energy. – Robert Repetto, environmental economist
Socialism collapsed because it did not allow prices to tell the economic truth. Capitalism may collapse because it does not allow prices to tell the ecological truth. - Oystein Dahle, former Vice President of Exxon Norway.
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Please click here now to send McGuinty and Hudak a letter!
http://www.cleanairalliance.org/nuke_debt
Tell them it’s time to cut up the nuclear credit card and get a firm hold on nuclear spending. It is time to stop taxpayer-financed nuclear bailouts.
For more information, please read our new factsheet, Ontario’s Stranded Nuclear Debt: A Cautionary Tale.
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Demand that Ontario refuse permission for radioactive shipments on the Great Lakes.
Sign the petition:
http://canadians.org/action/2011/great-lakes.html
Environmental groups commence legal proceedings against proposed shipment of radioactive waste through the Great Lakes
http://www.sierraclub.ca/en/
trade-and-environment/media/release/environmental-groups-commence-legal-proceedings-against-proposed
Nuclear waste gets recycled into goods
Improper disposal of equipment is allowing radioactive materials to contaminate metals for consumer items.
http://articles.latimes.com/2008/nov/12 ... ioactive12
Groups urge feds to stall 'nuclear garbage' shipment; Eighty-three MPs sign petition
http://www.montrealgazette.com/technology/
Groups+urge+feds+stall+nuclear+garbage+shipment/4407434/story.html
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Ontario Hydro Charges
Hansard Report – Provincial Gov’t debate in the House on Mar. 3 about ON’s stranded nuclear debt
http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/house-proceedings/
house_detail.do?Date=2011-03-02&Parl=39&Sess=2&locale=en#P865_219053
And here’s the discussion in the House, same day, about new nuclear projects.
http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/
house-proceedings/house_detail.do?Date=2011-03-02&Parl=39&Sess=2&locale=en#P448_112732
There are lots of different numbers thrown around by the various parties. The actual pay downs of the provincial debt retirement fund can be found in OCAA’s report Ontario’s Stranded Nuclear Debt:
http://www.cleanairalliance.org/files/nukedebt.pdf
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Funding shortfall puts Chernobyl reactor shelter in jeopardy
As the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident quickly approaches, European agencies are warning there is a multi-million dollar funding shortfall to build a steel shelter over the stricken reactor.
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/
946723--funding-shortfall-puts-chernobyl-reactor-shelter-in-jeopardy
Fears over new leak at Chernobyl spark plea for radiation shield
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/
fears-over-new-leak-at-chernobyl-spark-plea-for-radiation-
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What Next for the WHO and IAEA? Chernobyl, 25 Years Later
http://www.counterpunch.org/sherman03042011.html
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A sniff test for Ontario’s green politicians
With elections in the air, green groups are seeing red in Ontario: They detect a more toxic political environment in the coming provincial campaign.
Previously, green was good. Coal was bad. Soot stank. Politicians eagerly harvested eco-votes. But the broad consensus that crossed party lines is evaporating, replaced by rival visions of green energy, eco-fees and the Greenbelt. Anti-environmentalism has energized much of the political opposition, placing the Liberals on the defensive.
http://www.thestar.com/article/
947708--cohn-a-sniff-test-for-ontario-s-green-politicians
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Submission to the Darlington Hearings from Mouvement Vert Mauricie
Incredible submission opposing the proposed Darlington nuclear new-build. The first 4 pages are French, but the rest is in English. It’s a large doc, so many take some seconds to open, but well worth the wait!
http://ccnr.org/MVM_final.pdf
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OPG a little early with its April Fool’s day prank
Apparently, April Fool’s day has come early this year. How else to explain the ads Ontario Power Generation (OPG) is running in today’s Globe and Mail and Toronto Star? OPG is making the astounding claim that its last three major nuclear projects were completed “on budget”. Here’s the truth:
http://www.cleanairalliance.org/files/a ... ington.pdf
- In 1999 OPG forecast that the cost of returning its shutdown Pickering A Unit 4 nuclear reactor to service would be $457 million. The real cost was 2.7 times higher at $1.25 billion.
- In 1999 OPG estimated that it would cost $213 million to return its shutdown Pickering A Unit 1 nuclear reactor to service. The actual cost was 4.8 times higher at $1.016 billion.
- In 1975 OPG’s predecessor company, Ontario Hydro, said that it would cost $3.2 billion to build the Darlington Nuclear Station. The real cost was 4.5 times higher at $14.319 billion.
Every nuclear project in Ontario’s history has gone massively over budget. On average, the real costs of Ontario’s nuclear projects have exceeded their original cost estimates by 2.5 times.
Please contact Energy Minister Duguid (and cc me) and tell him that you don’t want OPG to use our money to pay for false advertising. Enough is enough. It is time to respect Ontario’s taxpayers.
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Federal government to cut environmental spending
The Harper government is projecting some major cuts to several of its environmental initiatives, including climate change and clean air, over the next year, according to newly released federal estimates.
http://www.canada.com/business/
Federal+government+environmental+spending/4367709/story.html
Harper guts environment funding
http://greenparty.ca/media-release/2011-03-02/
harper-government-guts-environmental-funding
Harper government cuts to environment programs bad policy and bad for future generations
http://atlantic.sierraclub.ca/en/node/3895
ACTION ALERT: Budget cuts to Environment Canada are unacceptable
News agencies are reporting that the Harper government is planning a $222-million or 20% reduction in spending at Environment Canada. This includes a $141 million cut to climate change and clean air initiatives, as well as a $19.5-million cut to a federal action plan dealing with contaminated federal sites, and about $3-million in reductions for compliance promotion and enforcement for wildlife and pollution.
Meanwhile, in 2010 to 2011, Environment Canada’s program activities amount to just over one billion dollars while National Defence spending is over twenty billion. This is further evidence that the Harper government is out of step with the views of Canadians. According to recent Environics poll, seventy-one percent of Canadians strongly or somewhat agreed with the statement, "money spent on wars and the military would all be better spent on efforts that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the impacts of climate change.”
TAKE ACTION! Tell the Prime Minister, Environment Minister Peter Kent and the leaders of the opposition that you are opposed to this decision.
Send them a letter here:
http://canadians.org/action/2011/env-can-cutbacks.html
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Foreseeing a sunny future for solar - The founder of Canadian Solar says boom in solar power 'inevitable'
http://www.therecord.com/news/business/article/
496678--shawn-qu-foresees-a-sunny-future-for-the-world
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Save ecoENERGY
Click on the link below to send a letter to the Prime Minister showing your support for the ecoENERGY Retrofit - Homes program.
http://saveecoenergy.blogspot.com.
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greenprofit - Sustainable Solutions for Increasing your Bottom Line
March 20-21, Kingston, ON
Join Ontario innovators in business, industry, economic development, policy and research at the greenprofit Conference and Exhibition
http://www.greenprofit.ca/
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Facing Off for Social Justice in a Militarized World Conflict Zones, Human Rights and Health Care
Mar. 25/26, Ottawa, ON
Sponsored by Physicians for Global Survival
Agenda and registration:
http://pgs.ca/?page_id=725
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ComeClean.ca challenges Ontario's elected officials to come clean and give clear answers about where they stand on clean energy jobs, burning dirty coal, clean water and pesticides and the Greenbelt.
Tell our elected officials to come clean on what matters to you.
Sign the petition:
http://wfc2.wiredforchange.com/o/8298/p/dia/action/
public/?action_KEY=253
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No Nuclear Fools Day
Save the Date: Wed. Mar. 30, 7:30 p.m.
Music and laughs with the Ontario Clean Air Alliance
Deets to follow…
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Angela Bischoff, Outreach Director
Ontario Clean Air Alliance
Tel: 416 926 1907 x 246
625 Church Street, #402, Toronto, ON M4Y 2G1
angela@cleanairalliance.org
www.cleanairalliance.org
www.ontariosgreenfuture.ca
Our Facebook Group
No Nukes News
Health Power
Coal Must Go
=====================
13. Canadian military spending higher than any time since WWII: study - Report
http://www.policyalternatives.ca/newsro ... -releases/
canadian-military-spending-higher-any-time-wwii-study
National Office | News Release
Issue(s): Economy and economic indicators, Government finance, International relations, Peace & conflict March 9, 2011
OTTAWA—Twelve years of budget increases have left Canadian military spending higher than at any time since the end of the Second World War, says a study released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
According to the study, by Bill Robinson, Senior Advisor with the Rideau Institute, Canada will spend at least $22.3 billion on its military forces in 2010-11—an increase of 54% since 9/11.
“Canada is the 13th largest military spender in the world and the 6th largest within the 26-member NATO alliance,” says Robinson.
Canada’s mission in Afghanistan has absorbed a significant part of the recent increases in Canadian military spending but this has come at the cost of Canada’s ability to contribute to UN peacekeeping operations and its ability to fund non-military contributions to global security and humanitarian action. Canada currently contributes just 56 military personnel to UN peacekeeping operations, making Canada 60th on the list of 102 contributing countries.
If the extra $90 billion to $110 billion that Canada has committed itself to spend over the next 17 years on its post–Cold War military budget build-up were spent instead on aid, it would be enable us to meet the 0.7% Official Development Assistance target and to provide additional resources for climate change aid.
“Canada could make a much greater contribution to global security and humanitarian action by shifting resources to non-military security efforts and to peacekeeping operations,” Robinson says. “Such a shift would make Canada truly a great power in the world of development assistance and humanitarian aid. This is an arena in which Canada could ‘punch above its weight’ on an issue crucial to human welfare and global security.”
–30–
For more information contact Kerri-Anne Finn, CCPA Senior Communications Officer, at 613-563-1341 x306.
- - - - -
REPORT: http://www.policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/
publications/National%20Office/2011/03/Canadian%20Military%20Spending%202010.pdf
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14. Parliamentary Budget Office reports F-35 to cost Canada nearly $30 billion
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7570&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
Posted: 10 Mar 2011 07:17 PM PST
Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page has reported that the price tag for the F-35 stealth fighters that the Harper government wants to buy is likely to end up much higher than the government has been suggesting. Page’s report, which echoes concerns voiced by F-35 critics, warns that the real figure could end up close to [...]
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15. Civil war in Libya, intervention by the West already a reality
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23543
By William Bowles Global Research, March 6, 2011 williambowles.info
"Defence secretary Liam Fox today confirmed that a British diplomatic team is in Libya talking to rebel forces." -'SAS unit 'held by Libyan rebels'', The Independent, 6 March 2011
According to the Wikipedia site 'a civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state' which seems to be a pretty accurate description of events in Libya as they unfold. The problem is identifying who is contesting for state power as there seems to be no single group in charge of the opposition.
One group wants no outside interference whatsoever (the opposition National Libyan Council?), another (the Libyan Revolutionary Council?), led apparently by the former justice minister (according to an interview on Channel 4 News 04/3/11), wants air strikes and a no-fly zone, in other words invasion.
And this goes to the very heart of events as it's impossible to know who the opposition is or what it is that they want aside from Ghadafi's removal. Reports carried in the MSM reveal what looks like rag-tag groups of quite heavily armed men, a far cry from the unarmed masses that rose up in Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere.
Thus at this critical point in time, we have to firstly wait and see if Ghadafi prevails (not an impossibility if the opposition can't get its act together without outside assistance). If he does, it opens up an entirely new can of worms. Having compared Ghadafi to Hitler with the West demanding he be investigated for alleged war crimes, the Empire has backed itself into a corner. Under these circumstances, a 'no-fly zone' would be a distinct possibility, disastrous though it would be.
It's a tricky situation for the Empire's strategists. What to do? The best approach would be covert assistance, arms, logistics and intel along with sanctions and international isolation (already in place), thus echoing Hillary Clinton's words about not 'being seen as interfering'.
Coup or insurrection?
MORE:
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23543
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16. Petroleum and Empire in North Africa. NATO Invasion of Libya Underway - Muamar Gaddafi Accused of Genocide
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23481
By Keith Harmon Snow Global Research, March 2, 2011 allthingspass.com
Are events unfolding in Libya, Tunisia and Egypt more about petro-terrorism or about freedom and democracy? How much oil is there in North Africa? Who is in control of that oil? What is the relationship between the West and Muamar Gaddafi? Is he really the terrorist we've all been led to believe he is? Who is the Libyan "opposition" and who are the "rebels" we read about?
Presented with this story are petroleum industry concessions maps ** for North Africa that people might want to ponder in between the Western propaganda on Libya. Amidst the full-court press of propaganda presented by the western media and State Department disinformation apparatus we find that Muamar Gaddafi is even accused of committing genocide against his own people. Are there double standards at work?
On September 1, 1969 the pro-western regime that had ruled in Libya was overthrown by Colonel Muamar Gaddafi and his officers. At the time, Libya was home to the largest US Air Base (Wheelus Air Base) in North Africa. Agreements between the USA and Libya signed in 1951 and 1954 granted the USAF the use of Wheelus Air Base and its El Watia gunnery range for gunnery and bombing training and for transport and bombing stopovers until 1971. During the Cold War the base was pivotal to expanding US military power under the Strategic Air Command, and an essential base for fighter and reconnaissance missions. The Pentagon also used the base -- and the remote Libyan desert -- for missile launch testing: the launch area was located 15 miles east of Tripoli. Considered a 'little America on the shores of the Mediteranean', the base housed some 4600 US military personnel until its evacuation in 1970.
With the discovery of oil in Libya in 1959, a very poor desert country became a very rich little western protectorate. US and European companies had huge stakes in the extremely lucrative petroleum and banking sectors, but these were soon nationalized by Gaddafi. Thus Libya overnight joined the list of US 'enemy' or 'rogue' states that sought autonomy and self-determination outside the expanding sphere of western Empire. Further cementing western hatred of the new regime, Libya played a leading role of the 1973 oil embargo against the US and maintained cooperative relations with the Soviet Union. Gaddafi also reportedly channeled early oil wealth into national free health care and education.
MORE:
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23481
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17. NATO’s Inevitable War: The Flood of Lies regarding Libya
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23518
By Fidel Castro Ruz Global Research, March 4, 2011
In contrast with what is happening in Egypt and Tunisia, Libya occupies the first spot on the Human Development Index for Africa and it has the highest life expectancy on the continent. Education and health receive special attention from the State. The cultural level of its population is without a doubt the highest. Its problems are of a different sort. The population wasn’t lacking food and essential social services. The country needed an abundant foreign labour force to carry out ambitious plans for production and social development.
For that reason, it provided jobs for hundreds of thousands of workers from Egypt, Tunisia, China and other countries. It had enormous incomes and reserves in convertible currencies deposited in the banks of the wealthy countries from which they acquired consumer goods and even sophisticated weapons that were supplied exactly by the same countries that today want to invade it in the name of human rights.
The colossal campaign of lies, unleashed by the mass media, resulted in great confusion in world public opinion. Some time will go by before we can reconstruct what has really happened in Libya, and we can separate the true facts from the false ones that have been spread.
Serious and prestigious broadcasting companies such as Telesur, saw themselves with the obligation to send reporters and cameramen to the activities of one group and those on the opposing side, so that they could inform about what was really happening.
MORE:
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23518
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18. WATCH: Supreme Court Rejects Privacy Rights for Corporations in FOIA Cases
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/3/2/headlines/
supreme_court_rejects_privacy_rights_for_corporations_in_foia_cases
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled corporations have no right to "personal privacy" when it comes to government documents released under the Freedom of Information Act. The unanimous decision bears on the telecom giant AT&T’s effort to prevent the release of government documents in a case with the Federal Communications Commission dating back to 2004. AT&T had argued it should be exempted from the Freedom of Information Act request because corporations are defined as "persons" under U.S. law.
================
19. Free Press Lauds Court for Unanimous Decision in Corporate Personhood Case
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2011/03/01-19
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 1, 2011 12:40 PM
CONTACT: Free Press Jenn Ettinger, 202-265-1490 x 35
WASHINGTON - March 1 - On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously against AT&T’s claim that personal privacy rights prevent the federal government from disclosing agency records that might reveal corporate wrongdoing to the public. The case, Federal Communications Commission v. AT&T, No. 09-1279, holds that AT&T may not invoke FOIA exemptions that protect “personal privacy” in order to stop FCC disclosure of documents that refer to it.
In November, Free Press filed an amicus curiae brief in the case outlining the significant impact of withholding information from public disclosure.
Free Press Policy Counsel Aparna Sridhar made the following statement:
“This is a huge win for advocates of government transparency, and we are so pleased that the Court unanimously and categorically rejected AT&T’s claim that corporations are entitled to the same privacy rights as individuals under FOIA. This decision means that corporations cannot hide behind claims of personal privacy in order to protect their business practices from public scrutiny.
“We join the Court in hoping AT&T doesn’t take this loss personally.” ###
- - - -
Free Press is a national, nonpartisan organization working to reform the media. Through education, organizing and advocacy, we promote diverse and independent media ownership, strong public media, and universal access to communications.
Learn more at
www.freepress.net
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20. Mountain Lake Park, Maryland Adopts Community Rights Ordinance That Bans Drilling for Natural Gas
http://www.celdf.org/
celdf-press-release-mountain-lake-park-maryland-adopts-community-rights-ordinance-that-bans-drilling-for-natural-gas-
“The people have rights. Corporations can’t be licensed to take them away” – Mayor Leo Martin
The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund
Pennsylvania Community Rights Network
P.O. Box 2016 Chambersburg, Pennsylvania 17201
www.celdf.org
MEDIA RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 3, 2011
CONTACT: Ben Price, (717) 254-3233
benprice@celdf.org
(Thursday, March 3, 2011) Mountain Lake Park in Garrett County, Maryland tonight joined Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in adopting unanimously a Community Bill of Rights that also “removes legal powers from gas extraction corporations within the Town.”
Ordinance No. 2011-01 was introduced to Council by Mayor Leo Martin for a First Reading of the bill, titled Mountain Lake Park’s Community Protection from Natural Gas Extraction Ordinance, on January 6th of this year, and a public hearing on the measure was held February 3rd.
At the heart of the Ordinance is this statement of law: “It shall be unlawful for any corporation to engage in the extraction of natural gas within the Town of Mountain Lake Park, with the exception of gas wells installed and operating at the time of enactment of this Ordinance.”
The bill also recognizes the right of the people to “a form of governance where they live which recognizes that all power is inherent in the people, that all free governments are founded on the people’s authority and consent, and that corporate entities and their directors and managers shall not enjoy special privileges or powers under the law which make community majorities subordinate to them.”
Following adoption of the ordinance, Mayor Martin commented: "Our town government is responsible for the health, safety, and rights our citizens. When the county, state, and federal governments fail in their duties it is our duty to take action.”
Also included in the ordinance is a local Bill of Rights that asserts legal protections for the right to water; the rights of natural communities and eco-systems; the right to local self-government, and the right of the people to enforce and protect these rights by banning corporate activities that would violate them, through the police powers of their municipal government.
MORE:
http://www.celdf.org/
celdf-press-release-mountain-lake-park-maryland-adopts-community-rights-ordinance-that-bans-drilling-for-natural-gas-
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21. Republicans attack Obama's environmental protection from all sides
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/04/
republicans-attack-obamas-environmental-protection
Environmental protection in US under attack from extremist Tea Partiers backed by big business
Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Friday 4 March 2011 20.05 GMT
It started on a sultry day in Houston when hundreds of protesters, mostly oil company employees, were bussed to a concert hall in their lunch hour to rally against a historic first step by Congress to reduce the pollution that causes climate change.
The event marked the start of a backlash by wealthy industry owners and conservative activists against Barack Obama's green agenda. Now it has snowballed into what green campaigners say is the greatest assault on environmental protection that America has ever seen.
MORE:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/04/
republicans-attack-obamas-environmental-protection
===============
22. WATCH: My Fear is that Climate Change is the Biggest Crisis of All”: Naomi Klein Warns Global Warming Could Be Exploited by Capitalism and Militarism
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/3/9/
my_fear_is_that_climate_change
Award-winning journalist Naomi Klein has been reporting on global warming and the climate justice movement for years. “My fear is that climate change is the biggest crisis of all,” Klein says. “If we don’t come up with a positive vision of how climate change can make our economies and our world more just, more livable, cleaner, fairer, then this crisis will be exploited to militarize our economies, to create fortress continents. And we’re really facing a choice. What we really need now is for the people fighting for economic justice and environmental justice to come together.” [includes rush transcript]
Filed under Climate Change, Naomi Klein, Author Interviews, BP Oil Spill
=======================
23. HARDING: IS CANADA’S DEMOCRACY AND OUR CHANCE FOR SUSTAINABILITY SLIPPING AWAY?
http://forum.stopthehogs.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=510
BY Jim Harding Published in R-Town News on March 4, 2011
First in Tunisia, then Egypt and now Libya, youth are risking their lives to topple oil-rich authoritarian leaders, many who obtained their military might with western backing. Meanwhile, as we sit at our TVs watching with some astonishment as these protests become popular revolutions, our own country is steadily moving towards more authoritarian rule.
Has the quality of our democracy been slipping away as Canada itself becomes an “energy superpower”? Is there anything about Canada that makes us immune to this happening? When you look at what has occurred in five short years of Harper’s rule, it seems time to blow the warning whistle.
The growing list of how Harper’s tightly-controlled rule is moving us away from democracy is discussed in “The New Solitudes” by Erna Paris in the March 2011 The Walrus. I suggest you read it carefully if you care about the future of our country. Paris lists many concrete examples of how our democracy is being whittled away, and you begin to see a pattern to Harper’s ongoing assaults on Canadian society. Here are just a few examples.
MORE:
http://forum.stopthehogs.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=510
===================
24. PARIS: The New Solitudes
http://www.walrusmagazine.com/articles/
2011.03-politics-the-new-solitudes/
Canada was once defined by the schism between English and French. Today, our divide is increasingly ideological. Can it be bridged?
By Erna Paris Illustration by Barry Blitt Politics From the March 2011 magazine
It was November 26, 2009, and I happened to be in Ottawa with a few hours to spare; so, on a citizen’s whim, I decided to drop in on Question Period in Canada’s House of Commons. I was a small girl the first time I sat in the historic visitors’ gallery that looms over the rows of members’ seats on both sides of the political divide. My father was determined that his children witness what he thought were essential places and events, and the House was high on his parental to-do list. I was properly impressed by the sight of grown-ups debating across the parliamentary aisle, waving sheaves of papers at one another and occasionally jabbing the air with their index fingers. I was too young to understand what they were talking about, but Dad’s lesson sank in, and I’ve been attending Question Period intermittently ever since.
In retrospect, I’m glad I visited the House that day, although I didn’t feel that way afterward. I thought I knew enough about our dysfunctional Parliament, but I wasn’t prepared for the dismay I felt as I watched Canada’s elected members challenge one another over one of the most critical issues to confront the country in a generation. The debate centred on the scandalous detainee transfer affair, which had once again exploded into public view. Richard Colvin, formerly a high-ranking diplomat in Afghanistan, had revealed that for seventeen months, starting in May 2006, he had informed his superiors in Ottawa that prisoners detained by the Canadian military, then transferred to Afghan security forces, were being tortured. His reports were consistently ignored, he charged. Worse still, he was ordered to stop putting his intelligence gathering into writing.
MORE:
http://www.walrusmagazine.com/articles/
2011.03-politics-the-new-solitudes/
=================
25. On the road to the Harper government's tipping point
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/opinion/
on-the-road-to-the-harper-governments-tipping-point/article1933110/
LAWRENCE MARTIN | Columnist profile | E-mail
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
Published Tuesday, Mar. 08, 2011 5:00AM EST
Last updated Tuesday, Mar. 08, 2011 9:03AM EST
It’s not the parts that count but the sum of the parts. Which invites the question: Is anyone doing the math?
Just recently, four senior Conservatives (including two senators) were charged with willfully exceeding spending limits in the 2006 campaign that brought the Tories to power. The “in and out” financing scheme came at the same time that Stephen Harper was promising a new era of transparency and accountability. [ . . . ]
===============
26. Liberals will push for election over Tories' disrespect for democracy
http://www2.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/news/
story.html?id=4417860
BY ANDREW MAYEDA, POSTMEDIA NEWS MARCH 10, 2011 3:47 PM
Liberals will push for election over Tories' disrespect for democracy
Andrew Mayeda, Postmedia News
Published: Thursday, March 10, 2011
OTTAWA - The federal Liberals say they're ready to fight an election over the Harper government's lack of respect for democracy, despite Prime Minister Stephen Harper's argument that Canadians are more concerned about the fragile economic recovery.
The prime minister on Thursday downplayed twin rulings by the House of Commons Speaker that could lead to the government being found in contempt of Parliament.
"You win some, you lose some," he said. [ . . . ]
- Oscar
- Site Admin
- Posts: 9965
- Joined: Wed May 03, 2006 3:23 pm
NUKE NEWS: March 14, 2011
by Oscar » Mon Mar 14, 2011 7:12 pm
NUKE NEWS: March 14, 2011
1. EVENT: Conference: Dr. Caldicott - Montreal - March 18
2. The New Nuclear Danger - Interview - By Dr. Helen Caldicott
3. Green Party Leader, Larissa Shasko: "Undemocratic alliance between the Government, the University and Cameco"
4. WATCH: Japan Facing Biggest Catastrophe Since Dawn of Nuclear Age
5. EDWARDS: Resources on Nuclear Accidents
6. HAOFFMAN: Scratch two reactors... (or maybe five... or fifty... or five hundred...)
7. America on nuclear alert: Could fallout from Japan explosion reach U.S. West Coast? (with Graphics)
8. First the Quake, Then the Lies - Don't Worry, It's Just a Little Radiation
9. Eurus Restarts Wind Farms In Northern Japan
10. Nuclear shipments safe, agency head says
11. Mohawks vow to stop nuclear shipments
12. Environmental groups commence legal proceedings against proposed shipment of radioactive waste through the Great Lakes
13. LETTER: HUGHES: RE: Chernobyl’s Lesson /Wall’s Reply (…before Fukushima)
14. OPG a little early with its April Fool’s day prank
15. No Nukes News - March 12, 2011
16. Switzerland suspends plans for new nuclear plants
17. Germany Suspends Nuclear Plant Plans (2 articles)
18. World Nuclear News Weekly - March 1-7, 2011
19. IPPNW Germany Demands Closing Down of All Nuclear Power Plants Worldwide
20. Nuclear Accident ABCs
21. Bradley Manning Treatment 'Counterproductive And Stupid'
22. Christy Clark Advisor Building Prison for Gadhafi's Use
=============
1. EVENT: Conference: Dr. Caldicott - Montreal - March 18
THE NUCLEAR DANGER: Nuclear War and Nuclear Power
The Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG) and Échec à la guerre
Invite you to a Conference on THE NUCLEAR DANGER: Nuclear War and Nuclear Power
The Ever Present Threat of Instant Nuclear War and What We Can Do About It, Nuclear Power Plants and the Unfolding Catastrophe in Japan
Helen Caldicott - Distinguished author, physician and co-founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility
The event will be chaired by Michel Chossudovsky
Friday, March 18, 2011 - 7.00 pm
Centre St-Pierre
1212, rue Panet (at the corner of René-Lévesque)
Montréal, QC H2L 2Y7
(parking is available)
Subway: Station Beaudry
Get directions
The presentation will be in English, followed by a Q & A period in both English and French
Coffee, cookies and donuts as of 6:30 pm
There are a limited number of seats:
Reserved Seats for Global Research Members and people travelling from out of town. Send a reservation request to:
crgjulie@yahoo.ca
"I first became aware of the threat of nuclear war when I read Neville Shute's book On The Beach when I was 15 years old and living in Melbourne, where the book was set. The book was about an accidental nuclear war that triggers the end of human life. This scenario branded my soul. When I grew up, I led the movement in Australia against the French atmospheric tests in the Pacific and Australian uranium mining. Later I came to the United States as a member of the faculty of the Harvard Medical School specializing in Cystic Fibrosis in the mid 1970s, and founded Physicians for Social Responsibility--which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985 for educating the public about the medical effects of nuclear war. I have written several books on the subject..." - Dr. Helen Caldicott
-- - - - -
Dr. Helen Caldicott, has devoted the last 38 years to an international campaign to educate the public about the medical hazards of the nuclear age and the necessary changes in human behavior to stop environmental destruction.
For more information on Dr. Helen Caldicott, visit her web site:
http://www.helencaldicott.com
Listen to Helen Caldicott and Michel Chossudovsky on Nuclear War on Dr. Caldicott's Radio Program
Helen Caldicott will also be speaking in Ottawa on 25-26 March in an event organized by Physicians for Global Survival
http://pgs.ca/?page_id=725
===============
2. The New Nuclear Danger - Interview - By Dr. Helen Caldicott
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23663
Global Research, March 12, 2011 The Share Guide
An Interview with Helen Caldicott, M.D.
Author of The New Nuclear Danger
By Dennis Hughes, Share Guide Publisher
The Share Guide: Tell us how you first became aware of the nuclear weapons problem and nuclear power?
Dr. Helen Caldicott: I first became aware of the threat of nuclear war when I read Neville Shute's book On The Beach when I was 15 years old and living in Melbourne, where the book was set. The book was about an accidental nuclear war that triggers the end of human life. This scenario branded my soul. When I grew up, I led the movement in Australia against the French atmospheric tests in the Pacific and Australian uranium mining. Later I came to the United States as a member of the faculty of the Harvard Medical School specializing in Cystic Fibrosis in the mid 1970s, and founded Physicians for Social Responsibility--which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985 for educating the public about the medical effects of nuclear war. I have written several books on the subject.
INTERVIEW:
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23663
==================
3. Green Party Leader, Larissa Shasko: "Undemocratic alliance between the Government, the University and Cameco"
http://saskgreen.ca/blogs/larissa-shasko/2011/03/
press-release-green-party-leader-larissa-shasko-undemocratic-alliance-b
Press Release: March 8, 2011
The people of Saskatchewan said, "No to nuclear. It is by far too expensive an option." The $30 million to further develop the Canadian Nuclear Studies Centre at the University of Saskatchewan merely trots Cameco, Bruce Power and the Nuclear Waste Management Organization in through the back door which is the University.
On March 2, 2011, Premier Brad Wall and Minister responsible for Innovation, Rob Norris, announced $30 million in public funding for a new nuclear research centre at the University of Saskatchewan. The announcement was greeted with great enthusiasm by University of Saskatchewan President Peter MacKinnon who said the new research centre will complement and strengthen the university's existing nuclear research infrastructure.
Quite the reverse: “Brad Wall's actions are having an adverse effect on the youth of this province whose universities are being turned into corporate research hubs funded by taxpayers’ dollars and rising tuition fees,” states Larissa Shasko, Leader of the Green Party of Saskatchewan.
Premier Brad Wall, in Grant Devine-style, has already ordered up an overall debt of $4.1 billion or $12.4 billion (depending on how you count it) for citizens to pay.[1] The history of the nuclear industry in Ontario and in New Brunswick is one of expensive electricity, decades of heavy interest on debt loads and cost overruns. This $30 million for the nuclear industry through the University is a very small down payment on what is to come when the Governments at both levels (federal and provincial), the nuclear industry and the University come up with a plan for the industry.
Conflicts of Interest: The merry-go-round between the Federal Government, the Provincial Government and Cameco:
Grant Isaacs, former Dean of the Edwards School of Business, U of S, becomes a senior Vice-President at Cameco
Rob Norris, Vice-President of the University runs for the Sask Party and becomes Minister responsible for Higher Education
Richard Florizone, Vice-President of Finance for the University, becomes Chair of the UDP Committee, the industry-stacked "Partnership" that puts forth Cameco and Bruce Power's plans for the nuclear industry in Saskatchewan
The Provincial and Federal Governments put up tax-payer money
University President Peter MacKinnon's term is up at the University
Prime Minister Stephen Harper appoints Peter MacKinnon to the Committee that will make recommendations to the Prime Minister on the civil service.
That leaves one seat vacant ... who now becomes the President of the University for the industry?
"The Green Party is, was, and forever will be supportive of energy sources that don't bankrupt the people of Saskatchewan. Jobs are abundant in the renewable energy sector," states Shasko. -30-
[1] Advantage Saskatchewan: Govt. revenue soaring
http://www.leaderpost.com/life/
take-your-best-shot/Advantage+Saskatchewan+Govt+revenue+soaring/4389731/story.html
The Leader-Post March 5, 2011
“Though critics point to a near-$400-million increase in Saskatchewan's overall debt in 2011, to $8.3 billion, all of that increase is on the Crown corporation side where money is borrowed to pay for business development and new infrastructure. The government's own "public" debt remains unchanged at $4.1 billion.”
= = = =
Listen: SHASKO on Newstalk Radio with host John Gormley = March 9, 2011 (in response to the above press release):
http://www.newstalk650.com/audio/john-gormley-live/
20110309-john-gormley-live-march-9-2011-green-party-leader-larissa-shasko
==================
4. WATCH: Japan Facing Biggest Catastrophe Since Dawn of Nuclear Age
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/3/14/
japan_facing_biggest_catastrophe_since_dawn
March 14, 2011
Japan remains in a state of emergency three days after a devastating earthquake and tsunami hit the country. An estimated 10,000 people have died, and Japan is facing the worst nuclear crisis since the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On Monday, a second explosion hit the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, and a third reactor lost its cooling system, raising fears of a meltdown. Radiation levels have been detected as far as 100 miles away. Dozens of people have tested positive for radiation exposure, and hundreds of thousands of have been evacuated, with the number expected to rise. [includes rush transcript
- - - -
Related Links: (All Links are at URL above)
Japan Struck by One of Biggest Earthquakes in Recorded History, Tsunamis Threaten Pacific Basin
US Attending Hiroshima Memorial "Enormously Important," Says Robert Jay Lifton
Anti-Nuclear Activists Mobilize to Oppose Obama-Funded Construction of Georgia Nuke Plants
In Historic Vote, Vermont Poised to Shut Down Lone Nuclear Reactor
Henry Red Cloud of Oglala Lakota Tribe on Native American Anti-Nuclear Activism, Uranium Mining, and the Recession’s Toll on Reservations
==================
5. EDWARDS: Resources on Nuclear Accidents
From: Gordon Edwards
Sent: Saturday, March 12, 2011 12:41 PM
Friends:
At the suggestion of one of our long-time board members, I have moved some Resources about Nuclear Accidents to the top of the CCNR web page. See
http://ccnr.org
For some technical information regarding the 3 reactors (out of 6 total) that are in a state of emergency at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Generating Station, and the 4 reactors at the Fukushima Da-ini Generation Station that are also in a state of emergency, see the World Nuclear News report which was posted about noon today (Montreal time)
http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/
RS_Battle_to_stabilise_earthquake_reactors_1203111.html
According to this report, the biggest problem in all these affected reactors is the limited ability to condense steam and therefore the buildup of pressure inside the building which can only be relieved by condensation or release to the atmosphere.
(The steam is radioactive but not like the intensely radioactive-laden releases from Chernobyl. However there is radioactive iodine, cesium, strontium, and a couple of dozen other radioactive elements in this steam - that's my comment).
According to the same report, the only two reactors where the actual water level in the core is down is units 1 and 2 of the Da-ichi generating station. Of these unit 1 is in a worse condition; in unit 2 the water level is said to be down but stabilized. Unit 1 is the reactor that had an explosion which destroyed much of the reactor building but according to the authorities did not compromise the actual airtight containment of the reactor itself.
They are using sea water to try and cool things down inside these reactors.
I believe that Japanese authorities should be urging children and pregnant women to evacuate much further away from these damaged reactors because radioactive iodine is avidly taken up by into the thyroid gland of fetuses and children, even more so than adults.
In addition to thyroid cancer there is a host of developmental problems that can be caused by inhibited thyroid functioning such as mental retardation, stunted growth, and a number of abnomalities in developing organs. WHO admits that over 5000 children in Bellarusse had to have their thyroid glands surgically removed because of the Chernobyl accident but I have seen nothing published by them about other thyroid disorders and related developmental problems.
In particular people should be warned about fresh milk, including mother's breast milk, which is one of the most important vectors for delivering radioactive iodine to the fetus/infant/child. Better to use powdered milk that was prepared before the radioactive releases started than to use fresh milk which will incorporate and concentrate the radioactive iodine.
Gordon Edwards.
===================
6. HOFFMAN: Scratch two reactors... (or maybe five... or fifty... or five hundred...)
http://acehoffman.blogspot.com/2011/03/
scratch-two-reactors-or-maybe-five-or.html
by "Ace Hoffman" <rhoffman@animatedsoftware.com>
March 12, 2011 2:32 PM
Dear Readers,
The ongoing crises in Japan should be enough of a warning to shut every nuclear power plant in the world down forever.
It's not just that "everything that can go wrong, did go wrong." The pro-nukers will claim that, and already are. "Backup systems should have worked..."
But really, what did they expect? Four reactors. Eight emergency generators. Each one can power one of several reactors. BUT what happens when all eight are flooded with debris from a tsunami, a perfectly predictable event?
Well, we're seeing what happens. [ . . . ]
- - - -
The author, a 54-year-old cancer survivor, has been warning of nuclear dangers from tsunamis, earthquakes, and other risks for many decades. His book, The Code Killers, is available for free download from here: www.acehoffman.org.
=================
7. America on nuclear alert: Could fallout from Japan explosion reach U.S. West Coast? (with Graphics)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1366055/
Japan-earthquake-tsunami-America-nuclear-alert-Fukushima-explosion.html
By Daily Mail Reporter Last updated at 9:38 PM on 14th March 2011
- 'Worst-case scenario' could send nuclear cloud across Pacific
- 30,000ft winds would carry radioactive material across the ocean
- U.S.S. Ronald Reagan hit by month's radiation in just one hour
- Japanese reactors are very similar to 23 in America
======================
8. First the Quake, Then the Lies - Don't Worry, It's Just a Little Radiation
http://www.counterpunch.org/grossman03112011.html
CounterPunch. Weekend edition 11-13 March, 2011 By KARL GROSSMAN
And with the major malfunction at the Fukushima nuclear power plant comes the lies...
That´s the way it´s always been when it comes to nuclear technology: deception has always been a central element in the push for it.
As desperate efforts were made Friday to keep coolant flowing-to prevent a nuclear meltdown-"radioactive vapor" was being released from the plant, reported the Associated Press. It quoted Japan´s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano as saying the amount of
radioactivity was "very small."
And it "would not affect the environment or human health," added AP.
Really. [ . . . . ]
============
9. Eurus Restarts Wind Farms In Northern Japan
http://e.nikkei.com/e/fr/tnks/Nni20110313D13JFF04.htm
Monday, March 14, 2011
TOKYO (Nikkei)--Eurus Energy Holdings Corp. said Sunday that it has resumed operations at six wind farms in northern Japan that it had stopped running after Friday's earthquake.
The joint venture between Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501) and Toyota Tsusho Corp. (8015) said it was asked to do so earlier that day by the local utility, Tohoku Electric Power Co. (9506), in response to a power shortage.
The wind farms that went back onstream -- four in Aomori Prefecture and two in Akita Prefecture -- have a combined output of 112,900kw, or enough to supply roughly 68,000 homes.
===================
10. Nuclear shipments safe, agency head says
http://news.ca.msn.com/top-stories/
cbc-article.aspx?cp-documentid=27927678
By CBC News, cbc.ca, Updated: March 8, 2011 10:03 PM
- - -
QUOTE: “"And, it is safe," said Binder.”
- - - -
The head of Canada's nuclear safety commission defended his agency's controversial decision to allow Bruce Power to ship radioactive waste through the Great Lakes.
Michael Binder, president and chief executive officer of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, told a parliamentary committee Tuesday that the decision was a transparent one that was based on science.
He told MPs that his agency did a thorough environmental and safety assessment of how Bruce Power plans to transport the radioactive material and is satisfied that it will be done safely and with no harm to residents or the environment.
Binder was the first witness heard by the natural resources committee, which is spending its next two meetings examining the nuclear agency's decision to allow the shipments through the Great Lakes and along the St. Lawrence Seaway. Representatives of the CNSC and Bruce Power were appearing as well.
On Thursday, the committee will hear from representatives of the Mohawk tribes of Kahnawake, Akwesasne and Tyendinaga, as well as the Union of Ontario Indians and other groups opposed to the shipments. [ . . . ]
- - - -
External Links (on URL above)
Parliament's standing committee on natural resources
http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/
Publication.aspx?DocId=5013571&Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=40&Ses=3http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=5013571&Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=40&Ses=3
CELA: Shipping steam generators in the Great Lakes
http://www.cela.ca/collections/celacourts/
shipping-steam-generators-great-lakes
==================
11. Mohawks vow to stop nuclear shipments
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/03/08/
pol-nuclear-mohawks.html
By Max Paris, Environment Unit, CBC News Posted: Mar 8, 2011 6:25 PM ET Last Updated: Mar 8, 2011 6:25 PM ET
Native communities along the St. Lawrence River say they are ready to do whatever is necessary to stop nuclear waste shipments that will pass through their traditional waterways.
Mohawks from Kahnawake, near Montreal, and Tyendenaga and Akwesasne in Ontario joined two environment groups Tuesday as they announced they will seek a legal challenge to a plan to ship used reactor parts through the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence.
The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) earlier this year approved Bruce Power's request to ship 16 decommissioned nuclear steam generators to Sweden for recycling.
In the case of Kahnawake, the ship carrying the parts will pass 30 metres from their village as it transits the St. Lawrence Seaway at the Lachine Rapids.
"We're prepared to do whatever's necessary in the coming months to stop this," warned Kahnawake Grand Chief Mike Delisle and then added, "first and foremost we are going to take legal action and stand with our white brothers and sisters who have opposed this through the court system."
MORE:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/03/08/
pol-nuclear-mohawks.html
=================
12. Environmental groups commence legal proceedings against proposed shipment of radioactive waste through the Great Lakes
http://www.sierraclub.ca/en/
trade-and-
environment/media/release/environmental-groups-commence-legal-proceedings-against-proposed
Sierra Club Canada, For Immediate Release, March 8, 2011
TORONTO � The Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA) and Sierra Club Canada (SCC) announced today that they have jointly commenced legal proceedings in the Federal Court of Canada in relation to the controversial proposal by Bruce Power Inc. to ship radioactive waste to Sweden.
“Major policy changes in the handling of nuclear waste should not be made in an ad hoc fashion,” said John Bennett, Executive Director of Sierra Club Canada. “Municipalities, First Nations, organizations and individuals all demanded to be heard on the shipping of 1,600 tonnes of nuclear waste through the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River,
but their concerns were ignored.”
CELA and SCC are seeking judicial review of two approvals recently issued by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. These approvals allow Bruce Power Inc. to transport and export 16 decommissioned steam generators on a single ship through the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway and across the Atlantic Ocean to a private commercial facility in Sweden for ‘recycling’ purposes.
The steam generators were formerly used at the Bruce A Nuclear Generating Station, and they contain a number of radioactive substances, including various isotopes of plutonium. After the ‘recycling’ process is completed in Sweden, Bruce Power Inc. proposes to ship the leftover radioactive waste to Halifax, and then transport it by road back to Western Waste Management Facility at the Bruce site near Kincardine, Ontario.
“Our judicial review applications challenge the legality of the two approvals,” said Theresa McClenaghan, counsel and Executive Director with CELA. “It is our position that the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission erred in law and jurisdiction when granting these approvals.”
“Both of the approvals were granted by the Commission without conducting an environmental assessment (EA) under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act,” said Richard Lindgren, counsel with CELA. “The judicial review applications essentially ask the Federal Court to rule whether a federal EA was required as a matter of law.”
The next step in this litigation is for the named respondents - Attorney General of Canada, Minister of Transport, and Bruce Power Inc. - to file Notices of Appearance to indicate that they intend to respond to the judicial review applications.
The judicial review applications were issued by the Federal Court on March 4, 2011, and can be accessed here. Other resources regarding this matter can be accessed on CELA’s website and SCC’s website.
For more information, please contact:
Theresa McClenaghan, CELA, 416-960-2284, Ext. 219
John Bennett, Sierra Club Canada, 613-291-6888
Richard Lindgren, CELA, 613-385-1686
==================
13. LETTER: HUGHES: RE: Chernobyl’s Lesson /Wall’s Reply
March 8, 2011
Elaine Hughes (tybach@sasktel.net)
Dear Ms. Hughes:
Thank you for your email of March 5, 2011, regarding government support for uranium value-added opportunities; and, the attached article.
Saskatchewan is a world leader in uranium production. Our province has over one billion pounds of identified uranium resources, second only to Australia. We want to ensure that the people of Saskatchewan are benefitting from this resource as much as possible.
As you know, our government extensively studied the possibility of nuclear power for Saskatchewan with the help of expert consultations and a series of public meetings in 2009. Based on recommendations and cost considerations, our government has decided to not go ahead with the construction of a large-scale nuclear reactor for the province at this time.
For more information on our government’s strategic direction for uranium development in Saskatchewan, please visit the Government of Saskatchewan website:
www.er.gov.sk.ca/uranium-development.
It is clear, however, that our growing province faces an increased demand for electricity in the years ahead. At this time, we continue to direct SaskPower to include nuclear power in the range of sustainable energy options available for the province’s long-range energy mix beyond 2020. This will be in addition to evaluating a wide range of renewable electricity supply alternatives, including wind and hydro. As part of our government’s innovation agenda, we are also encouraging investment in nuclear research, development and training opportunities, specifically in the areas of mining, neutron science, medical isotopes, small scale reactor design, and enrichment.
Earlier this month, our government announced $30 million in funding over seven years to establish a new centre for research in nuclear medicine and materials at the University of Saskatchewan. It is our hope that the new research centre will be a step toward re-establishing our province as an international leader in nuclear science and nuclear medicine.
This investment builds on January's announcement of $12 million in funding to build a new linear accelerator and support research into the production of medical isotopes at the Canadian Light Source in Saskatoon. Together with our March 4, 2011, announcement to bring PET-CT scan services to Saskatchewan, our government will continue to work hard to ensure the science and technology of innovation contributes to better health and quality of life for all Saskatchewan residents.
I have forwarded your email to the Honourable Rob Norris, Minister Responsible for Innovation, for his consideration.
Thank you for writing.
Brad Wall, Premier
cc Honourable Rob Norris,
Minister Responsible for Innovation
= = = = =
RE: Chernobyl was lesson in nuclear peril: Gorbachev
From: Elaine Hughes
Sent: Saturday, March 05, 2011 8:54 AM
To: Council of Canadians ; SK Premier Wall
Cc: Sask EcoNetwork ; Sask Environmental Society ; Pembina Institute ; GlobalResearch.ca ; Environmental Defence ; Ecologist ; Ecojustice ; David Suzuki Foundation ; Greenpeace ; Prime Minister Harper ; Breitkreuz, G. MP ; SK Green - Leader - Larissa Shasko ; SK Liberal - Leader - Ryan Bater ; SK NDP Caucus ; SK Party Caucus
Subject: Chernobyl was lesson in nuclear peril: Gorbachev
Premier Wall
Why do you persist in the craziness of anything to do with uranium and its high-risk, lethal, outdated industry: its greed and insatiable need for evermore money, the risk to the environment, wildlife and the health of those who work in the mines or live near power plants (regardless of size!), and the nightmare of transporting and storing nuclear waste?
We need nothing from uranium - nothing for a 'centre of excellence', nothing for electricity, nothing for 'added value' - nothing!!! We all know that there are alternatives which come without the multi-million year risks.
We also know that Responsible Governance means protecting those you govern.
It does not mean placing them at risk while playing into the manipulating, grasping hands of corporations with the exciting media events and back-slapping.
Why, when you are aware of the risk, do you persist in putting all of Earth's inhabitants in its path?
Please ponder Mr. Gorbachev's words in the article below and tell us, Premier Wall: What part of the horrendous lessons of Chernobyl do you not understand?????
QUOTE: "Gorbachev described Chernobyl as "a warning sign" for countries dependent on nuclear power or keen to turn to it. "
Elaine Hughes
Archerwill, SK
= = = = = = =
Chernobyl was lesson in nuclear peril: Gorbachev
http://www.nuclearpowerdaily.com/reports/
Chernobyl_was_lesson_in_nuclear_peril_Gorbachev_999.html
by Staff Writers Paris (AFP) March 1, 2011
The upcoming 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster is a brutal reminder of the dangers of nuclear power, proliferation and terrorism, former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev said on Tuesday.
"The true scope of the tragedy still remains beyond comprehension and is a shocking reminder of the reality of the nuclear threat," Gorbachev said in an essay published by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a watchdog organisation on nuclear security.
The April 26 1986 explosion at the Soviet power plant in the Ukraine, caused by an unauthorised test that went wrong, unleashed a reactor fire and radioactive fallout that contaminated swathes of the former Soviet Union and Western Europe.
The death toll ranges from a UN 2005 estimate of 4,000 to tens or even hundreds of thousands, proposed by non-governmental groups.
Environment problems include long-term contamination of water resources and soil and damage to wildlife that is still unclear, while the economic cost has been put in the hundreds of billions of dollars.
Gorbachev described Chernobyl as "a warning sign" for countries dependent on nuclear power or keen to turn to it.
MORE:
http://www.nuclearpowerdaily.com/reports/
Chernobyl_was_lesson_in_nuclear_peril_Gorbachev_999.html
=================
14. OPG a little early with its April Fool’s day prank
http://cleanairalliance.org/node/950
Apparently, April Fool’s day has come early this year. How else to explain the ads Ontario Power Generation (OPG) is running in today’s Globe and Mail and Toronto Star? OPG is making the astounding claim that its last three major nuclear projects were completed “on budget”. Here’s the truth:
- In 1999 OPG forecast that the cost of returning its shutdown Pickering A Unit 4 nuclear reactor to service would be $457 million. The real cost was 2.7 times higher at $1.25 billion.
- In 1999 OPG estimated that it would cost $213 million to return its shutdown Pickering A Unit 1 nuclear reactor to service. The actual cost was 4.8 times higher at $1.016 billion.
- In 1975 OPG’s predecessor company, Ontario Hydro, said that it would cost $3.2 billion to build the Darlington Nuclear Station. The real cost was 4.5 times higher at $14.319 billion.
Every nuclear project in Ontario’s history has gone massively over budget. On average, the real costs of Ontario’s nuclear projects have exceeded their original cost estimates by 2.5 times.
Please contact Energy Minister Duguid (and cc me) and tell him that you don’t want OPG to use our money to pay for false advertising. Enough is enough. It is time to respect Ontario’s taxpayers.
Thank you.
Angela Bischoff, Outreach Director
Ontario Clean Air Alliance
402 - 625 Church St, Toronto M4Y 2G1
Phone: 416-926-1907 ext. 246
angela@cleanairalliance.org
Ontario Clean Air Alliance
Ontario’s Green Future
No Nukes News
Health Power
Coal Must Go
================
15. No Nukes News - March 12, 2011
Joe Cirincione, president of the Ploughshares Fund has already called the accident “one of the three worst accidents we have ever had at a nuclear power plant in the history of nuclear power,” recalling the 1979 Three Mile Island, PA meltdown and the 1986 Chernobyl reactor explosion in Ukraine.
Commentator, Keith Olbermann has called for a complete and permanent shutdown of U.S. reactors.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Beyond Nuclear monitoring struggle to prevent meltdown in Japan Beyond Nuclear is monitoring the situation in Japan with respect to the nuclear reactor crisis and providing constant updates on their site. The best links and articles can be found here including a map of potential fallout heading to western Canada and the US.
http://www.beyondnuclear.org/
----------------------------------------------------------------
NIRS Factsheet on Japan’s Reactors
Nuclear Information and Resource Centre is closely monitoring the situation with Japan's nuclear reactors. They have produced and are regularly updating a factsheet on the Fukushima reactors and the ongoing concerns about what appears to be becoming a very serious situation. Check periodically for updates and refer your local media to it.
http://www.nirs.org/reactorwatch/accide ... tsheet.pdf
----------------------------------------------------------------
Random articles on the situation
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/12/
us-japan-quake-nuclear-qa-idUSTRE72B2ET20110312
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-12723092
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/12/
japan.nuclear/
http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/
RS_Battle_to_stabilise_earthquake_reactors_1203111.html
----------------------------------------------------------------
Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility
Some resources about Nuclear Accidents at the top of the CCNR web page.
http://ccnr.org
----------------------------------------------------------------
Send a letter to McGuinty (and other prov. leaders) saying No More Nuclear Bailouts in Ontario!
http://www.cleanairalliance.org/nuke_debt
----------------------------------------------------------------
Angela Bischoff, Outreach Director
Ontario Clean Air Alliance
Tel: 416 926 1907 x 246
625 Church Street, #402, Toronto, ON M4Y 2G1
angela@cleanairalliance.org
www.cleanairalliance.org
www.ontariosgreenfuture.ca
Our Facebook Group
No Nukes News
Health Power
Coal Must Go
====================
16. Switzerland suspends plans for new nuclear plants
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/03/14/
swiss-suspend-plans-new-nuclear-plants.html
March 14, 2011 John Heilprin
BERN, SWITZERLAND—Switzerland abruptly suspended plans to build and replace nuclear plants Monday as two hydrogen explosions at a tsunami-stricken Japanese facility spread jitters about atomic energy safety in Europe.
Energy Minister Doris Leuthard said the suspension would affect all “blanket authorization for nuclear replacement until safety standards have been carefully reviewed and if necessary adapted.” Swiss regulatory authorities had given their stamp of approval to three sites for new nuclear power stations after the plans were submitted in 2008.
“Safety and well-being of the population have the highest priority,” said Leuthard, who instructed the Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate to analyze the exact cause of the accidents in Japan and draw up new or tougher safety standards “particularly in terms of seismic safety and cooling.”
Leuthard said no new plants can be permitted until those experts report back. Their conclusions would apply not only to planned sites, but also existing plants. Switzerland now has four nuclear power plants that produce about 40 per cent of the country's energy needs. It also has nuclear research reactors. [ . . . ]
===================
17. Germany Suspends Nuclear Plant Plans
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/03/14/
134533455/germany-suspends-nuclear-plant-plans
by Korva Coleman, NPR, March 14 2011
Given Japan's nuclear woes, Germans are anxious over the safety of their 17 nuclear power plants. German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced her government will delay its plans to extend the life of nuclear plants in Germany. The Wall Street Journal says Merkel has ordered a moratorium to conduct a three month safety inquiry. She says the analysis will be thorough with 'nothing taboo' and added, "the situation after this
moratorium will be different than the situation before." Merkel has insisted on nuclear power as an aspect of the country's energy policy; Deute Welle says she could pay a political price for her stance. On Saturday, tens of thousands of Germans turned out to protest nuclear power. The BBC says they formed a human chain that stretched for 27 miles. [ . . . ]
= = = = = =
Merkel delays nuclear extensions
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/
2011/03/2011314154359989592.html
German chancellor delays decision to extend the life of ageing nuclear plants in reaction to Japanese crisis.
Last Modified: 14 Mar 2011 17:06 GMT
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, has suspended plans to extend the life of the country's nuclear power plants, in response to the situation in Japan.
"If a highly developed country like Japan, with high safety standards and norms, cannot prevent the consequences for nuclear power of an earthquake and a tsunami, then this has consequences for the whole world," Merkel said on Monday as she announced that the decision would be delayed for three months.
"This changes the situation, including in Germany. We have a new situation, and this situation must be thoroughly analysed."
Opposition groups had been pressuring the government to scrap its decision, made last year, to extend the life of the country's 17 nuclear power plants by an average 12 years.
The stations were originally intended to be shut down in 2021, but the power industry had pushed to extend the lives of the ageing facilities. [ . . . ]
=================
18. World Nuclear News Weekly - March 1-7, 2011
http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/
?u=140c559a3b34d23ff7c6b48b9&id=b4a670fa24&e=7a6d90bce5
NEW NUCLEAR:
Reactor projects continue to advance
4 March 2011
Two projects to build new nuclear reactors in the US have moved forward with the completion of the final environmental impact statement for South Texas Project units 3 and 4 and the award of a contract to upgrade transmission lines at VC Summer.
Utility quits North Anna expansion project
1 March 2011
Old Dominion Electric Cooperative (ODEC) has announced its decision to pull out of the project to build a third nuclear reactor at the North Anna nuclear power plant in Virginia.
Chile prepares for nuclear power
1 March 2011
A training deal with France is among the first concrete steps Chile has taken to prepare for decisions on introducing nuclear power in the 2020s, when it could meet 26% of supply.
NUCLEAR POLICIES:
France and South Africa strengthen nuclear bonds
3 March 2011
A visit to France by South African President and members of his cabinet has provided a platform for strengthening cooperation on energy matters between the two countries, with agreements signed on nuclear development and training.
CORPORATE:
Nuclear's role confirmed in TVA plan
7 March 2011
Nuclear energy features heavily in the Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA's) newly completed integrated resource plan, which will direct the authority's developments over the next two decades.
SNPTC cooperates with Shandong province
7 March 2011
China's State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation (SNPTC) has signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement on nuclear power with the provincial government of Shandong.
Growth despite costs for Areva
4 March 2011
Areva has posted annual results for 2010 featuring a backlog of some €44.2 billion ($61.4 billion) but an operating loss this year of €423 million ($591 million) due to certain items.
Bulk orders for China's nuclear fleet
3 March 2011
Major contracts will support China's program of domestic reactor build and project management of the AP1000 program.
Grid sale raises cash for EOn
2 March 2011
A £4 billion deal will see EOn sell a major section of the UK power grid to PPL of the USA - the second major network sale by a firm planning nuclear new build.
EXPLORATION & NUCLEAR FUEL:
US uranium sale to fund site cleanup
3 March 2011
The US Department of Energy will sell off excess uranium over the next three years to help fund the cleanup of a former enrichment site but has determined this will not adversely affect uranium markets.
INDUSTRY TALK:
Electrabel opposes possible tax hike
7 March 2011
Belgian nuclear operator Electrabel, part of the GDF-Suez group, will oppose any increase in the tax already levied on nuclear power by the Belgian government, Electrabel chief Sophie Dutordoir told Belgium's De Tijd newspaper.
Nuclear has role in Poland says IEA
2 March 2011
Poland should focus on energy efficiency, nuclear energy, carbon capture and storage and renewables, as well as continuing to expand natural gas infrastructure in its efforts help meet energy security and climate change objectives, said the OECD International Energy Agency.
- - - - -
Our mailing address is:
World Nuclear Association
Carlton House, 22a St James's Square
London, Westminster SW1Y4JH
===================
19. IPPNW Germany Demands Closing Down of All Nuclear Power Plants Worldwide
http://ippnweupdate.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/
mv_resolution_en.pdf
March 12, 2011 Press Release
Resolution of IPPNW Germany on the occasion of the nuclear catastrophe in Japan
IPPNW Germany demands the closing down of all nuclear power plants worldwide.
25 years after Chernobyl, and on the day of the catastrophe in Fukushima that resulted in an uncontrolled release of radioactivity, the German affiliate of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) demands that all nuclear power plants worldwide should be closed down. The risks of nuclear technology are uncontrollable even for allegedly safe nuclear power plants of the western world.
IPPNW points out that the population density in Japan is about 15 times higher than it is in the Chernobyl region. (Japan: 337 inhabitants/square kilometre). Depending on the direction of wind and weather situation the health consequences in Japan may be dramatic.
As physicians we wish to emphasise the global health risk that is a result of this catastrophe.
The radioactive cloud will not halt at Japan's borders. Increased levels of radioactivity were detected after Chernobyl even several thousands of kilometers away in Japan.
The time has come for politicians to prevail against the mighty lobby of the nuclear industry.
It is irresponsible to endanger us citizens for the profit interest of a few companies.
- - - -
German affiliate of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) on its annual meeting in Frankfurt am Main on the 12th of March 2011
International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW)
===================
20. Nuclear Accident ABCs
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2011/ucs140311.html
by the Union of Concerned Scientists March 14, 2011
In reporting on the nuclear situation in Japan, terms describing the possible state of the reactors have been used by Japanese officials and international experts. Unfortunately, these terms are not always used consistently. We discuss some of them below.
The reactor core containing nuclear fuel is the "engine" of a nuclear power reactor. The reactor core resides in the lower region of a metal "pot" called the reactor vessel. The reactor vessel is enclosed within the primary containment structure, consisting of the drywell and wetwell (see diagram), which is designed to contain radioactive materials released during a reactor accident. The reactor building provides the secondary containment, which is intended to prevent any leaks from the primary containment from escaping to the environment. The air in the reactor building is sent through filters to remove any radiation before being released to the outside.
The fuel consists of uranium or uranium/plutonium pellets stacked inside long tubes made from zirconium metal. When a reactor is operating, the fuel gets very hot. The fuel is immersed in water, and the heat produces steam, which is used to drive a turbine to produce electricity. The water also keeps the fuel from overheating, and is continuously circulated through the reactor core to carry away excess heat. Even if the reactor shuts down, the fuel will remain hot for a long time, so must still be cooled.
MORE:
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2011/ucs140311.html
==================
21. Bradley Manning Treatment 'Counterproductive And Stupid'
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/11/
pj-crowley-bradley-manning-treatment-_n_834611.html
March 11, 2011
Hillary Clinton's spokesman has slammed the Pentagon for its "ridiculous" treatment of Bradley Manning, the U.S. soldier who is currently detained on allegations of handing thousands of confidential State Department cables to WikiLeaks.
Speaking at an MIT seminar in Boston, Assistant Secretary Of State For Public Affairs P.J. Crowley said Manning is being "mistreated" in the military brig at Quantico, Virginia. "What is being done to Bradley Manning is ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid on the part of the department of defense," he said.
Manning's treatment -- which includes being held for 23 hours daily in solitary confinement and being stripped naked every night -- has sparked the ire of civil rights advocates as well as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who called the U.S. Army intelligence analyst a "political prisoner [held] without trial." But as the Guardian is reporting, Crowley's comments mark the first time anyone within the Obama administration has expressed concern over Manning's treatment, and are the first sign of a crack among lawmakers over the ongoing handling of the entire WikiLeaks saga.
Following the criticisms, Crowley went on to note that "nonetheless, Bradley Manning is in the right place. There is sometimes a need for secrets...for diplomatic progress to be made." As CBS is reporting, a State Department official has since insisted Crowley's comments reflected his personal opinion and did not reflect the official policy of the U.S. government.
MORE:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/11/
pj-crowley-bradley-manning-treatment-_n_834611.html
==================
22. Christy Clark Advisor Building Prison for Gadhafi's Use
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2011/03/14/GadhafiPrison/
?utm_source=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=140311
Gwynn Morgan of incoming premier's transition team chairs SNC-Lavalin, constructor of 'state of the art' jail likely to house opponents of Libya's dictator.
By Will McMartin, Today, TheTyee.ca
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of unarmed Libyans have been maimed or killed in recent weeks as they peacefully demonstrated for a democratic alternative to the brutal, thuggish regime of Muammar Gadhafi.
In response, some 6,700 kilometers due south of the violence, the International Criminal Court in Johannesburg commenced a formal investigation into Gadhafi's alleged crimes against humanity.
And halfway around the world, in British Columbia, the man whose company now is building a $275 million, state-of-the-art prison for Gadhafi in the Libyan capital of Tripoli, huddled with premier-designate Christy Clark, helping her prepare to take the reins of government.
Yes, as bizarre as it sounds, Gwyn Morgan, the $300,000-a-year chair of Montreal-based SNC-Lavalin, a firm that for decades has worked with Gadhafi and his sons, is now serving as a "transition advisor" for Clark while she prepares to implement her "Families First" agenda in Victoria.
And above and beyond that weird fact, is another: Morgan's company does business worth millions of dollars annually with B.C.'s public sector.
So, two questions for Christy Clark. First, what measures have you taken to protect British Columbians from Gwyn Morgan's real and perceived conflicts of interest?
Second, and even more important, why are you working with a man who saw nothing wrong with building a prison for a mad killer like Gadhafi?
MORE:
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2011/03/14/GadhafiPrison/
?utm_source=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=140311
1. EVENT: Conference: Dr. Caldicott - Montreal - March 18
2. The New Nuclear Danger - Interview - By Dr. Helen Caldicott
3. Green Party Leader, Larissa Shasko: "Undemocratic alliance between the Government, the University and Cameco"
4. WATCH: Japan Facing Biggest Catastrophe Since Dawn of Nuclear Age
5. EDWARDS: Resources on Nuclear Accidents
6. HAOFFMAN: Scratch two reactors... (or maybe five... or fifty... or five hundred...)
7. America on nuclear alert: Could fallout from Japan explosion reach U.S. West Coast? (with Graphics)
8. First the Quake, Then the Lies - Don't Worry, It's Just a Little Radiation
9. Eurus Restarts Wind Farms In Northern Japan
10. Nuclear shipments safe, agency head says
11. Mohawks vow to stop nuclear shipments
12. Environmental groups commence legal proceedings against proposed shipment of radioactive waste through the Great Lakes
13. LETTER: HUGHES: RE: Chernobyl’s Lesson /Wall’s Reply (…before Fukushima)
14. OPG a little early with its April Fool’s day prank
15. No Nukes News - March 12, 2011
16. Switzerland suspends plans for new nuclear plants
17. Germany Suspends Nuclear Plant Plans (2 articles)
18. World Nuclear News Weekly - March 1-7, 2011
19. IPPNW Germany Demands Closing Down of All Nuclear Power Plants Worldwide
20. Nuclear Accident ABCs
21. Bradley Manning Treatment 'Counterproductive And Stupid'
22. Christy Clark Advisor Building Prison for Gadhafi's Use
=============
1. EVENT: Conference: Dr. Caldicott - Montreal - March 18
THE NUCLEAR DANGER: Nuclear War and Nuclear Power
The Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG) and Échec à la guerre
Invite you to a Conference on THE NUCLEAR DANGER: Nuclear War and Nuclear Power
The Ever Present Threat of Instant Nuclear War and What We Can Do About It, Nuclear Power Plants and the Unfolding Catastrophe in Japan
Helen Caldicott - Distinguished author, physician and co-founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility
The event will be chaired by Michel Chossudovsky
Friday, March 18, 2011 - 7.00 pm
Centre St-Pierre
1212, rue Panet (at the corner of René-Lévesque)
Montréal, QC H2L 2Y7
(parking is available)
Subway: Station Beaudry
Get directions
The presentation will be in English, followed by a Q & A period in both English and French
Coffee, cookies and donuts as of 6:30 pm
There are a limited number of seats:
Reserved Seats for Global Research Members and people travelling from out of town. Send a reservation request to:
crgjulie@yahoo.ca
"I first became aware of the threat of nuclear war when I read Neville Shute's book On The Beach when I was 15 years old and living in Melbourne, where the book was set. The book was about an accidental nuclear war that triggers the end of human life. This scenario branded my soul. When I grew up, I led the movement in Australia against the French atmospheric tests in the Pacific and Australian uranium mining. Later I came to the United States as a member of the faculty of the Harvard Medical School specializing in Cystic Fibrosis in the mid 1970s, and founded Physicians for Social Responsibility--which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985 for educating the public about the medical effects of nuclear war. I have written several books on the subject..." - Dr. Helen Caldicott
-- - - - -
Dr. Helen Caldicott, has devoted the last 38 years to an international campaign to educate the public about the medical hazards of the nuclear age and the necessary changes in human behavior to stop environmental destruction.
For more information on Dr. Helen Caldicott, visit her web site:
http://www.helencaldicott.com
Listen to Helen Caldicott and Michel Chossudovsky on Nuclear War on Dr. Caldicott's Radio Program
Helen Caldicott will also be speaking in Ottawa on 25-26 March in an event organized by Physicians for Global Survival
http://pgs.ca/?page_id=725
===============
2. The New Nuclear Danger - Interview - By Dr. Helen Caldicott
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23663
Global Research, March 12, 2011 The Share Guide
An Interview with Helen Caldicott, M.D.
Author of The New Nuclear Danger
By Dennis Hughes, Share Guide Publisher
The Share Guide: Tell us how you first became aware of the nuclear weapons problem and nuclear power?
Dr. Helen Caldicott: I first became aware of the threat of nuclear war when I read Neville Shute's book On The Beach when I was 15 years old and living in Melbourne, where the book was set. The book was about an accidental nuclear war that triggers the end of human life. This scenario branded my soul. When I grew up, I led the movement in Australia against the French atmospheric tests in the Pacific and Australian uranium mining. Later I came to the United States as a member of the faculty of the Harvard Medical School specializing in Cystic Fibrosis in the mid 1970s, and founded Physicians for Social Responsibility--which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985 for educating the public about the medical effects of nuclear war. I have written several books on the subject.
INTERVIEW:
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23663
==================
3. Green Party Leader, Larissa Shasko: "Undemocratic alliance between the Government, the University and Cameco"
http://saskgreen.ca/blogs/larissa-shasko/2011/03/
press-release-green-party-leader-larissa-shasko-undemocratic-alliance-b
Press Release: March 8, 2011
The people of Saskatchewan said, "No to nuclear. It is by far too expensive an option." The $30 million to further develop the Canadian Nuclear Studies Centre at the University of Saskatchewan merely trots Cameco, Bruce Power and the Nuclear Waste Management Organization in through the back door which is the University.
On March 2, 2011, Premier Brad Wall and Minister responsible for Innovation, Rob Norris, announced $30 million in public funding for a new nuclear research centre at the University of Saskatchewan. The announcement was greeted with great enthusiasm by University of Saskatchewan President Peter MacKinnon who said the new research centre will complement and strengthen the university's existing nuclear research infrastructure.
Quite the reverse: “Brad Wall's actions are having an adverse effect on the youth of this province whose universities are being turned into corporate research hubs funded by taxpayers’ dollars and rising tuition fees,” states Larissa Shasko, Leader of the Green Party of Saskatchewan.
Premier Brad Wall, in Grant Devine-style, has already ordered up an overall debt of $4.1 billion or $12.4 billion (depending on how you count it) for citizens to pay.[1] The history of the nuclear industry in Ontario and in New Brunswick is one of expensive electricity, decades of heavy interest on debt loads and cost overruns. This $30 million for the nuclear industry through the University is a very small down payment on what is to come when the Governments at both levels (federal and provincial), the nuclear industry and the University come up with a plan for the industry.
Conflicts of Interest: The merry-go-round between the Federal Government, the Provincial Government and Cameco:
Grant Isaacs, former Dean of the Edwards School of Business, U of S, becomes a senior Vice-President at Cameco
Rob Norris, Vice-President of the University runs for the Sask Party and becomes Minister responsible for Higher Education
Richard Florizone, Vice-President of Finance for the University, becomes Chair of the UDP Committee, the industry-stacked "Partnership" that puts forth Cameco and Bruce Power's plans for the nuclear industry in Saskatchewan
The Provincial and Federal Governments put up tax-payer money
University President Peter MacKinnon's term is up at the University
Prime Minister Stephen Harper appoints Peter MacKinnon to the Committee that will make recommendations to the Prime Minister on the civil service.
That leaves one seat vacant ... who now becomes the President of the University for the industry?
"The Green Party is, was, and forever will be supportive of energy sources that don't bankrupt the people of Saskatchewan. Jobs are abundant in the renewable energy sector," states Shasko. -30-
[1] Advantage Saskatchewan: Govt. revenue soaring
http://www.leaderpost.com/life/
take-your-best-shot/Advantage+Saskatchewan+Govt+revenue+soaring/4389731/story.html
The Leader-Post March 5, 2011
“Though critics point to a near-$400-million increase in Saskatchewan's overall debt in 2011, to $8.3 billion, all of that increase is on the Crown corporation side where money is borrowed to pay for business development and new infrastructure. The government's own "public" debt remains unchanged at $4.1 billion.”
= = = =
Listen: SHASKO on Newstalk Radio with host John Gormley = March 9, 2011 (in response to the above press release):
http://www.newstalk650.com/audio/john-gormley-live/
20110309-john-gormley-live-march-9-2011-green-party-leader-larissa-shasko
==================
4. WATCH: Japan Facing Biggest Catastrophe Since Dawn of Nuclear Age
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/3/14/
japan_facing_biggest_catastrophe_since_dawn
March 14, 2011
Japan remains in a state of emergency three days after a devastating earthquake and tsunami hit the country. An estimated 10,000 people have died, and Japan is facing the worst nuclear crisis since the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On Monday, a second explosion hit the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, and a third reactor lost its cooling system, raising fears of a meltdown. Radiation levels have been detected as far as 100 miles away. Dozens of people have tested positive for radiation exposure, and hundreds of thousands of have been evacuated, with the number expected to rise. [includes rush transcript
- - - -
Related Links: (All Links are at URL above)
Japan Struck by One of Biggest Earthquakes in Recorded History, Tsunamis Threaten Pacific Basin
US Attending Hiroshima Memorial "Enormously Important," Says Robert Jay Lifton
Anti-Nuclear Activists Mobilize to Oppose Obama-Funded Construction of Georgia Nuke Plants
In Historic Vote, Vermont Poised to Shut Down Lone Nuclear Reactor
Henry Red Cloud of Oglala Lakota Tribe on Native American Anti-Nuclear Activism, Uranium Mining, and the Recession’s Toll on Reservations
==================
5. EDWARDS: Resources on Nuclear Accidents
From: Gordon Edwards
Sent: Saturday, March 12, 2011 12:41 PM
Friends:
At the suggestion of one of our long-time board members, I have moved some Resources about Nuclear Accidents to the top of the CCNR web page. See
http://ccnr.org
For some technical information regarding the 3 reactors (out of 6 total) that are in a state of emergency at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Generating Station, and the 4 reactors at the Fukushima Da-ini Generation Station that are also in a state of emergency, see the World Nuclear News report which was posted about noon today (Montreal time)
http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/
RS_Battle_to_stabilise_earthquake_reactors_1203111.html
According to this report, the biggest problem in all these affected reactors is the limited ability to condense steam and therefore the buildup of pressure inside the building which can only be relieved by condensation or release to the atmosphere.
(The steam is radioactive but not like the intensely radioactive-laden releases from Chernobyl. However there is radioactive iodine, cesium, strontium, and a couple of dozen other radioactive elements in this steam - that's my comment).
According to the same report, the only two reactors where the actual water level in the core is down is units 1 and 2 of the Da-ichi generating station. Of these unit 1 is in a worse condition; in unit 2 the water level is said to be down but stabilized. Unit 1 is the reactor that had an explosion which destroyed much of the reactor building but according to the authorities did not compromise the actual airtight containment of the reactor itself.
They are using sea water to try and cool things down inside these reactors.
I believe that Japanese authorities should be urging children and pregnant women to evacuate much further away from these damaged reactors because radioactive iodine is avidly taken up by into the thyroid gland of fetuses and children, even more so than adults.
In addition to thyroid cancer there is a host of developmental problems that can be caused by inhibited thyroid functioning such as mental retardation, stunted growth, and a number of abnomalities in developing organs. WHO admits that over 5000 children in Bellarusse had to have their thyroid glands surgically removed because of the Chernobyl accident but I have seen nothing published by them about other thyroid disorders and related developmental problems.
In particular people should be warned about fresh milk, including mother's breast milk, which is one of the most important vectors for delivering radioactive iodine to the fetus/infant/child. Better to use powdered milk that was prepared before the radioactive releases started than to use fresh milk which will incorporate and concentrate the radioactive iodine.
Gordon Edwards.
===================
6. HOFFMAN: Scratch two reactors... (or maybe five... or fifty... or five hundred...)
http://acehoffman.blogspot.com/2011/03/
scratch-two-reactors-or-maybe-five-or.html
by "Ace Hoffman" <rhoffman@animatedsoftware.com>
March 12, 2011 2:32 PM
Dear Readers,
The ongoing crises in Japan should be enough of a warning to shut every nuclear power plant in the world down forever.
It's not just that "everything that can go wrong, did go wrong." The pro-nukers will claim that, and already are. "Backup systems should have worked..."
But really, what did they expect? Four reactors. Eight emergency generators. Each one can power one of several reactors. BUT what happens when all eight are flooded with debris from a tsunami, a perfectly predictable event?
Well, we're seeing what happens. [ . . . ]
- - - -
The author, a 54-year-old cancer survivor, has been warning of nuclear dangers from tsunamis, earthquakes, and other risks for many decades. His book, The Code Killers, is available for free download from here: www.acehoffman.org.
=================
7. America on nuclear alert: Could fallout from Japan explosion reach U.S. West Coast? (with Graphics)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1366055/
Japan-earthquake-tsunami-America-nuclear-alert-Fukushima-explosion.html
By Daily Mail Reporter Last updated at 9:38 PM on 14th March 2011
- 'Worst-case scenario' could send nuclear cloud across Pacific
- 30,000ft winds would carry radioactive material across the ocean
- U.S.S. Ronald Reagan hit by month's radiation in just one hour
- Japanese reactors are very similar to 23 in America
======================
8. First the Quake, Then the Lies - Don't Worry, It's Just a Little Radiation
http://www.counterpunch.org/grossman03112011.html
CounterPunch. Weekend edition 11-13 March, 2011 By KARL GROSSMAN
And with the major malfunction at the Fukushima nuclear power plant comes the lies...
That´s the way it´s always been when it comes to nuclear technology: deception has always been a central element in the push for it.
As desperate efforts were made Friday to keep coolant flowing-to prevent a nuclear meltdown-"radioactive vapor" was being released from the plant, reported the Associated Press. It quoted Japan´s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano as saying the amount of
radioactivity was "very small."
And it "would not affect the environment or human health," added AP.
Really. [ . . . . ]
============
9. Eurus Restarts Wind Farms In Northern Japan
http://e.nikkei.com/e/fr/tnks/Nni20110313D13JFF04.htm
Monday, March 14, 2011
TOKYO (Nikkei)--Eurus Energy Holdings Corp. said Sunday that it has resumed operations at six wind farms in northern Japan that it had stopped running after Friday's earthquake.
The joint venture between Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501) and Toyota Tsusho Corp. (8015) said it was asked to do so earlier that day by the local utility, Tohoku Electric Power Co. (9506), in response to a power shortage.
The wind farms that went back onstream -- four in Aomori Prefecture and two in Akita Prefecture -- have a combined output of 112,900kw, or enough to supply roughly 68,000 homes.
===================
10. Nuclear shipments safe, agency head says
http://news.ca.msn.com/top-stories/
cbc-article.aspx?cp-documentid=27927678
By CBC News, cbc.ca, Updated: March 8, 2011 10:03 PM
- - -
QUOTE: “"And, it is safe," said Binder.”
- - - -
The head of Canada's nuclear safety commission defended his agency's controversial decision to allow Bruce Power to ship radioactive waste through the Great Lakes.
Michael Binder, president and chief executive officer of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, told a parliamentary committee Tuesday that the decision was a transparent one that was based on science.
He told MPs that his agency did a thorough environmental and safety assessment of how Bruce Power plans to transport the radioactive material and is satisfied that it will be done safely and with no harm to residents or the environment.
Binder was the first witness heard by the natural resources committee, which is spending its next two meetings examining the nuclear agency's decision to allow the shipments through the Great Lakes and along the St. Lawrence Seaway. Representatives of the CNSC and Bruce Power were appearing as well.
On Thursday, the committee will hear from representatives of the Mohawk tribes of Kahnawake, Akwesasne and Tyendinaga, as well as the Union of Ontario Indians and other groups opposed to the shipments. [ . . . ]
- - - -
External Links (on URL above)
Parliament's standing committee on natural resources
http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/
Publication.aspx?DocId=5013571&Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=40&Ses=3http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=5013571&Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=40&Ses=3
CELA: Shipping steam generators in the Great Lakes
http://www.cela.ca/collections/celacourts/
shipping-steam-generators-great-lakes
==================
11. Mohawks vow to stop nuclear shipments
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/03/08/
pol-nuclear-mohawks.html
By Max Paris, Environment Unit, CBC News Posted: Mar 8, 2011 6:25 PM ET Last Updated: Mar 8, 2011 6:25 PM ET
Native communities along the St. Lawrence River say they are ready to do whatever is necessary to stop nuclear waste shipments that will pass through their traditional waterways.
Mohawks from Kahnawake, near Montreal, and Tyendenaga and Akwesasne in Ontario joined two environment groups Tuesday as they announced they will seek a legal challenge to a plan to ship used reactor parts through the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence.
The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) earlier this year approved Bruce Power's request to ship 16 decommissioned nuclear steam generators to Sweden for recycling.
In the case of Kahnawake, the ship carrying the parts will pass 30 metres from their village as it transits the St. Lawrence Seaway at the Lachine Rapids.
"We're prepared to do whatever's necessary in the coming months to stop this," warned Kahnawake Grand Chief Mike Delisle and then added, "first and foremost we are going to take legal action and stand with our white brothers and sisters who have opposed this through the court system."
MORE:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/03/08/
pol-nuclear-mohawks.html
=================
12. Environmental groups commence legal proceedings against proposed shipment of radioactive waste through the Great Lakes
http://www.sierraclub.ca/en/
trade-and-
environment/media/release/environmental-groups-commence-legal-proceedings-against-proposed
Sierra Club Canada, For Immediate Release, March 8, 2011
TORONTO � The Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA) and Sierra Club Canada (SCC) announced today that they have jointly commenced legal proceedings in the Federal Court of Canada in relation to the controversial proposal by Bruce Power Inc. to ship radioactive waste to Sweden.
“Major policy changes in the handling of nuclear waste should not be made in an ad hoc fashion,” said John Bennett, Executive Director of Sierra Club Canada. “Municipalities, First Nations, organizations and individuals all demanded to be heard on the shipping of 1,600 tonnes of nuclear waste through the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River,
but their concerns were ignored.”
CELA and SCC are seeking judicial review of two approvals recently issued by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. These approvals allow Bruce Power Inc. to transport and export 16 decommissioned steam generators on a single ship through the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway and across the Atlantic Ocean to a private commercial facility in Sweden for ‘recycling’ purposes.
The steam generators were formerly used at the Bruce A Nuclear Generating Station, and they contain a number of radioactive substances, including various isotopes of plutonium. After the ‘recycling’ process is completed in Sweden, Bruce Power Inc. proposes to ship the leftover radioactive waste to Halifax, and then transport it by road back to Western Waste Management Facility at the Bruce site near Kincardine, Ontario.
“Our judicial review applications challenge the legality of the two approvals,” said Theresa McClenaghan, counsel and Executive Director with CELA. “It is our position that the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission erred in law and jurisdiction when granting these approvals.”
“Both of the approvals were granted by the Commission without conducting an environmental assessment (EA) under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act,” said Richard Lindgren, counsel with CELA. “The judicial review applications essentially ask the Federal Court to rule whether a federal EA was required as a matter of law.”
The next step in this litigation is for the named respondents - Attorney General of Canada, Minister of Transport, and Bruce Power Inc. - to file Notices of Appearance to indicate that they intend to respond to the judicial review applications.
The judicial review applications were issued by the Federal Court on March 4, 2011, and can be accessed here. Other resources regarding this matter can be accessed on CELA’s website and SCC’s website.
For more information, please contact:
Theresa McClenaghan, CELA, 416-960-2284, Ext. 219
John Bennett, Sierra Club Canada, 613-291-6888
Richard Lindgren, CELA, 613-385-1686
==================
13. LETTER: HUGHES: RE: Chernobyl’s Lesson /Wall’s Reply
March 8, 2011
Elaine Hughes (tybach@sasktel.net)
Dear Ms. Hughes:
Thank you for your email of March 5, 2011, regarding government support for uranium value-added opportunities; and, the attached article.
Saskatchewan is a world leader in uranium production. Our province has over one billion pounds of identified uranium resources, second only to Australia. We want to ensure that the people of Saskatchewan are benefitting from this resource as much as possible.
As you know, our government extensively studied the possibility of nuclear power for Saskatchewan with the help of expert consultations and a series of public meetings in 2009. Based on recommendations and cost considerations, our government has decided to not go ahead with the construction of a large-scale nuclear reactor for the province at this time.
For more information on our government’s strategic direction for uranium development in Saskatchewan, please visit the Government of Saskatchewan website:
www.er.gov.sk.ca/uranium-development.
It is clear, however, that our growing province faces an increased demand for electricity in the years ahead. At this time, we continue to direct SaskPower to include nuclear power in the range of sustainable energy options available for the province’s long-range energy mix beyond 2020. This will be in addition to evaluating a wide range of renewable electricity supply alternatives, including wind and hydro. As part of our government’s innovation agenda, we are also encouraging investment in nuclear research, development and training opportunities, specifically in the areas of mining, neutron science, medical isotopes, small scale reactor design, and enrichment.
Earlier this month, our government announced $30 million in funding over seven years to establish a new centre for research in nuclear medicine and materials at the University of Saskatchewan. It is our hope that the new research centre will be a step toward re-establishing our province as an international leader in nuclear science and nuclear medicine.
This investment builds on January's announcement of $12 million in funding to build a new linear accelerator and support research into the production of medical isotopes at the Canadian Light Source in Saskatoon. Together with our March 4, 2011, announcement to bring PET-CT scan services to Saskatchewan, our government will continue to work hard to ensure the science and technology of innovation contributes to better health and quality of life for all Saskatchewan residents.
I have forwarded your email to the Honourable Rob Norris, Minister Responsible for Innovation, for his consideration.
Thank you for writing.
Brad Wall, Premier
cc Honourable Rob Norris,
Minister Responsible for Innovation
= = = = =
RE: Chernobyl was lesson in nuclear peril: Gorbachev
From: Elaine Hughes
Sent: Saturday, March 05, 2011 8:54 AM
To: Council of Canadians ; SK Premier Wall
Cc: Sask EcoNetwork ; Sask Environmental Society ; Pembina Institute ; GlobalResearch.ca ; Environmental Defence ; Ecologist ; Ecojustice ; David Suzuki Foundation ; Greenpeace ; Prime Minister Harper ; Breitkreuz, G. MP ; SK Green - Leader - Larissa Shasko ; SK Liberal - Leader - Ryan Bater ; SK NDP Caucus ; SK Party Caucus
Subject: Chernobyl was lesson in nuclear peril: Gorbachev
Premier Wall
Why do you persist in the craziness of anything to do with uranium and its high-risk, lethal, outdated industry: its greed and insatiable need for evermore money, the risk to the environment, wildlife and the health of those who work in the mines or live near power plants (regardless of size!), and the nightmare of transporting and storing nuclear waste?
We need nothing from uranium - nothing for a 'centre of excellence', nothing for electricity, nothing for 'added value' - nothing!!! We all know that there are alternatives which come without the multi-million year risks.
We also know that Responsible Governance means protecting those you govern.
It does not mean placing them at risk while playing into the manipulating, grasping hands of corporations with the exciting media events and back-slapping.
Why, when you are aware of the risk, do you persist in putting all of Earth's inhabitants in its path?
Please ponder Mr. Gorbachev's words in the article below and tell us, Premier Wall: What part of the horrendous lessons of Chernobyl do you not understand?????
QUOTE: "Gorbachev described Chernobyl as "a warning sign" for countries dependent on nuclear power or keen to turn to it. "
Elaine Hughes
Archerwill, SK
= = = = = = =
Chernobyl was lesson in nuclear peril: Gorbachev
http://www.nuclearpowerdaily.com/reports/
Chernobyl_was_lesson_in_nuclear_peril_Gorbachev_999.html
by Staff Writers Paris (AFP) March 1, 2011
The upcoming 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster is a brutal reminder of the dangers of nuclear power, proliferation and terrorism, former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev said on Tuesday.
"The true scope of the tragedy still remains beyond comprehension and is a shocking reminder of the reality of the nuclear threat," Gorbachev said in an essay published by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a watchdog organisation on nuclear security.
The April 26 1986 explosion at the Soviet power plant in the Ukraine, caused by an unauthorised test that went wrong, unleashed a reactor fire and radioactive fallout that contaminated swathes of the former Soviet Union and Western Europe.
The death toll ranges from a UN 2005 estimate of 4,000 to tens or even hundreds of thousands, proposed by non-governmental groups.
Environment problems include long-term contamination of water resources and soil and damage to wildlife that is still unclear, while the economic cost has been put in the hundreds of billions of dollars.
Gorbachev described Chernobyl as "a warning sign" for countries dependent on nuclear power or keen to turn to it.
MORE:
http://www.nuclearpowerdaily.com/reports/
Chernobyl_was_lesson_in_nuclear_peril_Gorbachev_999.html
=================
14. OPG a little early with its April Fool’s day prank
http://cleanairalliance.org/node/950
Apparently, April Fool’s day has come early this year. How else to explain the ads Ontario Power Generation (OPG) is running in today’s Globe and Mail and Toronto Star? OPG is making the astounding claim that its last three major nuclear projects were completed “on budget”. Here’s the truth:
- In 1999 OPG forecast that the cost of returning its shutdown Pickering A Unit 4 nuclear reactor to service would be $457 million. The real cost was 2.7 times higher at $1.25 billion.
- In 1999 OPG estimated that it would cost $213 million to return its shutdown Pickering A Unit 1 nuclear reactor to service. The actual cost was 4.8 times higher at $1.016 billion.
- In 1975 OPG’s predecessor company, Ontario Hydro, said that it would cost $3.2 billion to build the Darlington Nuclear Station. The real cost was 4.5 times higher at $14.319 billion.
Every nuclear project in Ontario’s history has gone massively over budget. On average, the real costs of Ontario’s nuclear projects have exceeded their original cost estimates by 2.5 times.
Please contact Energy Minister Duguid (and cc me) and tell him that you don’t want OPG to use our money to pay for false advertising. Enough is enough. It is time to respect Ontario’s taxpayers.
Thank you.
Angela Bischoff, Outreach Director
Ontario Clean Air Alliance
402 - 625 Church St, Toronto M4Y 2G1
Phone: 416-926-1907 ext. 246
angela@cleanairalliance.org
Ontario Clean Air Alliance
Ontario’s Green Future
No Nukes News
Health Power
Coal Must Go
================
15. No Nukes News - March 12, 2011
Joe Cirincione, president of the Ploughshares Fund has already called the accident “one of the three worst accidents we have ever had at a nuclear power plant in the history of nuclear power,” recalling the 1979 Three Mile Island, PA meltdown and the 1986 Chernobyl reactor explosion in Ukraine.
Commentator, Keith Olbermann has called for a complete and permanent shutdown of U.S. reactors.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Beyond Nuclear monitoring struggle to prevent meltdown in Japan Beyond Nuclear is monitoring the situation in Japan with respect to the nuclear reactor crisis and providing constant updates on their site. The best links and articles can be found here including a map of potential fallout heading to western Canada and the US.
http://www.beyondnuclear.org/
----------------------------------------------------------------
NIRS Factsheet on Japan’s Reactors
Nuclear Information and Resource Centre is closely monitoring the situation with Japan's nuclear reactors. They have produced and are regularly updating a factsheet on the Fukushima reactors and the ongoing concerns about what appears to be becoming a very serious situation. Check periodically for updates and refer your local media to it.
http://www.nirs.org/reactorwatch/accide ... tsheet.pdf
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Random articles on the situation
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/12/
us-japan-quake-nuclear-qa-idUSTRE72B2ET20110312
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-12723092
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/12/
japan.nuclear/
http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/
RS_Battle_to_stabilise_earthquake_reactors_1203111.html
----------------------------------------------------------------
Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility
Some resources about Nuclear Accidents at the top of the CCNR web page.
http://ccnr.org
----------------------------------------------------------------
Send a letter to McGuinty (and other prov. leaders) saying No More Nuclear Bailouts in Ontario!
http://www.cleanairalliance.org/nuke_debt
----------------------------------------------------------------
Angela Bischoff, Outreach Director
Ontario Clean Air Alliance
Tel: 416 926 1907 x 246
625 Church Street, #402, Toronto, ON M4Y 2G1
angela@cleanairalliance.org
www.cleanairalliance.org
www.ontariosgreenfuture.ca
Our Facebook Group
No Nukes News
Health Power
Coal Must Go
====================
16. Switzerland suspends plans for new nuclear plants
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/03/14/
swiss-suspend-plans-new-nuclear-plants.html
March 14, 2011 John Heilprin
BERN, SWITZERLAND—Switzerland abruptly suspended plans to build and replace nuclear plants Monday as two hydrogen explosions at a tsunami-stricken Japanese facility spread jitters about atomic energy safety in Europe.
Energy Minister Doris Leuthard said the suspension would affect all “blanket authorization for nuclear replacement until safety standards have been carefully reviewed and if necessary adapted.” Swiss regulatory authorities had given their stamp of approval to three sites for new nuclear power stations after the plans were submitted in 2008.
“Safety and well-being of the population have the highest priority,” said Leuthard, who instructed the Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate to analyze the exact cause of the accidents in Japan and draw up new or tougher safety standards “particularly in terms of seismic safety and cooling.”
Leuthard said no new plants can be permitted until those experts report back. Their conclusions would apply not only to planned sites, but also existing plants. Switzerland now has four nuclear power plants that produce about 40 per cent of the country's energy needs. It also has nuclear research reactors. [ . . . ]
===================
17. Germany Suspends Nuclear Plant Plans
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/03/14/
134533455/germany-suspends-nuclear-plant-plans
by Korva Coleman, NPR, March 14 2011
Given Japan's nuclear woes, Germans are anxious over the safety of their 17 nuclear power plants. German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced her government will delay its plans to extend the life of nuclear plants in Germany. The Wall Street Journal says Merkel has ordered a moratorium to conduct a three month safety inquiry. She says the analysis will be thorough with 'nothing taboo' and added, "the situation after this
moratorium will be different than the situation before." Merkel has insisted on nuclear power as an aspect of the country's energy policy; Deute Welle says she could pay a political price for her stance. On Saturday, tens of thousands of Germans turned out to protest nuclear power. The BBC says they formed a human chain that stretched for 27 miles. [ . . . ]
= = = = = =
Merkel delays nuclear extensions
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/
2011/03/2011314154359989592.html
German chancellor delays decision to extend the life of ageing nuclear plants in reaction to Japanese crisis.
Last Modified: 14 Mar 2011 17:06 GMT
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, has suspended plans to extend the life of the country's nuclear power plants, in response to the situation in Japan.
"If a highly developed country like Japan, with high safety standards and norms, cannot prevent the consequences for nuclear power of an earthquake and a tsunami, then this has consequences for the whole world," Merkel said on Monday as she announced that the decision would be delayed for three months.
"This changes the situation, including in Germany. We have a new situation, and this situation must be thoroughly analysed."
Opposition groups had been pressuring the government to scrap its decision, made last year, to extend the life of the country's 17 nuclear power plants by an average 12 years.
The stations were originally intended to be shut down in 2021, but the power industry had pushed to extend the lives of the ageing facilities. [ . . . ]
=================
18. World Nuclear News Weekly - March 1-7, 2011
http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/
?u=140c559a3b34d23ff7c6b48b9&id=b4a670fa24&e=7a6d90bce5
NEW NUCLEAR:
Reactor projects continue to advance
4 March 2011
Two projects to build new nuclear reactors in the US have moved forward with the completion of the final environmental impact statement for South Texas Project units 3 and 4 and the award of a contract to upgrade transmission lines at VC Summer.
Utility quits North Anna expansion project
1 March 2011
Old Dominion Electric Cooperative (ODEC) has announced its decision to pull out of the project to build a third nuclear reactor at the North Anna nuclear power plant in Virginia.
Chile prepares for nuclear power
1 March 2011
A training deal with France is among the first concrete steps Chile has taken to prepare for decisions on introducing nuclear power in the 2020s, when it could meet 26% of supply.
NUCLEAR POLICIES:
France and South Africa strengthen nuclear bonds
3 March 2011
A visit to France by South African President and members of his cabinet has provided a platform for strengthening cooperation on energy matters between the two countries, with agreements signed on nuclear development and training.
CORPORATE:
Nuclear's role confirmed in TVA plan
7 March 2011
Nuclear energy features heavily in the Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA's) newly completed integrated resource plan, which will direct the authority's developments over the next two decades.
SNPTC cooperates with Shandong province
7 March 2011
China's State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation (SNPTC) has signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement on nuclear power with the provincial government of Shandong.
Growth despite costs for Areva
4 March 2011
Areva has posted annual results for 2010 featuring a backlog of some €44.2 billion ($61.4 billion) but an operating loss this year of €423 million ($591 million) due to certain items.
Bulk orders for China's nuclear fleet
3 March 2011
Major contracts will support China's program of domestic reactor build and project management of the AP1000 program.
Grid sale raises cash for EOn
2 March 2011
A £4 billion deal will see EOn sell a major section of the UK power grid to PPL of the USA - the second major network sale by a firm planning nuclear new build.
EXPLORATION & NUCLEAR FUEL:
US uranium sale to fund site cleanup
3 March 2011
The US Department of Energy will sell off excess uranium over the next three years to help fund the cleanup of a former enrichment site but has determined this will not adversely affect uranium markets.
INDUSTRY TALK:
Electrabel opposes possible tax hike
7 March 2011
Belgian nuclear operator Electrabel, part of the GDF-Suez group, will oppose any increase in the tax already levied on nuclear power by the Belgian government, Electrabel chief Sophie Dutordoir told Belgium's De Tijd newspaper.
Nuclear has role in Poland says IEA
2 March 2011
Poland should focus on energy efficiency, nuclear energy, carbon capture and storage and renewables, as well as continuing to expand natural gas infrastructure in its efforts help meet energy security and climate change objectives, said the OECD International Energy Agency.
- - - - -
Our mailing address is:
World Nuclear Association
Carlton House, 22a St James's Square
London, Westminster SW1Y4JH
===================
19. IPPNW Germany Demands Closing Down of All Nuclear Power Plants Worldwide
http://ippnweupdate.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/
mv_resolution_en.pdf
March 12, 2011 Press Release
Resolution of IPPNW Germany on the occasion of the nuclear catastrophe in Japan
IPPNW Germany demands the closing down of all nuclear power plants worldwide.
25 years after Chernobyl, and on the day of the catastrophe in Fukushima that resulted in an uncontrolled release of radioactivity, the German affiliate of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) demands that all nuclear power plants worldwide should be closed down. The risks of nuclear technology are uncontrollable even for allegedly safe nuclear power plants of the western world.
IPPNW points out that the population density in Japan is about 15 times higher than it is in the Chernobyl region. (Japan: 337 inhabitants/square kilometre). Depending on the direction of wind and weather situation the health consequences in Japan may be dramatic.
As physicians we wish to emphasise the global health risk that is a result of this catastrophe.
The radioactive cloud will not halt at Japan's borders. Increased levels of radioactivity were detected after Chernobyl even several thousands of kilometers away in Japan.
The time has come for politicians to prevail against the mighty lobby of the nuclear industry.
It is irresponsible to endanger us citizens for the profit interest of a few companies.
- - - -
German affiliate of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) on its annual meeting in Frankfurt am Main on the 12th of March 2011
International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW)
===================
20. Nuclear Accident ABCs
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2011/ucs140311.html
by the Union of Concerned Scientists March 14, 2011
In reporting on the nuclear situation in Japan, terms describing the possible state of the reactors have been used by Japanese officials and international experts. Unfortunately, these terms are not always used consistently. We discuss some of them below.
The reactor core containing nuclear fuel is the "engine" of a nuclear power reactor. The reactor core resides in the lower region of a metal "pot" called the reactor vessel. The reactor vessel is enclosed within the primary containment structure, consisting of the drywell and wetwell (see diagram), which is designed to contain radioactive materials released during a reactor accident. The reactor building provides the secondary containment, which is intended to prevent any leaks from the primary containment from escaping to the environment. The air in the reactor building is sent through filters to remove any radiation before being released to the outside.
The fuel consists of uranium or uranium/plutonium pellets stacked inside long tubes made from zirconium metal. When a reactor is operating, the fuel gets very hot. The fuel is immersed in water, and the heat produces steam, which is used to drive a turbine to produce electricity. The water also keeps the fuel from overheating, and is continuously circulated through the reactor core to carry away excess heat. Even if the reactor shuts down, the fuel will remain hot for a long time, so must still be cooled.
MORE:
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2011/ucs140311.html
==================
21. Bradley Manning Treatment 'Counterproductive And Stupid'
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/11/
pj-crowley-bradley-manning-treatment-_n_834611.html
March 11, 2011
Hillary Clinton's spokesman has slammed the Pentagon for its "ridiculous" treatment of Bradley Manning, the U.S. soldier who is currently detained on allegations of handing thousands of confidential State Department cables to WikiLeaks.
Speaking at an MIT seminar in Boston, Assistant Secretary Of State For Public Affairs P.J. Crowley said Manning is being "mistreated" in the military brig at Quantico, Virginia. "What is being done to Bradley Manning is ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid on the part of the department of defense," he said.
Manning's treatment -- which includes being held for 23 hours daily in solitary confinement and being stripped naked every night -- has sparked the ire of civil rights advocates as well as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who called the U.S. Army intelligence analyst a "political prisoner [held] without trial." But as the Guardian is reporting, Crowley's comments mark the first time anyone within the Obama administration has expressed concern over Manning's treatment, and are the first sign of a crack among lawmakers over the ongoing handling of the entire WikiLeaks saga.
Following the criticisms, Crowley went on to note that "nonetheless, Bradley Manning is in the right place. There is sometimes a need for secrets...for diplomatic progress to be made." As CBS is reporting, a State Department official has since insisted Crowley's comments reflected his personal opinion and did not reflect the official policy of the U.S. government.
MORE:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/11/
pj-crowley-bradley-manning-treatment-_n_834611.html
==================
22. Christy Clark Advisor Building Prison for Gadhafi's Use
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2011/03/14/GadhafiPrison/
?utm_source=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=140311
Gwynn Morgan of incoming premier's transition team chairs SNC-Lavalin, constructor of 'state of the art' jail likely to house opponents of Libya's dictator.
By Will McMartin, Today, TheTyee.ca
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of unarmed Libyans have been maimed or killed in recent weeks as they peacefully demonstrated for a democratic alternative to the brutal, thuggish regime of Muammar Gadhafi.
In response, some 6,700 kilometers due south of the violence, the International Criminal Court in Johannesburg commenced a formal investigation into Gadhafi's alleged crimes against humanity.
And halfway around the world, in British Columbia, the man whose company now is building a $275 million, state-of-the-art prison for Gadhafi in the Libyan capital of Tripoli, huddled with premier-designate Christy Clark, helping her prepare to take the reins of government.
Yes, as bizarre as it sounds, Gwyn Morgan, the $300,000-a-year chair of Montreal-based SNC-Lavalin, a firm that for decades has worked with Gadhafi and his sons, is now serving as a "transition advisor" for Clark while she prepares to implement her "Families First" agenda in Victoria.
And above and beyond that weird fact, is another: Morgan's company does business worth millions of dollars annually with B.C.'s public sector.
So, two questions for Christy Clark. First, what measures have you taken to protect British Columbians from Gwyn Morgan's real and perceived conflicts of interest?
Second, and even more important, why are you working with a man who saw nothing wrong with building a prison for a mad killer like Gadhafi?
MORE:
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2011/03/14/GadhafiPrison/
?utm_source=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=140311
- Oscar
- Site Admin
- Posts: 9965
- Joined: Wed May 03, 2006 3:23 pm
NUKE NEWS: March 18, 2011
by Oscar » Fri Mar 18, 2011 11:50 am
NUKE NEWS: March 18, 2011
"The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking and we thus drift towards unparalleled catastrophe." - Albert Einstein
1. EVENT: March 18 – Regina - Greens to Hold Urgent Press Conference at Saskatchewan Legislature on Nuclear Crisis in Japan
2. EVENT: Toronto - Mar. 30 - Nuclear in the Spotlight
3. ACTION: PETITION: Don’t Nuke Green Energy: Stop Darlington (See article below.....)
4. UPDATE: DARLINGTON POWER PLANT HEARINGS
5. NO NUKE NEWS – Ontario Clean Air Alliance – Mar. 14, 16
6. HARDING: WHAT DOES JAPAN’S TRIPLE DISASTER TELL US ABOUT SUSTAINABILITY?
7. URANIUM STOCK MARKET NEWS
8. The Nuclear Whistleblower - Arnold Gundersen of Goshen (1999)
9. Jerry Grandey retiring as CEO of Cameco; company president Tim Gitzel takes over July 1
10. Can U.S. Nuclear Plants Handle a Major Natural Disaster?
11. World Nuclear News Weekly: 8-14 March 2011
12. Tide turns against nuclear industry
13. Tokyo Electric to Build US Nuclear Plants: The No BS Info on Japan's Disastrous Nuclear Operators
14. Nuclear Power Madness
15. Nuclear Power, on the Brink
16. US nuclear plants located near geologic faults
17. SHUT SAN ONOFRE NOW! Tomorrow might be too late and besides, the operators will be hung over!
18. Mining activist kicked out of conference
19. WATCH: Amy Goodman Reports from South Africa on Aristide’s Planned Return Trip to Haiti After Seven Years in Exile
20. CHECK SOME WEBSITES FOR UPDATES ON JAPAN NUCLEAR SITUATION: (subscribe to their newsletters . . . .)
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1. EVENT: March 18 – Regina - Greens to Hold Urgent Press Conference at Saskatchewan Legislature on Nuclear Crisis in Japan
http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/
?u=e1b6a0cf15075ddf3627c7299&id=e9289f8794&e=dfd26d9c0f
NEWS RELEASE MARCH 17, 2011
The Green Party of Saskatchewan would like to offer our support for the people of Japan following the events of last week. Larissa Shasko, Leader of the Green Party of Saskatchewan, will be hosting an urgent press conference in Regina this Friday, March 18, at the Saskatchewan Legislature (Members Dining Room) at 10:00am to address the Wall Government's position that the nuclear crisis in Japan is all the more reason to research and develop nuclear technology in Saskatchewan. The Green Party of Saskatchewan strongly disagrees with this position and the comments made by the Minister responsible for SaskPower, Rob Norris.
Minister Rob Norris is a former Vice-President of the University of Saskatchewan. In response to the nuclear crisis in Japan, Norris has chosen to defend the Government of Saskatchewan’s plan, (or is it the plan of Bruce Power?) to continue tax-payer funding of the industry. On March 3, 2011, the Wall Government announced they are giving $30 million of public money to the University of Saskatchewan with strings attached: the money has to be for the nuclear industry. It is as though there are no lessons to be learned from what is happening in Japan. It is as though the Public Consultations in 2009 never happened. Through the consultation process the citizens of Saskatchewan said “no” to nuclear in this province, yet the Wall Government has forged ahead with plans for the full nuclear industrialization of Saskatchewan. According to Green Party Leader Larissa Shasko, “Premier Wall has chosen to listen to the voices of the nuclear industry and ignore the voices of Citizens.”
Rob Norris said the tax-payers of Saskatchewan have an “ethical obligation” [1] to move forward with the industry. The nuclear events in Japan have triggered well-founded fear right around this small planet. The track record of “assurances” provided to the public by the nuclear industry and Government officials warn us to think for ourselves. What is our “ethical obligation”? Clearly it is to eliminate the cause of the fear. We need to stop the nuclear industry in Saskatchewan.
It is uncertain whether Japan will ever recover economically from the earthquake and tsunami disaster compounded by the nuclear explosions. “I wonder whether the citizens of Japan will thank Saskatchewan for our contributions of fuel for nuclear reactors,” states Shasko.
The Green Party of Saskatchewan is working to lead the way to a different vision for our province and the world, where renewable energy is providing safe and clean power and good jobs. And where nuclear and all of its risks are phased out permanently.
- - - - - - -
[1] Saskatchewan moves ahead with nuclear agenda despite crisis in Japan
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/prairies/
saskatchewan-moves-ahead-with-nuclear-agenda-despite-crisis-in-japan/article1942139/
Jennifer Graham, The Canadian Press - Mon, 14 Mar 2011 18:19:00 CST
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2. EVENT: Toronto - Mar. 30 - Nuclear in the Spotlight
A chance to express hope for Japan and a green future…
With the Ontario Clean Air Alliance
Wed. March 30, 7:30 p.m.
Annex Live, 296 Brunswick (at Bloor), Toronto
With performances by Mike Ford, Meghan Morrison, Richard Underhill, Michael Louis Johnson, the Raging Grannies, and more.
Special guest speaker Kevin Kamps from Beyond Nuclear will address the current situation in Japan.
Yes! to renewable energy
No! to nuclear and coal
Please join us at this FUNdraising event. Proceeds to go to Japan relief efforts as well as to OCAA.
Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=192323914141758
Tickets:
http://nuclearspotlight.eventbrite.com/
Items and gift certificates for the silent auction have been donated by: The Big Carrot, Mountain Equipment Coop, The Bike Joint, La Palette, Downward Dog, Scollard Acupuncture Clinic, Herschel Photography and Art, and more... Thank you!
For more info: angela@cleanairalliance.org, 416 926 1907 x 246
Angela Bischoff, Outreach Director
Ontario Clean Air Alliance
Tel: 416 926 1907 x 246
625 Church Street, #402
Toronto, ON M4Y 2G1
angela@cleanairalliance.org
www.cleanairalliance.org
www.ontariosgreenfuture.ca
Our Facebook Group
No Nukes News
Health Power
Coal Must Go
=================
3. ACTION: PETITION: Don’t Nuke Green Energy: Stop Darlington (See article below.....)
http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/campaigns/
end-the-nuclear-threat/Get-involved/StopDarlington2/
Stop Darlington March 17, 2011
The Ontario government is planning to spend $26 billion building risky new reactors at the Darlington site east of Toronto, in part to replace the ageing reactors at the Pickering station, which will close by 2020.
This plan will divert billions of dollars that should be invested in cheaper and cleaner green energy sources and will drive up electricity prices. It will also increase the risk of a nuclear accident for future generations.
There has been no consideration of alternatives to building new reactors even though they're cheaper. A report by Greenpeace and the Pembina Institute shows that replacing the Pickering reactors with green energy would be cheaper and would protect Ontarians from the high-cost and risks of new reactors.
Environmental assessment hearings on the Darlington reactors are set to begin next week. These hearings, however, ignore possible alternatives to building new reactors and the potential environmental impacts of a large scale nuclear accident.
Fukushima has caused other countries to rethink their nuclear plants. Ontario should too.
Please tell Premier McGuinty to rethink his plan for new reactors. Please ask him to delay the hearings on new reactors and instead review safer green alternatives.
GO TO:
http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/campaigns/
end-the-nuclear-threat/Get-involved/StopDarlington2/
===============
4. UPDATE: DARLINGTON POWER PLANT HEARINGS
Halt urged for nuclear hearings
http://www.waterkeeper.ca/2011/03/16/
halt-urged-for-nuclear-hearings-toronto-gta-news-toronto-sun/
| Toronto & GTA | News | Toronto Sun March 16, 2011
Greenpeace and Ontario’s nurses paired up on Wednesday to call for the province to halt hearings on new nuclear reactors for Ontario.
The hearings on development at the Darlington nuke plant slotted for next week should be postponed, said the environmental group and the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario.
“There has been no assessment of the cost-effectiveness of new reactors and the environmental and safety reviews ignore the potential for accidents like we’re seeing in Japan,” said Shawn-Patrick Stensil, a nuclear analyst with Greenpeace.
“The need, cost-effectiveness and safety of the reactors is in doubt … a rethink is required,” he said. [ . . . ]
= = = = =
Halt urged for nuclear hearings
http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/
2011/03/16/17644461.html
The Toronto Sun Thu Mar 17 2011 Page: 10 Section: News
Byline: TERRY DAVIDSON, TORONTO SUN
Greenpeace and Ontario's nurses paired up on Wednesday to call for the province to halt hearings on new nuclear reactors for Ontario.
The hearings on development at the Darlington nuke plant slotted for next week should be postponed, said the environmental group and the Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario. [ . . . ]
= = = = = =
New nuclear plant hearing scheduled to start Monday
http://www.waterkeeper.ca/2011/03/14/
new-nuclear-plant-hearing-schedule-to-start-monday/
Krystyn Tully, Waterkeeper.ca Weekly March 14, 2011
The first new nuclear power plant to be built in Canada in decades is slated for review beginning next Monday.
Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, other NGOs, members of the nuclear industry, and government departments have been preparing for the hearing for years. Waterkeeper’s research focuses on cooling water systems and impacts on fish habitat: the kinds of impacts a nuclear power plant has on the environment during its day-to-day operations.
OPG’s written proposition is so vague and so incomplete that it is virtually impossible to predict all of the environmental impacts of the new Darlington Nuclear Power Plant. OPG does not yet know, for example, which type of reactor or cooling water system it will build. [ . . . ]
- - - - -
More Information:
Lake Ontario Waterkeeper’s hearing information guide:
http://www.waterkeeper.ca/2011/02/22/
darlington-new-nuclear-build-overview/
CEAA Schedule:
http://www.ceaa-acee.gc.ca/050/
document-eng.cfm?document=48122
= = = = = =
Japan’s nuclear crisis dampens Ontarians' enthusiasm for new reactors
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/
adam-radwanski/japans-nuclear-crisis-dampens-ontarians-enthusiasm-for-new-reactors/article1941934/
ADAM RADWANSKI | Columnist profile | E-mail
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail Published Monday, Mar. 14, 2011 7:37PM EDT
Last updated Monday, Mar. 14, 2011 9:14PM EDT
Only a few days ago, Dalton McGuinty sounded about as gung-ho on nuclear energy as any government leader since the Chernobyl disaster.
“The federal government’s process to sell AECL has put our nuclear industry into a stall,” the Ontario Premier told his audience at the provincial Liberals’ annual fundraising dinner last Wednesday. “Ottawa needs to understand: Ontario’s nuclear industry is an important part of Canada’s energy advantage. We both need to be committed to its future, and the 55,000 jobs it represents today.”
A few days, however, can be a very long time – especially if they involve the worst nuclear crisis in decades. With Japan struggling to contain meltdowns at three different nuclear plants following last Friday’s devastating earthquake, Mr. McGuinty stands to be a little more guarded the next time the subject comes up. [ . . . ]
More related to this story (Links are on URL above)
Japan’s disaster could put brakes on Canada’s energy aspirations
High radiation levels threat to human health: Japanese government
The nuclear risk merits actions, but not global shutdowns
==================
5. NO NUKE NEWS – Ontario Clean Air Alliance – Mar. 14 & 16
No Nukes News - Mar. 14, 2011
The question now is whether the industry can be trusted anywhere. If this industry were a company, its shareholders would have deserted it years ago. In just one generation it has killed, wounded or blighted the lives of many millions of people and laid waste to millions of square miles of land. In that time it has been subsidised to the tune of trillions of dollars and it will cost hundreds of billions more to clean up and store the messes it has caused and the waste it has created. It has had three catastrophic failures now in 25 years and dozens more close shaves. Its workings have been marked around the world by mendacity, cover-ups, secrecy and financial incompetence. – John Vidal
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Today's Question – CTV News – Is nuclear power worth the risk?
As of now, 53% yes, 47% no. Vote now!
http://www.ctv.ca/news/
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Japan’s Nuclear Crisis
For the best updates check out:
http://www.beyondnuclear.org/
http://www.nirs.org/reactorwatch/accidents/
Fukushimafactsheet.pdf
http://www.nukefree.org/
http://allthingsnuclear.org/tagged/Japan_nuclear
Nuclear meltdown at Fukushima plant highly likely
Last night, Japan's chief government spokesman Yukio Edano said night that a meltdown was "highly likely" at three of the plant's nuclear reactors on the country's shattered northeastern coast, the Kyodo news agency reported.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/world/
japan-earthquake-new-explosion-rocks-fukushima-nuclear-power-plant/story-e6frev00-1226021506205
Uranium shares fall as Japan battles meltdown
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/
uranium-shares-fall-as-japan-battles-meltdown-2011-03-14?reflink=MW_news_stmp
Behind the Hydrogen Explosion at the Fukushima Nuclear Plant
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/03/12-3
What will spark the next Fukushima?
An untrustworthy nuclear industry, incompetently regulated, is leading the world into greater and greater danger
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/
2011/mar/14/fukushima-nuclear-industry
Gordon Edwards of the CCNR speaks about health implications – 5 min. video
http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/News/
1221258968/ID=1840043716
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Youth Against New Darlington Nuclear Plant
Calling all youth (under 20)! Sign the petition against new nuclear reactors proposed for Darlington – and send it to your friends on facebook! The petition will be delivered to the Darlington Joint Panel by a delegation of youth on Friday, April 8.
This spring, a panel of three adults will decide whether to approve the construction of a new nuclear power plant at Darlington, Ontario, Canada (70 km east of Toronto).
AS YOUTH, WE OPPOSE THE NEW DARLINGTON NUCLEAR PLANT BECAUSE
• Nuclear power plants are dangerous – thousands died from the 1986 Chernobyl accident
• Nuclear plants emit harmful radiation into air and water
• Nuclear plants cost tens of billions of dollars
• Nuclear plants produce waste that is hazardous for thousands of years
• Ontario can meet its electricity needs through renewable energy and conservation.
Youth have not been consulted about this decision. Adults have no right to put our future at risk!
Sign the petition:
http://www.gopetition.com/petition/43683.html
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The true cost of nuclear in Ontario
The Ontario Liberal Government has committed up to $35 billion to expand the aging fleet of nuclear reactors at the Darlington Nuclear Station… A loose-knit group of Trent students and Peterborough residents is attempting to intervene in the expansion plan by making oral presentations to a Joint Review Panel, which has been charged with conducting a public consultation.
Former Peterborough resident Paul McKay's new and strategically released book, Atomic Accomplice: How Canada Deals in Deadly Deceit, documents how federal and provincial governments have secretly and not so secretly manipulated the energy marketplace by price-fixing, subsidies, and cost-overruns.
If the cost of rebuilding the aged reactors at the Darlington Nuclear Station is factored in, the Ontario Clean Air Alliance has suggested the actual cost of the energy will be from 19 to 37 cents per kilowatt-hour. They have aggressively mounted a "Stop a $35 Billion Nuclear Handout" campaign, claiming "every nuclear project in Ontario's history has gone massively over budget." In what may amount to a massive transfer of wealth from tax payers to the industries and corporations that use the energy at a greater rate, taxpayers will be on the hook to potentially cover 2.5 times Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) estimates, not including the $1.8 billion per year on the taxpayers in debt retirement charges for previous cost overruns.
http://www.trentarthur.ca/
index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2406:the-true-cost-of-nuclear-in-ontario&catid=14&Itemid=33
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Nuclear "Spin" at OPG
At what point does corporate “spin” become unethical?
As part of its PR efforts, OPG last week took out ads in major Ontario newspapers.
The OCAA denounced OPG’s advertisement with a press release of their own, branding the OPG ad as “false advertising” and an early “April Fool’s prank”.
http://ethical-politics.blogspot.com/2011/03/
nuclear-spin-at-opg.html
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Legal action taken over radioactive waste being shipped through Great Lakes
http://www.windsorstar.com/technology/
Legal+action+taken+over+radioactive+waste+being+shipped+through+Great+Lakes/4403611/story.html#ixzz1G8X6egrA
Groups urge feds to stall 'nuclear garbage' shipment - Eighty-three MPs sign petition
http://www.montrealgazette.com/technology/
Groups+urge+feds+stall+nuclear+garbage+shipment/4407434/story.html#ixzz1G8H0ixjo
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Darlington Nuclear new build discussed in Legislature
NDP MPP Peter Tabuns: OPG is trying to convince Ontarians that it can build, or rebuild, a nuclear reactor on budget by trying to rewrite Ontario’s history of nuclear delays and cost overruns. The Minister of Energy is responsible for advising and directing this government-owned corporation. Will the minister demand that OPG pull these ads and promise Ontarians that they—Ontarians—won’t pay for the inevitable cost overruns of the Darlington rebuild?
http://www.waterkeeper.ca/2011/03/10/
darlington-nuclear-new-build-discussed-in-legislature/
Please contact Energy Minister Duguid (and cc me) and tell him that you don’t want OPG to use our money to pay for false advertising. Enough is enough. It is time to respect Ontario’s taxpayers. For more info:
http://www.cleanairalliance.org/node/950
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Ontario’s Green Energy Debate: Three Points to Consider
The Ontario government’s surprise decision to place a moratorium on offshore wind power development has again put the spotlight on the province’s Green Energy Act and the McGuinty government’s overall approach to electricity issues. While the 2009 legislation is not without its flaws, the debate about the role of renewable energy in the province’s future seems to have lost track of three essential points.
http://marksw.blog.yorku.ca/2011/03/10/
ontario%E2%80%99s-green-energy-debate-three-points-to-consider/
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Renewable Energy Training Courses
Offered by the Kortright Centre (just north of Toronto in the city of Woodbridge)
http://kortright.org/groups-and-educati ... -workshop/
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More wind than science in turbine debate
If we’re going to stop wind development until more research can be done, then we should first stop nuclear until we know more about the health risks from shipping radioactive waste up the St. Lawrence seaway. We know nukes are dangerous. We have no hard evidence anywhere that wind actually causes health problems, and 30-plus years of research that shows otherwise.
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/
article/951453--more-wind-than-science-in-turbine-debate
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Carbon Reduction Policies Can be Good for the Economy
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/
2011/02/a-new-path-to-growth-with-renewables?cmpid=WNL-Wednesday-March2-2011
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Stand up for Solar
Send a letter to your MPP and more here:
www.standupforsolar.ca
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Facing Off for Social Justice in a Militarized World Conflict Zones, Human Rights and Health Care
Mar. 25/26, Ottawa, ON
Sponsored by Physicians for Global Survival
Agenda and registration:
http://pgs.ca/?page_id=725
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It’s time to cut up the nuclear credit card and get a firm hold on nuclear spending. It is time to stop taxpayer-financed nuclear bailouts. Please contact Premier McGuinty and Opposition Leader Tim Hudak and tell them that you don’t want Ontario’s taxpayers to guarantee the repayments of OPG’s borrowings for its proposed Darlington Re-Build Project. Click here to send them your letter now.
And order FREE leaflets/postcards opposing the Darlington Nuclear Newbuild:
http://www.cleanairalliance.org/get_inv ... _pamphlets
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= = = = = = =
No Nukes News - Mar. 16, 2011
The best news service on the Japan nuclear crisis is Beyond Nuclear. Check it often.
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Japan may spell end of nuclear industry worldwide
“The situation is very grim and not just for the Japanese people,” said Dr Helen Caldicott. “If both reactors blow then the whole of the Northern Hemisphere may be affected,” she said. “Only one reactor blew at Chernobyl and it was only 3 months old, with new cores holding relatively little radiation; these ones have been operating for 40 years and would hold about 30 times more radiation than Chernobyl’s.”
http://www.independentaustralia.net/2011/international/
caldicott-japan-may-spell-end-of-nuclear-industry-worldwide/
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Germany to shut down pre-1980 nuclear plants
* Only 10 of Germany's 17 nuclear plants to stay open
* About a third of German nuclear capacity to be shut down
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/15/
germany-nuclear-idUSLDE72E17620110315?pageNumber=1
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And in the US:
The US Republicans backing nuclear power aren't about to give up the struggle because of events in Japan. Meet Republican congressman Devin Nunes of California, who wants 200 new power plants and thinks the events in Fukushima strengthens the argument for more nuclear plants. Nunes has proposed a comprehensive energy bill that calls for 200 new nuclear power plants by 2040. The bill has more than 50 sponsors, including House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan. Citing the rarity of the disaster that caused the nuclear crisis in Japan, Nunes insists the catastrophe may actually strengthen the argument for building more reactors in the United States.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/mar/15/
japan-earthquake-and-tsunami-japan
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Japan Teeters on the Edge of Nuclear Meltdown, While U.S. and Other Countries Work to Build More Nuclear Reactors
You'd think the world would have wised up by now to the risks of nuclear power, but that's not the case in our country and many others.
http://www.alternet.org/environment/150247/
japan_teeters_on_the_edge_of_nuclear_meltdown,_while_u.s._and_other_countries_work_to_build_more_nuclear_reactors
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China Suspends New Nuclear Power Plans
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/16/
china-nuclear-power-plans_n_836460.html
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Ontario not backing down on expanding nuclear plants
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/
954547--ontario-not-backing-down-on-expanding-nuclear-plants
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Democracy Now - Japan Facing Biggest Catastrophe Since Dawn of Nuclear Age
Lots of good info here. Watch the video or read the transcript here:
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/3/14/
japan_facing_biggest_catastrophe_since_dawn
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Water leak at Pickering nuclear plant
Canada's nuclear regulator said Wednesday there was a demineralized water leak at a nuclear power plant near Toronto late Monday after a pump seal failed.
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/
954772--water-leak-at-pickering-nuclear-plant
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Four explosions, two fires, and a cloud of nuclear mistrust spreads around the world
After decades of lies, nuclear reassurances now fall on deaf ears
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/
four-explosions-two-fires-and-a-cloud-of-nuclear-mistrust-spreads-around-the-world-2242988.html
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No Word for Meltdown: The Return of Nukespeak
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/rory-oconnor/
34975/no-word-for-meltdown-the-return-of-nukespeak
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Solar power outshines nuclear power: Study
A year-long Queen's University study has concluded that nuclear power is simply not worth the risk when compared to solar energy.
The study concluded: "In light of these results and with the recent economic challenges, climate destabilization and a new-found emphasis on sustainability, U.S. energy policy needs to re-evaluate its options and appropriate available funds wisely by moving away from nuclear power and diversifying their energy portfolio to maximize the renewable (not alternative) energy potential."
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/
954262--solar-power-outshines-nuclear-power-study
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SunShot: Lowering the Price of Electricity from the Sun
The U.S. Department of Energy aims to make electricity from the sun cheaper than that from burning coal or natural gas
http://www.scientificamerican.com/
article.cfm?id=sunshot-lowering-price-of-solar-electricity
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The Highway of the Atom
The surprising story of the atomic bomb's origins in Canada's North.
http://mqup.mcgill.ca/
browse_archives.php?catalogue=35&page=3
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End Subsidies to the Fossil Fuel Industry by the next Federal Budget
2 minute video.
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=tGUkma2qzhQ&feature=player_embedded
Then visit
http://www.climateactionnetwork.ca/e/
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Calling All Youth – Sign the petition opposing new reactors at Darlington
http://www.gopetition.com/petition/43683.html
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Facing Off for Social Justice in a Militarized World Conflict Zones, Human Rights and Health Care
Mar. 25/26, Ottawa, ON
Sponsored by Physicians for Global Survival
Agenda and registration:
http://pgs.ca/?page_id=725
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Nuclear in the Spotlight – Wed. Mar. 30, Toronto
Feeling powerless? Come out to our Nuclear in the Spotlight event in Toronto on Wed. March 30th to help us turn Ontario away from nuclear and toward safer options. Check out our Facebook Event Page for more details. We will be dedicating some ticket funds and taking up a collection at the event for Japanese relief efforts.
Hope to see you there. And until then, our thoughts and prayers extend to the Japanese people and all those who will be affected by this disaster, now and into the future.
http://www.facebook.com/
event.php?eid=192323914141758
http://nuclearspotlight.eventbrite.com/
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Angela Bischoff, Outreach Director
Ontario Clean Air Alliance
Tel: 416 926 1907 x 246
625 Church Street, #402, Toronto, ON M4Y 2G1
angela@cleanairalliance.org
www.cleanairalliance.org
www.ontariosgreenfuture.ca
No Nukes News
Health Power
Coal Must Go
===================
6. HARDING: WHAT DOES JAPAN’S TRIPLE DISASTER TELL US ABOUT SUSTAINABILITY?
http://forum.stopthehogs.com/phpBB2/vie ... =2069#2069
BY Jim Harding Published in R-Town News March 15, 2011
My heart goes out to the Japanese people. The March 11, 2011 earthquake was the largest in its recorded history; the fifth biggest globally in a century. The resulting tsunami swept whole settlements away as it surged inland, sometimes as far as a km. As though bad things do come in three, there then came the threat of a core meltdown at some of Japan’s nuclear plants. The Prime Minister said it was Japan’s worst catastrophe since WW II, which we should remember ended with two Atom bombs being dropped on the country.
Those standing in shock on the flatlands of debris where villages once stood might have had flashes of Hiroshima or Nagasaki being leveled in 1945. Today’s radiation threat, however, didn’t come from nuclear bombs, but through a series of interlocking disasters. The earthquake, measuring 9, cut power off at the Fukushima nuclear complex. The pumps keeping water going over the reactor core shut down, and the extremely hot fuel was exposed; threatening a core melt-down and trans-continental radiation release such as happened at Chernobyl. Officials thought that they had diesel generators as a back-up, but these were damaged by the tsunami.
A building exploded from the build-up of hydrogen gas at reactor # 1. To stop things getting totally out of control the decision was made to pump sea-water to try to cool the core. This was a desperate measure, because it pretty much trashes the reactors for future use. Two days later another explosion occurred at reactor # 3.
It’s lucky the nuclear complex was near the ocean; otherwise the reactors might have immediately gone into full meltdown. As I write, Fukushima reactor # 2 is also malfunctioning and a full meltdown is not ruled out, and a state of emergency has been declared at another nuclear plant at Onagawa. And we learn from Beyond Nuclear that nuclear wastes containing lots of plutonium may have been stored on top of one of the reactors where an explosion occurred.
MORE:
http://forum.stopthehogs.com/phpBB2/
viewtopic.php?p=2069#2069
Other columns at:
http://jimharding.brinkster.net
====================
7. URANIUM STOCK MARKET NEWS:
Uranium shares fall as Japan battles meltdown
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/
uranium-shares-fall-as-japan-battles-meltdown-2011-03-14?reflink=MW_news_stmp
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Uranium Stocks Continue To Fall As Uranium Spot Prices Sink
http://www.nasdaq.com/aspx/
stock-market-news-story.aspx?storyid=201103151056dowjonesdjonline000266&title=uranium-stocks-continue-to-fall-as-uranium-spot-prices-sink
By Edward Welsch, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES March 15, 2011
CALGARY -(Dow Jones)- Uranium miner stocks continued to fall Tuesday on fears that reactor problems in Japan will halt the worldwide growth of nuclear power and the consumption of the radioactive metal.
The uncertainty about the situation in Japan, where three reactors continue to overheat and at least one has suffered a partial meltdown, has largely halted trading in the uranium spot market according to a person familiar with the matter, and caused prices to fall nearly 10% to $60 a pound.
Spot uranium was trading at $66.50 a pound as of March 7, according to Ux Consulting Co., which publishes spot prices for the industry.
Shares of Cameco Corp. (CCJ), the largest publicly owned uranium company, declined 9.1% to $29.65 in recent trading on the New York Stock Exchange following a 12.7% drop on Monday. Shares of Australia's Bannerman Resources Ltd. (BMN.AU) saw the steepest drop, down 33% on Tuesday and losing roughly half their value since the trouble with Japan's reactors began. [ . . . ]
= = = = =
Uranium Firms Take Hit
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/
uranium-firms-set-back-2011-03-14
By EDWARD WELSCH, March 14, 2011
- - - -
QUOTE: “And China, which is building more than twice as many new reactors as Russia, the next fastest-growing nuclear power adopter, could be forced to delay its development, Mr. Carter said. "Given that many of these reactors they're building will be on the coastline, I think they will have to potentially look closer at the standards at which they build them," he said.”
- - - -
CALGARY - Uranium stocks sank Monday after several Japanese reactors overheated, stoking fears of partial meltdowns, as a result of last week's earthquake and tsunami.
Analysts said uranium equities are falling because the market had been pricing in strong growth in demand as countries across the world plan to build new fleets of nuclear power stations to manage their energy needs. But those growth assumptions may be overstretched if public sentiment turns against nuclear power following Japan's problems.
The Japanese government said Monday that the fuel rods in one reactor have fused together in a partial meltdown. A partial meltdown occurs when uranium fuel begins to melt under high temperatures, but still remains contained within the reactor. The 1979 Three Mile Island accident in the U.S. was a partial meltdown. In a full meltdown, such as the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in the Soviet Union, the rods melt completely and the release of energy causes an explosion that contaminates the surrounding area with radioactive material.
Shares of Cameco Corp., the world's largest publicly owned uranium mining company, dropped 16% to $31.29 in early trading on the New York Stock [ . . . ]
= = = = = =
Cameco optimistic
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/business/
Cameco+optimistic/4439962/story.html
Demand for uranium expected to remain strong: CEO
By Cassandra Kyle, The Starphoenix, Reuters Files March 15, 2011
Cameco Corp.'s CEO said Monday a nearly 13 per cent drop in the value of its shares is "largely driven by emotion" surrounding the disaster in Japan and the country's ongoing nuclear emergency.
Jerry Grandey said despite the drop, Cameco -one of the world's largest uranium producers -isn't expected to feel any significant short-or long-term affects on its business as a result of its diversified client base.
"Some voices have questioned whether the nuclear renaissance will survive this natural disaster. Looking beyond the events of recent days, we at Cameco don't see a dramatic effect on the fundamentals of our uranium business," Grandey said.
"Growth in nuclear capacity in China, India, Korea and elsewhere -certainly China experiencing the largest expansion -has tremendous momentum and we expect it will continue."
Cameco supplies uranium products to the two Japanese utilities most directly affected by the natural disasters. [ . . . ]
= = = = =
Uranium miners are getting hammered
http://www.cbc.ca/fp/story/2011/03/15/4435596.html
Last Updated: Tuesday, March 15, 2011 | 08:05 AM EDT
Story courtesy of Financial Post
About a decade after the term “nuclear renaissance” was coined, the revival of the uranium sector is facing its most notable threat. And while the industry quickly moved to downplay it, investors are spooked.
The Japanese nuclear emergency has raised concerns that countries will delay or halt their bold plans for new nuclear reactor construction. Shares of uranium miners plummeted Monday as a result, with most falling between 20% and 30%. They were by far the most heavily traded stocks on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
The question is whether this turns out to be a short-term overreaction or evidence of a long-term chill on uranium demand.
Industry veterans know what the latter is like from experience. After the Chernobyl and Three Mile Island disasters, the uranium industry went into a funk that lasted about two decades until demand rebounded.
However, nothing like that is expected this time around.
The consensus among industry experts is that the uranium price could come under significant pressure as the issue of nuclear safety rises back to the forefront. But the odds are against a meaningful slowdown in nuclear construction.
The simple reason is China, which has huge power requirements and needs more nuclear energy. China has the most ambitious nuclear development plans of any country, with 27 reactors under construction and another 160 in the planning stages, according to the World Nuclear Association. [ . . . ]
================
8. The Nuclear Whistleblower - Arnold Gundersen of Goshen (1999)
http://www.state.nv.us/nucwaste/news2000/nn10410.htm
Reprinted from The Litchfield County Times,(Connecticut) December 10, 1999
Written by Katherine Boughton
Ten years ago, Arnold Gundersen of Goshen was a senior vice president with Danbury-based Nuclear Energy Services, a card-carrying member of the nuclear industry. Since then, he has become a dedicated whistleblower, taking on the industry that once supplied him in his family with a comfortable lifestyle and a bright future.
Mr. Gundersen made the transition between these two worlds after he uncovered what he felt were safety violations at NES and reported the problem to management. Soon after making this report he was dismissed from his job and began a five-year effort to prove his case. He asserts he was blacklisted by the industry for discussing the alleged violations with state and federal regulators and was eventually sued by NES $1.5 million for defamation. The suit was settled out-of-court.
A report prepared by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission eventually concluded that there had been irregularities at NES, and second document, prepared by the Office of the Inspector General, noted that the NRC had violated its own regulations by improperly steering business to NES. But that vindication was small solace to the Gundersen family, who had by then lost their home.
"Without the intervention of Sen. Joseph Lieberman and Sen. John Glenn, we would have been dog meat", Mr. Gundersen said. "We would have been selling apples on the street. My bitterness is not toward my former employer, but toward the government agencies that did nothing to rectify it. I had believed in the government, but now I know that it is an organism and when you attack it, it reacts like an organism. But as a result of my case, Connecticut has toughest whistleblower protection bill in the country."
MORE:
http://www.state.nv.us/nucwaste/news2000/nn10410.htm
=================
9. Jerry Grandey retiring as CEO of Cameco; company president Tim Gitzel takes over July 1
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/opinion/
Jerry+Grandey+retiring+Cameco+company+president+Gitzel+takes+over+July/4325767/story.html?id=4325767
By Cassandra Kyle, The StarPhoenix February 22, 2011
Cameco Corp. president Tim Gitzel will take on the role of CEO when current chief executive Jerry Grandey retires at the end of June.
The company announced Tuesday morning Grandey will retire as CEO and Cameco board member at the end of June after turning 65 earlier that month. Gitzel, 48, will be nominated as a member of the company’s board of directors at its annual meeting in May, and will become CEO effective July 1.
“This is an exciting time to lead this organization building on the foundation put in place by my predecessors,” Gitzel stated.
“We are on track to pursue our ambitious goal to double our uranium production by 2018 as the world is noticing that the nuclear renaissance is underway.” [ . . . ]
=====================
10. Can U.S. Nuclear Plants Handle a Major Natural Disaster?
http://www.alternet.org/story/150238/
can_u.s._nuclear_plants_handle_a_major_natural_disaster?akid=6663.23437.W3mSUD&rd=1&t=12
Nuclear engineer says U.S. reactor would shatter 'like glass' in a catastrophic earthquake.
March 14, 2011 | ProPublica / By John Sullivan
As engineers in Japan struggle to bring quake-damaged reactors under control, attention is turning to U.S. nuclear plants and their ability to withstand natural disasters.
Rep. Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat who has spent years pushing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission toward stricter enforcement of its safety rules, has called for a reassessment. Several U.S. reactors lie on or near fault lines, and Markey wants to beef up standards for new and existing plants.
"This disaster serves to highlight both the fragility of nuclear power plants and the potential consequences associated with a radiological release caused by earthquake related damage," Markey wrote NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko in a March 11 letter.
Specifically, Markey raised questions about a reactor design the NRC is reviewing for new plants that has been criticized for seismic vulnerability. The NRC has yet to make a call on the AP1000 reactor, which is manufactured by Westinghouse. But according to Markey, a senior NRC engineer has said the reactor’s concrete shield building could shatter "like a glass cup" under heavy stress.
MORE:
http://www.alternet.org/story/150238/
can_u.s._nuclear_plants_handle_a_major_natural_disaster?akid=6663.23437.W3mSUD&rd=1&t=12
===================
11. World Nuclear News Weekly: 8-14 March 2011
All Links are on URL:
http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/
?u=140c559a3b34d23ff7c6b48b9&id=4f51b57bae&e=7a6d90bce5
REGULATION & SAFETY:
Dramatic escalation in Japan
15 March 2011
Loud noises were heard at Fukushima Daiichi 2 at 6.10am this morning. A major component beneath the reactor is confirmed to be damaged. Evacuation to 20 kilometres is being completed, while a fire on site was put out. Tepco have said containment shows 'no change'.
Loss of coolant at Fukushima Daiichi 2
14 March 2011
Serious damage to the reactor core of Fukushima Daiichi 2 seems likely after all coolant was lost for a period.
Explosion rocks third Fukushima reactor
14 March 2011
Another hydrogen explosion has rocked the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, this time at the third reactor unit. Analysis shows the containment structure remains intact.
Cold shutdowns at Fukushima Daini
14 March 2011
Two more reactors at Fukushima Daini have now achieved cold shutdown with full operation of cooling systems. Engineers are working for the same at the last unit.
Rolling blackouts as Japanese efforts continue
14 March 2011
Japanese utilities are introducing rolling blackouts in the face of energy shortages following the natural disasters of the last few days. Meanwhile, the country is relying more than ever on the continued operation of its other nuclear reactors.
Efforts to manage Fukushima Daiichi 3
13 March 2011
Operations to relieve pressure in the containment of Fukushima Daiichi 3 have taken place after the failure of a core coolant system. Seawater is being injected to make certain of core cooling. Malfunctions have hampered efforts but there are strong indications of stability.
Contamination check on evacuated residents
13 March 2011
Potential contamination of the public is being studied by Japanese authorities as over 170,000 residents are evacuated from within 20 kilometres of Fukushima Daini and Daiichi nuclear power plants. Nine people's results have shown some degree of contamination.
Battle to stabilise earthquake reactors
1 March 2011
Attention remains focused on the Fukushima Daiichi and Daini nuclear power plants as Japan struggles to cope in the aftermath of its worst earthquake in recorded history. A dramatic explosion did not damage containment and sea water injection continues through the night.
Massive earthquake hits Japan
1 March 2011
Nuclear reactors shut down during today's massive earthquake in Japan. Official sources have reported no detected radioactive release but are still monitoring the situation, meanwhile work to establish adequate cooling at Fukushima Daiichi continues.
US nuclear regulator OKs Vermont Yankee extension
1 March 2011
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has said that it will renew the operating licence for the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant for a further 20 years, although the regulator does not have the final say in the plant's future operation.
Two US nuclear projects put back 18 months
8 March 2011
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has told Dominion and Luminant that their licence applications to build at North Anna and Comanche Peak will be delayed by some 18 months due after changes in the design of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' Advanced Pressurized Water Reactor.
WASTE & RECYCLING:
Double attack on US nuclear waste fees
10 March 2011
American utilities and regulators have both filed lawsuits against the Department of Energy for continuing to charge for the halted Yucca Mountain project.
CORPORATE:
Areva, Rolls-Royce team up for UK EPRs
11 March 2011
Areva has signed an industrial cooperation agreement with the UK's Rolls-Royce for the manufacture of components for nuclear energy related projects both in the UK and overseas.
Endesa to access AP1000 technology
9 March 2011
Westinghouse has signed an agreement with Spanish utility Endesa to share information on its AP1000 reactor technology. The move makes Endesa a likely partner for nuclear new build projects in Spain and South America.
Import agreement: Baltic to Lithuania
8 March 2011
A deal has been struck that will see major power exports from the Baltic nuclear power plant to Lithuania. Russian-controlled utilities will transmit 1000 MWe across the border shortly after the start of operation.
EXPLORATION & NUCLEAR FUEL:
China Guangdong makes Kalahari offer
8 March 2011
A deal in the offing could give China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corporation's uranium subsidiary a major stake in the Husab uranium project in Namibia.
INDUSTRY TALK:
Shin Kori 1 enters commercial operation
10 March 2011
Shin Kori unit 1 entered commercial operation on 28 February, according to the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety (KINS). The indigenously designed OPR-1000 is South Korea's seventh such unit and 21st nuclear power reactor overall.
ESBWR approaches design certification
10 March 2011
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has found GE-Hitachi's Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR) to be safe and technically acceptable. After five years of consideration the NRC has issued a final safety evaluation report and final design approval for the reactor. Full design certification should follow later this year.
Reactors continue through earthquake
9 March 2011
Nuclear power plants were barely affected by the Sanriku offshore earthquake that rocked Japan at 11.45am this morning. The earthquake measured 7.3 on the Richter scale and originated 160 kilometres offshore some 8 kilometres underground. Nuclear power plants on the Pacific coast that felt the quake include Onagawa, Higashidori and Fukushima Daini and Fukushima Daiichi.
12. Tide turns against nuclear industry
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/
article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10712687
By Greg Ansley 5:30 AM Wednesday Mar 16, 2011
CANBERRA - The crisis at Japan's earthquake-damaged Fukushimo power plant has strengthened arguments against nuclear power in Australia, previously gaining support as a means of countering climate change.
The plant's operator uses Australian uranium, sold to Japan by BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto.
The explosions in its reactors, and wider uncertainties in the wake of last week's devastating earthquake and tsunami, have also hit the nation's uranium industry, wiping more than A$1 billion ($1.3 billion) off miners' stocks.
Although debate over the future of nuclear energy continues within the major parties, both Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said the issue was off their agendas.
Nuclear power is also opposed by the Greens - who will hold the balance of power in the Senate from July - and the crisis at Fukushimo has re-energised environmental opponents.
Although not relating her comments directly to the damaged Japanese plant, Gillard told ABC television's Q&A programme that Australia had many alternative sources of energy and had no need for reactors. [ . . . . ]
==================
13. Tokyo Electric to Build US Nuclear Plants: The No BS Info on Japan's Disastrous Nuclear Operators
http://www.truth-out.org/
tokyo-electric-build-us-nuclear-plants-the-no-bs-info-japans-disastrous-nuclear-operators68457
Monday 14 March 2011
by: Greg Palast, t r u t h o u t | News Analysis
I need to speak to you, not as a reporter, but in my former capacity as lead investigator in several government nuclear plant fraud and racketeering investigations.
I don't know the law in Japan, so I can't tell you if Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) can plead insanity to the homicides about to happen.
But what will Obama plead? The administration, just months ago, asked Congress to provide a $4 billion loan guarantee for two new nuclear reactors to be built and operated on the Gulf Coast of Texas - by TEPCO and local partners. As if the Gulf hasn't suffered enough. Here are the facts about TEPCO and the industry you haven't heard on CNN:
The failure of emergency systems at Japan's nuclear plants comes as no surprise to those of us who have worked in the field.
Nuclear plants the world over must be certified for what is called "SQ" or "Seismic Qualification." That is, the owners swear that all components are designed for the maximum conceivable shaking event, be it from an earthquake or an exploding Christmas card from al-Qaeda.
The most inexpensive way to meet your SQ is to lie. The industry does it all the time. The government team I worked with caught them once, in 1988, at the Shoreham plant in New York. Correcting the SQ problem at Shoreham would have cost a cool billion, so engineers were told to change the tests from "failed" to "passed."
The company that put in the false safety report? Stone & Webster, now the nuclear unit of Shaw Construction, which will work with TEPCO to build the Texas plant. Lord help us.
There's more:
http://www.truth-out.org/
tokyo-electric-build-us-nuclear-plants-the-no-bs-info-japans-disastrous-nuclear-operators68457
=================
14. Nuclear Power Madness
http://www.truth-out.org/nuclear-power-madness68460
Monday 14 March 2011
by: Norman Solomon, t r u t h o u t | News Analysis
Like every other president since the 1940s, Barack Obama has promoted nuclear power. Now, with reactors melting down in Japan, the official stance is more disconnected from reality than ever.
Political elites are still clinging to the oxymoron of "safe nuclear power." It's up to us - people around the world - to peacefully and insistently shut those plants down.
There is no more techno-advanced country in the world than Japan. Nuclear power is not safe there, and it is not safe anywhere. [ . . . ]
====================
15. Nuclear Power, on the Brink
http://www.truth-out.org/
eugene-robinson-nuclear-power-brink68464
by Eugene Robinson, Op-Ed march 15, 2011
Washington - Nuclear power was beginning to look like a panacea -- a way to lessen our dependence on oil, make our energy supply more self-sufficient and significantly mitigate global warming, all at the same time. Now it looks more like a bargain with the devil.
I wish this were not so. In recent years, some of the nation's most respected environmentalists -- including Stewart Brand, founder of the Whole Earth Catalog -- have come to champion nuclear power. But as Japanese engineers struggle frantically to keep calamity from escalating into catastrophe, we cannot ignore the fact that nuclear fission is an inherently and uniquely toxic technology.
The cascading sequence of system failures, partial meltdowns and hydrogen explosions at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was touched off by a once-in-a-lifetime event: the most powerful earthquake in Japan's recorded history, which triggered a tsunami of unimaginable destructive force. It is also true that the Fukushima reactors are of an older design, and that it is possible to engineer nuclear plants that would never suffer similar breakdowns.
But it is also true that there is no such thing as a fail-safe system. Stuff happens.
The Earth is alive with tectonic movement, volcanism, violent weather. We try our best to predict these phenomena, but our best calculations are probabilistic and thus imprecise. We have computers that are as close to infallible as we can imagine, but the data they produce must ultimately be interpreted by human intelligence. When a crisis does occur, experts must make quick decisions under enormous pressure; usually they're right, sometimes they're wrong.
The problem with nuclear fission is that the stakes are unimaginably high. We can engineer nuclear power plants so that the chance of a Chernobyl-style disaster is almost nil. But we can't eliminate it completely -- nor can we envision every other kind of potential disaster. And where fission reactors are concerned, the worst-case scenario is so dreadful as to be unthinkable.
MORE:
http://www.truth-out.org/
eugene-robinson-nuclear-power-brink68464
=======================
16. US nuclear plants located near geologic faults
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110317/ap_on_re_us/
us_japan_quake_us_fault_lines
March 16, 2011
- - - - -
QUOTE: “The dangers of earthquakes have been raised repeatedly by opponents of nuclear energy.”
- - - - -
LOS ANGELES – Two years before an immense coastal earthquake plunged Japan into a nuclear crisis, a geologic fault was discovered about a half-mile from a California seaside reactor — alarming regulators who say not enough has been done to gauge the threat to the nation's most populous state.
The situation of the Diablo Canyon plant is not unique. Across the country, a spider's web of faults in the Earth's crust raises questions about earthquakes and safety at aging nuclear plants, amplified by horrific images from Japan, where nuclear reactors were crippled by a tsunami caused by a 9-magnitude quake.
The Indian Point Energy Center, for example, lies near a fault line 35 miles north of Manhattan; on Wednesday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered a safety review at the plant.
But none of the questions are more pressing than in quake-prone California, where about 10 powerful shakers — stronger than magnitude 7 — have hit since 1900.
=======================
17. SHUT SAN ONOFRE NOW! Tomorrow might be too late and besides, the operators will be hung over!
http://acehoffman.blogspot.com/
by Ace Hoffman March 17th, 2011
Dear Readers,
Happy St. Patrick' Day! Today, we probably ALL feel like getting drunk.
But so drunk we feel nauseous and want to throw up? No, thanks.
Many people in Japan are feeling that way now, without a sip of sake. Many more will.
Ireland, at least, has one thing to celebrate today: THEY don't have any nuclear power plants of their own. They thought about it, but Sellafield was already way too close. And free speech is a hallmark of Irish society, so nuclear power didn't get very far.
When Sellafield went up in smoke (then known as Windscale) Ireland certainly wasn't spared.
The worse nuclear disasters in history, in order, are, I believe:
Fukushima Dai-ichi, Japan
Mayak, Russia
Chernobyl, Russia
Sellafield, England
Three Miles Island, USA
Of course, ongoing nuclear disasters such as Hanford, Savannah River, Oak Ridge, the Nevada Test Site, Paduccah, etc., and their counterparts in Russia and elsewhere are larger by some standards than some of these accidents, perhaps than all of them. Hanford didn't become "the most polluted place on earth" by accident, although it had many of those, too. It got there in a steady, relentless fashion. It was sacrificed.
The area around Fukushima Dai-ichi has been sacrificed.
MORE:
http://acehoffman.blogspot.com/
==================
18. Mining activist kicked out of conference
http://toronto.mediacoop.ca/newsrelease/6587
NEWS RELEASE posted on March 9, 2011 by Tim Groves
Mining Injustice Solidarity Network (MISN) distributes information at PDAC convention, not well received
by Mining Injustice Solidarity Network (MISN)
Toronto - Mining injustice activists were escorted off of the Metro Convention Centre premises by security today after distributing flyers describing negative impacts reported by mining affected community members throughout the nation and worldwide. Today marks the last day of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada’s (PDAC) annual mining investment show in Toronto. According to PDAC more than 22, 000 delegates attend this annual trade show.
Activists engaged in discussion with PDAC representatives and corporate social responsibility mining employees. They stated that they were interested in dialogue and working together, yet conference staff remained on the defensive by blocking the distribution of resources and threatening to call security. When questioned as to why the PDAC funded report that found that Canadian mining corporations were the most likely to trigger social conflict and environmental devastation was never released, program assistant Lesley Williams reiterated the official PDAC position, that the report in question has methodological flaws. Williams was questioned as to why the same approach was not taken in response to the Fraser Institute’s ‘mining report card,’ which according to critics reads more as a list of complaints by mining industry CEOs. No response was given.
Following these discussions, mining injustice activists distributed flyers throughout the exhibition area until venue security guards demanded that they leave. Reflecting on the incident, activist Ivan Baeza stated: “I am glad we went because I think it is important for these individuals to know that we are concerned and that we are keeping an eye on them.” He added, “ We are being told to engage in dialogue, yet there is no genuine interest by these mining personnel to listen to the concerns and respond to the wishes of mining affected community members on the ground. We are told to use more appeasing 'positive language,' yet communities throughout the world and throughout Canada are facing life-threatening, emergency situations. 'Injustice’ is not a dirty word; it is a reality that we should all be ready to respond to.”
==================
19. WATCH: Amy Goodman Reports from South Africa on Aristide’s Planned Return Trip to Haiti After Seven Years in Exile
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/3/16/
amy_goodman_reports_from_south_africa
March 16, 2011
Former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide has decided to return to Haiti this week ahead of Sunday’s presidential runoff election. Aristide has lived in exile in South Africa since 2004, when he was ousted in a U.S.-backed coup. Amy Goodman joins us from Johannesburg along with K.K., an award-winning filmmaker and a personal friend of Aristide. Watch/Listen/Read
===================
20. CHECK SOME WEBSITES FOR UPDATES ON JAPAN NUCLEAR SITUATION: (Subscribe for their newsletters….)
Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility:
http://www.ccnr.org/
Beyond Nuclear:
http://www.beyondnuclear.org/bulletin/
Democracy Now!
http://www.democracynow.org
GREENPEACE:
http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/
World Nuclear News:
http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/
?u=140c559a3b34d23ff7c6b48b9&id=4f51b57bae&e=7a6d90bce5
"The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking and we thus drift towards unparalleled catastrophe." - Albert Einstein
1. EVENT: March 18 – Regina - Greens to Hold Urgent Press Conference at Saskatchewan Legislature on Nuclear Crisis in Japan
2. EVENT: Toronto - Mar. 30 - Nuclear in the Spotlight
3. ACTION: PETITION: Don’t Nuke Green Energy: Stop Darlington (See article below.....)
4. UPDATE: DARLINGTON POWER PLANT HEARINGS
5. NO NUKE NEWS – Ontario Clean Air Alliance – Mar. 14, 16
6. HARDING: WHAT DOES JAPAN’S TRIPLE DISASTER TELL US ABOUT SUSTAINABILITY?
7. URANIUM STOCK MARKET NEWS
8. The Nuclear Whistleblower - Arnold Gundersen of Goshen (1999)
9. Jerry Grandey retiring as CEO of Cameco; company president Tim Gitzel takes over July 1
10. Can U.S. Nuclear Plants Handle a Major Natural Disaster?
11. World Nuclear News Weekly: 8-14 March 2011
12. Tide turns against nuclear industry
13. Tokyo Electric to Build US Nuclear Plants: The No BS Info on Japan's Disastrous Nuclear Operators
14. Nuclear Power Madness
15. Nuclear Power, on the Brink
16. US nuclear plants located near geologic faults
17. SHUT SAN ONOFRE NOW! Tomorrow might be too late and besides, the operators will be hung over!
18. Mining activist kicked out of conference
19. WATCH: Amy Goodman Reports from South Africa on Aristide’s Planned Return Trip to Haiti After Seven Years in Exile
20. CHECK SOME WEBSITES FOR UPDATES ON JAPAN NUCLEAR SITUATION: (subscribe to their newsletters . . . .)
================
1. EVENT: March 18 – Regina - Greens to Hold Urgent Press Conference at Saskatchewan Legislature on Nuclear Crisis in Japan
http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/
?u=e1b6a0cf15075ddf3627c7299&id=e9289f8794&e=dfd26d9c0f
NEWS RELEASE MARCH 17, 2011
The Green Party of Saskatchewan would like to offer our support for the people of Japan following the events of last week. Larissa Shasko, Leader of the Green Party of Saskatchewan, will be hosting an urgent press conference in Regina this Friday, March 18, at the Saskatchewan Legislature (Members Dining Room) at 10:00am to address the Wall Government's position that the nuclear crisis in Japan is all the more reason to research and develop nuclear technology in Saskatchewan. The Green Party of Saskatchewan strongly disagrees with this position and the comments made by the Minister responsible for SaskPower, Rob Norris.
Minister Rob Norris is a former Vice-President of the University of Saskatchewan. In response to the nuclear crisis in Japan, Norris has chosen to defend the Government of Saskatchewan’s plan, (or is it the plan of Bruce Power?) to continue tax-payer funding of the industry. On March 3, 2011, the Wall Government announced they are giving $30 million of public money to the University of Saskatchewan with strings attached: the money has to be for the nuclear industry. It is as though there are no lessons to be learned from what is happening in Japan. It is as though the Public Consultations in 2009 never happened. Through the consultation process the citizens of Saskatchewan said “no” to nuclear in this province, yet the Wall Government has forged ahead with plans for the full nuclear industrialization of Saskatchewan. According to Green Party Leader Larissa Shasko, “Premier Wall has chosen to listen to the voices of the nuclear industry and ignore the voices of Citizens.”
Rob Norris said the tax-payers of Saskatchewan have an “ethical obligation” [1] to move forward with the industry. The nuclear events in Japan have triggered well-founded fear right around this small planet. The track record of “assurances” provided to the public by the nuclear industry and Government officials warn us to think for ourselves. What is our “ethical obligation”? Clearly it is to eliminate the cause of the fear. We need to stop the nuclear industry in Saskatchewan.
It is uncertain whether Japan will ever recover economically from the earthquake and tsunami disaster compounded by the nuclear explosions. “I wonder whether the citizens of Japan will thank Saskatchewan for our contributions of fuel for nuclear reactors,” states Shasko.
The Green Party of Saskatchewan is working to lead the way to a different vision for our province and the world, where renewable energy is providing safe and clean power and good jobs. And where nuclear and all of its risks are phased out permanently.
- - - - - - -
[1] Saskatchewan moves ahead with nuclear agenda despite crisis in Japan
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/prairies/
saskatchewan-moves-ahead-with-nuclear-agenda-despite-crisis-in-japan/article1942139/
Jennifer Graham, The Canadian Press - Mon, 14 Mar 2011 18:19:00 CST
=================
2. EVENT: Toronto - Mar. 30 - Nuclear in the Spotlight
A chance to express hope for Japan and a green future…
With the Ontario Clean Air Alliance
Wed. March 30, 7:30 p.m.
Annex Live, 296 Brunswick (at Bloor), Toronto
With performances by Mike Ford, Meghan Morrison, Richard Underhill, Michael Louis Johnson, the Raging Grannies, and more.
Special guest speaker Kevin Kamps from Beyond Nuclear will address the current situation in Japan.
Yes! to renewable energy
No! to nuclear and coal
Please join us at this FUNdraising event. Proceeds to go to Japan relief efforts as well as to OCAA.
Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=192323914141758
Tickets:
http://nuclearspotlight.eventbrite.com/
Items and gift certificates for the silent auction have been donated by: The Big Carrot, Mountain Equipment Coop, The Bike Joint, La Palette, Downward Dog, Scollard Acupuncture Clinic, Herschel Photography and Art, and more... Thank you!
For more info: angela@cleanairalliance.org, 416 926 1907 x 246
Angela Bischoff, Outreach Director
Ontario Clean Air Alliance
Tel: 416 926 1907 x 246
625 Church Street, #402
Toronto, ON M4Y 2G1
angela@cleanairalliance.org
www.cleanairalliance.org
www.ontariosgreenfuture.ca
Our Facebook Group
No Nukes News
Health Power
Coal Must Go
=================
3. ACTION: PETITION: Don’t Nuke Green Energy: Stop Darlington (See article below.....)
http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/campaigns/
end-the-nuclear-threat/Get-involved/StopDarlington2/
Stop Darlington March 17, 2011
The Ontario government is planning to spend $26 billion building risky new reactors at the Darlington site east of Toronto, in part to replace the ageing reactors at the Pickering station, which will close by 2020.
This plan will divert billions of dollars that should be invested in cheaper and cleaner green energy sources and will drive up electricity prices. It will also increase the risk of a nuclear accident for future generations.
There has been no consideration of alternatives to building new reactors even though they're cheaper. A report by Greenpeace and the Pembina Institute shows that replacing the Pickering reactors with green energy would be cheaper and would protect Ontarians from the high-cost and risks of new reactors.
Environmental assessment hearings on the Darlington reactors are set to begin next week. These hearings, however, ignore possible alternatives to building new reactors and the potential environmental impacts of a large scale nuclear accident.
Fukushima has caused other countries to rethink their nuclear plants. Ontario should too.
Please tell Premier McGuinty to rethink his plan for new reactors. Please ask him to delay the hearings on new reactors and instead review safer green alternatives.
GO TO:
http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/campaigns/
end-the-nuclear-threat/Get-involved/StopDarlington2/
===============
4. UPDATE: DARLINGTON POWER PLANT HEARINGS
Halt urged for nuclear hearings
http://www.waterkeeper.ca/2011/03/16/
halt-urged-for-nuclear-hearings-toronto-gta-news-toronto-sun/
| Toronto & GTA | News | Toronto Sun March 16, 2011
Greenpeace and Ontario’s nurses paired up on Wednesday to call for the province to halt hearings on new nuclear reactors for Ontario.
The hearings on development at the Darlington nuke plant slotted for next week should be postponed, said the environmental group and the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario.
“There has been no assessment of the cost-effectiveness of new reactors and the environmental and safety reviews ignore the potential for accidents like we’re seeing in Japan,” said Shawn-Patrick Stensil, a nuclear analyst with Greenpeace.
“The need, cost-effectiveness and safety of the reactors is in doubt … a rethink is required,” he said. [ . . . ]
= = = = =
Halt urged for nuclear hearings
http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/
2011/03/16/17644461.html
The Toronto Sun Thu Mar 17 2011 Page: 10 Section: News
Byline: TERRY DAVIDSON, TORONTO SUN
Greenpeace and Ontario's nurses paired up on Wednesday to call for the province to halt hearings on new nuclear reactors for Ontario.
The hearings on development at the Darlington nuke plant slotted for next week should be postponed, said the environmental group and the Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario. [ . . . ]
= = = = = =
New nuclear plant hearing scheduled to start Monday
http://www.waterkeeper.ca/2011/03/14/
new-nuclear-plant-hearing-schedule-to-start-monday/
Krystyn Tully, Waterkeeper.ca Weekly March 14, 2011
The first new nuclear power plant to be built in Canada in decades is slated for review beginning next Monday.
Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, other NGOs, members of the nuclear industry, and government departments have been preparing for the hearing for years. Waterkeeper’s research focuses on cooling water systems and impacts on fish habitat: the kinds of impacts a nuclear power plant has on the environment during its day-to-day operations.
OPG’s written proposition is so vague and so incomplete that it is virtually impossible to predict all of the environmental impacts of the new Darlington Nuclear Power Plant. OPG does not yet know, for example, which type of reactor or cooling water system it will build. [ . . . ]
- - - - -
More Information:
Lake Ontario Waterkeeper’s hearing information guide:
http://www.waterkeeper.ca/2011/02/22/
darlington-new-nuclear-build-overview/
CEAA Schedule:
http://www.ceaa-acee.gc.ca/050/
document-eng.cfm?document=48122
= = = = = =
Japan’s nuclear crisis dampens Ontarians' enthusiasm for new reactors
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/
adam-radwanski/japans-nuclear-crisis-dampens-ontarians-enthusiasm-for-new-reactors/article1941934/
ADAM RADWANSKI | Columnist profile | E-mail
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail Published Monday, Mar. 14, 2011 7:37PM EDT
Last updated Monday, Mar. 14, 2011 9:14PM EDT
Only a few days ago, Dalton McGuinty sounded about as gung-ho on nuclear energy as any government leader since the Chernobyl disaster.
“The federal government’s process to sell AECL has put our nuclear industry into a stall,” the Ontario Premier told his audience at the provincial Liberals’ annual fundraising dinner last Wednesday. “Ottawa needs to understand: Ontario’s nuclear industry is an important part of Canada’s energy advantage. We both need to be committed to its future, and the 55,000 jobs it represents today.”
A few days, however, can be a very long time – especially if they involve the worst nuclear crisis in decades. With Japan struggling to contain meltdowns at three different nuclear plants following last Friday’s devastating earthquake, Mr. McGuinty stands to be a little more guarded the next time the subject comes up. [ . . . ]
More related to this story (Links are on URL above)
Japan’s disaster could put brakes on Canada’s energy aspirations
High radiation levels threat to human health: Japanese government
The nuclear risk merits actions, but not global shutdowns
==================
5. NO NUKE NEWS – Ontario Clean Air Alliance – Mar. 14 & 16
No Nukes News - Mar. 14, 2011
The question now is whether the industry can be trusted anywhere. If this industry were a company, its shareholders would have deserted it years ago. In just one generation it has killed, wounded or blighted the lives of many millions of people and laid waste to millions of square miles of land. In that time it has been subsidised to the tune of trillions of dollars and it will cost hundreds of billions more to clean up and store the messes it has caused and the waste it has created. It has had three catastrophic failures now in 25 years and dozens more close shaves. Its workings have been marked around the world by mendacity, cover-ups, secrecy and financial incompetence. – John Vidal
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Today's Question – CTV News – Is nuclear power worth the risk?
As of now, 53% yes, 47% no. Vote now!
http://www.ctv.ca/news/
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Japan’s Nuclear Crisis
For the best updates check out:
http://www.beyondnuclear.org/
http://www.nirs.org/reactorwatch/accidents/
Fukushimafactsheet.pdf
http://www.nukefree.org/
http://allthingsnuclear.org/tagged/Japan_nuclear
Nuclear meltdown at Fukushima plant highly likely
Last night, Japan's chief government spokesman Yukio Edano said night that a meltdown was "highly likely" at three of the plant's nuclear reactors on the country's shattered northeastern coast, the Kyodo news agency reported.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/world/
japan-earthquake-new-explosion-rocks-fukushima-nuclear-power-plant/story-e6frev00-1226021506205
Uranium shares fall as Japan battles meltdown
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/
uranium-shares-fall-as-japan-battles-meltdown-2011-03-14?reflink=MW_news_stmp
Behind the Hydrogen Explosion at the Fukushima Nuclear Plant
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/03/12-3
What will spark the next Fukushima?
An untrustworthy nuclear industry, incompetently regulated, is leading the world into greater and greater danger
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/
2011/mar/14/fukushima-nuclear-industry
Gordon Edwards of the CCNR speaks about health implications – 5 min. video
http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/News/
1221258968/ID=1840043716
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Youth Against New Darlington Nuclear Plant
Calling all youth (under 20)! Sign the petition against new nuclear reactors proposed for Darlington – and send it to your friends on facebook! The petition will be delivered to the Darlington Joint Panel by a delegation of youth on Friday, April 8.
This spring, a panel of three adults will decide whether to approve the construction of a new nuclear power plant at Darlington, Ontario, Canada (70 km east of Toronto).
AS YOUTH, WE OPPOSE THE NEW DARLINGTON NUCLEAR PLANT BECAUSE
• Nuclear power plants are dangerous – thousands died from the 1986 Chernobyl accident
• Nuclear plants emit harmful radiation into air and water
• Nuclear plants cost tens of billions of dollars
• Nuclear plants produce waste that is hazardous for thousands of years
• Ontario can meet its electricity needs through renewable energy and conservation.
Youth have not been consulted about this decision. Adults have no right to put our future at risk!
Sign the petition:
http://www.gopetition.com/petition/43683.html
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The true cost of nuclear in Ontario
The Ontario Liberal Government has committed up to $35 billion to expand the aging fleet of nuclear reactors at the Darlington Nuclear Station… A loose-knit group of Trent students and Peterborough residents is attempting to intervene in the expansion plan by making oral presentations to a Joint Review Panel, which has been charged with conducting a public consultation.
Former Peterborough resident Paul McKay's new and strategically released book, Atomic Accomplice: How Canada Deals in Deadly Deceit, documents how federal and provincial governments have secretly and not so secretly manipulated the energy marketplace by price-fixing, subsidies, and cost-overruns.
If the cost of rebuilding the aged reactors at the Darlington Nuclear Station is factored in, the Ontario Clean Air Alliance has suggested the actual cost of the energy will be from 19 to 37 cents per kilowatt-hour. They have aggressively mounted a "Stop a $35 Billion Nuclear Handout" campaign, claiming "every nuclear project in Ontario's history has gone massively over budget." In what may amount to a massive transfer of wealth from tax payers to the industries and corporations that use the energy at a greater rate, taxpayers will be on the hook to potentially cover 2.5 times Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) estimates, not including the $1.8 billion per year on the taxpayers in debt retirement charges for previous cost overruns.
http://www.trentarthur.ca/
index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2406:the-true-cost-of-nuclear-in-ontario&catid=14&Itemid=33
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Nuclear "Spin" at OPG
At what point does corporate “spin” become unethical?
As part of its PR efforts, OPG last week took out ads in major Ontario newspapers.
The OCAA denounced OPG’s advertisement with a press release of their own, branding the OPG ad as “false advertising” and an early “April Fool’s prank”.
http://ethical-politics.blogspot.com/2011/03/
nuclear-spin-at-opg.html
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Legal action taken over radioactive waste being shipped through Great Lakes
http://www.windsorstar.com/technology/
Legal+action+taken+over+radioactive+waste+being+shipped+through+Great+Lakes/4403611/story.html#ixzz1G8X6egrA
Groups urge feds to stall 'nuclear garbage' shipment - Eighty-three MPs sign petition
http://www.montrealgazette.com/technology/
Groups+urge+feds+stall+nuclear+garbage+shipment/4407434/story.html#ixzz1G8H0ixjo
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Darlington Nuclear new build discussed in Legislature
NDP MPP Peter Tabuns: OPG is trying to convince Ontarians that it can build, or rebuild, a nuclear reactor on budget by trying to rewrite Ontario’s history of nuclear delays and cost overruns. The Minister of Energy is responsible for advising and directing this government-owned corporation. Will the minister demand that OPG pull these ads and promise Ontarians that they—Ontarians—won’t pay for the inevitable cost overruns of the Darlington rebuild?
http://www.waterkeeper.ca/2011/03/10/
darlington-nuclear-new-build-discussed-in-legislature/
Please contact Energy Minister Duguid (and cc me) and tell him that you don’t want OPG to use our money to pay for false advertising. Enough is enough. It is time to respect Ontario’s taxpayers. For more info:
http://www.cleanairalliance.org/node/950
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Ontario’s Green Energy Debate: Three Points to Consider
The Ontario government’s surprise decision to place a moratorium on offshore wind power development has again put the spotlight on the province’s Green Energy Act and the McGuinty government’s overall approach to electricity issues. While the 2009 legislation is not without its flaws, the debate about the role of renewable energy in the province’s future seems to have lost track of three essential points.
http://marksw.blog.yorku.ca/2011/03/10/
ontario%E2%80%99s-green-energy-debate-three-points-to-consider/
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Renewable Energy Training Courses
Offered by the Kortright Centre (just north of Toronto in the city of Woodbridge)
http://kortright.org/groups-and-educati ... -workshop/
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More wind than science in turbine debate
If we’re going to stop wind development until more research can be done, then we should first stop nuclear until we know more about the health risks from shipping radioactive waste up the St. Lawrence seaway. We know nukes are dangerous. We have no hard evidence anywhere that wind actually causes health problems, and 30-plus years of research that shows otherwise.
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/
article/951453--more-wind-than-science-in-turbine-debate
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Carbon Reduction Policies Can be Good for the Economy
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/
2011/02/a-new-path-to-growth-with-renewables?cmpid=WNL-Wednesday-March2-2011
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Stand up for Solar
Send a letter to your MPP and more here:
www.standupforsolar.ca
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Facing Off for Social Justice in a Militarized World Conflict Zones, Human Rights and Health Care
Mar. 25/26, Ottawa, ON
Sponsored by Physicians for Global Survival
Agenda and registration:
http://pgs.ca/?page_id=725
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It’s time to cut up the nuclear credit card and get a firm hold on nuclear spending. It is time to stop taxpayer-financed nuclear bailouts. Please contact Premier McGuinty and Opposition Leader Tim Hudak and tell them that you don’t want Ontario’s taxpayers to guarantee the repayments of OPG’s borrowings for its proposed Darlington Re-Build Project. Click here to send them your letter now.
And order FREE leaflets/postcards opposing the Darlington Nuclear Newbuild:
http://www.cleanairalliance.org/get_inv ... _pamphlets
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= = = = = = =
No Nukes News - Mar. 16, 2011
The best news service on the Japan nuclear crisis is Beyond Nuclear. Check it often.
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Japan may spell end of nuclear industry worldwide
“The situation is very grim and not just for the Japanese people,” said Dr Helen Caldicott. “If both reactors blow then the whole of the Northern Hemisphere may be affected,” she said. “Only one reactor blew at Chernobyl and it was only 3 months old, with new cores holding relatively little radiation; these ones have been operating for 40 years and would hold about 30 times more radiation than Chernobyl’s.”
http://www.independentaustralia.net/2011/international/
caldicott-japan-may-spell-end-of-nuclear-industry-worldwide/
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Germany to shut down pre-1980 nuclear plants
* Only 10 of Germany's 17 nuclear plants to stay open
* About a third of German nuclear capacity to be shut down
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/15/
germany-nuclear-idUSLDE72E17620110315?pageNumber=1
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And in the US:
The US Republicans backing nuclear power aren't about to give up the struggle because of events in Japan. Meet Republican congressman Devin Nunes of California, who wants 200 new power plants and thinks the events in Fukushima strengthens the argument for more nuclear plants. Nunes has proposed a comprehensive energy bill that calls for 200 new nuclear power plants by 2040. The bill has more than 50 sponsors, including House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan. Citing the rarity of the disaster that caused the nuclear crisis in Japan, Nunes insists the catastrophe may actually strengthen the argument for building more reactors in the United States.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/mar/15/
japan-earthquake-and-tsunami-japan
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Japan Teeters on the Edge of Nuclear Meltdown, While U.S. and Other Countries Work to Build More Nuclear Reactors
You'd think the world would have wised up by now to the risks of nuclear power, but that's not the case in our country and many others.
http://www.alternet.org/environment/150247/
japan_teeters_on_the_edge_of_nuclear_meltdown,_while_u.s._and_other_countries_work_to_build_more_nuclear_reactors
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China Suspends New Nuclear Power Plans
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/16/
china-nuclear-power-plans_n_836460.html
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Ontario not backing down on expanding nuclear plants
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/
954547--ontario-not-backing-down-on-expanding-nuclear-plants
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Democracy Now - Japan Facing Biggest Catastrophe Since Dawn of Nuclear Age
Lots of good info here. Watch the video or read the transcript here:
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/3/14/
japan_facing_biggest_catastrophe_since_dawn
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Water leak at Pickering nuclear plant
Canada's nuclear regulator said Wednesday there was a demineralized water leak at a nuclear power plant near Toronto late Monday after a pump seal failed.
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/
954772--water-leak-at-pickering-nuclear-plant
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Four explosions, two fires, and a cloud of nuclear mistrust spreads around the world
After decades of lies, nuclear reassurances now fall on deaf ears
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/
four-explosions-two-fires-and-a-cloud-of-nuclear-mistrust-spreads-around-the-world-2242988.html
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No Word for Meltdown: The Return of Nukespeak
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/rory-oconnor/
34975/no-word-for-meltdown-the-return-of-nukespeak
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Solar power outshines nuclear power: Study
A year-long Queen's University study has concluded that nuclear power is simply not worth the risk when compared to solar energy.
The study concluded: "In light of these results and with the recent economic challenges, climate destabilization and a new-found emphasis on sustainability, U.S. energy policy needs to re-evaluate its options and appropriate available funds wisely by moving away from nuclear power and diversifying their energy portfolio to maximize the renewable (not alternative) energy potential."
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/
954262--solar-power-outshines-nuclear-power-study
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SunShot: Lowering the Price of Electricity from the Sun
The U.S. Department of Energy aims to make electricity from the sun cheaper than that from burning coal or natural gas
http://www.scientificamerican.com/
article.cfm?id=sunshot-lowering-price-of-solar-electricity
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The Highway of the Atom
The surprising story of the atomic bomb's origins in Canada's North.
http://mqup.mcgill.ca/
browse_archives.php?catalogue=35&page=3
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End Subsidies to the Fossil Fuel Industry by the next Federal Budget
2 minute video.
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=tGUkma2qzhQ&feature=player_embedded
Then visit
http://www.climateactionnetwork.ca/e/
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Calling All Youth – Sign the petition opposing new reactors at Darlington
http://www.gopetition.com/petition/43683.html
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Facing Off for Social Justice in a Militarized World Conflict Zones, Human Rights and Health Care
Mar. 25/26, Ottawa, ON
Sponsored by Physicians for Global Survival
Agenda and registration:
http://pgs.ca/?page_id=725
----------------------------------------------------------------
Nuclear in the Spotlight – Wed. Mar. 30, Toronto
Feeling powerless? Come out to our Nuclear in the Spotlight event in Toronto on Wed. March 30th to help us turn Ontario away from nuclear and toward safer options. Check out our Facebook Event Page for more details. We will be dedicating some ticket funds and taking up a collection at the event for Japanese relief efforts.
Hope to see you there. And until then, our thoughts and prayers extend to the Japanese people and all those who will be affected by this disaster, now and into the future.
http://www.facebook.com/
event.php?eid=192323914141758
http://nuclearspotlight.eventbrite.com/
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Angela Bischoff, Outreach Director
Ontario Clean Air Alliance
Tel: 416 926 1907 x 246
625 Church Street, #402, Toronto, ON M4Y 2G1
angela@cleanairalliance.org
www.cleanairalliance.org
www.ontariosgreenfuture.ca
No Nukes News
Health Power
Coal Must Go
===================
6. HARDING: WHAT DOES JAPAN’S TRIPLE DISASTER TELL US ABOUT SUSTAINABILITY?
http://forum.stopthehogs.com/phpBB2/vie ... =2069#2069
BY Jim Harding Published in R-Town News March 15, 2011
My heart goes out to the Japanese people. The March 11, 2011 earthquake was the largest in its recorded history; the fifth biggest globally in a century. The resulting tsunami swept whole settlements away as it surged inland, sometimes as far as a km. As though bad things do come in three, there then came the threat of a core meltdown at some of Japan’s nuclear plants. The Prime Minister said it was Japan’s worst catastrophe since WW II, which we should remember ended with two Atom bombs being dropped on the country.
Those standing in shock on the flatlands of debris where villages once stood might have had flashes of Hiroshima or Nagasaki being leveled in 1945. Today’s radiation threat, however, didn’t come from nuclear bombs, but through a series of interlocking disasters. The earthquake, measuring 9, cut power off at the Fukushima nuclear complex. The pumps keeping water going over the reactor core shut down, and the extremely hot fuel was exposed; threatening a core melt-down and trans-continental radiation release such as happened at Chernobyl. Officials thought that they had diesel generators as a back-up, but these were damaged by the tsunami.
A building exploded from the build-up of hydrogen gas at reactor # 1. To stop things getting totally out of control the decision was made to pump sea-water to try to cool the core. This was a desperate measure, because it pretty much trashes the reactors for future use. Two days later another explosion occurred at reactor # 3.
It’s lucky the nuclear complex was near the ocean; otherwise the reactors might have immediately gone into full meltdown. As I write, Fukushima reactor # 2 is also malfunctioning and a full meltdown is not ruled out, and a state of emergency has been declared at another nuclear plant at Onagawa. And we learn from Beyond Nuclear that nuclear wastes containing lots of plutonium may have been stored on top of one of the reactors where an explosion occurred.
MORE:
http://forum.stopthehogs.com/phpBB2/
viewtopic.php?p=2069#2069
Other columns at:
http://jimharding.brinkster.net
====================
7. URANIUM STOCK MARKET NEWS:
Uranium shares fall as Japan battles meltdown
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/
uranium-shares-fall-as-japan-battles-meltdown-2011-03-14?reflink=MW_news_stmp
= = = = = = =
Uranium Stocks Continue To Fall As Uranium Spot Prices Sink
http://www.nasdaq.com/aspx/
stock-market-news-story.aspx?storyid=201103151056dowjonesdjonline000266&title=uranium-stocks-continue-to-fall-as-uranium-spot-prices-sink
By Edward Welsch, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES March 15, 2011
CALGARY -(Dow Jones)- Uranium miner stocks continued to fall Tuesday on fears that reactor problems in Japan will halt the worldwide growth of nuclear power and the consumption of the radioactive metal.
The uncertainty about the situation in Japan, where three reactors continue to overheat and at least one has suffered a partial meltdown, has largely halted trading in the uranium spot market according to a person familiar with the matter, and caused prices to fall nearly 10% to $60 a pound.
Spot uranium was trading at $66.50 a pound as of March 7, according to Ux Consulting Co., which publishes spot prices for the industry.
Shares of Cameco Corp. (CCJ), the largest publicly owned uranium company, declined 9.1% to $29.65 in recent trading on the New York Stock Exchange following a 12.7% drop on Monday. Shares of Australia's Bannerman Resources Ltd. (BMN.AU) saw the steepest drop, down 33% on Tuesday and losing roughly half their value since the trouble with Japan's reactors began. [ . . . ]
= = = = =
Uranium Firms Take Hit
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/
uranium-firms-set-back-2011-03-14
By EDWARD WELSCH, March 14, 2011
- - - -
QUOTE: “And China, which is building more than twice as many new reactors as Russia, the next fastest-growing nuclear power adopter, could be forced to delay its development, Mr. Carter said. "Given that many of these reactors they're building will be on the coastline, I think they will have to potentially look closer at the standards at which they build them," he said.”
- - - -
CALGARY - Uranium stocks sank Monday after several Japanese reactors overheated, stoking fears of partial meltdowns, as a result of last week's earthquake and tsunami.
Analysts said uranium equities are falling because the market had been pricing in strong growth in demand as countries across the world plan to build new fleets of nuclear power stations to manage their energy needs. But those growth assumptions may be overstretched if public sentiment turns against nuclear power following Japan's problems.
The Japanese government said Monday that the fuel rods in one reactor have fused together in a partial meltdown. A partial meltdown occurs when uranium fuel begins to melt under high temperatures, but still remains contained within the reactor. The 1979 Three Mile Island accident in the U.S. was a partial meltdown. In a full meltdown, such as the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in the Soviet Union, the rods melt completely and the release of energy causes an explosion that contaminates the surrounding area with radioactive material.
Shares of Cameco Corp., the world's largest publicly owned uranium mining company, dropped 16% to $31.29 in early trading on the New York Stock [ . . . ]
= = = = = =
Cameco optimistic
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/business/
Cameco+optimistic/4439962/story.html
Demand for uranium expected to remain strong: CEO
By Cassandra Kyle, The Starphoenix, Reuters Files March 15, 2011
Cameco Corp.'s CEO said Monday a nearly 13 per cent drop in the value of its shares is "largely driven by emotion" surrounding the disaster in Japan and the country's ongoing nuclear emergency.
Jerry Grandey said despite the drop, Cameco -one of the world's largest uranium producers -isn't expected to feel any significant short-or long-term affects on its business as a result of its diversified client base.
"Some voices have questioned whether the nuclear renaissance will survive this natural disaster. Looking beyond the events of recent days, we at Cameco don't see a dramatic effect on the fundamentals of our uranium business," Grandey said.
"Growth in nuclear capacity in China, India, Korea and elsewhere -certainly China experiencing the largest expansion -has tremendous momentum and we expect it will continue."
Cameco supplies uranium products to the two Japanese utilities most directly affected by the natural disasters. [ . . . ]
= = = = =
Uranium miners are getting hammered
http://www.cbc.ca/fp/story/2011/03/15/4435596.html
Last Updated: Tuesday, March 15, 2011 | 08:05 AM EDT
Story courtesy of Financial Post
About a decade after the term “nuclear renaissance” was coined, the revival of the uranium sector is facing its most notable threat. And while the industry quickly moved to downplay it, investors are spooked.
The Japanese nuclear emergency has raised concerns that countries will delay or halt their bold plans for new nuclear reactor construction. Shares of uranium miners plummeted Monday as a result, with most falling between 20% and 30%. They were by far the most heavily traded stocks on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
The question is whether this turns out to be a short-term overreaction or evidence of a long-term chill on uranium demand.
Industry veterans know what the latter is like from experience. After the Chernobyl and Three Mile Island disasters, the uranium industry went into a funk that lasted about two decades until demand rebounded.
However, nothing like that is expected this time around.
The consensus among industry experts is that the uranium price could come under significant pressure as the issue of nuclear safety rises back to the forefront. But the odds are against a meaningful slowdown in nuclear construction.
The simple reason is China, which has huge power requirements and needs more nuclear energy. China has the most ambitious nuclear development plans of any country, with 27 reactors under construction and another 160 in the planning stages, according to the World Nuclear Association. [ . . . ]
================
8. The Nuclear Whistleblower - Arnold Gundersen of Goshen (1999)
http://www.state.nv.us/nucwaste/news2000/nn10410.htm
Reprinted from The Litchfield County Times,(Connecticut) December 10, 1999
Written by Katherine Boughton
Ten years ago, Arnold Gundersen of Goshen was a senior vice president with Danbury-based Nuclear Energy Services, a card-carrying member of the nuclear industry. Since then, he has become a dedicated whistleblower, taking on the industry that once supplied him in his family with a comfortable lifestyle and a bright future.
Mr. Gundersen made the transition between these two worlds after he uncovered what he felt were safety violations at NES and reported the problem to management. Soon after making this report he was dismissed from his job and began a five-year effort to prove his case. He asserts he was blacklisted by the industry for discussing the alleged violations with state and federal regulators and was eventually sued by NES $1.5 million for defamation. The suit was settled out-of-court.
A report prepared by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission eventually concluded that there had been irregularities at NES, and second document, prepared by the Office of the Inspector General, noted that the NRC had violated its own regulations by improperly steering business to NES. But that vindication was small solace to the Gundersen family, who had by then lost their home.
"Without the intervention of Sen. Joseph Lieberman and Sen. John Glenn, we would have been dog meat", Mr. Gundersen said. "We would have been selling apples on the street. My bitterness is not toward my former employer, but toward the government agencies that did nothing to rectify it. I had believed in the government, but now I know that it is an organism and when you attack it, it reacts like an organism. But as a result of my case, Connecticut has toughest whistleblower protection bill in the country."
MORE:
http://www.state.nv.us/nucwaste/news2000/nn10410.htm
=================
9. Jerry Grandey retiring as CEO of Cameco; company president Tim Gitzel takes over July 1
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/opinion/
Jerry+Grandey+retiring+Cameco+company+president+Gitzel+takes+over+July/4325767/story.html?id=4325767
By Cassandra Kyle, The StarPhoenix February 22, 2011
Cameco Corp. president Tim Gitzel will take on the role of CEO when current chief executive Jerry Grandey retires at the end of June.
The company announced Tuesday morning Grandey will retire as CEO and Cameco board member at the end of June after turning 65 earlier that month. Gitzel, 48, will be nominated as a member of the company’s board of directors at its annual meeting in May, and will become CEO effective July 1.
“This is an exciting time to lead this organization building on the foundation put in place by my predecessors,” Gitzel stated.
“We are on track to pursue our ambitious goal to double our uranium production by 2018 as the world is noticing that the nuclear renaissance is underway.” [ . . . ]
=====================
10. Can U.S. Nuclear Plants Handle a Major Natural Disaster?
http://www.alternet.org/story/150238/
can_u.s._nuclear_plants_handle_a_major_natural_disaster?akid=6663.23437.W3mSUD&rd=1&t=12
Nuclear engineer says U.S. reactor would shatter 'like glass' in a catastrophic earthquake.
March 14, 2011 | ProPublica / By John Sullivan
As engineers in Japan struggle to bring quake-damaged reactors under control, attention is turning to U.S. nuclear plants and their ability to withstand natural disasters.
Rep. Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat who has spent years pushing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission toward stricter enforcement of its safety rules, has called for a reassessment. Several U.S. reactors lie on or near fault lines, and Markey wants to beef up standards for new and existing plants.
"This disaster serves to highlight both the fragility of nuclear power plants and the potential consequences associated with a radiological release caused by earthquake related damage," Markey wrote NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko in a March 11 letter.
Specifically, Markey raised questions about a reactor design the NRC is reviewing for new plants that has been criticized for seismic vulnerability. The NRC has yet to make a call on the AP1000 reactor, which is manufactured by Westinghouse. But according to Markey, a senior NRC engineer has said the reactor’s concrete shield building could shatter "like a glass cup" under heavy stress.
MORE:
http://www.alternet.org/story/150238/
can_u.s._nuclear_plants_handle_a_major_natural_disaster?akid=6663.23437.W3mSUD&rd=1&t=12
===================
11. World Nuclear News Weekly: 8-14 March 2011
All Links are on URL:
http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/
?u=140c559a3b34d23ff7c6b48b9&id=4f51b57bae&e=7a6d90bce5
REGULATION & SAFETY:
Dramatic escalation in Japan
15 March 2011
Loud noises were heard at Fukushima Daiichi 2 at 6.10am this morning. A major component beneath the reactor is confirmed to be damaged. Evacuation to 20 kilometres is being completed, while a fire on site was put out. Tepco have said containment shows 'no change'.
Loss of coolant at Fukushima Daiichi 2
14 March 2011
Serious damage to the reactor core of Fukushima Daiichi 2 seems likely after all coolant was lost for a period.
Explosion rocks third Fukushima reactor
14 March 2011
Another hydrogen explosion has rocked the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, this time at the third reactor unit. Analysis shows the containment structure remains intact.
Cold shutdowns at Fukushima Daini
14 March 2011
Two more reactors at Fukushima Daini have now achieved cold shutdown with full operation of cooling systems. Engineers are working for the same at the last unit.
Rolling blackouts as Japanese efforts continue
14 March 2011
Japanese utilities are introducing rolling blackouts in the face of energy shortages following the natural disasters of the last few days. Meanwhile, the country is relying more than ever on the continued operation of its other nuclear reactors.
Efforts to manage Fukushima Daiichi 3
13 March 2011
Operations to relieve pressure in the containment of Fukushima Daiichi 3 have taken place after the failure of a core coolant system. Seawater is being injected to make certain of core cooling. Malfunctions have hampered efforts but there are strong indications of stability.
Contamination check on evacuated residents
13 March 2011
Potential contamination of the public is being studied by Japanese authorities as over 170,000 residents are evacuated from within 20 kilometres of Fukushima Daini and Daiichi nuclear power plants. Nine people's results have shown some degree of contamination.
Battle to stabilise earthquake reactors
1 March 2011
Attention remains focused on the Fukushima Daiichi and Daini nuclear power plants as Japan struggles to cope in the aftermath of its worst earthquake in recorded history. A dramatic explosion did not damage containment and sea water injection continues through the night.
Massive earthquake hits Japan
1 March 2011
Nuclear reactors shut down during today's massive earthquake in Japan. Official sources have reported no detected radioactive release but are still monitoring the situation, meanwhile work to establish adequate cooling at Fukushima Daiichi continues.
US nuclear regulator OKs Vermont Yankee extension
1 March 2011
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has said that it will renew the operating licence for the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant for a further 20 years, although the regulator does not have the final say in the plant's future operation.
Two US nuclear projects put back 18 months
8 March 2011
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has told Dominion and Luminant that their licence applications to build at North Anna and Comanche Peak will be delayed by some 18 months due after changes in the design of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' Advanced Pressurized Water Reactor.
WASTE & RECYCLING:
Double attack on US nuclear waste fees
10 March 2011
American utilities and regulators have both filed lawsuits against the Department of Energy for continuing to charge for the halted Yucca Mountain project.
CORPORATE:
Areva, Rolls-Royce team up for UK EPRs
11 March 2011
Areva has signed an industrial cooperation agreement with the UK's Rolls-Royce for the manufacture of components for nuclear energy related projects both in the UK and overseas.
Endesa to access AP1000 technology
9 March 2011
Westinghouse has signed an agreement with Spanish utility Endesa to share information on its AP1000 reactor technology. The move makes Endesa a likely partner for nuclear new build projects in Spain and South America.
Import agreement: Baltic to Lithuania
8 March 2011
A deal has been struck that will see major power exports from the Baltic nuclear power plant to Lithuania. Russian-controlled utilities will transmit 1000 MWe across the border shortly after the start of operation.
EXPLORATION & NUCLEAR FUEL:
China Guangdong makes Kalahari offer
8 March 2011
A deal in the offing could give China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corporation's uranium subsidiary a major stake in the Husab uranium project in Namibia.
INDUSTRY TALK:
Shin Kori 1 enters commercial operation
10 March 2011
Shin Kori unit 1 entered commercial operation on 28 February, according to the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety (KINS). The indigenously designed OPR-1000 is South Korea's seventh such unit and 21st nuclear power reactor overall.
ESBWR approaches design certification
10 March 2011
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has found GE-Hitachi's Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR) to be safe and technically acceptable. After five years of consideration the NRC has issued a final safety evaluation report and final design approval for the reactor. Full design certification should follow later this year.
Reactors continue through earthquake
9 March 2011
Nuclear power plants were barely affected by the Sanriku offshore earthquake that rocked Japan at 11.45am this morning. The earthquake measured 7.3 on the Richter scale and originated 160 kilometres offshore some 8 kilometres underground. Nuclear power plants on the Pacific coast that felt the quake include Onagawa, Higashidori and Fukushima Daini and Fukushima Daiichi.
12. Tide turns against nuclear industry
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/
article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10712687
By Greg Ansley 5:30 AM Wednesday Mar 16, 2011
CANBERRA - The crisis at Japan's earthquake-damaged Fukushimo power plant has strengthened arguments against nuclear power in Australia, previously gaining support as a means of countering climate change.
The plant's operator uses Australian uranium, sold to Japan by BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto.
The explosions in its reactors, and wider uncertainties in the wake of last week's devastating earthquake and tsunami, have also hit the nation's uranium industry, wiping more than A$1 billion ($1.3 billion) off miners' stocks.
Although debate over the future of nuclear energy continues within the major parties, both Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said the issue was off their agendas.
Nuclear power is also opposed by the Greens - who will hold the balance of power in the Senate from July - and the crisis at Fukushimo has re-energised environmental opponents.
Although not relating her comments directly to the damaged Japanese plant, Gillard told ABC television's Q&A programme that Australia had many alternative sources of energy and had no need for reactors. [ . . . . ]
==================
13. Tokyo Electric to Build US Nuclear Plants: The No BS Info on Japan's Disastrous Nuclear Operators
http://www.truth-out.org/
tokyo-electric-build-us-nuclear-plants-the-no-bs-info-japans-disastrous-nuclear-operators68457
Monday 14 March 2011
by: Greg Palast, t r u t h o u t | News Analysis
I need to speak to you, not as a reporter, but in my former capacity as lead investigator in several government nuclear plant fraud and racketeering investigations.
I don't know the law in Japan, so I can't tell you if Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) can plead insanity to the homicides about to happen.
But what will Obama plead? The administration, just months ago, asked Congress to provide a $4 billion loan guarantee for two new nuclear reactors to be built and operated on the Gulf Coast of Texas - by TEPCO and local partners. As if the Gulf hasn't suffered enough. Here are the facts about TEPCO and the industry you haven't heard on CNN:
The failure of emergency systems at Japan's nuclear plants comes as no surprise to those of us who have worked in the field.
Nuclear plants the world over must be certified for what is called "SQ" or "Seismic Qualification." That is, the owners swear that all components are designed for the maximum conceivable shaking event, be it from an earthquake or an exploding Christmas card from al-Qaeda.
The most inexpensive way to meet your SQ is to lie. The industry does it all the time. The government team I worked with caught them once, in 1988, at the Shoreham plant in New York. Correcting the SQ problem at Shoreham would have cost a cool billion, so engineers were told to change the tests from "failed" to "passed."
The company that put in the false safety report? Stone & Webster, now the nuclear unit of Shaw Construction, which will work with TEPCO to build the Texas plant. Lord help us.
There's more:
http://www.truth-out.org/
tokyo-electric-build-us-nuclear-plants-the-no-bs-info-japans-disastrous-nuclear-operators68457
=================
14. Nuclear Power Madness
http://www.truth-out.org/nuclear-power-madness68460
Monday 14 March 2011
by: Norman Solomon, t r u t h o u t | News Analysis
Like every other president since the 1940s, Barack Obama has promoted nuclear power. Now, with reactors melting down in Japan, the official stance is more disconnected from reality than ever.
Political elites are still clinging to the oxymoron of "safe nuclear power." It's up to us - people around the world - to peacefully and insistently shut those plants down.
There is no more techno-advanced country in the world than Japan. Nuclear power is not safe there, and it is not safe anywhere. [ . . . ]
====================
15. Nuclear Power, on the Brink
http://www.truth-out.org/
eugene-robinson-nuclear-power-brink68464
by Eugene Robinson, Op-Ed march 15, 2011
Washington - Nuclear power was beginning to look like a panacea -- a way to lessen our dependence on oil, make our energy supply more self-sufficient and significantly mitigate global warming, all at the same time. Now it looks more like a bargain with the devil.
I wish this were not so. In recent years, some of the nation's most respected environmentalists -- including Stewart Brand, founder of the Whole Earth Catalog -- have come to champion nuclear power. But as Japanese engineers struggle frantically to keep calamity from escalating into catastrophe, we cannot ignore the fact that nuclear fission is an inherently and uniquely toxic technology.
The cascading sequence of system failures, partial meltdowns and hydrogen explosions at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was touched off by a once-in-a-lifetime event: the most powerful earthquake in Japan's recorded history, which triggered a tsunami of unimaginable destructive force. It is also true that the Fukushima reactors are of an older design, and that it is possible to engineer nuclear plants that would never suffer similar breakdowns.
But it is also true that there is no such thing as a fail-safe system. Stuff happens.
The Earth is alive with tectonic movement, volcanism, violent weather. We try our best to predict these phenomena, but our best calculations are probabilistic and thus imprecise. We have computers that are as close to infallible as we can imagine, but the data they produce must ultimately be interpreted by human intelligence. When a crisis does occur, experts must make quick decisions under enormous pressure; usually they're right, sometimes they're wrong.
The problem with nuclear fission is that the stakes are unimaginably high. We can engineer nuclear power plants so that the chance of a Chernobyl-style disaster is almost nil. But we can't eliminate it completely -- nor can we envision every other kind of potential disaster. And where fission reactors are concerned, the worst-case scenario is so dreadful as to be unthinkable.
MORE:
http://www.truth-out.org/
eugene-robinson-nuclear-power-brink68464
=======================
16. US nuclear plants located near geologic faults
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110317/ap_on_re_us/
us_japan_quake_us_fault_lines
March 16, 2011
- - - - -
QUOTE: “The dangers of earthquakes have been raised repeatedly by opponents of nuclear energy.”
- - - - -
LOS ANGELES – Two years before an immense coastal earthquake plunged Japan into a nuclear crisis, a geologic fault was discovered about a half-mile from a California seaside reactor — alarming regulators who say not enough has been done to gauge the threat to the nation's most populous state.
The situation of the Diablo Canyon plant is not unique. Across the country, a spider's web of faults in the Earth's crust raises questions about earthquakes and safety at aging nuclear plants, amplified by horrific images from Japan, where nuclear reactors were crippled by a tsunami caused by a 9-magnitude quake.
The Indian Point Energy Center, for example, lies near a fault line 35 miles north of Manhattan; on Wednesday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered a safety review at the plant.
But none of the questions are more pressing than in quake-prone California, where about 10 powerful shakers — stronger than magnitude 7 — have hit since 1900.
=======================
17. SHUT SAN ONOFRE NOW! Tomorrow might be too late and besides, the operators will be hung over!
http://acehoffman.blogspot.com/
by Ace Hoffman March 17th, 2011
Dear Readers,
Happy St. Patrick' Day! Today, we probably ALL feel like getting drunk.
But so drunk we feel nauseous and want to throw up? No, thanks.
Many people in Japan are feeling that way now, without a sip of sake. Many more will.
Ireland, at least, has one thing to celebrate today: THEY don't have any nuclear power plants of their own. They thought about it, but Sellafield was already way too close. And free speech is a hallmark of Irish society, so nuclear power didn't get very far.
When Sellafield went up in smoke (then known as Windscale) Ireland certainly wasn't spared.
The worse nuclear disasters in history, in order, are, I believe:
Fukushima Dai-ichi, Japan
Mayak, Russia
Chernobyl, Russia
Sellafield, England
Three Miles Island, USA
Of course, ongoing nuclear disasters such as Hanford, Savannah River, Oak Ridge, the Nevada Test Site, Paduccah, etc., and their counterparts in Russia and elsewhere are larger by some standards than some of these accidents, perhaps than all of them. Hanford didn't become "the most polluted place on earth" by accident, although it had many of those, too. It got there in a steady, relentless fashion. It was sacrificed.
The area around Fukushima Dai-ichi has been sacrificed.
MORE:
http://acehoffman.blogspot.com/
==================
18. Mining activist kicked out of conference
http://toronto.mediacoop.ca/newsrelease/6587
NEWS RELEASE posted on March 9, 2011 by Tim Groves
Mining Injustice Solidarity Network (MISN) distributes information at PDAC convention, not well received
by Mining Injustice Solidarity Network (MISN)
Toronto - Mining injustice activists were escorted off of the Metro Convention Centre premises by security today after distributing flyers describing negative impacts reported by mining affected community members throughout the nation and worldwide. Today marks the last day of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada’s (PDAC) annual mining investment show in Toronto. According to PDAC more than 22, 000 delegates attend this annual trade show.
Activists engaged in discussion with PDAC representatives and corporate social responsibility mining employees. They stated that they were interested in dialogue and working together, yet conference staff remained on the defensive by blocking the distribution of resources and threatening to call security. When questioned as to why the PDAC funded report that found that Canadian mining corporations were the most likely to trigger social conflict and environmental devastation was never released, program assistant Lesley Williams reiterated the official PDAC position, that the report in question has methodological flaws. Williams was questioned as to why the same approach was not taken in response to the Fraser Institute’s ‘mining report card,’ which according to critics reads more as a list of complaints by mining industry CEOs. No response was given.
Following these discussions, mining injustice activists distributed flyers throughout the exhibition area until venue security guards demanded that they leave. Reflecting on the incident, activist Ivan Baeza stated: “I am glad we went because I think it is important for these individuals to know that we are concerned and that we are keeping an eye on them.” He added, “ We are being told to engage in dialogue, yet there is no genuine interest by these mining personnel to listen to the concerns and respond to the wishes of mining affected community members on the ground. We are told to use more appeasing 'positive language,' yet communities throughout the world and throughout Canada are facing life-threatening, emergency situations. 'Injustice’ is not a dirty word; it is a reality that we should all be ready to respond to.”
==================
19. WATCH: Amy Goodman Reports from South Africa on Aristide’s Planned Return Trip to Haiti After Seven Years in Exile
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/3/16/
amy_goodman_reports_from_south_africa
March 16, 2011
Former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide has decided to return to Haiti this week ahead of Sunday’s presidential runoff election. Aristide has lived in exile in South Africa since 2004, when he was ousted in a U.S.-backed coup. Amy Goodman joins us from Johannesburg along with K.K., an award-winning filmmaker and a personal friend of Aristide. Watch/Listen/Read
===================
20. CHECK SOME WEBSITES FOR UPDATES ON JAPAN NUCLEAR SITUATION: (Subscribe for their newsletters….)
Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility:
http://www.ccnr.org/
Beyond Nuclear:
http://www.beyondnuclear.org/bulletin/
Democracy Now!
http://www.democracynow.org
GREENPEACE:
http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/
World Nuclear News:
http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/
?u=140c559a3b34d23ff7c6b48b9&id=4f51b57bae&e=7a6d90bce5
- Oscar
- Site Admin
- Posts: 9965
- Joined: Wed May 03, 2006 3:23 pm
NUKE NEWS: March 21, 2011
by Oscar » Mon Mar 21, 2011 11:49 am
NUKE NEWS: March 21, 2011
[b]"The true hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive his deception, the one who lies with sincerity. " ~André Gide
1. EVENT: March 21 - Darlington New Nuclear Hearing – Details
2. EVENT: Conference: OTTAWA – March 25/26 - Facing Off For Social Justice in a Militarized World
3. EVENT - OTTAWA - March 22 - Why the F-35 stealth fighter is wrong for Canada
4. PRESS RELEASE: Nuclear crisis a grim reminder: (SK) Green Party
5. UPDATE: Darlington Power Plant Project
6. 4.7 magnitude earthquake rattles western Quebec
7. Pickering nuclear plant reports water leak
8. COMMENTS: EDWARDS: CANDU Reactor Hazards // Radioactivity crossing the ocean
9. NUCLEAR REACTOR CATASTROPHE IN JAPAN - AN OPEN LETTER TO THE WORLD’S ENVIRONMENTAL MINISTERS
10. Our silent spring10. Our silent spring
11. Nuclear Power – Union of Concerned Scientists
12. The TMT Handbook: Triage, Monitoring and Treatment of people exposed to ionising radiation. – 2009
13. NUCLEAR SITUATION IN JAPAN UPDATE (10 articles)
14. INTERVIEW: WASSERMAN: VULNERABLE TO DISASTER AROUND THE WORLD
15. Nuclear Apocalypse in Japan - Lifting the Veil of Nuclear Catastrophe and cover-up
16. Nuclear Power Industry is a Crime Against Humanity
17. WATCH: Depleted Uranium - The Ultimate Dirty Bomb
18. LIBYA UPDATE
19. All Out War on Libya, Surge in the Price of Crude Oil... "Humanitarian Wars are Good for Business".... Speculators Applaud....
20. LETTER: SHIELDS: Get The Other Mad-Dog Of The Mid-East!!
=============
1. EVENT: March 21 - Darlington New Nuclear Hearing - Details[/b]
From: Northwatch <northwatch@onlink.net>
Date: March 20, 2011 10:33:44 PM EDT (CA)
The federal hearing on the proposal by Ontario Power Generation to build up to four new reactors of yet-to-be-specified design gets underway today, Monday, March 21st.
The opening act will be an afternoon hearing on procedures, starting at 1:30 pm, and the headliner is Ontario Power Generation presenting their environmental assessment overview, starting at 7 pm.
Location:
The Hearing wil be held at
Hope Fellowship Church, 1685 Bloor Street, Courtice
(between Oshawa and Bowmanville, a few kilometres due north of the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station)
Schedule:
Morning sessions start at 9, afternoon sessions at 1:30, evenings at 7 pm.
The detailed schedule is posted at
http://www.ceaa-acee.gc.ca/050/details- ... _id=29525;
here's the summary of the schedule as of March 20th
(M=Morning, A=Afternoon, E=Evening):
Week of March 21: Mon A/E; Tues M/A; Wed M/A; Thur M/A, Fri M/A, Sat M/A
Week of March 28: Mon A/E; Tues M/A; Wed A/E; Thur A/E, Fri M/A, Sat M/A
Week of April 4: Mon A/E; Tues M/A; Wed A/E; Thur A/E, Fri M/A,
By phone:
Telephone lines will be available for those who wish to listen live to the hearing proceedings. The toll-free dial-in number is 1-877-413-4781
(613-960-7510 for those in the Ottawa area).
The identification number is 5760957.
On-line:
Written transcripts and audio recordings of the proceedings will be available on the Canadian Environmental Assessment Registry Internet Site, reference number 07-05-29525. Materials will be posted the following day.
The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission announced this weekend that there will be a Webcast of Joint Review Panel for proposed Darlington new nuclear power plant project via the CNSC’s Web site.
To access the Webcast starting at 1:30 EDT on March 21, 2011, click on the link:
http://www.nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/comm ... /index.cfm
Northwatch
Box 282, North Bay P1B 8H2
tel 705 497 0373 fax 476 7060
northwatch@onlink.net
www.northwatch.org
================
2. EVENT: Conference: OTTAWA – March 25/26 - Facing Off For Social Justice in a Militarized World
http://pgs.ca/?page_id=725
Saint Paul University, 223 Main St, Ottawa, ON
March 25 and 26, Ottawa, ON
Radiation and health, physicians in conflict zones, social determinants of health and many more topics will be presented as this conference in Ottawa. Key note speakers include renowned gardening specialist, Mr. Ed Lawrence on a panel with Drs. Cathy Vakil and Art Wiebe discussing uranium in the environment – Dr. Helen Caldicott and President of the Canadian Medical Association, Dr. Jeff Turnbull.
Please note: Evening sessions are $10 to cover cost of renting auditorium – Friday evening includes a wine and cheese reception.
Agenda for March 25 and 26
http://pgs.ca/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/Program.pdf
PGS AGM and board meeting will take place on Friday, March 25 from 8:30-4:30 – in the PGS office 208-145 Spruce St – members are welcome to attend
===================
3. EVENT - OTTAWA - March 22 - Why the F-35 stealth fighter is wrong for Canada
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7598&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
Posted: 17 Mar 2011 01:37 PM PDT
Ploughshares Ottawa will host Steven Staples on Tuesday, 22 March 2011, at St.Thomas the Apostle Church, 2345 Alta Vista Drive (one block north of Heron Road) to discuss “Why the F-35 Stealth Fighter is Wrong for Canada”. The meeting begins at 7:30 PM. Light refreshments will be offered.
==================
4. PRESS RELEASE: Nuclear crisis a grim reminder: (SK) Green Party
http://www.leaderpost.com/news/
Nuclear+crisis+grim+reminder+Green+Party/4470032/story.html
Leader-Post March 19, 2011
- - - -
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/news/
Greens+decry+nuclear/4469760/story.html
(The same story in the Star Phoenix under the title, “Greens decry nuclear”.)
- - - - -
The crisis unfolding at a nuclear power plant in Japan should be a wake-up call to Saskatchewan to step away from nuclear research and focus financial resources on renewable energy, the provincial Green Party said at a news conference Friday.
"Saskatchewan can lead the way in becoming world leaders in renewable energy," party leader Larissa Shasko said.
Shasko was "disappointed" in recent statements made by SaskPower Minister Rob Norris, who said that the nuclear events in Japan are further evidence of why Saskatchewan should contribute more to nuclear science, and continue research in areas such as materials science, medicine and small reactor technology.
"More science in nuclear is not the answer. More science in renewable energy is," said Shasko.
But Shasko said she distinguishes some of the work being done in the nuclear medicine field from the province's interest in helping to develop small reactor technology.
"The two are very separate," said Shasko, who added a further concern of the Green Party about small reactors is that they could potentially be used in the oilsands industry.
Shasko is also calling for legislation banning the transportation and storage of nuclear waste in the province.
Shasko said the nuclear issue should be forefront in the 2011 election, especially when the Saskatchewan Party launched a study of uranium and the nuclear cycle during its first term in government after little mention of the subject during the 2007 campaign.
© Copyright (c) The Regina Leader-Post
==================
5. UPDATE: Darlington Power Plant Project
Notice - Darlington New Nuclear Power Plant Project
From: Darlington Joint Review Panel-Commission d'examen Conjoint a Dar
Sent: Friday, March 18, 2011 2:07 PM
Subject: Notice - Darlington New Nuclear Power Plant Project
Please take note:
In light of the events unfolding in Japan, the Darlington Joint Review Panel has determined that preliminary presentations relating to seismology and related safety features would be of use to both registered participants and the public at large. Brief presentations by Natural Resources Canada, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and Ontario Power Generation have been tentatively scheduled for Tuesday March 22, 2011 beginning at 9:00 am. The proposed adjustment to the Tuesday March 22, 2011 agenda is subject to the outcome of the procedural motions to be addressed on March 21, 2011.
These presentations should not be construed as the only opportunity by the Joint Review Panel for consideration of issues pertaining to Japan and seismology. The Panel is prepared to take all measures necessary to ensure that they have the information to carry out their mandate.
Julie Bouchard, Tribunal Administrator
Secretariat, Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission
613-995-1703
= = = = = =
Ontario says it's full steam ahead on nuclear projects
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/
Ontario+says+full+steam+ahead+nuclear+projects/4467257/story.html
By Linda Nguyen, Postmedia News March 18, 2011 3:19 PM
TORONTO — As the world prepares for a possible nuclear meltdown in Japan triggered by last week's devastating earthquake, Ontario has reaffirmed its commitment to its plan to embark on the biggest nuclear energy project the country has seen in 30 years.
"Our nuclear plants are safe today," said Ontario's energy minister, Brad Duguid, in an interview Friday. "We have standards in place that are above world standards."
However, the province has written to federal Environment Minister Peter Kent and Natural Resources Minister Christian Paradis to reinforce how important it is for Ottawa to ensure a "thorough environmental assessment" occurs in light of the safety concerns arising from the tenuous situation of some of Japan's nuclear power stations.
Duguid said that beginning Monday, three-week-long public licensing and environmental hearings will be held to examine the construction of two nuclear reactors at the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station in Clarington, Ont., about 85 kilometres east of Toronto. The new reactors will replace the province's aging nuclear plants.
The anticipated $33-billion project, which also includes the refurbishment of 10 reactors at Darlington and at the Bruce Power station in Tiverton, Ont., over the next 20 years, will mark the largest new nuclear energy project in Canada since the 1980s.
Under this timeline, the reactors are expected to be completed within eight to 10 years.
= = = = = =
UPDATE 1-NGO seeks delay in Canada nuclear plant hearings
http://www.waterkeeper.ca/2011/03/18/
update-1-ngo-seeks-delay-in-canada-nuclear-plant-hearings-reuters/
March 18, 2011
NGO calls on Canadian regulators to postpone hearings
* Says govt ought to take time to study Japanese crisis
(Reuters) – A Canadian environmental group on Friday urged regulators to delay hearings related to the construction of new nuclear reactors at an Ontario nuclear power plant.
Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, a nongovernmental organization, said Canada’s Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) should delay hearings that are set to begin on Monday about the Darlington project, located 70 kilometers (40 miles) east of Toronto, on the shores of Lake Ontario.
The Darlington power station already provides for about 20 percent of Ontario’s electricity needs, according to the Ontario Power Generation (OPG) website.
Waterkeeper asked the CNSC to postpone the hearing to give time to study the Japanese crisis and answer important questions about the Darlington project.
“The nuclear crisis in Japan underscores the importance of detailed planning and meticulous scrutiny. The Darlington New Nuclear Plant hearing offers neither,” said the group’s Mark Mattson, in a statement. [ . . . ]
=================
6. 4.7 magnitude earthquake rattles western Quebec
http://www.citytv.com/toronto/citynews/news/national/
article/119309--4-7-magnitude-earthquake-rattles-western-quebec
2011/03/16 | The Canadian Press
A minor earthquake, with a 4.7 magnitude, has been detected in western Quebec.
Natural Resources Canada says the quake was centered in Lachute, Que., between Ottawa and Montreal, and struck this afternoon about 1:36 p.m.
The ground started shaking and stopped after about 10 seconds. The quake was felt as far away as the western suburbs of Montreal, in Cornwall, Ont., and by some people in Ottawa. There were no immediate reports of damage. It appeared the one casualty was the federal website intended to keep Canadians informed about earthquakes. Last time there was a temblor in the region, last June, it froze the website for Earthquakes Canada. The federal site was brought to its knees again Wednesday. Many visitors seeking information were greeted by blank screens and the site was occasionally working, but only intermittently, after 2 p.m. The bugs brought back memories of last year's 5.0 temblor, where the federal site was paralyzed by demand. [ . . . ]
===================
7. Pickering nuclear plant reports water leak
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/03/16/
pickering-nuclear-leak.html
Risk to public is 'negligible,' says Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission
CBC News Posted: Mar 16, 2011 1:04 PM ET Last Updated: Mar 16, 2011 6:39 PM ET
Ontario Power Generation has notified Canada's federal nuclear regulator about the release of 73,000 litres of demineralized water into Lake Ontario at the Pickering A nuclear generating station. The leak occurred at 11:30 p.m. ET on Monday at the plant located about 35 kilometres east of Toronto and was caused by a pump seal failure.
“The radiological risk to the environment and people's health is negligible,” the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission said in a statement. The nuclear regulator and Environment Canada are monitoring the situation, the statement said. Andrew Nichols of CBC News reported about the leak on Wednesday afternoon and said he spoke to an Ontario Power Generation spokesperson who told him the risk is minimal but that such leaks are not supposed to occur. Nichols also spoke to Gordon Edwards of the Canadian Coalition of Nuclear Responsibility. "In his words, 'What the hell is considered negligible?'" Nichols reported. "[Edwards] is concerned that it’s the nuclear industry that is telling you and I and telling the public what is considered to be negligible but he’s concerned that we don’t have a proper sense of what negligible is," reported Nichols. Nichols also reported that the leak could be a concern because Lake Ontario is the main source of drinking water for millions of people who live along the lake. [ . . . ]
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Canadian Nuclear Plant Leaks Radioactive Water Into Lake Ontario
http://planetsave.com/2011/03/18/
canadian-nuclear-plant-leaks-radioactive-water-into-lake-ontario/
March 18, 2011
With all the focus placed on the Japanese radiation leak as well as the toxic plume of radioactive particles (possibly containing uranium and plutonium) heading for the United States, another potential disaster is receiving virtually no attention.
Of course, attention should be paid to the Japanese situation. Nevertheless, it seems the continent of North America is being hit from two sides in terms of radiation danger.
On March 16, a report was released by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) stating that Canada’s Ontario Power Generation has released radioactive water into Lake Ontario via a leak in the Pickering A nuclear generating station.
As a result of what appears to be a pump seal failure, tens of thousands of litres of radioactive water escaped the generating station on Monday and ended up in Lake Ontario.
This is concerning for a number of reasons, but it is especially concerning considering the fact that Lake Ontario is the main source of drinking water for millions of people.
No doubt this is an attempt to hush concern over another radioactive accident amid anxiety over the catastrophe in Japan.
So they can push the “Nuclear is safe” agenda, just like coal, oil and gas companies do. No doubt the new speech about nuclear will include “A little radiation won’t hurt anyone, it’s natural.”
John Luxat, an “expert” on radiation from McMaster University claims the water that found its way into Lake Ontario Monday is actually not radioactive at all. In an interview with the CTV News Channel, Luxat stated, “It is not radioactive; it is not going through the reactors.
It is actually just going through steam generators to produce steam to drive the turbines. It is used to remove heat from the heavy water going into the generators, but it doesn’t at any time go into the reactor.”
However, it conflicts with a report (that was meant to be reassuring) from OPG itself. Also in the same interview with CTV News Channel, Ted Gruetzner of OPG said, “People are concerned about nuclear power, but this particular incident is normal water with a bit of radiation. It is well below our regulatory and other limits.”
Apparently, the nuclear industry was unable to get its story straight this time around.
According to Mr. Luxat, there is no radiation involved with this water spill. But Mr. Gruetzner has admitted that there is. As an employee of OPG, it would not seem to be to his advantage to make such an admission, so we can assume with great probability that there is, at the very least, some radiation now polluting Lake Ontario.
As Gordon Edwards, spokesperson for the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, stated, “That water came from the spent fuel bays right into Lake Ontario. The spent fuel bays in Japan are currently the source of some of the greatest radiation exposures.
If there is an accident in Pickering, the fact that there is a direct pathway from the spent fuel bay into Lake Ontario should be quite alarming.”
I guess the Untied States is not the only country ruled by Big Industry, which is allowed to ruin the environment at the cost of the people.
This is another reason we should keep fighting for renewable, safe, clean energy for all the world.
=====================
8. COMMENTS: EDWARDS: CANDU Reactor Hazards // Radioactivity crossing the ocean
From: Gordon Edwards
Sent: Friday, March 18, 2011 4:00 AM
(1) Canadian nuclear authorities, as smug and complacent as ever, are busy patting themselves on the back, saying that "it can't happen here". This is self-deception on a grand scale. See
http://ccnr.org/CANDU_Safety.html
(2) There has been a lot of commentary out there saying that the radioactivity from Fukushima will not reach North America. This is not correrct. See the Swedish Defence Research Institute's affirmation that radioactivity from Fukushima will not only cross the Pacific but will eventually cover the Northern Hemisphere.
http://www.prisonplanet.com/
swedish-government-radiation-to-cover-entire-northern-hemisphere.html
This next link indicates how to get the goods on radiation monitoring stations that already exist -- contact the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization.
http://www.prisonplanet.com/
ny-times-maps-underplaying-extent-of-radiation.html
Gordon
====================
9. NUCLEAR REACTOR CATASTROPHE IN JAPAN - AN OPEN LETTER TO THE WORLD’S ENVIRONMENTAL MINISTERS
By C. G. Weeramantry, Former Vice President, International Court of Justice, The Hague, President, International Association of Lawyers against Nuclear Arms, Founder Trustee, Weeramantry International Centre for Peace Education & Research - March 14th 2011
http://www.rightlivelihood.org/fileadmin/Files/PDF/
Literature_Recipients/Weeramantry/NUCLEAR_REACTOR_CATASTROPHE_IN_JAPAN_-_by_Judge_C.G._Weeramantry_Former_Vice_President_International_Court_of_Justice.pdf
WEERAMANTRY INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR PEACE EDUCATION AND RESEARCH, 5/1, Dharmaraja Mawatha, Colombo 03, Sri Lanka
Tel: 0094 1 2500229 Fax: 0094 114 720480 E-mail: info@wicper.org
The earthquake in Japan and the resulting damage to nuclear power plants have sent shock waves and a dire note of warning to the world’s entire population. Despite their obvious dangers, nuclear reactors are proliferating worldwide and sowing the seeds of pollution and congenital deformities for a thousand generations to come (the half life of Plutonium 239, one of the bi-products of nuclear activities is 24,100 years).
Unborn generations are just as much members of the human family as ourselves but have no voice to speak for themselves. We take advantage of this and are damaging them catastrophically by our breach of trust of this environment of which we are custodians and not owners. Every single citizen is a trustee of the environment. All the more are Governments trustees, and in particular the environmental ministers of the world bear a special responsibility in this regard. We are in default of our duties if we continue to keep open such possibilities and create more, despite our knowledge of their dreadful consequences. Our generation and particularly those who are specially entrusted with the care of the environment will have to answer before the bar of history for our default and abuse of trust. Indeed we are committing the gravest possible crime against future generations and are doing so with a full consciousness of the effects of our actions.
MORE:
http://www.rightlivelihood.org/fileadmin/Files/PDF/
Literature_Recipients/Weeramantry/NUCLEAR_REACTOR_CATASTROPHE_IN_JAPAN_-_by_Judge_C.G._Weeramantry_Former_Vice_President_International_Court_of_Justice.pdf
===================
10. Our silent spring
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/
editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2011/03/21/our_silent_spring/
By James Carroll March 21, 2011
WHEN RACHEL Carson entitled her prescient 1962 book “Silent Spring,’’ she was imagining the dawning of the season without the sweet sounds of wildlife. She noted that, even then, in many parts of the United States, spring “comes unheralded by the return of birds, and the early mornings are strangely silent where once they were filled with the beauty of birdsong.’’ Carson’s book was heard as a resounding alarm, jumpstarting the contemporary environmental movement. In important ways, her warning was heeded (restrictions on DDT), but the human assault on the natural world only escalated in the decades since, with last week’s catastrophe in Japan a latest signal of the danger.
“There was once a town in the heart of America where all life seemed to live in harmony with its surroundings.’’ The book begins with what Carson calls a fable for tomorrow. “Then a strange blight crept over the area and everything began to change. Some evil spell had settled on the community . . . No witchcraft, no enemy action had silenced the rebirth of new life in the stricken world. The people had done it to themselves.’’
As Carson wrote, America’s first commercial nuclear power plant had just come on line (in 1958), and she could hardly have imagined the escalation of risk that took off then. The contaminations of chemical poisons that so worried Carson can seem benign compared to the ruins of radiation, if the worst happens. The Fukushima experience suggests what expert reassurances are worth. More than 500 nuclear power plants are in operation or under construction around the world today, with every one of them being viewed with new skepticism. One chance in a million — such predictions of disaster suddenly seem less of a long shot. What have we done to ourselves?
MORE:
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/
oped/articles/2011/03/21/our_silent_spring/
=================
11. Nuclear Power – Union of Concerned Scientists
http://www.ucsusa.org/nuclear_power/
Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) staff monitor and work to improve the safety and security provisions at existing nuclear power plants and the performance of the industry's oversight body--the Nuclear Regulatory Commission; assess the safety, security and nuclear weapons proliferation risks of new reactors; and analyze the pros and cons of increasing nuclear power as a means of reducing global warming. We write reports, file formal petitions to the NRC, testify before Congress, and provide technical assistance to groups of citizens living near nuclear plants.
=================
12. The TMT Handbook: Triage, Monitoring and Treatment of people exposed to ionising radiation. - 2009
http://www.tmthandbook.org/
index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1
Available online: produced by a consortium including WHO, Norwegian Protection Authority Health Protection Agency, SCK CEN, STUK, Enviros Consulting Ltd and Central Laboratory for Radiological Protection.
====================
13. NUCLEAR SITUATION IN JAPAN UPDATE (10 articles)
WATCH: Ghosts of Chernobyl: Meltdown spectre haunts humanity despite techno know-how
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Nzzycdn ... re=related
March 15, 2011
Follow latest updates at
http://twitter.com/rt_com and
http://www.facebook.com/RTnews
The Japanese disasters have raised questions as to whether nuclear technology can ever be called safe to use. EU nuclear experts are considering if the union should eventually move away from nuclear energy.
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End Nuclear Power Before it Ends Ushttp://www.opednews.com/articles/
End-Nuclear-Power-Before-i-by-Harvey-Wasserman-110317-85.html
By Harvey Wasserman March 17, 2011
The Japanese people are now paying a horrific price for the impossible dream of the "Peaceful Atom." For a half-century they have been told that what's happening now at Fukushima would never occur. Our hearts and souls must first and foremost go out to them. As fellow humans, we must do everything in our power to ease their wounds, their terrible losses and their unimaginable grief. We are also obliged---for all our sakes---to make sure this never happens again. [ . . . .]
= = = = = =
Nuclear Nightmare
http://www.countercurrents.org/nader190311.htm
By Ralph Nader, Reader Supported News 19 March 2011
The unfolding multiple nuclear reactor catastrophe in Japan is prompting overdue attention to the 104 nuclear plants in the United States - many of them aging, many of them near earthquake faults, some on the west coast exposed to potential tsunamis.
Nuclear power plants boil water to produce steam to turn turbines that generate electricity. Nuclear power's overly complex fuel cycle begins with uranium mines and ends with deadly radioactive wastes for which there still are no permanent storage facilities to contain them for tens of thousands of years. [ . . . . ]
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WATCH: EDWARDS: Ask An Expert: Japan's Nuclear Crisis - Questions and Answers http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20110317/
japan-nuclear-crisis-ask-an-expert-110317/
March 17, 2011
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WATCH: Caldicott: UN lies about nuclear threat
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=65ptQASTKCk&feature=player_embedded
Japan's nuclear crisis is reminiscent of the past -- both Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. Helen Caldicott, the author of "Nuclear Power is not the Answer" explained disasters like this could cause global nuclear catastrophe and are exactly why nuclear power is not a viable option for solving the planet's energy woes. She argued accidents are too risky and the UN, IAEA and the World Health Organization are covering up just how devastating it could be.
= = = = = =
Caldicott: Japan may spell end of nuclear industry worldwide
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php? ... &aid=23744
Posted on March 16, 2011 by admin Independent Australia, 15 Mar 2011
- - - - - -
QUOTE: "“But I think the nuclear industry is finished worldwide.” “I have said before, unfortunately, the only thing that is capable of stopping this wicked industry is a major catastrophe, and it now looks like this may be it.”"
- - - - - -
People all over the world are watching updates on the Japanese nuclear emergency in growing horror and disbelief. Despite soothing words from nuclear energy industry promoters, each update today has signalled fresh disaster and even more drastic warnings. Anti-nuclear campaigner Dr Helen Caldicott says it could spell the end of the nuclear industry worldwide. David Donovan reports.
There appears to be massive divergence of opinion between experts about just how cataclysmic the Japanese situation could be.
Yesterday, Japan’s nuclear agency attempted to calm fears by ranking the incident as a Category 4 nuclear accident, below the 1979 Three Mile Island partial meltdown in the US and well below the Chernobyl meltdown and explosion 25 years ago which rated top of the scale at seven. Chernobyl was the world’s worst nuclear disaster to date, scattering a radioactive cloud over millions of people in Russia and Europe, causing massive loss of life. [ . . . .[
= = = = = = =
LETTER: SHIELDS: The Russian's Will Score Big Time!!
From: lagran
To: Prime Minister/Premier ministre ; Layton, Jack - M.P. ; iggy
Cc: Rae.B@parl.gc.ca ; Minister, EMPR EMPR:EX ; min.dfaitmaeci@international.gc.ca ; jmorales@neb-one.gc.ca ; goodale ; flaherty ; bill boyd ; acameron@neb-one.gc.ca
Sent: Sunday, March 20, 2011 9:33 AM
The message I take from this Journal story relates to future energy supplies for Japan being provided by Russia! Russia's Putin speaking in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk purposed to free up energy for Japan by increasing Russian gas to Europe so more LNG cargoes could go to the Asian nation. This will undoubtedly be met with quiet joy by the same CARTEL wanting to build the Mackenzie Pipeline with Canadian tax dollars!! The CARTEL hold substantial natural gas holdings on Russia's Sakhalin Peninsula. Many suggested the reason for the foreign CARTEL interest in the Mackenzie Pipeline was to oversupply the American market to allow American authorities to have little concern with both Alaskan and Sakhalin natural gas being exported to Asia. As well as remove Canadian Arctic gas from competing in Asian markets, if Canadian citizens would pay the fare, all the better!!
How sad that Canada has continued to pick it's nose with respect to our largest exported product while all other major natural gas producers the world over enjoy the new abilities of exporting natural gas very much like crude oil, the world over. Mulroney's Free Trade Agreement left Canadian leadership allowing decisions with natural gas, including volume and prices to be decided beyond Canadian borders. This took away the heavy lifting of being involved in Canada's major exported product, at a direct benefit to United States and a direct cost to the Canadian public!! American governments and industry have done a great job of managing Canadian natural gas assets for their own benefit. Canadian natural gas remains "land-Locked" and available solely to the very low-priced American market through NAFTA exports. While Asia pays the price for natural gas that Trudeau demanded of America prior to Mulroney's Free-trade, Canada has been unable to compete in Asian markets simply because it lacks pipelines to tidal waters!! The Mackenzie Pipeline would of course continue this foolish direction, with the Canadian public supplying capital to insure their product sold at the cheapest rate in the modern world!!
Stewart Shields
Lacombe, Alberta
= = = = =
Damaged reactor stabilized
http://www2.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/
story.html?id=e1302aa6-a6f2-459d-9fc0-43204ef41ff2
Unprecedented crisis expected to cost Japan $200 billion
By Taiga Uranaka and Yoko Nishikawa, Reuters March 20, 2011
Japan saw some success on Saturday in its race to avert disaster at a tsunami-damaged power plant, though minor radiation leaks underlined perils from the world's worst nuclear crisis since Chornobyl 25 years ago.
Three hundred engineers have been battling inside a danger zone to salvage the six-reactor Fukushima plant since it was hit by an earthquake and tsunami that also killed 7,653 people and left 11,746 more missing in northeast Japan.
The unprecedented multiple crisis will cost the world's third-largest economy nearly $200 billion and require Japan's biggest reconstruction push since the Second World War.
It has also set back nuclear power plans the world over. [ . . . ]
= = = = = =
LETTER: NESTRUCK: RE: Passey letter and Dyer editorial (See below. Ed.)
The Editor, Winnipeg Free Press March 18, 2011
Dear sir:
Further to Alex Passey's letter contesting the basis of the WFP editorial 'Disaster lessons to learn' and, today's 'Nuclear hysteria on the rise' - Gwynne Dyer: (See below. Ed.)
Until we are to be presented with facts instead of opinion, there is really nothing resembling a debate happening. Passey gives the factual information that there is no known way to dispose of the 'used' fuel rods from a reactor. He might have added: Fact -Those fuel rods must be stored under water or they will heat up and become as dangerous as a bomb in their long-term devastation to the environment. And, Fact - Those same spent fuel rods need to be stored for 500,000 years before they will be safe.
As much as I agree with Passey's every statement and thank him for his effort, I, for one, realize that in Canada there will NOT be a real debate because our politicians think in 4-year concepts of accountability and re-election. I further realize that we live in a plutocracy... a governmental system run by and for the extreme rich and the economy that maintains their wealth. So it is highly unlikely 'our' government will encourage an honest debate.
Shane Nestruck
381 Arnold Ave, Wpg, MB
474-2588
shanedn@mts.net
- - - - -
LETTER: PASSEY: The nuclear debatehttp://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/
letters_to_the_editor/118226004.html
March 18, 2011
Re: Disaster lessons to learn (Editorials, March 15). (See below. Ed.) Indeed, in the wake of the Japanese nuclear crisis, opponents of nuclear power are "dusting off the old arguments" as the author of this editorial so dismissively puts it. And it's true that because the last 25 years have been void of nuclear disasters, most of those criticisms had grown stale and tired. It's a shame that it took a catastrophe of this magnitude to breathe life back into them.
The editorial avoids discussing the lack of safe disposal sites, which in the long term is actually the most important issue pertaining to nuclear power. It isn't for lack of trying that we haven't yet discovered a safe way to store depleted uranium, and yet continue using nuclear power anyway, assuming that somewhere down the road someone else will solve the problem for us.
What's really surprising is that many of the people who want to prepare our world for climate change are the same people who are willing to pass this problem on to the next generation. [ . . . ]
The editorial also talks about the "relatively minimal environmental footprint" left by nuclear power. Relatively light compared to what, the atomic bomb itself? The area surrounding Chernobyl has only returned to a habitable state in the last several years, and strong traces of radiation remain to this day.
And how about telling the people in Japan who are now cowering in their homes for fear of being showered in radioactive rain about the relatively light footprint of nuclear power?
ALEX PASSEY
Oakbank, MB
- - - - - -
Nuclear hysteria on the risehttp://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/columnists/
nuclear-hysteria-on-the-rise-118226144.html
By: Gwynne Dyer Posted: 03/18/2011 1:00 AM |
Suppose that a giant hydro dam had crumbled under the impact of the biggest earthquake in a century and sent a wave of water racing down some valley in northern Japan. Imagine that whole villages and towns had been swept away, and that 10,000 people were killed -- an even worse death toll than that caused by the tsunami that hit the coastal towns.
Would there be a great outcry worldwide, demanding that reservoirs be drained and hydro dams shut down? Of course not. Do you think we are superstitious savages? We are educated, civilized people, and we understand the way that risk works.
OK, another thought experiment. Suppose that three big nuclear power reactors were damaged in that same monster earthquake, leading to concerns about a meltdown and a massive release of radiation -- a new Chernobyl. Everybody within a 20-kilometre radius of the plant was evacuated, but in the end there were only minor leakages of radiation, and nobody was killed.
Well, that was a pretty convincing demonstration of the safety of nuclear power, wasn't it? Well, wasn't it? You there in the loincloth, with the bone through your nose. Why are you looking so frightened? Is something wrong? [ . . . . ]
= = = = = =
Disaster lessons to learn
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/editorials/
disaster-lessons-to-learn-117990589.html
By: Editorial Posted: 03/15/2011 1:00 AM |
After years of battling a reputation as the biggest threat to planet Earth, the nuclear industry was gaining new respect and acceptance as a green technology that could deliver safe and reliable power. The devastating events in Japan, however, are cooling off that warm embrace as critics dust off some of the old arguments against atomic energy.
The two biggest arguments against nuclear power were that there was no way to safely dispose of the spent fuel, and that the risks of an accident and disaster were too high.
Nuclear opponents frequently cited the mishaps at Chernobyl in Ukraine in 1986 and Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania in 1979 as examples of why radioactive energy was a terrible idea, even though their real impacts on human health were relatively minimal, particularly when compared with the effects of the coal industry on public -- and certainly global -- health.
The fact is the world needs clean, dependable power, which today is only available through atomic energy, hydro generation, wind power or coal-fired factories. Each method has it strengths and weaknesses, but for some countries, such as Japan, nuclear power is often a preferred option because of its reliability, cleanliness, and relatively light environmental footprint. [ . . . ]
= = = = = =
In the Midst of Fukushima: Ahoy There, Nuke-Loving Greens, Welcome to the Real World!
http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn03182011.html
By ALEXANDER COCKBURN March 18, 2011
Americans read the increasingly panic-stricken reports of deepening catastrophe at Fukushima Daichi, speed to the pharmacy to look for iodine and ask, "It's happened there; can it happen here?" They already know it can, and almost certainly will.
The late great environmentalist David Brower, used to tell audiences solemnly, "Nuclear plants are incredibly complex technological devices for locating earthquake faults."
Along much of California's coastline runs the "ring of fire" which stretches round the Pacific plate, from Australia, north past Japan, to Russia, round to Alaska, down America's West Coast to Chile. 90 percent of the world's earthquakes happen round the Ring. [ . . . ]
==============
14. INTERVIEW: WASSERMAN: VULNERABLE TO DISASTER AROUND THE WORLD
http://socialistworker.org/2011/03/21/v ... o-disaster
Interview: Harvey Wasserman March 21, 2011
SHOULD PEOPLE in the U.S. be concerned about a repeat of the kind of disaster that struck Japan? Aren't there nuclear power plants in the U.S. that are built on the same design as the Fukushima-Daiichi plant?
THERE ARE 23 reactors in the U.S. that are very, very similar to Fukushima, including the one in Vermont--the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, which state officials voted not to re-license because of radioactive tritium leaks and other problems. All of these reactors are vulnerable to the kind of situation taking place in Japan, whether there's an earthquake nearby or not.
There are four reactors in California that are very close to earthquake faults--two at the Diablo Canyon power plant at San Luis Obispo, between San Francisco and Los Angeles, and two at the San Onofre nuclear generating plant between LA and San Diego.
These are particularly vulnerable to the same kind of disaster as Japan because both plants are within three miles of major earthquake faults and both are on the ocean. San Onofre is right on the ocean--literally right on the beach, and its defenses against a tsunami of the power of the one that struck Japan are inadequate. Diablo is a little removed up a hill, but not that far.
But I read an article posted at nukefree.org which says that the worst earthquake danger for any reactor right now is actually at the Indian Point nuclear plant in New York--which is located less than 40 miles away from New York City, the biggest metropolitan area in the country. [ . . . ]
============
15. Nuclear Apocalypse in Japan - Lifting the Veil of Nuclear Catastrophe and cover-up
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php? ... &aid=23764
by Keith Harmon Snow Global Research, March 18, 2011
ConsciousBeingAlliance.com - 2011-03-17
As the sun set over quake-stricken Japan on Thursday 17 March 2011, we learned that four of six Fukushima nuclear reactor sites are irradiating the earth, that the fire is burning out of control at Reactor No. 4's pool of spent nuclear fuel, that there are six spent fuel pools at risk all told, and that the sites are too hot to deal with. On March 16 Plumes of White Vapor began pouring from crippled Reactor No. 3 where the spent fuel pool may already be lost. Over the previous days we were told: nothing to worry about. Earthquakes and after shocks, tidal wave, explosions, chemical pollution, the pox of plutonium, contradicting information too obvious to ignore, racism, greed -- add these to the original Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Conquest, War, Famine and Death. The situation is apocalyptic and getting worse. This is one of the most serious challenges humanity has ever faced.
The U.S. nuke industry is blaming Japanese experts, distancing itself from the monster it created. Instead of sending nuclear or health experts to assistance the Japanese people in their time of desperate need, US President Barack Obama first sent teams of intelligence agents and FEMA trained military grunts with special security clearances. The Pentagon floated a naval strike force led by the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan off the coast of Japan: advertised as a 'humanitarian' operation, the strike force was repositioned after it was partially irradiated. Can we trust officials and the corporate news media to tell us what is happening in an honest, timely, transparent manner? Are there precedents to the nuclear crisis in Japan? What is the U.S. defense establishment really concerned with here?
Humanity now faces a deadly serious challenge coming out of Japan -- the epicenter of radiation. Intentional efforts to downplay or dismiss this catastrophe reveal the immaturity of western civilization and some of our most acute human pathologies, including our worship of technology and our psychopathology of denial. The widespread distortion and cover-ups to protect private profits, national and corporate interests, to fool and betray the people, are unacceptable. Here are some of the deeper whats and whys and hows -- some technical issues and the kinds of questions people need to ask -- about the nuclear apocalypse unfolding on planet earth. Prayers are not enough. It's time to question everything, to put politics aside, to take personal action to halt nuclear expansion and defend ourselves from this industrial juggernaut.
MORE:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php? ... &aid=23764
==============
16. Nuclear Power Industry is a Crime Against Humanity
http://mwcnews.net/focus/letters-to-editors/
9423-nuclear-power-industry-is-a-crime-against-humanity.html
by Francis Boyle March 20, 2011
QUOTE: ". . . . The same must be done by the other peoples in the world against their own Nuclear Power Industries, including and especially here in the United States, the originator of nuclear energy that was criminally used for the first two times at Hiroshima and Nagasaki against innocent Japanese Civilians, also a Crime Against Humanity."
Dear Friends:
I have now had the opportunity to review my information sources. I have already sent to you the basic thrust of my analysis: Namely, that the Japanese Nuclear Power Industry constitutes a Crime against Humanity as defined by Article 7 of the Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court, to which Japan is a party. The same holds true for the Nuclear Power Industries in all the other countries of the World. You have the text of Rome Statute Article 7 below, which is directly on point. The Japanese People must now use this legal conclusion to terminate the Nuclear Power Industry in Japan, this ongoing Crime Against Humanity. The same must be done by the other peoples in the world against their own Nuclear Power Industries, including and especially here in the United States, the originator of nuclear energy that was criminally used for the first two times at Hiroshima and Nagasaki against innocent Japanese Civilians, also a Crime Against Humanity. The Japanese people are now being victimized once again by nuclear energy, only this time by your own Government and Business People in the Nuclear Power Industry.
MORE:
http://mwcnews.net/focus/letters-to-editors/
9423-nuclear-power-industry-is-a-crime-against-humanity.html
==================
17. WATCH: Depleted Uranium - The Ultimate Dirty Bomb
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/15.html
How the US is using nuclear weapons today
Note: This video made BEFORE the second attack on Iraq
Depleted uranium is considered a weapon of mass destruction and is banned for use in warfare by international law, yet the US and Israel use it routinely.
The US military has used thousands of tons of depleted uranium in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Kuwait and Iraq sickening civilians and its own soldiers by the tens of thousands. Depleted uranium contaminates the food, water, air and land it comes into contact with forever. It's the ultimate "dirty bomb." For more information about this video go to:
www.beyondtreason.com
To learn more, visit this site:
www.beyondtreason.com
================
18. LIBYA UPDATE:
Canada sends CF-18s for Libya intervention
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7627&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
Posted: 19 Mar 2011 09:10 PM PDT
The Canadian government has sent six CF-18 fighters to take part in the Libya mission authorized by the UN Security Council on Thursday (Steven Chase, “Canada commits six fighter jets to help enforce Libyan no-fly zone,” Globe and Mail, 17 March 2011): The UN Security Council voted Thursday to impose a no-fly zone over Libya [...]
= = = = = =
RESOURCES: The War on Libya - Absolutely Not a 'Humanitarian' War
http://www.climatesoscanada.org/blog/2011/03/20/
the-war-on-libya-absolutely-not-a-humanitarian-war/
Propaganda sways US opinion of Libya
The United States media has been portraying the conflict in Libya in different ways that has confused many ad left people wondering what is really going on there. War Correspondent Keith Harmon Snow says there is a psychological operation performed by the Pentagon to persuade the American people through propaganda one way or the other.
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=EoHEJ0acZz8&feature=player_embedded
NATO’s Inevitable War: The Flood of Lies regarding Libya
by Fidel Castro Ruz
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php? ... &aid=23518
http://www.invasor.cu/index.php/en/
reflections-by-comrade-fidel-castro/7991-fidel-castro-the-nato-plan-is-to-occupy-libya
Must Watch: PsyWar
This film explores the evolution of propaganda and public relations in the United States, with an emphasis on the elitist theory of democracy and the relationship between war, propaganda and class.
Includes original interviews with a number of dissident scholars including Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Michael Parenti, Peter Phillips (Project Censored), John Stauber (PR Watch), Christopher Simpson (The Science of Coercion) and others.
A deep, richly illustrated study of the nature and history of propaganda, featuring some of the world’s most insightful critics, Psywar exposes the propaganda system, providing crucial background and insight into the control of information and thought.
http://metanoia-films.org/watchonline.php
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/psywar/
The War You Don't See
A powerful and timely investigation into the media’s role in war, tracing the history of embedded and independent reporting from the carnage of World War One to the destruction of Hiroshima, and from the invasion of Vietnam to the current war in Afghanistan and disaster in Iraq.
As weapons and propaganda become even more sophisticated, the nature of war is developing into an electronic battlefield in which journalists play a key role, and civilians are the victims. But who is the real enemy?
John Pilger says in the film: “We journalists… have to be brave enough to defy those who seek our collusion in selling their latest bloody adventure in someone else’s country… That means always challenging the official story, however patriotic that story may appear, however seductive and insidious it is.
For propaganda relies on us in the media to aim its deceptions not at a far away country but at you at home… In this age of endless imperial war, the lives of countless men, women and children depend on the truth or their blood is on us… Those whose job it is to keep the record straight ought to be the voice of people, not power.”
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/war-you-dont-see/
http://www.johnpilger.com/videos/the-wa ... ee-trailer
= = = = = =
WATCH: Chossudovsky: Libya no-fly zone means war
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=-zLNx54lPUshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zLNx54lPUs
March 18, 2011
The UN Security Council adopted a resolution establishing a no-fly zone over Libya. Michel Chossudovsky, director of Centre for Research on Globalization, says western nations are interested in Libyan oil and other resources, not protecting the people and that is why they care more about the fight in Libya, than elsewhere in the Arab world.
= = = = =
Canada At War With Libya
http://edmonton.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local ... /20110319/
EDM_libya_110319/20110319/?hub=EdmontonHome
Updated: Sat Mar. 19 2011 17:03:26 Jessica Earle, ctvedmonton.ca
Stephen Harper is giving fighter pilots a green light to fire when necessary against Moammar Gadhafi's regime. The sanction comes as a coalition of countries started using force to prevent the North African dictator from killing more of his people.
On Friday, six CF18 jets flew out of Quebec, en route to enforce a No-Fly zone ordered by the United Nations. Officials say 140 Canadian men and women will join French forces who are already patrolling Libyan skies and attacking Gadhafi's resources.
Andy Knight, a University of Alberta professor who specializes in military analysis, says Canada is entering legitimate enemy territory and will likely suffer casualties.
"Some of them could be shot down and then you're going to have individual pilots taken captive or killed, so this really puts the country at war with Libya," he said. [ . . . .]
= = = = =
Libyan war could be a winner for Harper
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/
956497--walkom-libyan-war-could-be-a-winner-for-harper
March 19, 2011
- - - -
QUOTE: "For Harper, a short, sharp war waged against a dictator already treated as a pariah in the media can only be a political plus."
- - - - - -
Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s decision to join a war against Libya has abruptly changed the dynamics around Canada’s expected spring federal election.
Exactly what will happen in Libya, following Thursday’s decision by the United Nations Security Council to authorize military action against that country’s government, remains unclear.
Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi has promised to halt his assault on rebel strongholds, as demanded by the UN. But even if he’s telling the truth, a ceasefire may not be enough to forestall attacks by British, French, Canadian and other warplanes against his troops.
Regardless of what happens in Libya, however, Harper’s immediate decision to commit six Canadian fighter jets and between 120 and 200 ground crew to the fight could redefine the terms upon which any federal election here is fought.
Opposition parties — particularly the Liberals — argue that Harper’s Conservative party is morally unfit to govern, that its high-handed approach to Parliament reflects an underlying contempt for democratic values.
To that end, they are hammering Harper on an array of issues, ranging from the government’s reluctance in revealing the cost of its crime agenda to the Conservative Party’s cavalier and allegedly illegal approach to political financing.
Citing Ottawa’s failure last year to win a seat on the UN Security Council, as well as its overtly pro-Israeli approach to Palestine, the Liberals have accused Harper of forfeiting Canada’s moral reputation in the world.
Just last week, Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae insisted that Canada had a duty to help Libyan rebels.
“We have to engage successfully in making sure Col. Gadhafi is history,” he said then.
Now, Canada under Harper is doing just that. It sent a frigate to the Mediterranean earlier this month and, after Thursday’s UN vote, was one of the first countries to volunteer its fighter planes.
Harper’s explanation Friday was that Canada has a “moral obligation” to assist Libyan rebels. He said he will bring the entire matter to the Commons next week for debate.
MORE:
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/
956497--walkom-libyan-war-could-be-a-winner-for-harper
= = = = = =
Libya: No end of Western hypocrisy
http://murraydobbin.ca/2011/03/19/
libya-no-end-of-western-hypocrisy/
by Murray Dobbin Posted: 19 Mar 2011 03:07 PM PDT
Anyone who trusts the "West" to do anything good with its military is suffering from a special kind of delusion and the efforts by NATO and a few Arab states (duly authorized by the UN Security Council) is no different. No one disputes the ruthless character of Libyan dictator Moammar Khadafy, a man suffering from his own delusions and certainly willing to kill his own citizens.
But let's not get carried away and judge the motivation of the old Imperial powers by simply looking at how bad this particular dictator is. There is no need here, or anywhere else, to suspend our judgment and common sense when coming to conclusions about the democratic revolutions unfolding in the Middle East and North Africa and our ambivalent response to them.
I just listened to Hillary Clinton the classic Democratic Partty warmonger repeat the word "civilian" eight times in a speech explaining the military action being taken against Libya. While there is no doubt that many unarmed and uninvolved civilians are losing their lives in this ugly conflict it is disingenuous to suggest that the rebels fighting the government forces are simply "civilians." They are - for better or worse - armed and with some fairly ly heavy military equipment from anti-aircraft guns, heavy machine guns, armoured vehicles and by some accounts even military aircraft seized with the help of dissident soldiers. These civilians are not hugging soldiers - they are killing them.
I am not suggesting that the armed rebellion is wrong or morally unjustifiable - there is no doubt that it is. But this is not Tahrir Square in Cairo where another group of civilians used completely peaceful means - even after being brutally attacked - to achieve their wonderful revolutionary victory.
MORE:
http://murraydobbin.ca/2011/03/19/
libya-no-end-of-western-hypocrisy/
==================
19. All Out War on Libya, Surge in the Price of Crude Oil... "Humanitarian Wars are Good for Business".... Speculators Applaud....
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23741
By Michel Chossudovsky Global Research, March 18, 2011
- - - - - -
Part I
Insurrection and Military Intervention: The US-NATO Attempted Coup d'Etat in Libya?
http://www.globalresearch.ca/
index.php?context=va&aid=23548
by Prof Michel Chossudovsky - 2011-03-07
US and NATO military advisers and special forces are already on the ground.
- - - - - -
Part II
"Operation Libya" and the Battle for Oil: Redrawing the Map of Africa
http://globalresearch.ca/
index.php?context=va&aid=23605
by Prof Michel Chossudovsky - 2011-03-09
- - - - - -
PART III
The establishment of a no fly zone is on the drawing board of the Pentagon. Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, supported by the Arab League and the Organization for African Unity (OUA) have labelled Libya as "An Unfriendly Nation".
The scenario envisaged by Washington is to involve Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states in aerial attacks directed against Libya.
They have also called on Saudi Arabia to supply opposition forces with weapons.
Reports confirm that NATO special forces and military advisers to the rebellion are on the ground in Eastern Libya.
The geopolitical and economic implications of a US-NATO led military intervention directed against Libya are far-reaching.
Libya is among the World's largest oil economies with approximately 3.5% of global oil reserves, more than twice those of the US.
A war on Libya would have an immediate impact on the price of crude oil. The latter has risen by 18 percent since the beginning of the insurrection in Libya.
It currently stands at $104.42 a barrel for April delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its highest level since the financial crash of September 2008. Since August 2010, the price of crude oil has risen from 75.93 a barrel to 104.42 (March 2011), a hefty increase of 37.5 percent. (See Table below)
MORE:
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23741
==============
20. LETTER: SHIELDS: Get The Other Mad-Dog Of The Mid-East!!
From: lagran
To: Prime Minister/Premier ministre ; Layton, Jack - M.P. ; iggy
Cc: Rae.B@parl.gc.ca ; goodale ; flaherty ; dnd_mdn@forces.gc.ca ; Alberta Activism
Sent: Sunday, March 20, 2011 11:43 AM
The U.N proved it indeed can act with a degree unison to correct a bully from inflicting his will on citizens of the Mid-East. Watch for much more activity out of Netanyahu while the world is busy with other world events. Israel has not obeyed many many U.N. directives and is in violation of occupying parts of Palestine that the U.N. has ordered returned to Palestine! Also being in possession of weapons of mass destruction, with a history of constant war, means Obama should refrain from placing a veto on the U.N. taking protective action against this terrorist group in the Mid-East.
The folks of the West Bank and Gaza should be set free of Israel domination, and fear of atomic weapons, similar to citizens of Libya. The U.N. if it is to have any respect as a world organization, must have it's directives and orders followed, and supported by the world community, or it will become only a vehicle of convenience to the U.S.!! The time has long past when there are rules for all Mid-East nations that vary from those expected of Netanyahu and Israel. The demand of democracy for many Arab nations in both North Africa and the Mid-East is bad news for both the U.S and Israel, who supported the puppet governments in place. A union of Arab nations will demand a change in U.S. policy toward the Mid-East and Israel, the U.S. could be pro-active by demanding Israel starts to follow U.N. directives and surrender nuclear weapons, and other weapons of mass destruction!! Freeing the Palestinian citizens of the West Bank and Gaza would be a good beginning to a moderation of Israel's Mid-East desires!! Netanyahu continues to slaughter his own subjects in Jerusalem and the West bank and the U.N can do nothing simply because of the U.S. veto power!!
Stewart Shields
Lacombe, Alberta
= = = = = =
Two Palestinians killed at Gaza-Israel border
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12799772
- - - - -
Related articles (Links on URL above)
Israel and the Palestinians
Israel hunts 'Palestinian killer'
Excerpts: Leaked Palestinian 'offers'
Jerusalem's troubled geography
Palestinian views: Anger at leaks
- - - - - -
The bodies of two Palestinian men have been found near the Gaza-Israel border, Palestinian medics report.
The Israeli military has confirmed firing on Saturday on two men who approached the Israeli-enforced no-go zone near the border.
On Saturday, Palestinian militants fired dozens of mortars into southern Israel in what appears to be their heaviest such barrage in two years.
About 50 mortars were fired, injuring two Israelis.
Israeli tanks later shelled targets in the coastal strip, wounding at least five people, Palestinian officials said on Saturday.
The Islamist group Hamas, which runs Gaza, said it fired some of the mortars. Three days ago an Israeli air strike killed two of its members.
The BBC's Jon Donnison in Gaza says this seems to be an escalation - both in terms of the number of rockets fired from Gaza and the fact that Hamas said it was responsible.
MORE:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12799772
[/b]
[b]"The true hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive his deception, the one who lies with sincerity. " ~André Gide
1. EVENT: March 21 - Darlington New Nuclear Hearing – Details
2. EVENT: Conference: OTTAWA – March 25/26 - Facing Off For Social Justice in a Militarized World
3. EVENT - OTTAWA - March 22 - Why the F-35 stealth fighter is wrong for Canada
4. PRESS RELEASE: Nuclear crisis a grim reminder: (SK) Green Party
5. UPDATE: Darlington Power Plant Project
6. 4.7 magnitude earthquake rattles western Quebec
7. Pickering nuclear plant reports water leak
8. COMMENTS: EDWARDS: CANDU Reactor Hazards // Radioactivity crossing the ocean
9. NUCLEAR REACTOR CATASTROPHE IN JAPAN - AN OPEN LETTER TO THE WORLD’S ENVIRONMENTAL MINISTERS
10. Our silent spring10. Our silent spring
11. Nuclear Power – Union of Concerned Scientists
12. The TMT Handbook: Triage, Monitoring and Treatment of people exposed to ionising radiation. – 2009
13. NUCLEAR SITUATION IN JAPAN UPDATE (10 articles)
14. INTERVIEW: WASSERMAN: VULNERABLE TO DISASTER AROUND THE WORLD
15. Nuclear Apocalypse in Japan - Lifting the Veil of Nuclear Catastrophe and cover-up
16. Nuclear Power Industry is a Crime Against Humanity
17. WATCH: Depleted Uranium - The Ultimate Dirty Bomb
18. LIBYA UPDATE
19. All Out War on Libya, Surge in the Price of Crude Oil... "Humanitarian Wars are Good for Business".... Speculators Applaud....
20. LETTER: SHIELDS: Get The Other Mad-Dog Of The Mid-East!!
=============
1. EVENT: March 21 - Darlington New Nuclear Hearing - Details[/b]
From: Northwatch <northwatch@onlink.net>
Date: March 20, 2011 10:33:44 PM EDT (CA)
The federal hearing on the proposal by Ontario Power Generation to build up to four new reactors of yet-to-be-specified design gets underway today, Monday, March 21st.
The opening act will be an afternoon hearing on procedures, starting at 1:30 pm, and the headliner is Ontario Power Generation presenting their environmental assessment overview, starting at 7 pm.
Location:
The Hearing wil be held at
Hope Fellowship Church, 1685 Bloor Street, Courtice
(between Oshawa and Bowmanville, a few kilometres due north of the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station)
Schedule:
Morning sessions start at 9, afternoon sessions at 1:30, evenings at 7 pm.
The detailed schedule is posted at
http://www.ceaa-acee.gc.ca/050/details- ... _id=29525;
here's the summary of the schedule as of March 20th
(M=Morning, A=Afternoon, E=Evening):
Week of March 21: Mon A/E; Tues M/A; Wed M/A; Thur M/A, Fri M/A, Sat M/A
Week of March 28: Mon A/E; Tues M/A; Wed A/E; Thur A/E, Fri M/A, Sat M/A
Week of April 4: Mon A/E; Tues M/A; Wed A/E; Thur A/E, Fri M/A,
By phone:
Telephone lines will be available for those who wish to listen live to the hearing proceedings. The toll-free dial-in number is 1-877-413-4781
(613-960-7510 for those in the Ottawa area).
The identification number is 5760957.
On-line:
Written transcripts and audio recordings of the proceedings will be available on the Canadian Environmental Assessment Registry Internet Site, reference number 07-05-29525. Materials will be posted the following day.
The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission announced this weekend that there will be a Webcast of Joint Review Panel for proposed Darlington new nuclear power plant project via the CNSC’s Web site.
To access the Webcast starting at 1:30 EDT on March 21, 2011, click on the link:
http://www.nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/comm ... /index.cfm
Northwatch
Box 282, North Bay P1B 8H2
tel 705 497 0373 fax 476 7060
northwatch@onlink.net
www.northwatch.org
================
2. EVENT: Conference: OTTAWA – March 25/26 - Facing Off For Social Justice in a Militarized World
http://pgs.ca/?page_id=725
Saint Paul University, 223 Main St, Ottawa, ON
March 25 and 26, Ottawa, ON
Radiation and health, physicians in conflict zones, social determinants of health and many more topics will be presented as this conference in Ottawa. Key note speakers include renowned gardening specialist, Mr. Ed Lawrence on a panel with Drs. Cathy Vakil and Art Wiebe discussing uranium in the environment – Dr. Helen Caldicott and President of the Canadian Medical Association, Dr. Jeff Turnbull.
Please note: Evening sessions are $10 to cover cost of renting auditorium – Friday evening includes a wine and cheese reception.
Agenda for March 25 and 26
http://pgs.ca/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/Program.pdf
PGS AGM and board meeting will take place on Friday, March 25 from 8:30-4:30 – in the PGS office 208-145 Spruce St – members are welcome to attend
===================
3. EVENT - OTTAWA - March 22 - Why the F-35 stealth fighter is wrong for Canada
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7598&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
Posted: 17 Mar 2011 01:37 PM PDT
Ploughshares Ottawa will host Steven Staples on Tuesday, 22 March 2011, at St.Thomas the Apostle Church, 2345 Alta Vista Drive (one block north of Heron Road) to discuss “Why the F-35 Stealth Fighter is Wrong for Canada”. The meeting begins at 7:30 PM. Light refreshments will be offered.
==================
4. PRESS RELEASE: Nuclear crisis a grim reminder: (SK) Green Party
http://www.leaderpost.com/news/
Nuclear+crisis+grim+reminder+Green+Party/4470032/story.html
Leader-Post March 19, 2011
- - - -
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/news/
Greens+decry+nuclear/4469760/story.html
(The same story in the Star Phoenix under the title, “Greens decry nuclear”.)
- - - - -
The crisis unfolding at a nuclear power plant in Japan should be a wake-up call to Saskatchewan to step away from nuclear research and focus financial resources on renewable energy, the provincial Green Party said at a news conference Friday.
"Saskatchewan can lead the way in becoming world leaders in renewable energy," party leader Larissa Shasko said.
Shasko was "disappointed" in recent statements made by SaskPower Minister Rob Norris, who said that the nuclear events in Japan are further evidence of why Saskatchewan should contribute more to nuclear science, and continue research in areas such as materials science, medicine and small reactor technology.
"More science in nuclear is not the answer. More science in renewable energy is," said Shasko.
But Shasko said she distinguishes some of the work being done in the nuclear medicine field from the province's interest in helping to develop small reactor technology.
"The two are very separate," said Shasko, who added a further concern of the Green Party about small reactors is that they could potentially be used in the oilsands industry.
Shasko is also calling for legislation banning the transportation and storage of nuclear waste in the province.
Shasko said the nuclear issue should be forefront in the 2011 election, especially when the Saskatchewan Party launched a study of uranium and the nuclear cycle during its first term in government after little mention of the subject during the 2007 campaign.
© Copyright (c) The Regina Leader-Post
==================
5. UPDATE: Darlington Power Plant Project
Notice - Darlington New Nuclear Power Plant Project
From: Darlington Joint Review Panel-Commission d'examen Conjoint a Dar
Sent: Friday, March 18, 2011 2:07 PM
Subject: Notice - Darlington New Nuclear Power Plant Project
Please take note:
In light of the events unfolding in Japan, the Darlington Joint Review Panel has determined that preliminary presentations relating to seismology and related safety features would be of use to both registered participants and the public at large. Brief presentations by Natural Resources Canada, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and Ontario Power Generation have been tentatively scheduled for Tuesday March 22, 2011 beginning at 9:00 am. The proposed adjustment to the Tuesday March 22, 2011 agenda is subject to the outcome of the procedural motions to be addressed on March 21, 2011.
These presentations should not be construed as the only opportunity by the Joint Review Panel for consideration of issues pertaining to Japan and seismology. The Panel is prepared to take all measures necessary to ensure that they have the information to carry out their mandate.
Julie Bouchard, Tribunal Administrator
Secretariat, Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission
613-995-1703
= = = = = =
Ontario says it's full steam ahead on nuclear projects
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/
Ontario+says+full+steam+ahead+nuclear+projects/4467257/story.html
By Linda Nguyen, Postmedia News March 18, 2011 3:19 PM
TORONTO — As the world prepares for a possible nuclear meltdown in Japan triggered by last week's devastating earthquake, Ontario has reaffirmed its commitment to its plan to embark on the biggest nuclear energy project the country has seen in 30 years.
"Our nuclear plants are safe today," said Ontario's energy minister, Brad Duguid, in an interview Friday. "We have standards in place that are above world standards."
However, the province has written to federal Environment Minister Peter Kent and Natural Resources Minister Christian Paradis to reinforce how important it is for Ottawa to ensure a "thorough environmental assessment" occurs in light of the safety concerns arising from the tenuous situation of some of Japan's nuclear power stations.
Duguid said that beginning Monday, three-week-long public licensing and environmental hearings will be held to examine the construction of two nuclear reactors at the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station in Clarington, Ont., about 85 kilometres east of Toronto. The new reactors will replace the province's aging nuclear plants.
The anticipated $33-billion project, which also includes the refurbishment of 10 reactors at Darlington and at the Bruce Power station in Tiverton, Ont., over the next 20 years, will mark the largest new nuclear energy project in Canada since the 1980s.
Under this timeline, the reactors are expected to be completed within eight to 10 years.
= = = = = =
UPDATE 1-NGO seeks delay in Canada nuclear plant hearings
http://www.waterkeeper.ca/2011/03/18/
update-1-ngo-seeks-delay-in-canada-nuclear-plant-hearings-reuters/
March 18, 2011
NGO calls on Canadian regulators to postpone hearings
* Says govt ought to take time to study Japanese crisis
(Reuters) – A Canadian environmental group on Friday urged regulators to delay hearings related to the construction of new nuclear reactors at an Ontario nuclear power plant.
Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, a nongovernmental organization, said Canada’s Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) should delay hearings that are set to begin on Monday about the Darlington project, located 70 kilometers (40 miles) east of Toronto, on the shores of Lake Ontario.
The Darlington power station already provides for about 20 percent of Ontario’s electricity needs, according to the Ontario Power Generation (OPG) website.
Waterkeeper asked the CNSC to postpone the hearing to give time to study the Japanese crisis and answer important questions about the Darlington project.
“The nuclear crisis in Japan underscores the importance of detailed planning and meticulous scrutiny. The Darlington New Nuclear Plant hearing offers neither,” said the group’s Mark Mattson, in a statement. [ . . . ]
=================
6. 4.7 magnitude earthquake rattles western Quebec
http://www.citytv.com/toronto/citynews/news/national/
article/119309--4-7-magnitude-earthquake-rattles-western-quebec
2011/03/16 | The Canadian Press
A minor earthquake, with a 4.7 magnitude, has been detected in western Quebec.
Natural Resources Canada says the quake was centered in Lachute, Que., between Ottawa and Montreal, and struck this afternoon about 1:36 p.m.
The ground started shaking and stopped after about 10 seconds. The quake was felt as far away as the western suburbs of Montreal, in Cornwall, Ont., and by some people in Ottawa. There were no immediate reports of damage. It appeared the one casualty was the federal website intended to keep Canadians informed about earthquakes. Last time there was a temblor in the region, last June, it froze the website for Earthquakes Canada. The federal site was brought to its knees again Wednesday. Many visitors seeking information were greeted by blank screens and the site was occasionally working, but only intermittently, after 2 p.m. The bugs brought back memories of last year's 5.0 temblor, where the federal site was paralyzed by demand. [ . . . ]
===================
7. Pickering nuclear plant reports water leak
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/03/16/
pickering-nuclear-leak.html
Risk to public is 'negligible,' says Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission
CBC News Posted: Mar 16, 2011 1:04 PM ET Last Updated: Mar 16, 2011 6:39 PM ET
Ontario Power Generation has notified Canada's federal nuclear regulator about the release of 73,000 litres of demineralized water into Lake Ontario at the Pickering A nuclear generating station. The leak occurred at 11:30 p.m. ET on Monday at the plant located about 35 kilometres east of Toronto and was caused by a pump seal failure.
“The radiological risk to the environment and people's health is negligible,” the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission said in a statement. The nuclear regulator and Environment Canada are monitoring the situation, the statement said. Andrew Nichols of CBC News reported about the leak on Wednesday afternoon and said he spoke to an Ontario Power Generation spokesperson who told him the risk is minimal but that such leaks are not supposed to occur. Nichols also spoke to Gordon Edwards of the Canadian Coalition of Nuclear Responsibility. "In his words, 'What the hell is considered negligible?'" Nichols reported. "[Edwards] is concerned that it’s the nuclear industry that is telling you and I and telling the public what is considered to be negligible but he’s concerned that we don’t have a proper sense of what negligible is," reported Nichols. Nichols also reported that the leak could be a concern because Lake Ontario is the main source of drinking water for millions of people who live along the lake. [ . . . ]
= = = = =
Canadian Nuclear Plant Leaks Radioactive Water Into Lake Ontario
http://planetsave.com/2011/03/18/
canadian-nuclear-plant-leaks-radioactive-water-into-lake-ontario/
March 18, 2011
With all the focus placed on the Japanese radiation leak as well as the toxic plume of radioactive particles (possibly containing uranium and plutonium) heading for the United States, another potential disaster is receiving virtually no attention.
Of course, attention should be paid to the Japanese situation. Nevertheless, it seems the continent of North America is being hit from two sides in terms of radiation danger.
On March 16, a report was released by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) stating that Canada’s Ontario Power Generation has released radioactive water into Lake Ontario via a leak in the Pickering A nuclear generating station.
As a result of what appears to be a pump seal failure, tens of thousands of litres of radioactive water escaped the generating station on Monday and ended up in Lake Ontario.
This is concerning for a number of reasons, but it is especially concerning considering the fact that Lake Ontario is the main source of drinking water for millions of people.
No doubt this is an attempt to hush concern over another radioactive accident amid anxiety over the catastrophe in Japan.
So they can push the “Nuclear is safe” agenda, just like coal, oil and gas companies do. No doubt the new speech about nuclear will include “A little radiation won’t hurt anyone, it’s natural.”
John Luxat, an “expert” on radiation from McMaster University claims the water that found its way into Lake Ontario Monday is actually not radioactive at all. In an interview with the CTV News Channel, Luxat stated, “It is not radioactive; it is not going through the reactors.
It is actually just going through steam generators to produce steam to drive the turbines. It is used to remove heat from the heavy water going into the generators, but it doesn’t at any time go into the reactor.”
However, it conflicts with a report (that was meant to be reassuring) from OPG itself. Also in the same interview with CTV News Channel, Ted Gruetzner of OPG said, “People are concerned about nuclear power, but this particular incident is normal water with a bit of radiation. It is well below our regulatory and other limits.”
Apparently, the nuclear industry was unable to get its story straight this time around.
According to Mr. Luxat, there is no radiation involved with this water spill. But Mr. Gruetzner has admitted that there is. As an employee of OPG, it would not seem to be to his advantage to make such an admission, so we can assume with great probability that there is, at the very least, some radiation now polluting Lake Ontario.
As Gordon Edwards, spokesperson for the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, stated, “That water came from the spent fuel bays right into Lake Ontario. The spent fuel bays in Japan are currently the source of some of the greatest radiation exposures.
If there is an accident in Pickering, the fact that there is a direct pathway from the spent fuel bay into Lake Ontario should be quite alarming.”
I guess the Untied States is not the only country ruled by Big Industry, which is allowed to ruin the environment at the cost of the people.
This is another reason we should keep fighting for renewable, safe, clean energy for all the world.
=====================
8. COMMENTS: EDWARDS: CANDU Reactor Hazards // Radioactivity crossing the ocean
From: Gordon Edwards
Sent: Friday, March 18, 2011 4:00 AM
(1) Canadian nuclear authorities, as smug and complacent as ever, are busy patting themselves on the back, saying that "it can't happen here". This is self-deception on a grand scale. See
http://ccnr.org/CANDU_Safety.html
(2) There has been a lot of commentary out there saying that the radioactivity from Fukushima will not reach North America. This is not correrct. See the Swedish Defence Research Institute's affirmation that radioactivity from Fukushima will not only cross the Pacific but will eventually cover the Northern Hemisphere.
http://www.prisonplanet.com/
swedish-government-radiation-to-cover-entire-northern-hemisphere.html
This next link indicates how to get the goods on radiation monitoring stations that already exist -- contact the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization.
http://www.prisonplanet.com/
ny-times-maps-underplaying-extent-of-radiation.html
Gordon
====================
9. NUCLEAR REACTOR CATASTROPHE IN JAPAN - AN OPEN LETTER TO THE WORLD’S ENVIRONMENTAL MINISTERS
By C. G. Weeramantry, Former Vice President, International Court of Justice, The Hague, President, International Association of Lawyers against Nuclear Arms, Founder Trustee, Weeramantry International Centre for Peace Education & Research - March 14th 2011
http://www.rightlivelihood.org/fileadmin/Files/PDF/
Literature_Recipients/Weeramantry/NUCLEAR_REACTOR_CATASTROPHE_IN_JAPAN_-_by_Judge_C.G._Weeramantry_Former_Vice_President_International_Court_of_Justice.pdf
WEERAMANTRY INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR PEACE EDUCATION AND RESEARCH, 5/1, Dharmaraja Mawatha, Colombo 03, Sri Lanka
Tel: 0094 1 2500229 Fax: 0094 114 720480 E-mail: info@wicper.org
The earthquake in Japan and the resulting damage to nuclear power plants have sent shock waves and a dire note of warning to the world’s entire population. Despite their obvious dangers, nuclear reactors are proliferating worldwide and sowing the seeds of pollution and congenital deformities for a thousand generations to come (the half life of Plutonium 239, one of the bi-products of nuclear activities is 24,100 years).
Unborn generations are just as much members of the human family as ourselves but have no voice to speak for themselves. We take advantage of this and are damaging them catastrophically by our breach of trust of this environment of which we are custodians and not owners. Every single citizen is a trustee of the environment. All the more are Governments trustees, and in particular the environmental ministers of the world bear a special responsibility in this regard. We are in default of our duties if we continue to keep open such possibilities and create more, despite our knowledge of their dreadful consequences. Our generation and particularly those who are specially entrusted with the care of the environment will have to answer before the bar of history for our default and abuse of trust. Indeed we are committing the gravest possible crime against future generations and are doing so with a full consciousness of the effects of our actions.
MORE:
http://www.rightlivelihood.org/fileadmin/Files/PDF/
Literature_Recipients/Weeramantry/NUCLEAR_REACTOR_CATASTROPHE_IN_JAPAN_-_by_Judge_C.G._Weeramantry_Former_Vice_President_International_Court_of_Justice.pdf
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10. Our silent spring
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/
editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2011/03/21/our_silent_spring/
By James Carroll March 21, 2011
WHEN RACHEL Carson entitled her prescient 1962 book “Silent Spring,’’ she was imagining the dawning of the season without the sweet sounds of wildlife. She noted that, even then, in many parts of the United States, spring “comes unheralded by the return of birds, and the early mornings are strangely silent where once they were filled with the beauty of birdsong.’’ Carson’s book was heard as a resounding alarm, jumpstarting the contemporary environmental movement. In important ways, her warning was heeded (restrictions on DDT), but the human assault on the natural world only escalated in the decades since, with last week’s catastrophe in Japan a latest signal of the danger.
“There was once a town in the heart of America where all life seemed to live in harmony with its surroundings.’’ The book begins with what Carson calls a fable for tomorrow. “Then a strange blight crept over the area and everything began to change. Some evil spell had settled on the community . . . No witchcraft, no enemy action had silenced the rebirth of new life in the stricken world. The people had done it to themselves.’’
As Carson wrote, America’s first commercial nuclear power plant had just come on line (in 1958), and she could hardly have imagined the escalation of risk that took off then. The contaminations of chemical poisons that so worried Carson can seem benign compared to the ruins of radiation, if the worst happens. The Fukushima experience suggests what expert reassurances are worth. More than 500 nuclear power plants are in operation or under construction around the world today, with every one of them being viewed with new skepticism. One chance in a million — such predictions of disaster suddenly seem less of a long shot. What have we done to ourselves?
MORE:
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/
oped/articles/2011/03/21/our_silent_spring/
=================
11. Nuclear Power – Union of Concerned Scientists
http://www.ucsusa.org/nuclear_power/
Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) staff monitor and work to improve the safety and security provisions at existing nuclear power plants and the performance of the industry's oversight body--the Nuclear Regulatory Commission; assess the safety, security and nuclear weapons proliferation risks of new reactors; and analyze the pros and cons of increasing nuclear power as a means of reducing global warming. We write reports, file formal petitions to the NRC, testify before Congress, and provide technical assistance to groups of citizens living near nuclear plants.
=================
12. The TMT Handbook: Triage, Monitoring and Treatment of people exposed to ionising radiation. - 2009
http://www.tmthandbook.org/
index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1
Available online: produced by a consortium including WHO, Norwegian Protection Authority Health Protection Agency, SCK CEN, STUK, Enviros Consulting Ltd and Central Laboratory for Radiological Protection.
====================
13. NUCLEAR SITUATION IN JAPAN UPDATE (10 articles)
WATCH: Ghosts of Chernobyl: Meltdown spectre haunts humanity despite techno know-how
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Nzzycdn ... re=related
March 15, 2011
Follow latest updates at
http://twitter.com/rt_com and
http://www.facebook.com/RTnews
The Japanese disasters have raised questions as to whether nuclear technology can ever be called safe to use. EU nuclear experts are considering if the union should eventually move away from nuclear energy.
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End Nuclear Power Before it Ends Ushttp://www.opednews.com/articles/
End-Nuclear-Power-Before-i-by-Harvey-Wasserman-110317-85.html
By Harvey Wasserman March 17, 2011
The Japanese people are now paying a horrific price for the impossible dream of the "Peaceful Atom." For a half-century they have been told that what's happening now at Fukushima would never occur. Our hearts and souls must first and foremost go out to them. As fellow humans, we must do everything in our power to ease their wounds, their terrible losses and their unimaginable grief. We are also obliged---for all our sakes---to make sure this never happens again. [ . . . .]
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Nuclear Nightmare
http://www.countercurrents.org/nader190311.htm
By Ralph Nader, Reader Supported News 19 March 2011
The unfolding multiple nuclear reactor catastrophe in Japan is prompting overdue attention to the 104 nuclear plants in the United States - many of them aging, many of them near earthquake faults, some on the west coast exposed to potential tsunamis.
Nuclear power plants boil water to produce steam to turn turbines that generate electricity. Nuclear power's overly complex fuel cycle begins with uranium mines and ends with deadly radioactive wastes for which there still are no permanent storage facilities to contain them for tens of thousands of years. [ . . . . ]
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WATCH: EDWARDS: Ask An Expert: Japan's Nuclear Crisis - Questions and Answers http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20110317/
japan-nuclear-crisis-ask-an-expert-110317/
March 17, 2011
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WATCH: Caldicott: UN lies about nuclear threat
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=65ptQASTKCk&feature=player_embedded
Japan's nuclear crisis is reminiscent of the past -- both Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. Helen Caldicott, the author of "Nuclear Power is not the Answer" explained disasters like this could cause global nuclear catastrophe and are exactly why nuclear power is not a viable option for solving the planet's energy woes. She argued accidents are too risky and the UN, IAEA and the World Health Organization are covering up just how devastating it could be.
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Caldicott: Japan may spell end of nuclear industry worldwide
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php? ... &aid=23744
Posted on March 16, 2011 by admin Independent Australia, 15 Mar 2011
- - - - - -
QUOTE: "“But I think the nuclear industry is finished worldwide.” “I have said before, unfortunately, the only thing that is capable of stopping this wicked industry is a major catastrophe, and it now looks like this may be it.”"
- - - - - -
People all over the world are watching updates on the Japanese nuclear emergency in growing horror and disbelief. Despite soothing words from nuclear energy industry promoters, each update today has signalled fresh disaster and even more drastic warnings. Anti-nuclear campaigner Dr Helen Caldicott says it could spell the end of the nuclear industry worldwide. David Donovan reports.
There appears to be massive divergence of opinion between experts about just how cataclysmic the Japanese situation could be.
Yesterday, Japan’s nuclear agency attempted to calm fears by ranking the incident as a Category 4 nuclear accident, below the 1979 Three Mile Island partial meltdown in the US and well below the Chernobyl meltdown and explosion 25 years ago which rated top of the scale at seven. Chernobyl was the world’s worst nuclear disaster to date, scattering a radioactive cloud over millions of people in Russia and Europe, causing massive loss of life. [ . . . .[
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LETTER: SHIELDS: The Russian's Will Score Big Time!!
From: lagran
To: Prime Minister/Premier ministre ; Layton, Jack - M.P. ; iggy
Cc: Rae.B@parl.gc.ca ; Minister, EMPR EMPR:EX ; min.dfaitmaeci@international.gc.ca ; jmorales@neb-one.gc.ca ; goodale ; flaherty ; bill boyd ; acameron@neb-one.gc.ca
Sent: Sunday, March 20, 2011 9:33 AM
The message I take from this Journal story relates to future energy supplies for Japan being provided by Russia! Russia's Putin speaking in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk purposed to free up energy for Japan by increasing Russian gas to Europe so more LNG cargoes could go to the Asian nation. This will undoubtedly be met with quiet joy by the same CARTEL wanting to build the Mackenzie Pipeline with Canadian tax dollars!! The CARTEL hold substantial natural gas holdings on Russia's Sakhalin Peninsula. Many suggested the reason for the foreign CARTEL interest in the Mackenzie Pipeline was to oversupply the American market to allow American authorities to have little concern with both Alaskan and Sakhalin natural gas being exported to Asia. As well as remove Canadian Arctic gas from competing in Asian markets, if Canadian citizens would pay the fare, all the better!!
How sad that Canada has continued to pick it's nose with respect to our largest exported product while all other major natural gas producers the world over enjoy the new abilities of exporting natural gas very much like crude oil, the world over. Mulroney's Free Trade Agreement left Canadian leadership allowing decisions with natural gas, including volume and prices to be decided beyond Canadian borders. This took away the heavy lifting of being involved in Canada's major exported product, at a direct benefit to United States and a direct cost to the Canadian public!! American governments and industry have done a great job of managing Canadian natural gas assets for their own benefit. Canadian natural gas remains "land-Locked" and available solely to the very low-priced American market through NAFTA exports. While Asia pays the price for natural gas that Trudeau demanded of America prior to Mulroney's Free-trade, Canada has been unable to compete in Asian markets simply because it lacks pipelines to tidal waters!! The Mackenzie Pipeline would of course continue this foolish direction, with the Canadian public supplying capital to insure their product sold at the cheapest rate in the modern world!!
Stewart Shields
Lacombe, Alberta
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Damaged reactor stabilized
http://www2.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/
story.html?id=e1302aa6-a6f2-459d-9fc0-43204ef41ff2
Unprecedented crisis expected to cost Japan $200 billion
By Taiga Uranaka and Yoko Nishikawa, Reuters March 20, 2011
Japan saw some success on Saturday in its race to avert disaster at a tsunami-damaged power plant, though minor radiation leaks underlined perils from the world's worst nuclear crisis since Chornobyl 25 years ago.
Three hundred engineers have been battling inside a danger zone to salvage the six-reactor Fukushima plant since it was hit by an earthquake and tsunami that also killed 7,653 people and left 11,746 more missing in northeast Japan.
The unprecedented multiple crisis will cost the world's third-largest economy nearly $200 billion and require Japan's biggest reconstruction push since the Second World War.
It has also set back nuclear power plans the world over. [ . . . ]
= = = = = =
LETTER: NESTRUCK: RE: Passey letter and Dyer editorial (See below. Ed.)
The Editor, Winnipeg Free Press March 18, 2011
Dear sir:
Further to Alex Passey's letter contesting the basis of the WFP editorial 'Disaster lessons to learn' and, today's 'Nuclear hysteria on the rise' - Gwynne Dyer: (See below. Ed.)
Until we are to be presented with facts instead of opinion, there is really nothing resembling a debate happening. Passey gives the factual information that there is no known way to dispose of the 'used' fuel rods from a reactor. He might have added: Fact -Those fuel rods must be stored under water or they will heat up and become as dangerous as a bomb in their long-term devastation to the environment. And, Fact - Those same spent fuel rods need to be stored for 500,000 years before they will be safe.
As much as I agree with Passey's every statement and thank him for his effort, I, for one, realize that in Canada there will NOT be a real debate because our politicians think in 4-year concepts of accountability and re-election. I further realize that we live in a plutocracy... a governmental system run by and for the extreme rich and the economy that maintains their wealth. So it is highly unlikely 'our' government will encourage an honest debate.
Shane Nestruck
381 Arnold Ave, Wpg, MB
474-2588
shanedn@mts.net
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LETTER: PASSEY: The nuclear debatehttp://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/
letters_to_the_editor/118226004.html
March 18, 2011
Re: Disaster lessons to learn (Editorials, March 15). (See below. Ed.) Indeed, in the wake of the Japanese nuclear crisis, opponents of nuclear power are "dusting off the old arguments" as the author of this editorial so dismissively puts it. And it's true that because the last 25 years have been void of nuclear disasters, most of those criticisms had grown stale and tired. It's a shame that it took a catastrophe of this magnitude to breathe life back into them.
The editorial avoids discussing the lack of safe disposal sites, which in the long term is actually the most important issue pertaining to nuclear power. It isn't for lack of trying that we haven't yet discovered a safe way to store depleted uranium, and yet continue using nuclear power anyway, assuming that somewhere down the road someone else will solve the problem for us.
What's really surprising is that many of the people who want to prepare our world for climate change are the same people who are willing to pass this problem on to the next generation. [ . . . ]
The editorial also talks about the "relatively minimal environmental footprint" left by nuclear power. Relatively light compared to what, the atomic bomb itself? The area surrounding Chernobyl has only returned to a habitable state in the last several years, and strong traces of radiation remain to this day.
And how about telling the people in Japan who are now cowering in their homes for fear of being showered in radioactive rain about the relatively light footprint of nuclear power?
ALEX PASSEY
Oakbank, MB
- - - - - -
Nuclear hysteria on the risehttp://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/columnists/
nuclear-hysteria-on-the-rise-118226144.html
By: Gwynne Dyer Posted: 03/18/2011 1:00 AM |
Suppose that a giant hydro dam had crumbled under the impact of the biggest earthquake in a century and sent a wave of water racing down some valley in northern Japan. Imagine that whole villages and towns had been swept away, and that 10,000 people were killed -- an even worse death toll than that caused by the tsunami that hit the coastal towns.
Would there be a great outcry worldwide, demanding that reservoirs be drained and hydro dams shut down? Of course not. Do you think we are superstitious savages? We are educated, civilized people, and we understand the way that risk works.
OK, another thought experiment. Suppose that three big nuclear power reactors were damaged in that same monster earthquake, leading to concerns about a meltdown and a massive release of radiation -- a new Chernobyl. Everybody within a 20-kilometre radius of the plant was evacuated, but in the end there were only minor leakages of radiation, and nobody was killed.
Well, that was a pretty convincing demonstration of the safety of nuclear power, wasn't it? Well, wasn't it? You there in the loincloth, with the bone through your nose. Why are you looking so frightened? Is something wrong? [ . . . . ]
= = = = = =
Disaster lessons to learn
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/editorials/
disaster-lessons-to-learn-117990589.html
By: Editorial Posted: 03/15/2011 1:00 AM |
After years of battling a reputation as the biggest threat to planet Earth, the nuclear industry was gaining new respect and acceptance as a green technology that could deliver safe and reliable power. The devastating events in Japan, however, are cooling off that warm embrace as critics dust off some of the old arguments against atomic energy.
The two biggest arguments against nuclear power were that there was no way to safely dispose of the spent fuel, and that the risks of an accident and disaster were too high.
Nuclear opponents frequently cited the mishaps at Chernobyl in Ukraine in 1986 and Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania in 1979 as examples of why radioactive energy was a terrible idea, even though their real impacts on human health were relatively minimal, particularly when compared with the effects of the coal industry on public -- and certainly global -- health.
The fact is the world needs clean, dependable power, which today is only available through atomic energy, hydro generation, wind power or coal-fired factories. Each method has it strengths and weaknesses, but for some countries, such as Japan, nuclear power is often a preferred option because of its reliability, cleanliness, and relatively light environmental footprint. [ . . . ]
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In the Midst of Fukushima: Ahoy There, Nuke-Loving Greens, Welcome to the Real World!
http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn03182011.html
By ALEXANDER COCKBURN March 18, 2011
Americans read the increasingly panic-stricken reports of deepening catastrophe at Fukushima Daichi, speed to the pharmacy to look for iodine and ask, "It's happened there; can it happen here?" They already know it can, and almost certainly will.
The late great environmentalist David Brower, used to tell audiences solemnly, "Nuclear plants are incredibly complex technological devices for locating earthquake faults."
Along much of California's coastline runs the "ring of fire" which stretches round the Pacific plate, from Australia, north past Japan, to Russia, round to Alaska, down America's West Coast to Chile. 90 percent of the world's earthquakes happen round the Ring. [ . . . ]
==============
14. INTERVIEW: WASSERMAN: VULNERABLE TO DISASTER AROUND THE WORLD
http://socialistworker.org/2011/03/21/v ... o-disaster
Interview: Harvey Wasserman March 21, 2011
SHOULD PEOPLE in the U.S. be concerned about a repeat of the kind of disaster that struck Japan? Aren't there nuclear power plants in the U.S. that are built on the same design as the Fukushima-Daiichi plant?
THERE ARE 23 reactors in the U.S. that are very, very similar to Fukushima, including the one in Vermont--the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, which state officials voted not to re-license because of radioactive tritium leaks and other problems. All of these reactors are vulnerable to the kind of situation taking place in Japan, whether there's an earthquake nearby or not.
There are four reactors in California that are very close to earthquake faults--two at the Diablo Canyon power plant at San Luis Obispo, between San Francisco and Los Angeles, and two at the San Onofre nuclear generating plant between LA and San Diego.
These are particularly vulnerable to the same kind of disaster as Japan because both plants are within three miles of major earthquake faults and both are on the ocean. San Onofre is right on the ocean--literally right on the beach, and its defenses against a tsunami of the power of the one that struck Japan are inadequate. Diablo is a little removed up a hill, but not that far.
But I read an article posted at nukefree.org which says that the worst earthquake danger for any reactor right now is actually at the Indian Point nuclear plant in New York--which is located less than 40 miles away from New York City, the biggest metropolitan area in the country. [ . . . ]
============
15. Nuclear Apocalypse in Japan - Lifting the Veil of Nuclear Catastrophe and cover-up
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php? ... &aid=23764
by Keith Harmon Snow Global Research, March 18, 2011
ConsciousBeingAlliance.com - 2011-03-17
As the sun set over quake-stricken Japan on Thursday 17 March 2011, we learned that four of six Fukushima nuclear reactor sites are irradiating the earth, that the fire is burning out of control at Reactor No. 4's pool of spent nuclear fuel, that there are six spent fuel pools at risk all told, and that the sites are too hot to deal with. On March 16 Plumes of White Vapor began pouring from crippled Reactor No. 3 where the spent fuel pool may already be lost. Over the previous days we were told: nothing to worry about. Earthquakes and after shocks, tidal wave, explosions, chemical pollution, the pox of plutonium, contradicting information too obvious to ignore, racism, greed -- add these to the original Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Conquest, War, Famine and Death. The situation is apocalyptic and getting worse. This is one of the most serious challenges humanity has ever faced.
The U.S. nuke industry is blaming Japanese experts, distancing itself from the monster it created. Instead of sending nuclear or health experts to assistance the Japanese people in their time of desperate need, US President Barack Obama first sent teams of intelligence agents and FEMA trained military grunts with special security clearances. The Pentagon floated a naval strike force led by the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan off the coast of Japan: advertised as a 'humanitarian' operation, the strike force was repositioned after it was partially irradiated. Can we trust officials and the corporate news media to tell us what is happening in an honest, timely, transparent manner? Are there precedents to the nuclear crisis in Japan? What is the U.S. defense establishment really concerned with here?
Humanity now faces a deadly serious challenge coming out of Japan -- the epicenter of radiation. Intentional efforts to downplay or dismiss this catastrophe reveal the immaturity of western civilization and some of our most acute human pathologies, including our worship of technology and our psychopathology of denial. The widespread distortion and cover-ups to protect private profits, national and corporate interests, to fool and betray the people, are unacceptable. Here are some of the deeper whats and whys and hows -- some technical issues and the kinds of questions people need to ask -- about the nuclear apocalypse unfolding on planet earth. Prayers are not enough. It's time to question everything, to put politics aside, to take personal action to halt nuclear expansion and defend ourselves from this industrial juggernaut.
MORE:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php? ... &aid=23764
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16. Nuclear Power Industry is a Crime Against Humanity
http://mwcnews.net/focus/letters-to-editors/
9423-nuclear-power-industry-is-a-crime-against-humanity.html
by Francis Boyle March 20, 2011
QUOTE: ". . . . The same must be done by the other peoples in the world against their own Nuclear Power Industries, including and especially here in the United States, the originator of nuclear energy that was criminally used for the first two times at Hiroshima and Nagasaki against innocent Japanese Civilians, also a Crime Against Humanity."
Dear Friends:
I have now had the opportunity to review my information sources. I have already sent to you the basic thrust of my analysis: Namely, that the Japanese Nuclear Power Industry constitutes a Crime against Humanity as defined by Article 7 of the Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court, to which Japan is a party. The same holds true for the Nuclear Power Industries in all the other countries of the World. You have the text of Rome Statute Article 7 below, which is directly on point. The Japanese People must now use this legal conclusion to terminate the Nuclear Power Industry in Japan, this ongoing Crime Against Humanity. The same must be done by the other peoples in the world against their own Nuclear Power Industries, including and especially here in the United States, the originator of nuclear energy that was criminally used for the first two times at Hiroshima and Nagasaki against innocent Japanese Civilians, also a Crime Against Humanity. The Japanese people are now being victimized once again by nuclear energy, only this time by your own Government and Business People in the Nuclear Power Industry.
MORE:
http://mwcnews.net/focus/letters-to-editors/
9423-nuclear-power-industry-is-a-crime-against-humanity.html
==================
17. WATCH: Depleted Uranium - The Ultimate Dirty Bomb
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/15.html
How the US is using nuclear weapons today
Note: This video made BEFORE the second attack on Iraq
Depleted uranium is considered a weapon of mass destruction and is banned for use in warfare by international law, yet the US and Israel use it routinely.
The US military has used thousands of tons of depleted uranium in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Kuwait and Iraq sickening civilians and its own soldiers by the tens of thousands. Depleted uranium contaminates the food, water, air and land it comes into contact with forever. It's the ultimate "dirty bomb." For more information about this video go to:
www.beyondtreason.com
To learn more, visit this site:
www.beyondtreason.com
================
18. LIBYA UPDATE:
Canada sends CF-18s for Libya intervention
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7627&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
Posted: 19 Mar 2011 09:10 PM PDT
The Canadian government has sent six CF-18 fighters to take part in the Libya mission authorized by the UN Security Council on Thursday (Steven Chase, “Canada commits six fighter jets to help enforce Libyan no-fly zone,” Globe and Mail, 17 March 2011): The UN Security Council voted Thursday to impose a no-fly zone over Libya [...]
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RESOURCES: The War on Libya - Absolutely Not a 'Humanitarian' War
http://www.climatesoscanada.org/blog/2011/03/20/
the-war-on-libya-absolutely-not-a-humanitarian-war/
Propaganda sways US opinion of Libya
The United States media has been portraying the conflict in Libya in different ways that has confused many ad left people wondering what is really going on there. War Correspondent Keith Harmon Snow says there is a psychological operation performed by the Pentagon to persuade the American people through propaganda one way or the other.
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=EoHEJ0acZz8&feature=player_embedded
NATO’s Inevitable War: The Flood of Lies regarding Libya
by Fidel Castro Ruz
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php? ... &aid=23518
http://www.invasor.cu/index.php/en/
reflections-by-comrade-fidel-castro/7991-fidel-castro-the-nato-plan-is-to-occupy-libya
Must Watch: PsyWar
This film explores the evolution of propaganda and public relations in the United States, with an emphasis on the elitist theory of democracy and the relationship between war, propaganda and class.
Includes original interviews with a number of dissident scholars including Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Michael Parenti, Peter Phillips (Project Censored), John Stauber (PR Watch), Christopher Simpson (The Science of Coercion) and others.
A deep, richly illustrated study of the nature and history of propaganda, featuring some of the world’s most insightful critics, Psywar exposes the propaganda system, providing crucial background and insight into the control of information and thought.
http://metanoia-films.org/watchonline.php
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/psywar/
The War You Don't See
A powerful and timely investigation into the media’s role in war, tracing the history of embedded and independent reporting from the carnage of World War One to the destruction of Hiroshima, and from the invasion of Vietnam to the current war in Afghanistan and disaster in Iraq.
As weapons and propaganda become even more sophisticated, the nature of war is developing into an electronic battlefield in which journalists play a key role, and civilians are the victims. But who is the real enemy?
John Pilger says in the film: “We journalists… have to be brave enough to defy those who seek our collusion in selling their latest bloody adventure in someone else’s country… That means always challenging the official story, however patriotic that story may appear, however seductive and insidious it is.
For propaganda relies on us in the media to aim its deceptions not at a far away country but at you at home… In this age of endless imperial war, the lives of countless men, women and children depend on the truth or their blood is on us… Those whose job it is to keep the record straight ought to be the voice of people, not power.”
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/war-you-dont-see/
http://www.johnpilger.com/videos/the-wa ... ee-trailer
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WATCH: Chossudovsky: Libya no-fly zone means war
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=-zLNx54lPUshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zLNx54lPUs
March 18, 2011
The UN Security Council adopted a resolution establishing a no-fly zone over Libya. Michel Chossudovsky, director of Centre for Research on Globalization, says western nations are interested in Libyan oil and other resources, not protecting the people and that is why they care more about the fight in Libya, than elsewhere in the Arab world.
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Canada At War With Libya
http://edmonton.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local ... /20110319/
EDM_libya_110319/20110319/?hub=EdmontonHome
Updated: Sat Mar. 19 2011 17:03:26 Jessica Earle, ctvedmonton.ca
Stephen Harper is giving fighter pilots a green light to fire when necessary against Moammar Gadhafi's regime. The sanction comes as a coalition of countries started using force to prevent the North African dictator from killing more of his people.
On Friday, six CF18 jets flew out of Quebec, en route to enforce a No-Fly zone ordered by the United Nations. Officials say 140 Canadian men and women will join French forces who are already patrolling Libyan skies and attacking Gadhafi's resources.
Andy Knight, a University of Alberta professor who specializes in military analysis, says Canada is entering legitimate enemy territory and will likely suffer casualties.
"Some of them could be shot down and then you're going to have individual pilots taken captive or killed, so this really puts the country at war with Libya," he said. [ . . . .]
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Libyan war could be a winner for Harper
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/
956497--walkom-libyan-war-could-be-a-winner-for-harper
March 19, 2011
- - - -
QUOTE: "For Harper, a short, sharp war waged against a dictator already treated as a pariah in the media can only be a political plus."
- - - - - -
Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s decision to join a war against Libya has abruptly changed the dynamics around Canada’s expected spring federal election.
Exactly what will happen in Libya, following Thursday’s decision by the United Nations Security Council to authorize military action against that country’s government, remains unclear.
Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi has promised to halt his assault on rebel strongholds, as demanded by the UN. But even if he’s telling the truth, a ceasefire may not be enough to forestall attacks by British, French, Canadian and other warplanes against his troops.
Regardless of what happens in Libya, however, Harper’s immediate decision to commit six Canadian fighter jets and between 120 and 200 ground crew to the fight could redefine the terms upon which any federal election here is fought.
Opposition parties — particularly the Liberals — argue that Harper’s Conservative party is morally unfit to govern, that its high-handed approach to Parliament reflects an underlying contempt for democratic values.
To that end, they are hammering Harper on an array of issues, ranging from the government’s reluctance in revealing the cost of its crime agenda to the Conservative Party’s cavalier and allegedly illegal approach to political financing.
Citing Ottawa’s failure last year to win a seat on the UN Security Council, as well as its overtly pro-Israeli approach to Palestine, the Liberals have accused Harper of forfeiting Canada’s moral reputation in the world.
Just last week, Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae insisted that Canada had a duty to help Libyan rebels.
“We have to engage successfully in making sure Col. Gadhafi is history,” he said then.
Now, Canada under Harper is doing just that. It sent a frigate to the Mediterranean earlier this month and, after Thursday’s UN vote, was one of the first countries to volunteer its fighter planes.
Harper’s explanation Friday was that Canada has a “moral obligation” to assist Libyan rebels. He said he will bring the entire matter to the Commons next week for debate.
MORE:
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/
956497--walkom-libyan-war-could-be-a-winner-for-harper
= = = = = =
Libya: No end of Western hypocrisy
http://murraydobbin.ca/2011/03/19/
libya-no-end-of-western-hypocrisy/
by Murray Dobbin Posted: 19 Mar 2011 03:07 PM PDT
Anyone who trusts the "West" to do anything good with its military is suffering from a special kind of delusion and the efforts by NATO and a few Arab states (duly authorized by the UN Security Council) is no different. No one disputes the ruthless character of Libyan dictator Moammar Khadafy, a man suffering from his own delusions and certainly willing to kill his own citizens.
But let's not get carried away and judge the motivation of the old Imperial powers by simply looking at how bad this particular dictator is. There is no need here, or anywhere else, to suspend our judgment and common sense when coming to conclusions about the democratic revolutions unfolding in the Middle East and North Africa and our ambivalent response to them.
I just listened to Hillary Clinton the classic Democratic Partty warmonger repeat the word "civilian" eight times in a speech explaining the military action being taken against Libya. While there is no doubt that many unarmed and uninvolved civilians are losing their lives in this ugly conflict it is disingenuous to suggest that the rebels fighting the government forces are simply "civilians." They are - for better or worse - armed and with some fairly ly heavy military equipment from anti-aircraft guns, heavy machine guns, armoured vehicles and by some accounts even military aircraft seized with the help of dissident soldiers. These civilians are not hugging soldiers - they are killing them.
I am not suggesting that the armed rebellion is wrong or morally unjustifiable - there is no doubt that it is. But this is not Tahrir Square in Cairo where another group of civilians used completely peaceful means - even after being brutally attacked - to achieve their wonderful revolutionary victory.
MORE:
http://murraydobbin.ca/2011/03/19/
libya-no-end-of-western-hypocrisy/
==================
19. All Out War on Libya, Surge in the Price of Crude Oil... "Humanitarian Wars are Good for Business".... Speculators Applaud....
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23741
By Michel Chossudovsky Global Research, March 18, 2011
- - - - - -
Part I
Insurrection and Military Intervention: The US-NATO Attempted Coup d'Etat in Libya?
http://www.globalresearch.ca/
index.php?context=va&aid=23548
by Prof Michel Chossudovsky - 2011-03-07
US and NATO military advisers and special forces are already on the ground.
- - - - - -
Part II
"Operation Libya" and the Battle for Oil: Redrawing the Map of Africa
http://globalresearch.ca/
index.php?context=va&aid=23605
by Prof Michel Chossudovsky - 2011-03-09
- - - - - -
PART III
The establishment of a no fly zone is on the drawing board of the Pentagon. Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, supported by the Arab League and the Organization for African Unity (OUA) have labelled Libya as "An Unfriendly Nation".
The scenario envisaged by Washington is to involve Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states in aerial attacks directed against Libya.
They have also called on Saudi Arabia to supply opposition forces with weapons.
Reports confirm that NATO special forces and military advisers to the rebellion are on the ground in Eastern Libya.
The geopolitical and economic implications of a US-NATO led military intervention directed against Libya are far-reaching.
Libya is among the World's largest oil economies with approximately 3.5% of global oil reserves, more than twice those of the US.
A war on Libya would have an immediate impact on the price of crude oil. The latter has risen by 18 percent since the beginning of the insurrection in Libya.
It currently stands at $104.42 a barrel for April delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its highest level since the financial crash of September 2008. Since August 2010, the price of crude oil has risen from 75.93 a barrel to 104.42 (March 2011), a hefty increase of 37.5 percent. (See Table below)
MORE:
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23741
==============
20. LETTER: SHIELDS: Get The Other Mad-Dog Of The Mid-East!!
From: lagran
To: Prime Minister/Premier ministre ; Layton, Jack - M.P. ; iggy
Cc: Rae.B@parl.gc.ca ; goodale ; flaherty ; dnd_mdn@forces.gc.ca ; Alberta Activism
Sent: Sunday, March 20, 2011 11:43 AM
The U.N proved it indeed can act with a degree unison to correct a bully from inflicting his will on citizens of the Mid-East. Watch for much more activity out of Netanyahu while the world is busy with other world events. Israel has not obeyed many many U.N. directives and is in violation of occupying parts of Palestine that the U.N. has ordered returned to Palestine! Also being in possession of weapons of mass destruction, with a history of constant war, means Obama should refrain from placing a veto on the U.N. taking protective action against this terrorist group in the Mid-East.
The folks of the West Bank and Gaza should be set free of Israel domination, and fear of atomic weapons, similar to citizens of Libya. The U.N. if it is to have any respect as a world organization, must have it's directives and orders followed, and supported by the world community, or it will become only a vehicle of convenience to the U.S.!! The time has long past when there are rules for all Mid-East nations that vary from those expected of Netanyahu and Israel. The demand of democracy for many Arab nations in both North Africa and the Mid-East is bad news for both the U.S and Israel, who supported the puppet governments in place. A union of Arab nations will demand a change in U.S. policy toward the Mid-East and Israel, the U.S. could be pro-active by demanding Israel starts to follow U.N. directives and surrender nuclear weapons, and other weapons of mass destruction!! Freeing the Palestinian citizens of the West Bank and Gaza would be a good beginning to a moderation of Israel's Mid-East desires!! Netanyahu continues to slaughter his own subjects in Jerusalem and the West bank and the U.N can do nothing simply because of the U.S. veto power!!
Stewart Shields
Lacombe, Alberta
= = = = = =
Two Palestinians killed at Gaza-Israel border
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12799772
- - - - -
Related articles (Links on URL above)
Israel and the Palestinians
Israel hunts 'Palestinian killer'
Excerpts: Leaked Palestinian 'offers'
Jerusalem's troubled geography
Palestinian views: Anger at leaks
- - - - - -
The bodies of two Palestinian men have been found near the Gaza-Israel border, Palestinian medics report.
The Israeli military has confirmed firing on Saturday on two men who approached the Israeli-enforced no-go zone near the border.
On Saturday, Palestinian militants fired dozens of mortars into southern Israel in what appears to be their heaviest such barrage in two years.
About 50 mortars were fired, injuring two Israelis.
Israeli tanks later shelled targets in the coastal strip, wounding at least five people, Palestinian officials said on Saturday.
The Islamist group Hamas, which runs Gaza, said it fired some of the mortars. Three days ago an Israeli air strike killed two of its members.
The BBC's Jon Donnison in Gaza says this seems to be an escalation - both in terms of the number of rockets fired from Gaza and the fact that Hamas said it was responsible.
MORE:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12799772
[/b]
- Oscar
- Site Admin
- Posts: 9965
- Joined: Wed May 03, 2006 3:23 pm
NUKE NEWS: March 23, 2011
by Oscar » Wed Mar 23, 2011 6:55 pm
NUKE NEWS: March 23, 2011
“I have become Death, the destroyer of worlds”. - Robert Oppenheimer, quoting the Baghavad Gita, on witnessing the first atomic bomb test, 1945
1. EVENT: Lecture - Regina - March 29 - Wind Power: Myths and Realities
2. Statement by Dr Caldicott
3. Greenpeace protest shuts down Darlington nuclear hearings
4. Hydro-Quebec may decide not to refurbish the Gentilly-2 nuclear reactor
5. It pays to leave Sask.'s uranium in the ground
6. Forget meltdowns. The real nuclear problem is waste
7. No Nukes News – March 21 & 23, 2011
8. Like all reactors, GE Mark 1 BWRs are absolutely safe... unless something goes wrong...
9. The Nuke Lobby has the US Regulatory Commission in Their Pocket
10. WATCH: Storage Pool in Japan Nuclear Facility Nears Boiling Point
11. Fukushima: did money or safety come first?
12. Updates: Unit 2 & 3 delays work (Kyodonews) + five radioactive materials detected (NHK)
13. German green industries say can fill nuclear gaps
14. Nuclear Disarmament Is People's Work
15. Obama’s Bay of Pigs in Libya: Imperialist Aggression Shreds UN Charter (3 articles)
16. WATCH: "300 Years of Fossil Fuels in 300 Seconds"
17. Council of Canadians: Budget 2011 meets (lowed) expectations
18. SASKATCHEWAN COMPLETES FIRST COMPREHENSIVE TRADE MISSION TO INDIA AND BANGLADESH
19. WATCH: Wadah Khanfar: A historic moment in the Arab world | Video on TED.com
20. UN investigator: Israel engaged in ethnic cleansing with settlement expansion
21. Philippines: mine protesters stabbed and shot
================
1. EVENT: Lecture - Regina - March 29 - Wind Power: Myths and Realities
Wind Power: Myths and Realities
A Lecture by Tim Weis of the Pembina Institute
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
7 pm, Shumiatcher Theatre at the MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina
Come out and learn more about wind power as a viable renewable energy source in Saskatchewan.
Sponsored by Clean Green Regina and Regina EcoLiving Inc. For more information visit www.cleangreensask.ca. Contact us at cleangreenregina@yahoo.ca.
===============
2. Statement by Dr Caldicott
http://www.helencaldicott.com/2011/03/s ... caldicott/
Posted on March 16, 2011 by admin
“I have become Death, the destroyer of worlds” - Robert Oppenheimer, quoting the Baghavad Gita, on witnessing the first atomic bomb test, 1945
As I write this – on the afternoon of March 16 in the United States – the situation at the Fukushima Nuclear Plant No. 1 is, tragically, looking increasingly grim.
Radiation levels are increasing, mass evacuations in the area surrounding Fukushima are underway; and experts are speculating –with trepidation, but understandable caution – about how far the radiation will spread, both within Japan and to other parts of the planet.
My heart goes out to the people of Japan who are of course suffering under the double blow of the effects of the earthquake and tsunami, as well as the threat from the Fukushima reactors.
They are dealing stoically and with great dignity with conditions that are severely challenging. And I want to pay special tribute to the incredibly brave band of TEPCO workers who are fighting to bring the situation at the plant under control. Their efforts are heroic, their courage beyond measure.
The world is now paying – and will pay however severe Fukushima turns out to be – a grave price for the nuclear industry’s hubris and the arrogance and greed that fueled their drive to build more and more reactors. What’s more, having bamboozled gullible politicians, the media, and much of the public into believing that it is a “clean and green” solution to the problem of global warming, the nuclear industry has operated facilities improperly, with little or no regard for safety regulations, and they have often done this with the connivance of government authorities.
Nuclear power is not the answer to global warming; it is not clean, it is not green; it is not safe; and it is not renewable. It is instead “a destroyer
of worlds.” It is time the global community repudiated it – however economically painful in the short term that taking such a step would be.
There is no other choice for the sake of future generations.
====================
3. Greenpeace protest shuts down Darlington nuclear hearings
http://www.newsdurhamregion.com/news/article/173902
Police called in to remove activists Mar 22, 2011 - 05:13 PM Jennifer O'Meara
COURTICE -- Greenpeace activists chained themselves to a table Tuesday and shut down the public environmental assessment hearing for the new nuclear reactors planned for Darlington.
The protesters were reacting to a panel decision on Monday night not to suspend the hearings until the threat of a major accident at a nuclear power plant in Japan -- which was hard hit with a recent earthquake and tsunami -- has passed and the lessons have been learned.
"We're asking for this proceeding to be suspended. In light of what's happening in Japan, we really need to be asking questions about how safe nuclear power is ... We're planning to stay here until the hearing is stopped," said protester Alex Speers-Roesch.
After several hours, police removed the protestors from the room, after cutting the chains used by the protestors to attach themselves to a table.
At the beginning of the hearing on Monday, several environmental groups had asked the panel to postpone the hearing for several months. Mark Mattson, president of Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, said an assessment of the new nuclear project won't be complete unless it takes into consideration the events in Japan.
After considering the request to delay the hearing on Monday, the federal joint review panel evaluating the environmental assessment on the project announced its decision to continue with the process. Panel chairman Alan Graham said the lessons learned from the events in Japan will be evaluated "in the fullness of time" and applied in the detailed reviews, design requirements and safety features that will be rigorously examined when OPG applies for a construction licence and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission holds more public hearings.
On Tuesday, the hearing began at 9 a.m. but was promptly shut down by nine activists who walked before the panel holding signs protesting the new reactors. Five protesters had tape over their mouths, and four others placed a thick length of chain around their stomachs, to bind themselves to each other and to the panel table. They held signs saying "No Nukes Are Safe. Stop Darlington."
MORE:
http://www.newsdurhamregion.com/news/article/173902
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Greenpeace activists delay Ont. nuclear hearings
http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/
Greenpeace+activists+delay+nuclear+hearings/4483521/story.html
Postmedia News March 22, 2011 8:03 AM
Hearings into Ontario's plans to build new nuclear reactors were delayed Tuesday following a protest by Greenpeace demonstrators.
Four demonstrators chained themselves to a table at a church in Courtice, Ont., where the hearings were being held. The demonstrators held up banners reading "No nukes are safe" and "Stop Darlington." Five more demonstrators with a similar banner taped their mouths shut. [ . . . ]
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4. Hydro-Quebec may decide not to refurbish the Gentilly-2 nuclear reactor
From: Gordon Edwards
Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2011 3:31 PM
Subject: Hydro-Quebec may decide not to refurbish the Gentilly-2 nuclear reactor
Background:
In 1976, Hydro-Quebec was planning to build a large fleet of nuclear power reactors along the St-Lawrence River. The Gentilly-1 reactor was alreadybuilt and the Gentilly-2 reactor was under construction, along with a large heavy-water production plant next door to these two reactors.
In 1978 the Quebec Government responded to information about unsolved nuclear power problems provided by me and a number of my well-informed colleagues by declaring a moratorium on all future nuclear plants in the province -- except for Gentilly-3, which was already "committed".
By the end of the 1980s it was apparent that nuclear power was a dead-end technology in Quebec. The Gentilly-1 plant proved to be a technical and financial fiasco, never producing even one useful kilowatt-hour of electricity.
The heavy water plant never operated a single day. The Gentilly-2 reactor came in at a cost more than 3 times higher than the original estimate, and only operated at half-power for about 10 years because of low electrical demand and cheaper sources of electricity. Gentilly-3 was never built.
Hydro-Quebec does not envisage any more nuclear plants in its future energy plans.
In August 2008, Hydro-Quebec's CEO Thierry Vandal announced that his company was willing to spend $2 billion to "refurbish" Gentilly-2 so that it could run for another 25 or 30 years. This announcement has been met by an ever-growing chorus of voices calling for the permanent shut-down of the reactor -- which would constitute a rapidly-executed nuclear phaseout for the province of Quebec, making it the first political jurisdiction in North America that has made the transition from a nuclear to a non-nuclear status.
That transition now seems closer than ever before....
Gordon Edwards.
- - - - -
(Rough translation of article in French at:http://www.cyberpresse.ca/environnement/
201103/23/01-4382406-hydro-quebec-pourrait-fermer-gentilly-2.php )
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Hydro-Quebec may decide not to refurbish Gentilly-2
by Sylvain Larocque, Canadian Press, March 23 2011
Hydro-Quebec does not rule out abandoning the refurbishment project for Gentilly-2, or even shutting down the plant permanently, said Thierry Vandal Wednesday. M. Vandal is the President and Director General of the government-owned corporation.
Hydro will provide "all necessary information to the government so that an enlightened and well-reasoned decision may be taken" on this subject, he said at a Press Conference held in Montreal to deliver the annual financial statement of the corporation for 2010.
Special attention will be paid to the way in which the refurbishment of similar generating plants in New Brunswick and South Korea have taken place, to the impending sale of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) -- the owner of the CANDU reactor technology -- as well as to the recent nuclear events in Japan, explained M. Vandal.
Last August, Hydro-Quebec announced a delay in the refurbishment of Gentilly, estimated to cost $2 billion, citing some of the same considerations -- the on-going work in New Brunswick and South Koreaand the process of selling AECL.
M. Vandal's announcement was surprising because the day before, on Tuesday, Premier Jean Charest mocked his Parti-Qu’b’cois adversary Pauline Marois for calling for the closing of Gentilly-2.
The generating station, having a capacity of 675 megawatts, provides about 5 terawatt-hours of energy annually, which would meet the needs of about 270 000 homes.
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Gentilly 2 reactor sits on fault line
http://www.montrealgazette.com/technology/
Gentilly+reactor+sits+fault+line/4447202/story.html
Questions arise about Hydro-Québec's decision to spend $2 billion to refurbish Trois Rivières plant
By WILLIAM MARSDEN, The Gazette March 16, 2011
MONTREAL - Japan's struggle to keep a major nuclear plant from collapsing into complete meltdown raises questions about Hydro-Québec's decision to spend $2 billion to refurbish its Gentilly 2 reactor near Trois Rivières, which stands on an earthquake fault line.
Hydro-Québec has always insisted its lone nuclear reactor, which began operating in 1983, is safe and the $2-billion expenditure will keep it operating until 2040 with 800 employees on the job.
But Meredith Nettles, a seismologist at Columbia University's Earth Observatory Research Centre, said in an interview: "One would prefer not to build any critical facility, particularly a nuclear plant, in the path of an earthquake."
Of Canada's five nuclear plants - one in New Brunswick, one in Quebec, and three in Ontario - only Quebec's sits on a fault line. [ . . . ]
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Hydro-Quebec to cost out closing of Gentilly-2 nuclear plant
http://www.globaltvbc.com/
Hydro+Quebec+cost+closing+Gentilly+nuclear+plant/4491980/story.html
By Lynn Moore, Postmedia News: Wednesday, March 23, 2011 1:34 PM
MONTREAL - Hydro-Quebec will provide the provincial government with a cost-benefit analysis of closing the Gentilly-2 nuclear power plant, the utility's chief executive said Wednesday.
That analysis will be included in the comprehensive review requested by Premier Jean Charest, Thierry Vandal told reporters.
"That will be part of the information . . . the context, the evaluation" provided to Quebec to allow an informed decision to be made about the future of Quebec's lone nuclear power plant, Vandal said.
About $2 billion has been earmarked to refurbish Gentilly-2 and extend its life for 40 years. [ . . . ]
= = = = = =
Charest dismisses calls to shut down Quebec nuclear plant
http://www.globaltvbc.com/
Charest+dismisses+calls+shut+down+Quebec+nuclear+plant/
4490638/story.html
The Canadian Press: Wednesday, March 23, 2011
QUEBEC - Premier Jean Charest is brushing aside calls to mothball Quebec's nuclear power plant, saying he won't make such a decision based on headlines.
Parti Quebecois Leader Pauline Marois wants the government to close Hydro-Quebec's Gentilly-2 reactor at Becancour, near Trois-Rivieres.
The P-Q has said refurbishing the plant, which went online in 1983, would unnecessarily cost two (b) billion dollars.
Charest says Marois is trying to build political capital on the back of the ongoing nuclear crisis in Japan caused by an earthquake and tsunami.
He asks if the P-Q would also demand the James Bay power dams be shut down if a catastrophe struck Japanese hydroelectric installations. [ . . . ]
=================
5. It pays to leave Sask.'s uranium in the ground
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/news/
pays+leave+Sask+uranium+ground/4481086/story.html
By Paul Hanley, Special to The StarPheonix March 22, 2011
- - - - - -
QUOTE: “Adding insult to injury, the Conference Board of Canada reported last summer that after 60 years of uranium mining, northern Saskatchewan is the second-poorest region of Canada.”
- - - - -
It's too early to say how much of the uranium we have sold to Japan will be blowing back to Saskatchewan in the coming months, or what effect it will have. But as I write this on March 20, the situation in four Japanese reactors experiencing explosions, leaks and meltdowns teeters on the brink of disaster. Radiation is being detected in Japan's food and water and as far off as California.
In the light of last week's events, Saskatchewan's boast that it's the world's Number 1 uranium producer rings hollow. I don't know about you, but as a lifetime resident of this province I am not proud that our mines supplied the fuel for the Japanese reactors, just as I am not proud that in the 1950s and 1960s they supplied the uranium for the West's nuclear arsenal.
This latest nuclear accident the experts said couldn't happen begs the question, "Is Saskatchewan's ongoing investment in the uranium industry really worth it?"We should seriously consider this because as Saskatchewan and Canadian taxpayers we continue to pour money into a uranium-nuclear industry, which -all things considered -has provided a negative return on our investment.
MORE:
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/news/
pays+leave+Sask+uranium+ground/4481086/story.html
=====================
6. Forget meltdowns. The real nuclear problem is waste
http://www.thestar.com/Business/CleanBr ... cle/957483
March 21, 2011 Thomas Walkom
For Canada, the danger of nuclear power lies not in a Japanese-style meltdown. When industry boosters say such an event is unlikely here, they are right.
But what the boosters don’t talk about is radioactive waste. That’s the main hazard, the part of the nuclear question that has never been properly addressed. No one knows what to do with nuclear fuel rods that remain highly radioactive for thousands of years.
The industry talks of burying them. But this is not a real solution. Sealed containers leak. Ground shifts. Over decades, unforeseen events occur.
That’s why the federal Nuclear Waste Management Organization, which is charged with disposing of these used fuel rods, has so far been unable to find a place willing to take them.
The industry-dominated body says that over 40 years Canadian nuclear power stations, (most of them in Ontario) have already stockpiled 48,000 metric tonnes of used radioactive fuel. An additional 2,000 metric tonnes are added to these stockpiles annually.
Used fuel is toxic and dangerous. It’s the spent fuel atop one of the reactors at Japan’s ill-fated Fukushima nuclear plant that keeps catching fire and spewing radioactive particulate into the air.
MORE:
http://www.thestar.com/Business/CleanBr ... cle/957483
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7. No Nukes News – March 21 & 23, 2011
No Nuke News – March 21, 2011
So while news broadcasters notify the public of humanity's luck that the winds are blowing the radiated air out to sea instead of over human populated areas, instead of breathing a sigh of relief, or celebrating, rather I cry for the sea. I cry for the air, the wind, the sea and all the creations that exist because we are all related. – Krystalline Kraus , veteran activist and reporter for rabble.ca
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Darlington Nuclear Hearing
The federal hearing on the proposal by Ontario Power Generation to build up to four new reactors of yet-to-be-specified design gets underway Mon. Mar. 21 and will run for 3 weeks. They are open to the public - come one, come all!
The Hearing will be held at Hope Fellowship Church, 1685 Bloor Street, Courtice (between Oshawa and Bowmanville, a few kilometres due north of the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station)
The detailed schedule is posted at
http://www.ceaa-acee.gc.ca/050/details- ... r_id=29525
Find out more here:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stop-Darl ... 3134613131
You can watch the proceedings LIVE webcast online, or call in and listen live.
Toll-free dial-in telephone numbers for English audio for the Darlington Joint Review Panel proceedings: 613-960-7527 or 1-877-413-4815. The identification number is 5760957.
To access the Webcast starting at 1:30 EDT on March 21, 2011, click here:
http://www.nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/comm ... /index.cfm
Written transcripts and audio recordings of the proceedings will be available the day after each session.
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Province Must Rethink Nuclear Plans: Greenpeace and Nurses
http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/recent/
Province-Must-Rethink-Nuclear-Plans-Greenpeace-and-Nurses/
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Canadians can't afford Candu complacency - Japan or Canada, a nuke is a nuke.
By Paul McKay, author of Atomic Accomplice
http://www.thewhig.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3030817
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Nuclear Energy Advocates Insist U.S. Reactors Completely Safe Unless Something Bad Happens
Comedy – from The Onion
http://www.theonion.com/articles/
nuclear-energy-advocates-insist-us-reactors-comple,19740/
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Too Cheap to Meter: The Top 10 Myths of Nuclear Power
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-rose/
too-cheap-to-meter-the-to_b_835730.html
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Reconsidering Ontario’s Nuclear Path
The unfolding nuclear catastrophe in Japan has reopened the debate out the role of nuclear power around the world, including here in Ontario.
http://marksw.blog.yorku.ca/2011/03/15/
reconsidering-ontario%E2%80%99s-nuclear-path/
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Canadian Nuclear Plant Leaks Radioactive Water Into Lake Ontario
http://planetsave.com/2011/03/18/
canadian-nuclear-plant-leaks-radioactive-water-into-lake-ontario/
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Ask An Expert: Japan's Nuclear Crisis
With Dr. Gordon Edwards - 9 minute video
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20110317/
japan-nuclear-crisis-ask-an-expert-110317/
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Coal Ash Is More Radioactive than Nuclear Waste
By burning away all the pesky carbon and other impurities, coal power plants produce heaps of radiation
http://www.scientificamerican.com/
article.cfm?id=coal-ash-is-more-radioactive-than-nuclear-waste
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Nuclear power report: 14 'near misses' at US plants due to 'lax oversight'
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2011/0318/
Nuclear-power-report-14-near-misses-at-US-plants-due-to-lax-oversight
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Wind power surges forward around the globe
By Lester Brown
http://www.grist.org/article/2011-03-15-wind
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Wind power cheaper than nuclear, says EU climate chief
Connie Hedegaard says declining cost of offshore wind energy makes it genuine alternative to crisis-hit nuclear industry
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/mar/17/
wind-cheaper-nuclear-eu-climate
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Calling All Youth – Sign the petition opposing new reactors at Darlington
http://www.gopetition.com/petition/43683.html
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Protecting our Great Lakes and Ontario from Nuclear WasteWednesday, March 23 · 7:00pm - 8:00pm
Future's Bakery, 483 Bloor St. W, Toronto
This will be both and info and action planning meeting on the severity of Ontario's Nuclear safety hazards, and how to we can get involved in upcoming actions to shut down reactors! If you are not aware of the issues and want more info first, check out the Democracy Now link with information here:
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/3/14/
japan_facing_biggest_catastrophe_since_dawn
Sponsored by Code Pink Toronto Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=171317609587707
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Facing Off for Social Justice in a Militarized World Conflict Zones, Human Rights and Health Care
Mar. 25/26, Ottawa, ON
Sponsored by Physicians for Global Survival
Agenda and registration:
http://pgs.ca/?page_id=725
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Nuclear in the Spotlight – Wed. Mar. 30, Toronto
Wed. March 30th, 7:30 p.m.
Annex Live, 296 Brunswick (at Bloor)
With performers Mike Ford, Meghan Morrison, Richard Underhill, Michael Louis Johnson, the Raging Grannies and more. Kevin Kamps from Beyond Nuclear will speak to the current situation in Japan.
Help OCAA turn Ontario away from nuclear and toward safer options.
Until then, our thoughts and prayers extend to the Japanese people and all those who will be affected by this disaster, now and into the future.
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=192323914141758
http://nuclearspotlight.eventbrite.com/
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No Nukes News - Mar. 23, 2011
For the best updates on the Japan nuclear crisis see
http://www.beyondnuclear.org/
Nuclear power is inherently unsafe and the list of possible illnesses stemming from exposure to the accompanying radiation is horrifying: genetic mutations, birth defects, cancer, leukemia and disorders of the reproductive, immune, cardiovascular and endocrine systems. – Kumi Naidoo , columnist, NY Times
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Darlington Nuclear Hearing
The federal hearing on the proposal by Ontario Power Generation to build up to four new reactors of yet-to-be-specified design gets underway Mon. Mar. 21 and will run for 3 weeks. They are open to the public - come one, come all!
The Hearing will be held at Hope Fellowship Church, 1685 Bloor Street, Courtice (between Oshawa and Bowmanville, a few kilometres due north of the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station)
The detailed schedule is posted at
http://www.ceaa-acee.gc.ca/050/details- ... r_id=29525
Find out more here:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stop-Darl ... 3134613131
You can watch the proceedings LIVE webcast online, or call in and listen live.
Toll-free dial-in telephone numbers for English audio for the Darlington Joint Review Panel proceedings: 613-960-7527 or 1-877-413-4815. The identification number is 5760957.
To access the live Webcast click here:
http://www.nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/commission/
webcasts/index.cfm (use explorer, not firefox)
Written transcripts and audio recordings of the proceedings will be available the day after each session.
Watch Helen Caldicott speak to the panel on Thur. March 24, sometime after 1:30 p.m.
Watch the video by activist Zach reporting from the hearings
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQIVRMM-LCU
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No halt to Darlington hearings
Calls by several groups for a postponement of the hearings into proposed new nuclear reactors at Ontario Power Generation’s Darlington site have been rejected by the panel reviewing safety and environmental issues.
http://www.thestar.com/business/companies/
article/957791--no-halt-to-darlington-hearings
Greenpeace shuts down Darlington nuclear hearing
http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/recent/
Greenpeace-shuts-down-Darlington-nuclear-hearing/
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/
957878--greenpeace-crashes-darlington-nuclear-hearings?bn=1
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/
breakingnews/hearings-into-proposed-new-ontario-reactors-delayed-by-greenpeace-118425344.html
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Calling All Youth – Sign the petition opposing new reactors at Darlington
http://www.gopetition.com/petition/43683.html
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The true cost of nuclear in Ontario
http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/campus-notes/2011/03/
true-cost-nuclear-ontario
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Probe our nuclear establishment to the core
Two of the three major nuclear accidents -at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl -were not caused by 9.0-force earthquakes, but by faulty equipment or design malfunctions. Those are people problems.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/
Probe+nuclear+establishment+core/4487665/story.html
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Canada’s nuclear plants ordered to review safety after disaster in Japan
Canada's nuclear industry is facing repercussions from Japan's alarming reactor failures, as the federal regulator orders safety reviews and critics demand a halt to any new projects.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/
canadas-nuclear-plants-ordered-to-review-safety-after-disaster-in-japan/article1950455/
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Gentilly 2 reactor sits on fault line
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/
Gentilly+reactor+sits+fault+line/4447202/story.html
Hydro-Québec under pressure to close Gentilly 2 nuclear plant
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/
Hydro+Québec+under+pressure+close+nuclear+plant/4473898/story.html
PQ would shut Gentilly nuke plant
More than 300 Quebec municipalities have adopted resolutions calling for the province to stop using nuclear power.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/
would+shut+Gentilly+nuclear+plant/4477816/story.html
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Nuclear Energy Isn't Needed
While we have all heard of Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, the nuclear industry would have us believe these are but isolated events in an otherwise unblemished history. Not so. Over 800 other significant events have been officially reported to the International Atomic Energy Agency — Mayak, Tokaimura, Bohunice, Forsmark to name just a few.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/23/opinion/
23iht-ednaidoo23.html?_r=2&ref=global
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Nuclear power report: 14 'near misses' at US plants due to 'lax oversight'
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission failed to resolve known safety problems, leading to 14 'near-misses' in US nuclear power plants in 2009 and 2010, according to a new report from a nuclear watchdog group.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2011/0318/
Nuclear-power-report-14-near-misses-at-US-plants-due-to-lax-oversight?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+feeds%2Fcsm+%28Christian+Science+Monitor+|+All+Stories%29&utm_content=Twitter
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Japan fears food contamination as battle to cool nuclear plant continues
Abnormal radiation levels reported in tap water, vegetables and milk with concerns that fish may also be affected
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/22/
japan-food-contamination-nuclear-plant
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Atomic Cleanup Cost Goes to Japan's Taxpayers, May Spur Liability Shift
Japan’s taxpayer, not the nuclear industry or insurers, will cover most of the cleanup cost from the worst accident since Chernobyl, a financial rescue that may spur moves by nations to make companies assume more liability.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-23/
nuclear-cleanup-cost-goes-to-japan-s-taxpayers-may-spur-liability-shift.html
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Battle-proof Wind Farms Survive Japan's Trial by Fire
Despite assertions by its detractors that wind energy would not survive an earthquake or tsunami the Japanese wind industry is still functioning and helping to keep the lights on during the Fuksuhima crisis.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kelly-rigg/
battleproof-wind-farms-su_b_837172.html?ref=fb&src=sp
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Wind power is producing 20% of PEI’s electricity needs and they are aiming for 30% by 2016!
http://www.gov.pe.ca/photos/original/PEIEC.pdf
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Rethinking nuclear power - Israel
The nuclear disaster in Japan caused Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to declare last week that Israel will not build nuclear power plants. By saying no to that source of energy, Israel could become a leader in implementing the never-ending, carbon-free and completely safe kind: solar and wind power.
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/
Article.aspx?id=213194
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The path to eliminating nuclear weapons is clear cut
Ottawa could host landmark meeting to lay groundwork for treaty — four MPs urge action. by Douglas Roche and Jim Creskey
http://www.straightgoods.ca/2011/
ViewArticle.cfm?Ref=226&Cookies=yes
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Nuclear in the Spotlight – Wed. Mar. 30, Toronto
Wed. March 30th, 7:30 p.m.
Annex Live, 296 Brunswick (at Bloor), Toronto
With performers Mike Ford, Meghan Morrison, Richard Underhill, Michael Louis Johnson, the Raging Grannies and more.
Kevin Kamps from Beyond Nuclear will speak to the current situation in Japan.
Help OCAA turn Ontario away from nuclear and toward safer options.
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=192323914141758
http://nuclearspotlight.eventbrite.com/
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Order FREE anti-nuclear and anti-coal leaflets here:
http://www.cleanairalliance.org/get_inv ... _pamphlets
They contain postcards to politicians.
Courtesy of the Ontario Clean Air Alliance. Thanks…
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Angela Bischoff, Outreach Director
Ontario Clean Air Alliance
Tel: 416 926 1907 x 246
625 Church Street, #402, Toronto, ON M4Y 2G1
angela@cleanairalliance.org
www.cleanairalliance.org
www.ontariosgreenfuture.ca
Our Facebook Group
No Nukes News
Health Power
Coal Must Go
==================
8. Like all reactors, GE Mark 1 BWRs are absolutely safe... unless something goes wrong...
http://acehoffman.blogspot.com/2011/03/
like-all-reactors-ge-mark-1-bwrs-are.html
by Ace Hoffman March 22, 2011
Dear Readers,
A few weeks before the devastating Tohoku 9.0 earthquake and tsunami struck, Japanese nuclear regulators approved extending the life of one of the six reactors at Fukushima Dai-ichi by ten years, although they were warned that the unit's backup power system contained stress cracks that could cause it to become water-logged and inoperable in the rain, let alone in a tsunami.
The day before Tohoku struck, regulators in the United States approved a license extension for a nearly identical old GE Mark 1 BWR: A dilapidated, tritium-leaking reactor in Vermont, one of the most (relatively) pristine places left in America.
The Vermont reactor is surrounded with spent fuel, mainly in pools and also in dry casks. The extremely hazardous process of loading dry casks with spent fuel began at Vermont Yankee in May, 2008.
The small state could kiss itself and its neighbors goodbye if an accident occurs at the plant, or in the spent fuel pool, or as the fuel is being transferred (there are about 3,500 fuel assemblies at Vermont Yankee, each with hundreds of fuel rods containing tens of thousands of individual fuel pellets). The contents of the casks themselves can settle, inappropriately, unnoticed... until disaster strikes. Look it up.. These facts are buried deep in the regulatory data, but are outside the "Design Basis Accident" and discounted.
As you can see in Japan, such discounting has nothing to do with reality.
Shortly after the license extension to Fukushima Dai-ichi's reactor was granted, it was revealed that TEPCO failed to inspect dozens of pieces of equipment inside the plant, including water pumps and other safety systems. We all know what happened next. The system was tested, and failed. Further "testing" may not be over: A few hours ago, Japan experienced three of the most massive aftershocks yet, measuring 6.6, 6.4, and 6.6.
The entire nuclear industry is being very quick to call this a "natural disaster" because there was a large earthquake and a nominally large tsunami involved. But the real root cause was global corporate negligence. This could happen anywhere.
MORE:
http://acehoffman.blogspot.com/2011/03/
like-all-reactors-ge-mark-1-bwrs-are.html
=================
9. The Nuke Lobby has the US Regulatory Commission in Their Pocket
http://www.commondreams.org/video/2011/03/18-0
Published on Friday, March 18, 2011 by Martin Bashir / MSNBC
WATCH: Are nuclear plants in the U.S, safe?
http://www.commondreams.org/video/2011/03/18-0
According to The Nation's Christian Parenti, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission's "culture" of bowing to industry demands prevents it from keeping plants truly safe. As President Obama once said, the NRC is a "captive" of the industry.
Joining MSNBC's Martin Bashir, Parenti explains that Japan's nuclear crisis should make us think about the dangers lurking in our own nuclear facilities. Decades-old nuclear power plants are currently being relicensed for years of further use, even as they fail to meet today's safety standards, Parenti explains. The plants are also obtaining permission to forgo routine maintenance. This leads to near-disasters such as the Ohio plant that just happened to discover a football-size hole in a containment vessel.
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10. WATCH: Storage Pool in Japan Nuclear Facility Nears Boiling Point
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/3/22/headlines/
storage_pool_in_japan_nuclear_facility_nears_boiling_point
March 22, 2011
Japanese officials say a fuel storage pool at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station is at, or near, boiling point. The storage pool is holding 2,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel rods. If the pool begins to boil, more radioactive steam could spew out. Authorities announced earlier today success in hooking up power lines to all six reactor units at the plant. The Economist magazine is estimating the Japanese earthquake and tsunami has caused $235 billion in damage, or around four percent of Japan’s GDP. This would make it the world’s most expensive disaster since records began.
====================
11. Fukushima: did money or safety come first?
http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/
fukushima-did-money-or-safety-come-first
By Erik Klooster Created 21 March 2011 22:51
The Fukushima staff failed to cool the reactor in time on 11 March, the day of the earthquake and tsunami, a Japanese nuclear expert claimed in The New York Times [1]. Even after an explosion the following day, the management waited for hours before giving the order to pump in seawater. They also wasted time before pumping seawater into the spent fuel pools.
Did the management hold back because of commercial considerations and the economic value of the power plant? Dutch Labour Party member of parliament and nuclear physicist Diederik Samsom has his doubts.
“If you pump seawater into a reactor, you know everything will be wrecked, including the measuring equipment, and there’s a chance - for example - that the valves will block. So you might also wait a long time because of safety considerations.” [ . . . ]
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12. Updates: Unit 2 & 3 delays work (Kyodonews) + five radioactive materials detected (NHK)
From: Pol Heanna DHuyvetter - Mayors for Peace <pol2020@gmail.com>
Date: March 21, 2011 3:59:09 PM EDT (CA)
Some updates. It remains an uphill battle in Fukushima as little information 'leaks' out about contaminatation and Tokyo Fire Dept. halted spraying water after smoke at Fukushima No. 3 reactor reported 20:50 local time by Kyodonews.
Links to some recent Kyodonews and NHK stories.
(unit 2 & 3)
Work to restore power delayed as smoke seen at Fukushima reactors (Kyodonews)
http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/80015.html
5 radioactive materials detected (NHK)
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/21_22.html
Govt posts radiation data (NHK)
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/21_13.html
Radioactive materials detected in water (NHK)
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/21_14.html
Gov't orders 4 prefectures to suspend some food shipments (Kyodonews)
http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/80024.html
===================
13. German green industries say can fill nuclear gaps
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/16/
us-germany-renewables-idUSTRE72F2RD20110316
FRANKFURT | Wed Mar 16, 2011 9:59am EDT
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German renewable industry lobby BEE said on Wednesday it would be able to supply 47 percent of German power requirements by 2020, joining a debate on how to replace nuclear generation capacity.
The lobby, which groups 22 individual units representing wind, hydro, solar and biomass-to-power producer interests, said it could offer a high share of reliable renewable supply.
"Renewables could be ready to provide 47 percent of German power supply up to 2020. This way they would not just compensate for the nuclear withdrawal (meant to happen by 2021 at the latest) but in addition offer affordable and sustainable power," the group said.
Last year, renewable power supplied 17 percent of German electricity output of 585 billion kilowatt hours, while nuclear generation accounted for 23 percent, industry data shows.
Germany's government said on Tuesday it would shut down seven nuclear power plants that had begun operating before 1980 at least until June, leaving open whether they will ever start up again after Japan's crisis.
It also has to decide whether to go back to an 11-year old program to close down all 17 of its reactors or to extend the operating life of some of the younger plants beyond what was laid down in the original agreement. It had ruled to extend nuclear lifespans last autumn.
While the situation is in flux, Germany must draw up new plans on how to secure its future electricity supplies.
MORE:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/16/
us-germany-renewables-idUSTRE72F2RD20110316
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14. Nuclear Disarmament Is People's Work
http://www.truth-out.org/nuclear-disarm ... -work68515
Joe Copeland, YES! Magazine: "The people of Hiroshima live with the devastating legacy of nuclear war, juxtaposed with the city's dedication to working for world peace. A mindful American visitor to Hiroshima can't avoid asking: Are people in the United States too comfortable with the existence of nuclear weapons? How do you motivate the public to care about the nuclear threat and instill the hope to work toward change? At times it seems that a good jolt of fear might be the answer. Maybe then we would finally wake from denial and do something about the dangers of nuclear arms: the risk that one of the nuclear powers may choose to use the ultimate weapon of mass destruction, the bomb's distortion of power relationships among nations, the potential for accident or terror to unleash some catastrophe." [ . . . ]
==================
15. Obama’s Bay of Pigs in Libya: Imperialist Aggression Shreds UN Charter (3 articles)
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23847
By Dr. Webster G. Tarpley Global Research, March 22, 2011 http://tarpley.net/
- - - -
QUOTE: “At the UN vote, the Indian delegate correctly pointed out that the decision to start the war had been made on the basis of no reliable information whatsoever, since UN Secretary General Ban-ki Moon’s envoy to Libya had never reported to the Security Council. The bombing started shortly after a glittering Paris summit “in support of the Libyan people,” where Sarkozy, Cameron, Hillary Clinton, Stephen Harper of Canada and other imperialist politicians had strutted and postured.”
- - - - - -
On March 19, US and British cruise missiles joined with French and other NATO combat aircraft in Operation Odyssey Dawn/Operation Ellamy, a neo-imperialist bombing attack under fake humanitarian cover against the sovereign state of Libya. Acting under UN Security Council resolution 1973, US naval forces in the Mediterranean on Saturday night local time fired 112 cruise missiles at targets which the Pentagon claimed were related to Libya’s air defense system. But Mohammed al-Zawi, the Secretary General of the Libyan Parliament, told a Tripoli press conference that the “barbaric armed attack” and “savage aggression” had hit residential areas and office buildings as well as military targets, filling the hospitals of Tripoli and Misurata with civilian victims. Zawi accused the foreign powers of acting to protect a rebel leadership which contains notorious terrorist elements. The Libyan government repeated its request for the UN to send international observers to report objectively on events in Libya.
- - - - -
The attacking forces are expected to deploy more cruise missiles, Predator drones, and bombers, seeking to destroy the Libyan air defense system as a prelude to the systematic decimation of Libyan ground units. International observers have noted that US intelligence about Libya may be substandard, and that many cruise missiles may indeed have struck non-military targets.
Libya had responded to the UN vote by declaring a cease-fire, but Obama and Cameron brushed that aside. On Saturday, France 24 and al-Jazeera of Qatar, international propaganda networks hyping the attacks, broadcast hysterical reports of Qaddafi’s forces allegedly attacking the rebel stronghold of Bengazi. They showed a picture of a jet fighter being shot down and claimed this proved Qaddafi was defying the UN by keeping up his air strikes. It later turned out that the destroyed plane had belonged to the rebel air force. Such coverage provided justification for the bombing attacks starting a few hours later. The parallels to the Kuwait incubator babies hoax of 1990 were evident. Qaddafi loyalists said Saturday’s fighting was caused by rebel assaults on government lines in the hopes of provoking an air attack, plus local residents defending themselves against the rebels.
At the UN vote, the Indian delegate correctly pointed out that the decision to start the war had been made on the basis of no reliable information whatsoever, since UN Secretary General Ban-ki Moon’s envoy to Libya had never reported to the Security Council. The bombing started shortly after a glittering Paris summit “in support of the Libyan people,” where Sarkozy, Cameron, Hillary Clinton, Stephen Harper of Canada and other imperialist politicians had strutted and postured.
Token contingents from Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia were supposed to take part in the attack, but were nowhere to be seen, while some Arab states were expected to provide financial support. The minimum estimated cost of maintaining a no-fly zone over Libya for one year is estimated in the neighborhood of $15 billion – enough to fund WIC high-protein meals for impoverished US mothers and infants for two years.
MORE:
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23847
= = = = =
NATO offers armada to enforce Libya arms embargo
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/
2011/03/24/3172074.htm?section=justin
March 24, 2011
NATO nations have offered up an armada of ships and submarines to enforce an arms embargo against Moamar Gaddafi, as the West moved to settle a row over who should run the entire Libya campaign.
Six nations agreed to contribute up to 16 vessels to prevent Gaddafi from bringing in weapons from the Mediterranean, with Turkey offering five warships and a submarine despite its reservations about the military action.
The NATO mission will have the means to intercept and board suspicious ships, and the authority to fire a warning shot across the bow of vessels trying to slip away, a NATO official said.
In the meantime, the 28-nation alliance appeared to move closer to deciding NATO's place in a no-fly zone that has been enforced by an international coalition led by the United States, France and Britain. [ . . . ]
= = = = =
The five principles driving war propaganda are in play in Libya
http://rabble.ca/columnists/2011/03/
five-principles-driving-war-propaganda-are-play-libya
By Duncan Cameron March 22, 2011
- - - - -
QUOTE: "As the war progresses, and if it drags out, another set of issues will arise in the west. The Conservative perpetrators, Sarkozy, Cameron, and Harper all had good reasons to draw momentary attention away from their own domestic failings. Along with U.S. President Obama, none have built a domestic alliance for the pursuit of a prolonged engagement."
- - - - -
Mounting a military operation against a dictator like Muamar Gaddafi does not mean suspending critical analysis of what it means for western "allies" to attack Libyan targets from the air. Putting together an analysis of the attack entails looking beyond the wartime public relations campaigns of the French, British, American, and Canadian governments designed to get public opinion onside, and lull critical minds to sleep.
The blog empirestrikesblack cites Belgian investigative journalist Michel Collon who has outlined five principles driving war propaganda:
1. Obscure one's economic interests;
2. Appear humanitarian in work and motivations;
3. Obscure history;
4. Demonize the enemy; and
5. Monopolize the flow of information.
Libya is a rich oil producer. Unseating Gaddafi would open up new opportunities for western oil interests. Now is a good time to evaluate who has been making money with Gaddafi, and who stands to benefit if he is overthrown. The empirestrikesblack reveals the insurgent leadership maintain close links to western economic interests. [ . . . ]
======================
16. WATCH: "300 Years of Fossil Fuels in 300 Seconds"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJ-J91SwP8w
==================
17. Council of Canadians: Budget 2011 meets (lowed) expectations
http://www.canadians.org/energyblog/index.php
From: Andrea Harden
Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2011 5:00 PM
While a $400 million contribution to energy efficiency for homes is getting a lot of air play, the truth is there is little for the environment and climate change in the federal budget, and it is indeed a step backwards.
Bearing in mind the questions I posed in my recent blog, here is some initial thoughts on Budget 2011. You can read the budget speech and plan here.
Will the EcoENERGY programs set to end this fiscal year be renewed?
A $400 million investment was announced for the ecoENERGY Retrofit Homes program, a popular program that helps people make their homes more energy efficient. While it is certainly good to see this money go towards ‘green jobs generating and emission reducing’ energy efficiency measures, it represents only one year of funding for the program. It is not a sustained multi-year program which we desperately need and again puts the future of the Canadian governments energy efficient measures into limbo.
Absent from the budget is money allocated to the ecoENERGY renewable power program meaning that it is likely ending. This program invested $1.48 billion increasing Canada’s supply of electricity from renewable sources such as wind, biomass, low-impact hydro, geothermal, solar photovoltaic and ocean energy. The goal was to produce enough clean electricity to power around one million homes.
MORE:
http://www.canadians.org/energyblog/index.php
====================
18. SASKATCHEWAN COMPLETES FIRST COMPREHENSIVE TRADE MISSION TO INDIA AND BANGLADESH
http://www.gov.sk.ca/
news?newsId=d0ab6890-1ec4-4bc0-ba42-1ce24844ece3
News Release March 21, 2011
Saskatchewan Delegation Visits Growing Economies of India and Bangladesh as Part of the Province's Long-term Strategy to Engage Key Markets for Saskatchewan's Resources and Expertise
Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall says the province's first comprehensive trade mission to India and Bangladesh highlighted the contributions Saskatchewan can make in exporting key resources and partnering in research with these two important trading partners, both now and in the future.
"We were able to tell the Saskatchewan story to high ranking government officials in both countries, including Her Excellency Sheikh Hasina, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh and Mr. Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of the dynamic Indian Province of Gujarat," Wall said.
While in India, Wall also held meetings with the Ministers of Agriculture and Food Processing Industries, Science and Technology, Petroleum and Natural Gas and the Minister of Mines. In Bangladesh, Wall met with the Ministers of Commerce and Foreign Affairs.
MORE:
http://www.gov.sk.ca/
news?newsId=d0ab6890-1ec4-4bc0-ba42-1ce24844ece3
- - - - -
MOU Summary.pdf
http://www.gov.sk.ca/adx/aspx/
adxGetMedia.aspx?mediaId=1379&PN=Shared
===================
19. WATCH: Wadah Khanfar: A historic moment in the Arab world | Video on TED.com
http://www.ted.com/talks/
wadah_khanfar_a_historic_moment_in_the_arab_world.html?awesm=on.ted.com_Khanfar&utm_content=awesm-bookmarklet&utm_medium=on.ted.com-static&utm_source=direct-on.ted.com
About this talk
As a democratic revolution led by tech-empowered young people sweeps the Arab world, Wadah Khanfar, the head of Al Jazeera, shares a profoundly optimistic view of what's happening in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and beyond -- at this powerful moment when people realized they could step out of their houses and ask for change.
About Wadah Khanfar
As Director General of Al Jazeera, the only international TV network based in the developing world, Wadah Khanfar works to bring rare liberties like information, transparency and dissenting voices to…
Full bio and more links:
http://www.ted.com/speakers/wadah_khanfar.html
====================
20. UN investigator: Israel engaged in ethnic cleansing with settlement expansion
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/
un-investigator-israel-engaged-in-ethnic-cleansing-with-settlement-expansion-1.350938
U.S. academic Richard Falk spoke to UN Human Rights Council as it prepared resolution condemning settlement building in East Jerusalem and West Bank.
By Reuters Tags: Israel news March 21, 2011
Israel's expansion of settlements in East Jerusalem and eviction of Palestinians from their homes there is a form of ethnic cleansing, a United Nations investigator said on Monday.
United States academic Richard Falk was speaking to the UN Human Rights Council as it prepared to pass resolutions condemning settlement building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The "continued pattern of settlement expansion in East Jerusalem combined with the forcible eviction of long-residing Palestinians are creating an intolerable situation" in the part of the city previously controlled by Jordan, he said.
This situation "can only be described in its cumulative impact as a form of ethnic cleansing," Falk declared.
Israel declines to deal with Falk or even allow him into the country, accusing him of being biased. [ . . . ]
==================
21. Philippines: mine protesters stabbed and shot
http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=17912
By: Sean Martin SSC and Frank Nally SSC
A court case is currently pending against Columbans Fr Sean Martin and Sr Patty Andonaire for their peaceful opposition to mining
Posted: Tuesday, March 22, 2011 9:03 pm ICN news
A young man from Midsalip in the Southern Philippine island of Mindanao was stabbed on 13 March after attending a prayer service at a picket line disrupting large-scale mining. It was a Sunday morning when Orlando Bulay was attacked for his efforts to stop drilling exploration for iron ore. He is a regular protestor at a picket line, located on the picturesque Zamboanga Peninsula, which is supported by local Catholic parishes and by Columban Fathers and Sisters. A court case is currently pending against Columbans Fr Sean Martin and Sr Patty Andonaire for their peaceful opposition to mining.
Further south on the Zamboanga Peninsula, in Canatuan, another anti-mining protester was shot and killed a week earlier on 6 March. It happened near a mining project run by Canadian company TVI Resource Development Philippines Inc.
MORE:
http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=17912
“I have become Death, the destroyer of worlds”. - Robert Oppenheimer, quoting the Baghavad Gita, on witnessing the first atomic bomb test, 1945
1. EVENT: Lecture - Regina - March 29 - Wind Power: Myths and Realities
2. Statement by Dr Caldicott
3. Greenpeace protest shuts down Darlington nuclear hearings
4. Hydro-Quebec may decide not to refurbish the Gentilly-2 nuclear reactor
5. It pays to leave Sask.'s uranium in the ground
6. Forget meltdowns. The real nuclear problem is waste
7. No Nukes News – March 21 & 23, 2011
8. Like all reactors, GE Mark 1 BWRs are absolutely safe... unless something goes wrong...
9. The Nuke Lobby has the US Regulatory Commission in Their Pocket
10. WATCH: Storage Pool in Japan Nuclear Facility Nears Boiling Point
11. Fukushima: did money or safety come first?
12. Updates: Unit 2 & 3 delays work (Kyodonews) + five radioactive materials detected (NHK)
13. German green industries say can fill nuclear gaps
14. Nuclear Disarmament Is People's Work
15. Obama’s Bay of Pigs in Libya: Imperialist Aggression Shreds UN Charter (3 articles)
16. WATCH: "300 Years of Fossil Fuels in 300 Seconds"
17. Council of Canadians: Budget 2011 meets (lowed) expectations
18. SASKATCHEWAN COMPLETES FIRST COMPREHENSIVE TRADE MISSION TO INDIA AND BANGLADESH
19. WATCH: Wadah Khanfar: A historic moment in the Arab world | Video on TED.com
20. UN investigator: Israel engaged in ethnic cleansing with settlement expansion
21. Philippines: mine protesters stabbed and shot
================
1. EVENT: Lecture - Regina - March 29 - Wind Power: Myths and Realities
Wind Power: Myths and Realities
A Lecture by Tim Weis of the Pembina Institute
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
7 pm, Shumiatcher Theatre at the MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina
Come out and learn more about wind power as a viable renewable energy source in Saskatchewan.
Sponsored by Clean Green Regina and Regina EcoLiving Inc. For more information visit www.cleangreensask.ca. Contact us at cleangreenregina@yahoo.ca.
===============
2. Statement by Dr Caldicott
http://www.helencaldicott.com/2011/03/s ... caldicott/
Posted on March 16, 2011 by admin
“I have become Death, the destroyer of worlds” - Robert Oppenheimer, quoting the Baghavad Gita, on witnessing the first atomic bomb test, 1945
As I write this – on the afternoon of March 16 in the United States – the situation at the Fukushima Nuclear Plant No. 1 is, tragically, looking increasingly grim.
Radiation levels are increasing, mass evacuations in the area surrounding Fukushima are underway; and experts are speculating –with trepidation, but understandable caution – about how far the radiation will spread, both within Japan and to other parts of the planet.
My heart goes out to the people of Japan who are of course suffering under the double blow of the effects of the earthquake and tsunami, as well as the threat from the Fukushima reactors.
They are dealing stoically and with great dignity with conditions that are severely challenging. And I want to pay special tribute to the incredibly brave band of TEPCO workers who are fighting to bring the situation at the plant under control. Their efforts are heroic, their courage beyond measure.
The world is now paying – and will pay however severe Fukushima turns out to be – a grave price for the nuclear industry’s hubris and the arrogance and greed that fueled their drive to build more and more reactors. What’s more, having bamboozled gullible politicians, the media, and much of the public into believing that it is a “clean and green” solution to the problem of global warming, the nuclear industry has operated facilities improperly, with little or no regard for safety regulations, and they have often done this with the connivance of government authorities.
Nuclear power is not the answer to global warming; it is not clean, it is not green; it is not safe; and it is not renewable. It is instead “a destroyer
of worlds.” It is time the global community repudiated it – however economically painful in the short term that taking such a step would be.
There is no other choice for the sake of future generations.
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3. Greenpeace protest shuts down Darlington nuclear hearings
http://www.newsdurhamregion.com/news/article/173902
Police called in to remove activists Mar 22, 2011 - 05:13 PM Jennifer O'Meara
COURTICE -- Greenpeace activists chained themselves to a table Tuesday and shut down the public environmental assessment hearing for the new nuclear reactors planned for Darlington.
The protesters were reacting to a panel decision on Monday night not to suspend the hearings until the threat of a major accident at a nuclear power plant in Japan -- which was hard hit with a recent earthquake and tsunami -- has passed and the lessons have been learned.
"We're asking for this proceeding to be suspended. In light of what's happening in Japan, we really need to be asking questions about how safe nuclear power is ... We're planning to stay here until the hearing is stopped," said protester Alex Speers-Roesch.
After several hours, police removed the protestors from the room, after cutting the chains used by the protestors to attach themselves to a table.
At the beginning of the hearing on Monday, several environmental groups had asked the panel to postpone the hearing for several months. Mark Mattson, president of Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, said an assessment of the new nuclear project won't be complete unless it takes into consideration the events in Japan.
After considering the request to delay the hearing on Monday, the federal joint review panel evaluating the environmental assessment on the project announced its decision to continue with the process. Panel chairman Alan Graham said the lessons learned from the events in Japan will be evaluated "in the fullness of time" and applied in the detailed reviews, design requirements and safety features that will be rigorously examined when OPG applies for a construction licence and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission holds more public hearings.
On Tuesday, the hearing began at 9 a.m. but was promptly shut down by nine activists who walked before the panel holding signs protesting the new reactors. Five protesters had tape over their mouths, and four others placed a thick length of chain around their stomachs, to bind themselves to each other and to the panel table. They held signs saying "No Nukes Are Safe. Stop Darlington."
MORE:
http://www.newsdurhamregion.com/news/article/173902
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Greenpeace activists delay Ont. nuclear hearings
http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/
Greenpeace+activists+delay+nuclear+hearings/4483521/story.html
Postmedia News March 22, 2011 8:03 AM
Hearings into Ontario's plans to build new nuclear reactors were delayed Tuesday following a protest by Greenpeace demonstrators.
Four demonstrators chained themselves to a table at a church in Courtice, Ont., where the hearings were being held. The demonstrators held up banners reading "No nukes are safe" and "Stop Darlington." Five more demonstrators with a similar banner taped their mouths shut. [ . . . ]
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4. Hydro-Quebec may decide not to refurbish the Gentilly-2 nuclear reactor
From: Gordon Edwards
Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2011 3:31 PM
Subject: Hydro-Quebec may decide not to refurbish the Gentilly-2 nuclear reactor
Background:
In 1976, Hydro-Quebec was planning to build a large fleet of nuclear power reactors along the St-Lawrence River. The Gentilly-1 reactor was alreadybuilt and the Gentilly-2 reactor was under construction, along with a large heavy-water production plant next door to these two reactors.
In 1978 the Quebec Government responded to information about unsolved nuclear power problems provided by me and a number of my well-informed colleagues by declaring a moratorium on all future nuclear plants in the province -- except for Gentilly-3, which was already "committed".
By the end of the 1980s it was apparent that nuclear power was a dead-end technology in Quebec. The Gentilly-1 plant proved to be a technical and financial fiasco, never producing even one useful kilowatt-hour of electricity.
The heavy water plant never operated a single day. The Gentilly-2 reactor came in at a cost more than 3 times higher than the original estimate, and only operated at half-power for about 10 years because of low electrical demand and cheaper sources of electricity. Gentilly-3 was never built.
Hydro-Quebec does not envisage any more nuclear plants in its future energy plans.
In August 2008, Hydro-Quebec's CEO Thierry Vandal announced that his company was willing to spend $2 billion to "refurbish" Gentilly-2 so that it could run for another 25 or 30 years. This announcement has been met by an ever-growing chorus of voices calling for the permanent shut-down of the reactor -- which would constitute a rapidly-executed nuclear phaseout for the province of Quebec, making it the first political jurisdiction in North America that has made the transition from a nuclear to a non-nuclear status.
That transition now seems closer than ever before....
Gordon Edwards.
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(Rough translation of article in French at:http://www.cyberpresse.ca/environnement/
201103/23/01-4382406-hydro-quebec-pourrait-fermer-gentilly-2.php )
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Hydro-Quebec may decide not to refurbish Gentilly-2
by Sylvain Larocque, Canadian Press, March 23 2011
Hydro-Quebec does not rule out abandoning the refurbishment project for Gentilly-2, or even shutting down the plant permanently, said Thierry Vandal Wednesday. M. Vandal is the President and Director General of the government-owned corporation.
Hydro will provide "all necessary information to the government so that an enlightened and well-reasoned decision may be taken" on this subject, he said at a Press Conference held in Montreal to deliver the annual financial statement of the corporation for 2010.
Special attention will be paid to the way in which the refurbishment of similar generating plants in New Brunswick and South Korea have taken place, to the impending sale of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) -- the owner of the CANDU reactor technology -- as well as to the recent nuclear events in Japan, explained M. Vandal.
Last August, Hydro-Quebec announced a delay in the refurbishment of Gentilly, estimated to cost $2 billion, citing some of the same considerations -- the on-going work in New Brunswick and South Koreaand the process of selling AECL.
M. Vandal's announcement was surprising because the day before, on Tuesday, Premier Jean Charest mocked his Parti-Qu’b’cois adversary Pauline Marois for calling for the closing of Gentilly-2.
The generating station, having a capacity of 675 megawatts, provides about 5 terawatt-hours of energy annually, which would meet the needs of about 270 000 homes.
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Gentilly 2 reactor sits on fault line
http://www.montrealgazette.com/technology/
Gentilly+reactor+sits+fault+line/4447202/story.html
Questions arise about Hydro-Québec's decision to spend $2 billion to refurbish Trois Rivières plant
By WILLIAM MARSDEN, The Gazette March 16, 2011
MONTREAL - Japan's struggle to keep a major nuclear plant from collapsing into complete meltdown raises questions about Hydro-Québec's decision to spend $2 billion to refurbish its Gentilly 2 reactor near Trois Rivières, which stands on an earthquake fault line.
Hydro-Québec has always insisted its lone nuclear reactor, which began operating in 1983, is safe and the $2-billion expenditure will keep it operating until 2040 with 800 employees on the job.
But Meredith Nettles, a seismologist at Columbia University's Earth Observatory Research Centre, said in an interview: "One would prefer not to build any critical facility, particularly a nuclear plant, in the path of an earthquake."
Of Canada's five nuclear plants - one in New Brunswick, one in Quebec, and three in Ontario - only Quebec's sits on a fault line. [ . . . ]
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Hydro-Quebec to cost out closing of Gentilly-2 nuclear plant
http://www.globaltvbc.com/
Hydro+Quebec+cost+closing+Gentilly+nuclear+plant/4491980/story.html
By Lynn Moore, Postmedia News: Wednesday, March 23, 2011 1:34 PM
MONTREAL - Hydro-Quebec will provide the provincial government with a cost-benefit analysis of closing the Gentilly-2 nuclear power plant, the utility's chief executive said Wednesday.
That analysis will be included in the comprehensive review requested by Premier Jean Charest, Thierry Vandal told reporters.
"That will be part of the information . . . the context, the evaluation" provided to Quebec to allow an informed decision to be made about the future of Quebec's lone nuclear power plant, Vandal said.
About $2 billion has been earmarked to refurbish Gentilly-2 and extend its life for 40 years. [ . . . ]
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Charest dismisses calls to shut down Quebec nuclear plant
http://www.globaltvbc.com/
Charest+dismisses+calls+shut+down+Quebec+nuclear+plant/
4490638/story.html
The Canadian Press: Wednesday, March 23, 2011
QUEBEC - Premier Jean Charest is brushing aside calls to mothball Quebec's nuclear power plant, saying he won't make such a decision based on headlines.
Parti Quebecois Leader Pauline Marois wants the government to close Hydro-Quebec's Gentilly-2 reactor at Becancour, near Trois-Rivieres.
The P-Q has said refurbishing the plant, which went online in 1983, would unnecessarily cost two (b) billion dollars.
Charest says Marois is trying to build political capital on the back of the ongoing nuclear crisis in Japan caused by an earthquake and tsunami.
He asks if the P-Q would also demand the James Bay power dams be shut down if a catastrophe struck Japanese hydroelectric installations. [ . . . ]
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5. It pays to leave Sask.'s uranium in the ground
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/news/
pays+leave+Sask+uranium+ground/4481086/story.html
By Paul Hanley, Special to The StarPheonix March 22, 2011
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QUOTE: “Adding insult to injury, the Conference Board of Canada reported last summer that after 60 years of uranium mining, northern Saskatchewan is the second-poorest region of Canada.”
- - - - -
It's too early to say how much of the uranium we have sold to Japan will be blowing back to Saskatchewan in the coming months, or what effect it will have. But as I write this on March 20, the situation in four Japanese reactors experiencing explosions, leaks and meltdowns teeters on the brink of disaster. Radiation is being detected in Japan's food and water and as far off as California.
In the light of last week's events, Saskatchewan's boast that it's the world's Number 1 uranium producer rings hollow. I don't know about you, but as a lifetime resident of this province I am not proud that our mines supplied the fuel for the Japanese reactors, just as I am not proud that in the 1950s and 1960s they supplied the uranium for the West's nuclear arsenal.
This latest nuclear accident the experts said couldn't happen begs the question, "Is Saskatchewan's ongoing investment in the uranium industry really worth it?"We should seriously consider this because as Saskatchewan and Canadian taxpayers we continue to pour money into a uranium-nuclear industry, which -all things considered -has provided a negative return on our investment.
MORE:
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/news/
pays+leave+Sask+uranium+ground/4481086/story.html
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6. Forget meltdowns. The real nuclear problem is waste
http://www.thestar.com/Business/CleanBr ... cle/957483
March 21, 2011 Thomas Walkom
For Canada, the danger of nuclear power lies not in a Japanese-style meltdown. When industry boosters say such an event is unlikely here, they are right.
But what the boosters don’t talk about is radioactive waste. That’s the main hazard, the part of the nuclear question that has never been properly addressed. No one knows what to do with nuclear fuel rods that remain highly radioactive for thousands of years.
The industry talks of burying them. But this is not a real solution. Sealed containers leak. Ground shifts. Over decades, unforeseen events occur.
That’s why the federal Nuclear Waste Management Organization, which is charged with disposing of these used fuel rods, has so far been unable to find a place willing to take them.
The industry-dominated body says that over 40 years Canadian nuclear power stations, (most of them in Ontario) have already stockpiled 48,000 metric tonnes of used radioactive fuel. An additional 2,000 metric tonnes are added to these stockpiles annually.
Used fuel is toxic and dangerous. It’s the spent fuel atop one of the reactors at Japan’s ill-fated Fukushima nuclear plant that keeps catching fire and spewing radioactive particulate into the air.
MORE:
http://www.thestar.com/Business/CleanBr ... cle/957483
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7. No Nukes News – March 21 & 23, 2011
No Nuke News – March 21, 2011
So while news broadcasters notify the public of humanity's luck that the winds are blowing the radiated air out to sea instead of over human populated areas, instead of breathing a sigh of relief, or celebrating, rather I cry for the sea. I cry for the air, the wind, the sea and all the creations that exist because we are all related. – Krystalline Kraus , veteran activist and reporter for rabble.ca
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Darlington Nuclear Hearing
The federal hearing on the proposal by Ontario Power Generation to build up to four new reactors of yet-to-be-specified design gets underway Mon. Mar. 21 and will run for 3 weeks. They are open to the public - come one, come all!
The Hearing will be held at Hope Fellowship Church, 1685 Bloor Street, Courtice (between Oshawa and Bowmanville, a few kilometres due north of the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station)
The detailed schedule is posted at
http://www.ceaa-acee.gc.ca/050/details- ... r_id=29525
Find out more here:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stop-Darl ... 3134613131
You can watch the proceedings LIVE webcast online, or call in and listen live.
Toll-free dial-in telephone numbers for English audio for the Darlington Joint Review Panel proceedings: 613-960-7527 or 1-877-413-4815. The identification number is 5760957.
To access the Webcast starting at 1:30 EDT on March 21, 2011, click here:
http://www.nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/comm ... /index.cfm
Written transcripts and audio recordings of the proceedings will be available the day after each session.
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Province Must Rethink Nuclear Plans: Greenpeace and Nurses
http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/recent/
Province-Must-Rethink-Nuclear-Plans-Greenpeace-and-Nurses/
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Canadians can't afford Candu complacency - Japan or Canada, a nuke is a nuke.
By Paul McKay, author of Atomic Accomplice
http://www.thewhig.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3030817
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Nuclear Energy Advocates Insist U.S. Reactors Completely Safe Unless Something Bad Happens
Comedy – from The Onion
http://www.theonion.com/articles/
nuclear-energy-advocates-insist-us-reactors-comple,19740/
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Too Cheap to Meter: The Top 10 Myths of Nuclear Power
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-rose/
too-cheap-to-meter-the-to_b_835730.html
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Reconsidering Ontario’s Nuclear Path
The unfolding nuclear catastrophe in Japan has reopened the debate out the role of nuclear power around the world, including here in Ontario.
http://marksw.blog.yorku.ca/2011/03/15/
reconsidering-ontario%E2%80%99s-nuclear-path/
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Canadian Nuclear Plant Leaks Radioactive Water Into Lake Ontario
http://planetsave.com/2011/03/18/
canadian-nuclear-plant-leaks-radioactive-water-into-lake-ontario/
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Ask An Expert: Japan's Nuclear Crisis
With Dr. Gordon Edwards - 9 minute video
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20110317/
japan-nuclear-crisis-ask-an-expert-110317/
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Coal Ash Is More Radioactive than Nuclear Waste
By burning away all the pesky carbon and other impurities, coal power plants produce heaps of radiation
http://www.scientificamerican.com/
article.cfm?id=coal-ash-is-more-radioactive-than-nuclear-waste
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Nuclear power report: 14 'near misses' at US plants due to 'lax oversight'
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2011/0318/
Nuclear-power-report-14-near-misses-at-US-plants-due-to-lax-oversight
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Wind power surges forward around the globe
By Lester Brown
http://www.grist.org/article/2011-03-15-wind
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Wind power cheaper than nuclear, says EU climate chief
Connie Hedegaard says declining cost of offshore wind energy makes it genuine alternative to crisis-hit nuclear industry
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/mar/17/
wind-cheaper-nuclear-eu-climate
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Calling All Youth – Sign the petition opposing new reactors at Darlington
http://www.gopetition.com/petition/43683.html
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Protecting our Great Lakes and Ontario from Nuclear WasteWednesday, March 23 · 7:00pm - 8:00pm
Future's Bakery, 483 Bloor St. W, Toronto
This will be both and info and action planning meeting on the severity of Ontario's Nuclear safety hazards, and how to we can get involved in upcoming actions to shut down reactors! If you are not aware of the issues and want more info first, check out the Democracy Now link with information here:
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/3/14/
japan_facing_biggest_catastrophe_since_dawn
Sponsored by Code Pink Toronto Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=171317609587707
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Facing Off for Social Justice in a Militarized World Conflict Zones, Human Rights and Health Care
Mar. 25/26, Ottawa, ON
Sponsored by Physicians for Global Survival
Agenda and registration:
http://pgs.ca/?page_id=725
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Nuclear in the Spotlight – Wed. Mar. 30, Toronto
Wed. March 30th, 7:30 p.m.
Annex Live, 296 Brunswick (at Bloor)
With performers Mike Ford, Meghan Morrison, Richard Underhill, Michael Louis Johnson, the Raging Grannies and more. Kevin Kamps from Beyond Nuclear will speak to the current situation in Japan.
Help OCAA turn Ontario away from nuclear and toward safer options.
Until then, our thoughts and prayers extend to the Japanese people and all those who will be affected by this disaster, now and into the future.
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=192323914141758
http://nuclearspotlight.eventbrite.com/
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No Nukes News - Mar. 23, 2011
For the best updates on the Japan nuclear crisis see
http://www.beyondnuclear.org/
Nuclear power is inherently unsafe and the list of possible illnesses stemming from exposure to the accompanying radiation is horrifying: genetic mutations, birth defects, cancer, leukemia and disorders of the reproductive, immune, cardiovascular and endocrine systems. – Kumi Naidoo , columnist, NY Times
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Darlington Nuclear Hearing
The federal hearing on the proposal by Ontario Power Generation to build up to four new reactors of yet-to-be-specified design gets underway Mon. Mar. 21 and will run for 3 weeks. They are open to the public - come one, come all!
The Hearing will be held at Hope Fellowship Church, 1685 Bloor Street, Courtice (between Oshawa and Bowmanville, a few kilometres due north of the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station)
The detailed schedule is posted at
http://www.ceaa-acee.gc.ca/050/details- ... r_id=29525
Find out more here:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stop-Darl ... 3134613131
You can watch the proceedings LIVE webcast online, or call in and listen live.
Toll-free dial-in telephone numbers for English audio for the Darlington Joint Review Panel proceedings: 613-960-7527 or 1-877-413-4815. The identification number is 5760957.
To access the live Webcast click here:
http://www.nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/commission/
webcasts/index.cfm (use explorer, not firefox)
Written transcripts and audio recordings of the proceedings will be available the day after each session.
Watch Helen Caldicott speak to the panel on Thur. March 24, sometime after 1:30 p.m.
Watch the video by activist Zach reporting from the hearings
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQIVRMM-LCU
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No halt to Darlington hearings
Calls by several groups for a postponement of the hearings into proposed new nuclear reactors at Ontario Power Generation’s Darlington site have been rejected by the panel reviewing safety and environmental issues.
http://www.thestar.com/business/companies/
article/957791--no-halt-to-darlington-hearings
Greenpeace shuts down Darlington nuclear hearing
http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/recent/
Greenpeace-shuts-down-Darlington-nuclear-hearing/
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/
957878--greenpeace-crashes-darlington-nuclear-hearings?bn=1
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/
breakingnews/hearings-into-proposed-new-ontario-reactors-delayed-by-greenpeace-118425344.html
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Calling All Youth – Sign the petition opposing new reactors at Darlington
http://www.gopetition.com/petition/43683.html
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The true cost of nuclear in Ontario
http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/campus-notes/2011/03/
true-cost-nuclear-ontario
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Probe our nuclear establishment to the core
Two of the three major nuclear accidents -at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl -were not caused by 9.0-force earthquakes, but by faulty equipment or design malfunctions. Those are people problems.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/
Probe+nuclear+establishment+core/4487665/story.html
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Canada’s nuclear plants ordered to review safety after disaster in Japan
Canada's nuclear industry is facing repercussions from Japan's alarming reactor failures, as the federal regulator orders safety reviews and critics demand a halt to any new projects.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/
canadas-nuclear-plants-ordered-to-review-safety-after-disaster-in-japan/article1950455/
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Gentilly 2 reactor sits on fault line
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/
Gentilly+reactor+sits+fault+line/4447202/story.html
Hydro-Québec under pressure to close Gentilly 2 nuclear plant
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/
Hydro+Québec+under+pressure+close+nuclear+plant/4473898/story.html
PQ would shut Gentilly nuke plant
More than 300 Quebec municipalities have adopted resolutions calling for the province to stop using nuclear power.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/
would+shut+Gentilly+nuclear+plant/4477816/story.html
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Nuclear Energy Isn't Needed
While we have all heard of Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, the nuclear industry would have us believe these are but isolated events in an otherwise unblemished history. Not so. Over 800 other significant events have been officially reported to the International Atomic Energy Agency — Mayak, Tokaimura, Bohunice, Forsmark to name just a few.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/23/opinion/
23iht-ednaidoo23.html?_r=2&ref=global
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Nuclear power report: 14 'near misses' at US plants due to 'lax oversight'
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission failed to resolve known safety problems, leading to 14 'near-misses' in US nuclear power plants in 2009 and 2010, according to a new report from a nuclear watchdog group.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2011/0318/
Nuclear-power-report-14-near-misses-at-US-plants-due-to-lax-oversight?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+feeds%2Fcsm+%28Christian+Science+Monitor+|+All+Stories%29&utm_content=Twitter
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Japan fears food contamination as battle to cool nuclear plant continues
Abnormal radiation levels reported in tap water, vegetables and milk with concerns that fish may also be affected
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/22/
japan-food-contamination-nuclear-plant
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Atomic Cleanup Cost Goes to Japan's Taxpayers, May Spur Liability Shift
Japan’s taxpayer, not the nuclear industry or insurers, will cover most of the cleanup cost from the worst accident since Chernobyl, a financial rescue that may spur moves by nations to make companies assume more liability.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-23/
nuclear-cleanup-cost-goes-to-japan-s-taxpayers-may-spur-liability-shift.html
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Battle-proof Wind Farms Survive Japan's Trial by Fire
Despite assertions by its detractors that wind energy would not survive an earthquake or tsunami the Japanese wind industry is still functioning and helping to keep the lights on during the Fuksuhima crisis.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kelly-rigg/
battleproof-wind-farms-su_b_837172.html?ref=fb&src=sp
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Wind power is producing 20% of PEI’s electricity needs and they are aiming for 30% by 2016!
http://www.gov.pe.ca/photos/original/PEIEC.pdf
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Rethinking nuclear power - Israel
The nuclear disaster in Japan caused Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to declare last week that Israel will not build nuclear power plants. By saying no to that source of energy, Israel could become a leader in implementing the never-ending, carbon-free and completely safe kind: solar and wind power.
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/
Article.aspx?id=213194
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The path to eliminating nuclear weapons is clear cut
Ottawa could host landmark meeting to lay groundwork for treaty — four MPs urge action. by Douglas Roche and Jim Creskey
http://www.straightgoods.ca/2011/
ViewArticle.cfm?Ref=226&Cookies=yes
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Nuclear in the Spotlight – Wed. Mar. 30, Toronto
Wed. March 30th, 7:30 p.m.
Annex Live, 296 Brunswick (at Bloor), Toronto
With performers Mike Ford, Meghan Morrison, Richard Underhill, Michael Louis Johnson, the Raging Grannies and more.
Kevin Kamps from Beyond Nuclear will speak to the current situation in Japan.
Help OCAA turn Ontario away from nuclear and toward safer options.
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=192323914141758
http://nuclearspotlight.eventbrite.com/
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Order FREE anti-nuclear and anti-coal leaflets here:
http://www.cleanairalliance.org/get_inv ... _pamphlets
They contain postcards to politicians.
Courtesy of the Ontario Clean Air Alliance. Thanks…
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Angela Bischoff, Outreach Director
Ontario Clean Air Alliance
Tel: 416 926 1907 x 246
625 Church Street, #402, Toronto, ON M4Y 2G1
angela@cleanairalliance.org
www.cleanairalliance.org
www.ontariosgreenfuture.ca
Our Facebook Group
No Nukes News
Health Power
Coal Must Go
==================
8. Like all reactors, GE Mark 1 BWRs are absolutely safe... unless something goes wrong...
http://acehoffman.blogspot.com/2011/03/
like-all-reactors-ge-mark-1-bwrs-are.html
by Ace Hoffman March 22, 2011
Dear Readers,
A few weeks before the devastating Tohoku 9.0 earthquake and tsunami struck, Japanese nuclear regulators approved extending the life of one of the six reactors at Fukushima Dai-ichi by ten years, although they were warned that the unit's backup power system contained stress cracks that could cause it to become water-logged and inoperable in the rain, let alone in a tsunami.
The day before Tohoku struck, regulators in the United States approved a license extension for a nearly identical old GE Mark 1 BWR: A dilapidated, tritium-leaking reactor in Vermont, one of the most (relatively) pristine places left in America.
The Vermont reactor is surrounded with spent fuel, mainly in pools and also in dry casks. The extremely hazardous process of loading dry casks with spent fuel began at Vermont Yankee in May, 2008.
The small state could kiss itself and its neighbors goodbye if an accident occurs at the plant, or in the spent fuel pool, or as the fuel is being transferred (there are about 3,500 fuel assemblies at Vermont Yankee, each with hundreds of fuel rods containing tens of thousands of individual fuel pellets). The contents of the casks themselves can settle, inappropriately, unnoticed... until disaster strikes. Look it up.. These facts are buried deep in the regulatory data, but are outside the "Design Basis Accident" and discounted.
As you can see in Japan, such discounting has nothing to do with reality.
Shortly after the license extension to Fukushima Dai-ichi's reactor was granted, it was revealed that TEPCO failed to inspect dozens of pieces of equipment inside the plant, including water pumps and other safety systems. We all know what happened next. The system was tested, and failed. Further "testing" may not be over: A few hours ago, Japan experienced three of the most massive aftershocks yet, measuring 6.6, 6.4, and 6.6.
The entire nuclear industry is being very quick to call this a "natural disaster" because there was a large earthquake and a nominally large tsunami involved. But the real root cause was global corporate negligence. This could happen anywhere.
MORE:
http://acehoffman.blogspot.com/2011/03/
like-all-reactors-ge-mark-1-bwrs-are.html
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9. The Nuke Lobby has the US Regulatory Commission in Their Pocket
http://www.commondreams.org/video/2011/03/18-0
Published on Friday, March 18, 2011 by Martin Bashir / MSNBC
WATCH: Are nuclear plants in the U.S, safe?
http://www.commondreams.org/video/2011/03/18-0
According to The Nation's Christian Parenti, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission's "culture" of bowing to industry demands prevents it from keeping plants truly safe. As President Obama once said, the NRC is a "captive" of the industry.
Joining MSNBC's Martin Bashir, Parenti explains that Japan's nuclear crisis should make us think about the dangers lurking in our own nuclear facilities. Decades-old nuclear power plants are currently being relicensed for years of further use, even as they fail to meet today's safety standards, Parenti explains. The plants are also obtaining permission to forgo routine maintenance. This leads to near-disasters such as the Ohio plant that just happened to discover a football-size hole in a containment vessel.
===================
10. WATCH: Storage Pool in Japan Nuclear Facility Nears Boiling Point
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/3/22/headlines/
storage_pool_in_japan_nuclear_facility_nears_boiling_point
March 22, 2011
Japanese officials say a fuel storage pool at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station is at, or near, boiling point. The storage pool is holding 2,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel rods. If the pool begins to boil, more radioactive steam could spew out. Authorities announced earlier today success in hooking up power lines to all six reactor units at the plant. The Economist magazine is estimating the Japanese earthquake and tsunami has caused $235 billion in damage, or around four percent of Japan’s GDP. This would make it the world’s most expensive disaster since records began.
====================
11. Fukushima: did money or safety come first?
http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/
fukushima-did-money-or-safety-come-first
By Erik Klooster Created 21 March 2011 22:51
The Fukushima staff failed to cool the reactor in time on 11 March, the day of the earthquake and tsunami, a Japanese nuclear expert claimed in The New York Times [1]. Even after an explosion the following day, the management waited for hours before giving the order to pump in seawater. They also wasted time before pumping seawater into the spent fuel pools.
Did the management hold back because of commercial considerations and the economic value of the power plant? Dutch Labour Party member of parliament and nuclear physicist Diederik Samsom has his doubts.
“If you pump seawater into a reactor, you know everything will be wrecked, including the measuring equipment, and there’s a chance - for example - that the valves will block. So you might also wait a long time because of safety considerations.” [ . . . ]
==================
12. Updates: Unit 2 & 3 delays work (Kyodonews) + five radioactive materials detected (NHK)
From: Pol Heanna DHuyvetter - Mayors for Peace <pol2020@gmail.com>
Date: March 21, 2011 3:59:09 PM EDT (CA)
Some updates. It remains an uphill battle in Fukushima as little information 'leaks' out about contaminatation and Tokyo Fire Dept. halted spraying water after smoke at Fukushima No. 3 reactor reported 20:50 local time by Kyodonews.
Links to some recent Kyodonews and NHK stories.
(unit 2 & 3)
Work to restore power delayed as smoke seen at Fukushima reactors (Kyodonews)
http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/80015.html
5 radioactive materials detected (NHK)
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/21_22.html
Govt posts radiation data (NHK)
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/21_13.html
Radioactive materials detected in water (NHK)
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/21_14.html
Gov't orders 4 prefectures to suspend some food shipments (Kyodonews)
http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/80024.html
===================
13. German green industries say can fill nuclear gaps
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/16/
us-germany-renewables-idUSTRE72F2RD20110316
FRANKFURT | Wed Mar 16, 2011 9:59am EDT
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German renewable industry lobby BEE said on Wednesday it would be able to supply 47 percent of German power requirements by 2020, joining a debate on how to replace nuclear generation capacity.
The lobby, which groups 22 individual units representing wind, hydro, solar and biomass-to-power producer interests, said it could offer a high share of reliable renewable supply.
"Renewables could be ready to provide 47 percent of German power supply up to 2020. This way they would not just compensate for the nuclear withdrawal (meant to happen by 2021 at the latest) but in addition offer affordable and sustainable power," the group said.
Last year, renewable power supplied 17 percent of German electricity output of 585 billion kilowatt hours, while nuclear generation accounted for 23 percent, industry data shows.
Germany's government said on Tuesday it would shut down seven nuclear power plants that had begun operating before 1980 at least until June, leaving open whether they will ever start up again after Japan's crisis.
It also has to decide whether to go back to an 11-year old program to close down all 17 of its reactors or to extend the operating life of some of the younger plants beyond what was laid down in the original agreement. It had ruled to extend nuclear lifespans last autumn.
While the situation is in flux, Germany must draw up new plans on how to secure its future electricity supplies.
MORE:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/16/
us-germany-renewables-idUSTRE72F2RD20110316
==================
14. Nuclear Disarmament Is People's Work
http://www.truth-out.org/nuclear-disarm ... -work68515
Joe Copeland, YES! Magazine: "The people of Hiroshima live with the devastating legacy of nuclear war, juxtaposed with the city's dedication to working for world peace. A mindful American visitor to Hiroshima can't avoid asking: Are people in the United States too comfortable with the existence of nuclear weapons? How do you motivate the public to care about the nuclear threat and instill the hope to work toward change? At times it seems that a good jolt of fear might be the answer. Maybe then we would finally wake from denial and do something about the dangers of nuclear arms: the risk that one of the nuclear powers may choose to use the ultimate weapon of mass destruction, the bomb's distortion of power relationships among nations, the potential for accident or terror to unleash some catastrophe." [ . . . ]
==================
15. Obama’s Bay of Pigs in Libya: Imperialist Aggression Shreds UN Charter (3 articles)
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23847
By Dr. Webster G. Tarpley Global Research, March 22, 2011 http://tarpley.net/
- - - -
QUOTE: “At the UN vote, the Indian delegate correctly pointed out that the decision to start the war had been made on the basis of no reliable information whatsoever, since UN Secretary General Ban-ki Moon’s envoy to Libya had never reported to the Security Council. The bombing started shortly after a glittering Paris summit “in support of the Libyan people,” where Sarkozy, Cameron, Hillary Clinton, Stephen Harper of Canada and other imperialist politicians had strutted and postured.”
- - - - - -
On March 19, US and British cruise missiles joined with French and other NATO combat aircraft in Operation Odyssey Dawn/Operation Ellamy, a neo-imperialist bombing attack under fake humanitarian cover against the sovereign state of Libya. Acting under UN Security Council resolution 1973, US naval forces in the Mediterranean on Saturday night local time fired 112 cruise missiles at targets which the Pentagon claimed were related to Libya’s air defense system. But Mohammed al-Zawi, the Secretary General of the Libyan Parliament, told a Tripoli press conference that the “barbaric armed attack” and “savage aggression” had hit residential areas and office buildings as well as military targets, filling the hospitals of Tripoli and Misurata with civilian victims. Zawi accused the foreign powers of acting to protect a rebel leadership which contains notorious terrorist elements. The Libyan government repeated its request for the UN to send international observers to report objectively on events in Libya.
- - - - -
The attacking forces are expected to deploy more cruise missiles, Predator drones, and bombers, seeking to destroy the Libyan air defense system as a prelude to the systematic decimation of Libyan ground units. International observers have noted that US intelligence about Libya may be substandard, and that many cruise missiles may indeed have struck non-military targets.
Libya had responded to the UN vote by declaring a cease-fire, but Obama and Cameron brushed that aside. On Saturday, France 24 and al-Jazeera of Qatar, international propaganda networks hyping the attacks, broadcast hysterical reports of Qaddafi’s forces allegedly attacking the rebel stronghold of Bengazi. They showed a picture of a jet fighter being shot down and claimed this proved Qaddafi was defying the UN by keeping up his air strikes. It later turned out that the destroyed plane had belonged to the rebel air force. Such coverage provided justification for the bombing attacks starting a few hours later. The parallels to the Kuwait incubator babies hoax of 1990 were evident. Qaddafi loyalists said Saturday’s fighting was caused by rebel assaults on government lines in the hopes of provoking an air attack, plus local residents defending themselves against the rebels.
At the UN vote, the Indian delegate correctly pointed out that the decision to start the war had been made on the basis of no reliable information whatsoever, since UN Secretary General Ban-ki Moon’s envoy to Libya had never reported to the Security Council. The bombing started shortly after a glittering Paris summit “in support of the Libyan people,” where Sarkozy, Cameron, Hillary Clinton, Stephen Harper of Canada and other imperialist politicians had strutted and postured.
Token contingents from Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia were supposed to take part in the attack, but were nowhere to be seen, while some Arab states were expected to provide financial support. The minimum estimated cost of maintaining a no-fly zone over Libya for one year is estimated in the neighborhood of $15 billion – enough to fund WIC high-protein meals for impoverished US mothers and infants for two years.
MORE:
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23847
= = = = =
NATO offers armada to enforce Libya arms embargo
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/
2011/03/24/3172074.htm?section=justin
March 24, 2011
NATO nations have offered up an armada of ships and submarines to enforce an arms embargo against Moamar Gaddafi, as the West moved to settle a row over who should run the entire Libya campaign.
Six nations agreed to contribute up to 16 vessels to prevent Gaddafi from bringing in weapons from the Mediterranean, with Turkey offering five warships and a submarine despite its reservations about the military action.
The NATO mission will have the means to intercept and board suspicious ships, and the authority to fire a warning shot across the bow of vessels trying to slip away, a NATO official said.
In the meantime, the 28-nation alliance appeared to move closer to deciding NATO's place in a no-fly zone that has been enforced by an international coalition led by the United States, France and Britain. [ . . . ]
= = = = =
The five principles driving war propaganda are in play in Libya
http://rabble.ca/columnists/2011/03/
five-principles-driving-war-propaganda-are-play-libya
By Duncan Cameron March 22, 2011
- - - - -
QUOTE: "As the war progresses, and if it drags out, another set of issues will arise in the west. The Conservative perpetrators, Sarkozy, Cameron, and Harper all had good reasons to draw momentary attention away from their own domestic failings. Along with U.S. President Obama, none have built a domestic alliance for the pursuit of a prolonged engagement."
- - - - -
Mounting a military operation against a dictator like Muamar Gaddafi does not mean suspending critical analysis of what it means for western "allies" to attack Libyan targets from the air. Putting together an analysis of the attack entails looking beyond the wartime public relations campaigns of the French, British, American, and Canadian governments designed to get public opinion onside, and lull critical minds to sleep.
The blog empirestrikesblack cites Belgian investigative journalist Michel Collon who has outlined five principles driving war propaganda:
1. Obscure one's economic interests;
2. Appear humanitarian in work and motivations;
3. Obscure history;
4. Demonize the enemy; and
5. Monopolize the flow of information.
Libya is a rich oil producer. Unseating Gaddafi would open up new opportunities for western oil interests. Now is a good time to evaluate who has been making money with Gaddafi, and who stands to benefit if he is overthrown. The empirestrikesblack reveals the insurgent leadership maintain close links to western economic interests. [ . . . ]
======================
16. WATCH: "300 Years of Fossil Fuels in 300 Seconds"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJ-J91SwP8w
==================
17. Council of Canadians: Budget 2011 meets (lowed) expectations
http://www.canadians.org/energyblog/index.php
From: Andrea Harden
Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2011 5:00 PM
While a $400 million contribution to energy efficiency for homes is getting a lot of air play, the truth is there is little for the environment and climate change in the federal budget, and it is indeed a step backwards.
Bearing in mind the questions I posed in my recent blog, here is some initial thoughts on Budget 2011. You can read the budget speech and plan here.
Will the EcoENERGY programs set to end this fiscal year be renewed?
A $400 million investment was announced for the ecoENERGY Retrofit Homes program, a popular program that helps people make their homes more energy efficient. While it is certainly good to see this money go towards ‘green jobs generating and emission reducing’ energy efficiency measures, it represents only one year of funding for the program. It is not a sustained multi-year program which we desperately need and again puts the future of the Canadian governments energy efficient measures into limbo.
Absent from the budget is money allocated to the ecoENERGY renewable power program meaning that it is likely ending. This program invested $1.48 billion increasing Canada’s supply of electricity from renewable sources such as wind, biomass, low-impact hydro, geothermal, solar photovoltaic and ocean energy. The goal was to produce enough clean electricity to power around one million homes.
MORE:
http://www.canadians.org/energyblog/index.php
====================
18. SASKATCHEWAN COMPLETES FIRST COMPREHENSIVE TRADE MISSION TO INDIA AND BANGLADESH
http://www.gov.sk.ca/
news?newsId=d0ab6890-1ec4-4bc0-ba42-1ce24844ece3
News Release March 21, 2011
Saskatchewan Delegation Visits Growing Economies of India and Bangladesh as Part of the Province's Long-term Strategy to Engage Key Markets for Saskatchewan's Resources and Expertise
Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall says the province's first comprehensive trade mission to India and Bangladesh highlighted the contributions Saskatchewan can make in exporting key resources and partnering in research with these two important trading partners, both now and in the future.
"We were able to tell the Saskatchewan story to high ranking government officials in both countries, including Her Excellency Sheikh Hasina, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh and Mr. Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of the dynamic Indian Province of Gujarat," Wall said.
While in India, Wall also held meetings with the Ministers of Agriculture and Food Processing Industries, Science and Technology, Petroleum and Natural Gas and the Minister of Mines. In Bangladesh, Wall met with the Ministers of Commerce and Foreign Affairs.
MORE:
http://www.gov.sk.ca/
news?newsId=d0ab6890-1ec4-4bc0-ba42-1ce24844ece3
- - - - -
MOU Summary.pdf
http://www.gov.sk.ca/adx/aspx/
adxGetMedia.aspx?mediaId=1379&PN=Shared
===================
19. WATCH: Wadah Khanfar: A historic moment in the Arab world | Video on TED.com
http://www.ted.com/talks/
wadah_khanfar_a_historic_moment_in_the_arab_world.html?awesm=on.ted.com_Khanfar&utm_content=awesm-bookmarklet&utm_medium=on.ted.com-static&utm_source=direct-on.ted.com
About this talk
As a democratic revolution led by tech-empowered young people sweeps the Arab world, Wadah Khanfar, the head of Al Jazeera, shares a profoundly optimistic view of what's happening in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and beyond -- at this powerful moment when people realized they could step out of their houses and ask for change.
About Wadah Khanfar
As Director General of Al Jazeera, the only international TV network based in the developing world, Wadah Khanfar works to bring rare liberties like information, transparency and dissenting voices to…
Full bio and more links:
http://www.ted.com/speakers/wadah_khanfar.html
====================
20. UN investigator: Israel engaged in ethnic cleansing with settlement expansion
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/
un-investigator-israel-engaged-in-ethnic-cleansing-with-settlement-expansion-1.350938
U.S. academic Richard Falk spoke to UN Human Rights Council as it prepared resolution condemning settlement building in East Jerusalem and West Bank.
By Reuters Tags: Israel news March 21, 2011
Israel's expansion of settlements in East Jerusalem and eviction of Palestinians from their homes there is a form of ethnic cleansing, a United Nations investigator said on Monday.
United States academic Richard Falk was speaking to the UN Human Rights Council as it prepared to pass resolutions condemning settlement building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The "continued pattern of settlement expansion in East Jerusalem combined with the forcible eviction of long-residing Palestinians are creating an intolerable situation" in the part of the city previously controlled by Jordan, he said.
This situation "can only be described in its cumulative impact as a form of ethnic cleansing," Falk declared.
Israel declines to deal with Falk or even allow him into the country, accusing him of being biased. [ . . . ]
==================
21. Philippines: mine protesters stabbed and shot
http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=17912
By: Sean Martin SSC and Frank Nally SSC
A court case is currently pending against Columbans Fr Sean Martin and Sr Patty Andonaire for their peaceful opposition to mining
Posted: Tuesday, March 22, 2011 9:03 pm ICN news
A young man from Midsalip in the Southern Philippine island of Mindanao was stabbed on 13 March after attending a prayer service at a picket line disrupting large-scale mining. It was a Sunday morning when Orlando Bulay was attacked for his efforts to stop drilling exploration for iron ore. He is a regular protestor at a picket line, located on the picturesque Zamboanga Peninsula, which is supported by local Catholic parishes and by Columban Fathers and Sisters. A court case is currently pending against Columbans Fr Sean Martin and Sr Patty Andonaire for their peaceful opposition to mining.
Further south on the Zamboanga Peninsula, in Canatuan, another anti-mining protester was shot and killed a week earlier on 6 March. It happened near a mining project run by Canadian company TVI Resource Development Philippines Inc.
MORE:
http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=17912
Last edited by Oscar on Fri Apr 29, 2011 5:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- Oscar
- Site Admin
- Posts: 9965
- Joined: Wed May 03, 2006 3:23 pm
NUKE NEWS: March 25, 2011
by Oscar » Fri Mar 25, 2011 12:09 pm
NUKE NEWS: March 25, 2011
1. Happy birthday, Pops: A tribute to David Suzuki (with a great PHOTO)
2. LISTEN: Debate on nuclear - Radio Canada International (20 min.)
3. Canada’s nuclear plants ordered to review safety after disaster in Japan
4. Peterborough-Kawarthas chapter opposes new nuclear reactors on Lake Ontario
5. We never wanted to talk about nuclear meltdowns
6. The Billion Dollar "oops" at the Bruce Nuclear Station
7. UPDATE ON NUCLEAR SITUATION IN JAPAN
8. HAZARDS OF BOILING WATER REACTORS IN THE UNITED STATES
9. Five reasons every wonk in DC is humping the leg of natural gas right about now
10. Oldest US nuclear reactor: a 'disaster' in waiting?
11. Chernobyl: The Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment
12. The Problem with Nuclear Liability Insurance
13. Investors Ask Utilities For Water Management Transparency
14. Libya: Largest Military Undertaking since the Invasion of Iraq. Towards a Protracted Military Operation
15. Now not a good time to purchase F-35s: poll
16. FINLEY: “Cougars for cops" is a national (Canada) program
17. FINLEY: Lockheed Martin and FBI in biometrics. Census battle in Ireland April 10. UK is March 27. Canada in May.
================
1. Happy birthday, Pops: A tribute to David Suzuki (with a great PHOTO)
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/
Happy+birthday+Pops+tribute+David+Suzuki/4494896/story.html
Daughter writes, 'He's one heck of a role model' for Canadians
By Sarika Cullis-suzuki, Vancouver Sun March 24, 2011 5:32 AM
It's a strange sight, watching a group of macho college students tell your dad they love him and attack him with high-fives.
It never gets old, walking down the street with David Suzuki.
Another thing that doesn't seem to get old: The man in question. That's why it's startling news to hear he's turning 75.
It's not his packed schedule that's astounding, or the diversity of projects he's involved in (I just found out he's started French classes on the side). It's his ceaseless energy.
[ . . . ]
=============
2. LISTEN: Debate on nuclear - Radio Canada International (20 min.)
To hear a portion of the RCI broadcast of March 18 2011:
http://ccnr.org/Nuclear_power_2011_March.MP3
It is an impromptu nuclear debate on "The Link" (Radio Canada International)
- Gordon Edwards,
www.ccnr.org
===============
3. Canada’s nuclear plants ordered to review safety after disaster in Japan
http://www.waterkeeper.ca/2011/03/23/
canada’s-nuclear-plants-ordered-to-review-safety-after-disaster-in-japan-the-globe-and-mail-2/
Shawn McCarthy, The Globe and Mail, March 23rd, 2011
Canada’s nuclear industry is facing repercussions from Japan’s alarming reactor failures, as the federal regulator orders safety reviews and critics demand a halt to any new projects.
One of the first casualties may be Quebec’s only nuclear station, the Gentilly-2 plant, which is slated for a $2-billion refurbishment to extend its life for 40 years. The Parti Québécois has joined with activists in the province to demand the government put a halt to the project.
In Ontario, environmental groups are urging the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to suspend licensing hearings into Ontario Power Generation’s plan to build two reactors at its Darlington site. The review panel began its work on Monday in Courtice, Ont., and the provincial and federal energy ministers have said there is no reason to adjourn
However, the CNSC has ordered all reactor operators to review their safety protocols in light of the unfolding crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear station, and to report on plans to address shortcomings by the end of April.
- - - -SNIP - - -
The panel established by CNSC and Environment Canada began hearings Monday in Courtice, Ont., to determine the suitability of the Darlington site. OPG would require separate licences to construct the reactors and to operate them.
As the hearing opened, the provincial New Democrats and environmental groups demanded an adjournment, to no avail.
Theresa McClenaghan, of the Canadian Environmental Law Association, pressed the procedural hearing for an adjournment of the formal hearings in light of the Japanese disaster.
“If we proceed now, we will receive assurances as opposed to information,” she told the panel. “Those assurances cannot possibly be based on an informed analysis of the events in Japan.”
================
4. Peterborough-Kawarthas chapter opposes new nuclear reactors on Lake Ontario
http://www.canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=6415
February 15, 2011
The Council of Canadians Peterborough-Kawarthas chapter is a member group in Safe and Green Energy (SAGE). This group will be intervening in the upcoming hearings on the building of two new nuclear reactors on the north shore of Lake Ontario near Clarington (about 22 kilometres from Peterborough).
The Ontario government chose the Darlington nuclear plant as the site of two new nuclear reactors and Ontario Power Generation would operate the new facility. NewsDurhamRegion.com reports that, “The environmental assessment to build new nuclear reactors on the site next to the existing Darlington nuclear station was submitted in September 2010. Since then, the federal government has been working through the review process with a three-person review committee appointed by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. …’If the federal government accepts their findings, the panel will be in a position to issue a licence to prepare the site,’ said Albert Sweetnam, executive vice-president of the Darlington New Nuclear Project.”
Another NewsDurhamRegion article reports that, “The (Joint Review Panel) public hearing (for the Darlington nuclear power project) has been scheduled to begin March 21 and is expected to take approximately three weeks. ‘This will be one of the largest Joint Review Panel (hearings) in North America,’ said Clarington CAO Franklin Wu. The hearing will be held at Hope Fellowship Church, 1685 Bloor Street in Courtice. Topics that will be addressed over the course of the hearing include emissions, human health, land use, aquatic biota and habitat, and the management of conventional and nuclear waste. …The public hearing will give interested residents an opportunity to hear about the project and provide their views to the Joint Review Panel.”
“The licence to prepare the site could be issued before the end of 2011.”
The Council of Canadians rejects nuclear power because it poses an unacceptable risk to people and the environment. It is neither clean, safe, peaceful, nor economic. We are opposed to the further expansion of nuclear power in our country. Faced with climate change and diminishing energy resources globally, we recognize the need for a just transition away from a fossil fuel and nuclear dependent society, while ensuring Canadians access to basic energy needs, to sustainable, publicly funded and publicly delivered energy alternatives that benefit both workers and their communities. We support renewable, non-invasive energy sources (such as solar and wind power), energy efficiency and conservation.
The news reports are at
http://www.newsdurhamregion.com/news/article/170272
http://www.newsdurhamregion.com/news/article/169928.
More on SAGE at
http://www.gosage.net/Site/About_SAGE.html.
====================
5. We never wanted to talk about nuclear meltdowns
www.waterkeeper.ca
Waterkeeper.ca Weekly: March 23rd, 2011
Lake Ontario Waterkeeper’s purpose is to protect and celebrate Lake Ontario. We work for you, for the water, for fish and birds, communities and culture. In the past we have stood firm against Lafarge; held an American company accountable for pollution in Canada; and fought for navigation rights. This week as we begin the Darlington New Nuclear Power Plant hearing, we feel as though the ground has been pulled from beneath us. We struggle to bring you news from the hearing when the information is coming at us so quickly, when there is a nuclear tragedy unfolding in Japan, and when the hearing process itself is deeply, deeply flawed. We have opted to bring you a more personal take on the issue this week, written by our Vice President Krystyn Tully. This is a departure from our traditional newsletter format. We hope you understand.
I am a child of the Durham Region nuclear family. I was born and raised and schooled in Oshawa, smack-dab in the middle of the Pickering and Darlington nuclear power plants. My friends’ parents worked in the nuclear industry when I was younger. My friends work there today.
I never wanted to talk about a “worst-case scenario” at a nuclear power plant.
I have dedicated my adult life to protecting and celebrating Lake Ontario, the defining, looming natural presence in the Oshawa community. I have dedicated much of the last two years of my career to researching the potential impacts of the new Darlington nuclear power plant on my lake. I studied about the impacts of cooling water on fish and fish habitat, the air emissions, the wastewater emissions, and the destruction of bird habitat that will be part of the normal operations of the new Darlington nuclear power plant.
I never wanted to talk about accidents, incidents, or anything “abnormal” that might happen at a nuclear power plant.
My friend Ava is also a child of Durham Region. She’s a teacher and a farmer, and I have known her since high school. Ava lives in Japan.
MORE:
www.waterkeeper.ca
===================
6. The Billion Dollar "oops" at the Bruce Nuclear Station
http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/Blog/
the-billion-dollar-oops-at-the-bruce-nuclear-/blog/33932
Blogpost by Keith Stewart - March 24, 2011 at 13:17
[ Additional internal URLs added. Ed. ]
Reading Catherine Porter’s thoughtful column today on nuclear risk,
[ http://www.thestar.com/news/article/
959674--porter-on-nuclear-safety-let-s-think-the-unthinkable ]
I was reminded an interesting things I learned reading a review of a book I co-authored on the history of Ontario Hydro.
[ http://www.amazon.ca/
Hydro-Decline-Ontarios-Electric-Empire/dp/1896357881 ]
The review, by the avowedly pro-nuclear Hydro insider Andy Frame and published in the November 2004 Literary Review of Canada, noted that our “contention ‘that Unit 2 at the Bruce A station was shut down because someone left a lead blanket in the reactor, and the contamination was beyond repair’ is true. To my knowledge, this fact has never been publicly reported. Hydro guarded the information, because it revealed how human error could be such a major factor in nuclear plant operation.”
My co-author Jamie Swift and I had dug that little incident up while doing the research, but I confess that I hadn’t realized it had never been publicly reported before. More surprising (or at least refreshing) was Frame’s honesty with respect to the motive for guarding the information (and to be fair, Frame argues that the risks of nuclear power are real, but worth taking).
Flash forward to 2011. That reactor is still off-line, and the massive refurbishment effort for units 1 and 2 at Bruce A (proudly proclaimed as the largest industrial project in Canada) is now late and at least $2 billion over its $2.75 billion budget.
[ http://www.thestar.com/business/article/
885072--bruce-nuclear-refit-more-than-1b-over-budget ]
Leaving that blanket was a small mistake, but it has cost a lot. And it reminds us that no technology can be 100% proof against human error.
MORE:
http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/Blog/
the-billion-dollar-oops-at-the-bruce-nuclear-/blog/33932
==================
7. UPDATE ON NUCLEAR SITUATION IN JAPAN
Japan reactor core may be leaking radioactive material, official says
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/25/
japan.nuclear.reactors/index.html?hpt=T1
By the CNN Wire Staff March 25, 2011 8:15 a.m. EDT
Tokyo (CNN) -- Authorities in Japan raised the prospect Friday of a likely breach in the all-important containment vessel of the No. 3 reactor at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, a potentially ominous development in the race to prevent a large-scale release of radiation.
Contaminated water likely seeped through the containment vessel protecting from the reactor's core, said Hidehiko Nishiyama of the Japan nuclear and industrial safety agency.
Three men working inside the No. 3 reactor stepped into water this week that had 10,000 times the amount of radiation typical for that locale, Nishiyama said. That water likely indicates "some sort of leakage" from the reactor core, signaling a possible break of the containment vessel that houses the core. [ . . . ]
= = = = =
HOFFMAN: I'm not impressed when people tell me they think something has been "over-engineered." Here's why not.
http://acehoffman.blogspot.com/
March 24, 2011
Dear Readers,
Below is a news item from 2008 regarding negligent behavior in the workplace at San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. You probably had to already be paying attention to the plant's problems when it happened to have noticed it. And even that might not have helped, since at the time, it was just one more incident on top of many. And things have only gotten worse at the plant since then.
But it's an incident that SHOULD be remembered, in light of the ongoing events at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power station.
A battery that was supposed to power safety systems in an emergency was inoperable for four years. Ho hum, there were others. Enough others? And in a separate incident in the same article, a worker "skipped hourly rounds" for five years (and, of course, falsified reports). And that's just one of many articles about problems at San Onofre. It's an accident waiting to happen. [ . . . ]
= = = = = =
Tepco, Security Sacrificed on the Altar of Profit
http://www.truth-out.org/tepco-security ... rofit68593
Rosa Moussaoui, l'Humanite: "Profit at any price: This could be the motto of Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), the multinational that exploits the nuclear power plants at Fukushima. The largest producer of electricity in the world illustrates the excesses of an industrial sector in which neo-liberalism has unfurled to the last extremities of its destructive logic." [ . . . ]
= = = = =
Radiation Injuries Slow Work at Japan's Nuclear Plant
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110325/ts_ ... _quake_252
The New York Times (Reuters), March 24, 2011
"Despite increased radiation reports, fears of a catastrophic meltdown at the Fukushima plant are receding."
TOKYO (Reuters) - Radiation injuries to three workers complicated the battle to control Japan's crippled nuclear plant on Friday and heightened global anxiety over the worst atomic crisis in 25 years.
Hailed by Japanese as anonymous heroes braving unknown dangers, about 300 engineers have been working around the clock to stabilize the six-reactor Fukushima complex since an earthquake and tsunami struck two weeks ago.
But they had to pull out of some parts of the complex, 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, when three workers replacing a cable near reactor No. 3 were exposed to high contamination by standing in radioactive water on Thursday, officials said. [ . . . ]
= = = = =
A Tragic Story Retold
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/
oped/articles/2011/03/17/a_tragic_story_retold/
How could Japan allow itself to again become a nuclear cautionary tale?
By Peter S. Canellos, The Boston Globe, March 17, 2011
THE OFFICE of the Japan Confederation of A-bomb and H-bomb Sufferers is in a quiet storefront amid the blossoming modern city of Hiroshima. There, elderly people with blue hair and genial expressions snack on tea and crackers amid posters of utter desolation and books with titles like “Chernobyl.’’
For 65 years, the survivors of the world’s first nuclear attack have sought to give deeper meaning to their lost loved ones by making their city the epicenter of the anti-nuclear movement, a story as much as a place.
Now, there is a new chapter, as post-earthquake Japan prepares to grapple with a profound question: How a nation devoted to its past, that smoothly processed and emerged from a devastating defeat, could have allowed itself to again become a nuclear cautionary tale.
For those who identify themselves as “sufferers’’ of the atomic attack — the term survivor, for some, conveys disrespect for the dead — the answer isn’t a mystery, but rather a failure to learn from experience. [ . . . ]
=============
8. HAZARDS OF BOILING WATER REACTORS IN THE UNITED STATES
http://www.nirs.org/factsheets/bwrfact.htm
BACKGROUND
Of the 104 operational nuclear power reactors in the United States, thirty-five are boiling water reactors (BWR). General Electric is the sole designer and manufacturer of BWRs in the United States. The BWR's distinguishing feature is that the reactor vessel serves as the boiler for the nuclear steam supply system. The steam is generated in the reactor vessel by the controlled fissioning of enriched uranium fuel which passes directly to the turbogenerator to generate electricity.
- - - SNIP - - -
Here are copies of the three original AEC memos, including Hendrie's:
November 11, 1971:
outlines problems with the design and pressure suppression system containment.
http://www.nirs.org/reactorwatch/accidents/
19711117-hanauer-memo-bwr-pressure-suppression-containment.pdf
September 20, 1971:
memo from Steven Hanauer recommends that U.S. stop licensing reactors using pressure suppression system
http://www.nirs.org/reactorwatch/accidents/
19720920-hanauer-memo-pressure-suppression-containments.pdf
September 25, 1972:
memo from Joseph Hendrie (top safety official at AEC) agrees with recommendation but rejects it saying it "could well mean the end of nuclear power..."
http://www.nirs.org/reactorwatch/accidents/
19720925-hendrie-pressure-suppression-concerns-end-of-nucl~1.pdf
MORE:
http://www.nirs.org/factsheets/bwrfact.htm
- - - - -
Fukushima Reactors Designed By General Electric Also Used In U.S. Have Serious Design Flaws (See articles below…Ed.)
http://stretchingminds.wordpress.com/2011/03/15/
fukushima-reactors-designed-by-general-electric-also-used-used-in-u-s-have-serious-design-flaws/
March 15, 2011
The jest of the design flaws, and implications for U.S. reactors, is this. An earthquake is not needed for this to happen, only a failure of some sort.
The design of the Fukushima reactors was also used in 23 nuclear plants operating in the US in Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Vermont.
There is no way to vent the hydrogen gas during a reactor failure. This is what caused generator buildings to explode in Fukushima.
This design also features huge pools of waste water high up in the containment building that hold huge amounts of old radioactive material. Robert Alvarez, a former nuclear energy adviser to President Bill Clinton says if just one reactor fails it can release several times the amount of radiation as was released at Chernobyl because each pool contains 5 to 10 times as much material as the reactor itself.
- - - - -
Nuclear Reactor Design Caused GE Scientists To Quit In Protest
http://beforeitsnews.com/story/490/400/
Nuclear_Reactor_Design_Caused_GE_Scientist_To_Quit_In_Protest.html
March 17, 2011
Thirty-five years ago, Dale G. Bridenbaugh and two of his colleagues at General Electric resigned from their jobs after becoming increasingly convinced that the nuclear reactor design they were reviewing -- the Mark 1 -- was so flawed it could lead to a devastating accident.
Questions persisted for decades about the ability of the Mark 1 to handle the immense pressures that would result if the reactor lost cooling power, and today that design is being put to the ultimate test in Japan. Five of the six reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, which has been wracked since Friday's earthquake with explosions and radiation leaks, are Mark 1s.
"The problems we identified in 1975 were that, in doing the design of the containment, they did not take into account the dynamic loads that could be experienced with a loss of coolant," Bridenbaugh told ABC News in an interview. "The impact loads the containment would receive by this very rapid release of energy could tear the containment apart and create an uncontrolled release."
The situation on the ground at the Fukushima Daiichi plant is so fluid, and the details of what is unfolding are so murky, that it may be days or even weeks before anyone knows how the Mark 1 containment system performed in the face of a devastating combination of natural disasters.
- - - - -
The Idiocy and Hubris of Engineers: Will GE Get Whacked for the Catastrophic Failure of its Nuk Plants in Fukushira?
http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/node/509
Mon, 03/14/2011 – 12:44 by: Dave Lindorff
GE, the company that boasts that it “brings good things to life,” was the designer of the nuclear plants that are blowing up like hot popcorn kernels at the Fukushima Dai-ichi generating plant north of Tokyo that was hit by the double-whammy of an 8.9 earthquake and a huge tsunami.
The company may escape tens or hundreds of billions of dollars in liability from this continuing disaster, which could still result in a catastrophic total meltdown of one or more of the reactors (as of this writing three of the reactors are reported to have suffered partial meltdowns, and all could potentially become more serious total meltdowns with a rupture of the reactor container), thanks to Japanese law, which makes the operator–in this case Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) liable. But if it were found that it was design flaws by GE that caused the problem, presumably TEPCO or the Japanese government could pursue GE for damages.
In fact, the design of these facilities–a design which, it should be noted, was also used in 23 nuclear plants operating in the US in Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Vermont–appear to have included serious flaws, from a safety perspective. [ . . . ]
Related Story:
http://www.vancouverobserver.com/world/asia/
2011/03/15/japan-spent-fuel-rods-pose-danger-worse-chernobyl
===================
9. Five reasons every wonk in DC is humping the leg of natural gas right about now
http://www.grist.org/article/
2011-03-22-five-reasons-every-wonk-in-dc-is-humping-the-leg-of-natural-gas-
THIS FAUSTIAN IS A BARGAIN!
BY Christopher Mims 22 MAR 2011 10:58 AM
The Times wants you to know that our energy crisis is over, because there's at least one abundant fossil fuel still standing between civilization and the abyss of energy poverty. In a piece remarkable for its complete failure to mention renewables, a bunch of old-economy energy analysts describe a 21st century that looks only vaguely different than our recent past.
1. So much for nuclear power. Now that Fukushima is right on the cusp of becoming a verb, ("The insurance company cut me a check ‘cause it's completely Fukushima'd, so, hello Carribean vacation!") you cannot throw a rock in any statehouse or newsroom on the planet without hitting someone who wants you to know that the supposed "nuclear renaissance" is now about as likely as a Two and a Half Men reunion.
2. So much for oil. Deepwater drilling is going to come back, sure, but it's going to labor under increased scrutiny. Also there is that small detail that oil is mostly just going to get more expensive from here on out.
3. Japan is going to make up for the shortfall in electricity production from nuclear power plants by buying more liquefied natural gas -- lots more.
MORE:
http://www.grist.org/article/
2011-03-22-five-reasons-every-wonk-in-dc-is-humping-the-leg-of-natural-gas-
Read more:
"Natural Gas Now Viewed as Safer Bet" The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/22/business/global/
22gas.html?src=busln
===================
10. Oldest US nuclear reactor: a 'disaster' in waiting?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110324/sc_afp/
japanquakeusnuclear
by Karin Zeitvogel Karin Zeitvogel – Thu Mar 24, 3:52 pm ET
LACEY, New Jersey (AFP) – A sleepy New Jersey town has popped onto people's radar screens because it has the oldest running nuclear power plant in the United States -- and, some say, the most dangerous.
Named for a Revolutionary War general, Lacey is the kind of American town that few from outside the seaside settlement knew much about before the earthquake and tsunami in Japan triggered a nuclear crisis.
Down the road from the 1950s-style diner and across from the bridge that locals use as a fishing pier stands the Oyster Creek nuclear plant.
It uses a GE Mark I Boiling Water reactor identical to those that lost power at Japan's Fukushima plant in the March 11 earthquake and then was struck by a tsunami that knocked out its backup generators, causing reactor cooling functions to fail.
US anti-nuclear activists and many residents of Lacey and surrounding Jersey shore townships worry that a similar nuclear disaster could happen at Oyster Creek, and it wouldn't need an earthquake or tsunami to trigger it.
Oyster Creek has been dogged by problems including a corroding liner in the carbon steel containment unit; leaks that allow radioactive tritium to seep into drinking water; and huge volumes of stocked spent fuel rods.
"We have 40 years of radiation on site -- two-and-a-half to three times more than in Japan," anti-nuclear activist Jeff Brown told AFP.
"You also have that tremendously stupid design to start with where the spent fuel rods are sitting on top of the reactor," he said, raising a fear among residents that the reactor could be an easy target for a terrorist attack.
"At the very least, we need a no-fly zone over Oyster Creek. We have a no-fly zone over Disney World but not here," said Peggi Sturmfels, a program organizer at the New Jersey Environmental Federation.
MORE:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110324/sc_afp/
japanquakeusnuclear
===================
11. Chernobyl: The Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment
- - - - -
QUOTE: “Alice Slater, representative in New York of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, comments: "The tragic news uncovered by the comprehensive new research that almost one million people died in the toxic aftermath of Chernobyl should be a wake-up call to people all over the world to petition their governments to put a halt to the current industry-driven "nuclear renaissance.' Aided by a corrupt IAEA, the world has been subjected to a massive cover-up and deception about the true damages caused by Chernobyl."
Further worsening the situation, she said, has been "the collusive agreement between the IAEA and the World Health Organization in which the WHO is precluded from publishing any research on radiation effects without consultation with the IAEA." WHO, the public health arm of the UN, has supported the IAEA's claim that 4,000 will die as a result of the accident
"How fortunate," said Ms. Slater, "that independent scientists have now revealed the horrific costs of the Chernobyl accident.".”
- - - - - -
Chernobyl: The Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php? ... &aid=23745
by Alexey V. Yablokov and Vassily B. Nesterenko and Alexey V. Nesterenko
Global Research, March 16, 2011
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment
Written by Alexey V. Yablokov (Center for Russian Environmental Policy, Moscow, Russia), Vassily B. Nesterenko, and Alexey V. Nesterenko (Institute of Radiation Safety, Minsk, Belarus). Consulting Editor Janette D. Sherman-Nevinger (Environmental Institute, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan).
Volume 1181, December 2009 335 Pages
Full Text (To purchase)
https://www.nyas.org/
Login.aspx?ReturnUrl=%252fannalfulltext%252fjump.ashx%253faid%253df3f3bd16-51ba-4d7b-a086-753f44b3bfc1%2526isid%253dnyas.2009.1181.issue-1%2526code%253d1181%2526ref%253d9781573317573%2526doi%253d10.1111&aid=f3f3bd16-51ba-4d7b-a086-753f44b3bfc1&isid=nyas.2009.1181.issue-1&ref=9781573317573
This is a collection of papers translated from the Russian with some revised and updated contributions. Written by leading authorities from Eastern Europe, the volume outlines the history of the health and environmental consequences of the Chernobyl disaster. According to the authors, official discussions from the International Atomic Energy Agency and associated United Nations' agencies (e.g. the Chernobyl Forum reports) have largely downplayed or ignored many of the findings reported in the Eastern European scientific literature and consequently have erred by not including these assessments.
- - - SNIP - - -
REVIEW BY KARL GROSSMAN
published in September 2010
This past April 26th [2010] marked the 24th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear plant accident. It came as the nuclear industry and pro-nuclear government officials in the United States and other nations were trying to "revive" nuclear power. And it followed the publication of a book, the most comprehensive study ever made, on the impacts of the Chernobyl disaster.
Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment was published by the New York Academy of Sciences.
It is authored by three noted scientists:
Russian biologist Dr. Alexey Yablokov, former environmental advisor to the Russian president;
Dr. Alexey Nesterenko, a biologist and ecologist in Belarus; and
Dr.Vassili Nesterenko, a physicist and at the time of the accident director of the Institute of Nuclear Energy of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus.
Its editor is Dr. Janette Sherman, a physician and toxicologist long involved in studying the health impacts of radioactivity.
The book is solidly based -- on health data, radiological surveys and scientific reports -- some 5,000 in all.
It concludes that based on records now available, some 985,000 people died, mainly of cancer, as a result of the Chernobyl accident. That is between when the accident occurred in 1986 and 2004. More deaths, it projects, will follow.
The book explodes the claim of the International Atomic Energy Agency-- still on its website that the expected death toll from the Chernobyl accident will be 4,000. The IAEA, the new book shows, is under-estimating, to the extreme, the casualties of Chernobyl.
MORE:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php? ... &aid=23745
===============
12. The Problem with Nuclear Liability Insurance
Don’t nuke green energy
http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/campaigns/
end-the-nuclear-threat/archive/what-we-do/nuclear_liability_compensation_act/
November 16, 2009
Towards full liability for nuclear power plant operators
A new report commissioned by Greenpeace analyses the Harper government's proposed Nuclear Liability and Compensation Act (NLCA) and shows how the legislation would significantly short change Canadians on compensation in the event of a serious nuclear accident.
The report documents how the Harper government's proposed legislation would, if passed, artificially cap the liability of a nuclear operator for accidents at $650 million - a miniscule fraction of the likely actual cost of a nuclear disaster. This cap on liability represents a hidden subsidy for nuclear power, a massive unaccounted liability for the Canadian tax-payer and creates an unfair playing field for safer green energy technologies.
The nuclear industry claims its reactors are safe, but it withholds information on reactor accident risks while requiring this special favour from the federal government to do business - a law protecting nuclear operators from paying the realistic costs of compensation for victims of a nuclear accident.
Protecting the nuclear industry, not Canadians
The Harper government's proposed cap on the liability of the nuclear industry would mean that Canadian victims of a nuclear accident would receive significantly less industry compensation than citizens in other western countries.
American victims of nuclear accidents can count on over $10 billion in industry compensation.
Members of the Paris Convention - most of Western Europe - require that nuclear operators have at least $1.2 billion (€700 million) in insurance to compensate victims.
Germany has no limit on the liability limit of nuclear operators and requires nuclear operators to have €2.5 billion in financial security to compensate victims in case of an accident.
Japan requires nuclear operators make available $1.2 billion to compensate victims of nuclear accidents
Sweden is proposing to nuclear operators guarantee at least €1.2 billion in compensation with no cap on their liability.
Harper's Hidden Tax-Payer Liability
The NLCA would expose the federal taxpayer to billions in possible liabilities by shifting the responsibility for cleaning up after nuclear accident from reactor operators to the federal government. Any damages incurred beyond the liability cap of $650 million would be paid by the federal taxpayer.
Industry studies show that the just the health costs for a catastrophic accident at the Pickering B nuclear station just east of Toronto would exceed $52 billion. A similar accident at the Bruce A nuclear station on Lake Huron would cost $49 billion in health costs.
A smaller scale accident at the Pickering B nuclear station considered "credible" by the nuclear industry and its regulators would cause $1.2 billion in health cost damages alone.
Government studies regarding the impacts of nuclear terrorism contract the government's claim that the $650 million cap is adequate. A federal government study on the economic impacts of a dirty bomb spreading a limited amount of radioactive material by CN Tower estimated costs of clean up at $28 billion.
The Harper government has failed to carry out and release any studies to tell Canadians how large this tax-payer liability or how it could be reduced or eliminated.
The nuclear industry doesn't trust its safety: Why should the public?
The industry's desire for special protection Act shows the private lenders, insurers and even reactor vendors lack confidence in safety of Canada's nuclear reactors.
Special protection for the nuclear industry began in the 1950s because American nuclear reactor designers feared being sued for catastrophic damages caused if one their reactors had an accident. The insurance industry refused to fully insure the nuclear industry so governments stepped in to protect nuclear operators and vendors.
Before they occurred, the nuclear industry and its regulators claimed that the nuclear accidents at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl could not happen. Following the accidents nuclear regulators sought to downplay the potential for future accidents by withholding information on accident risks instead of requiring existing plants be able to withstand a full range of realistic events.
All current and proposed reactor designs in Canada contain fundamental design flaws that leave them vulnerable to catastrophic radiation releases following an accident or terrorist attack.
The Harper government fired the president of Canada's nuclear safety regulator after she imposed modernized international standards on Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) reactors.
Don't nuke green energy!
Canada has committed to implement the polluter pays principal and require polluters to pay all the clean up costs of their own pollution. The NLCA breaks this principal and requires Canadians to pay for the nuclear industry's pollution. This hidden subsidy pushes cleaner, safer and more cost-effective green energy options out of the electricity markets.
The hidden subsidy to nuclear operators would range from 5.4 to 11.0 c/kWh.
Based on the electricity output of Canada's reactors in 2007, the NLCA would provide an implicit subsidy to nuclear operators of $4.8 to 9.7 billion.
Unlike the nuclear operators, renewable energy and clean energy operators pay their own insurance.
Despite receiving billions in direct and hidden subsidies like the NLCA over the past 50 years, the nuclear industry has failed to lower its costs while green energy sources have innovated and become cost-competitive.
What does Greenpeace want?
A level playing field for green energy. Reactor operators must be required to assume responsibility for the risks they impose on society just like green energy operators.
Canadian victims of nuclear accidents deserve to be compensated by the nuclear industry at minimum on a level on par with other Western countries.
= = = =
Liability for Nuclear Damage
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf67.html
(updated March 2011)
[ World Nuclear Association: People and organizations of the global nuclear profession ]
Operators of nuclear power plants are liable for any damage caused by them, regardless of fault. They therefore normally take out insurance for third-party liability, and in most countries they are required to do so.
The potential cross boundary consequences of a nuclear accident require an international nuclear liability regime, so national laws are supplemented by a number of international conventions.
Liability is limited by both international conventions and by national legislation, so that beyond the limit (normally covered by insurance) the state can accept responsibility as insurer of last resort, as in all other aspects of industrial society.
- - - - - -
An illustrative exchange on insuring nuclear power plants
It is commonly asserted that nuclear power stations are not covered by insurance, and that insurance companies don't want to know about them either for first-party insurance of the plant itself or third-party liability for accidents. This is incorrect, and the misconception was addressed as follows in 2006 by a broker who had been responsible for a nuclear insurance pool: "it is wrong [to believe] that insurers will not touch nuclear power stations. In fact, wherever they are available to private sector insurers, Western-designed nuclear installations are sought-after business because of their high engineering and risk management standards. This has been the case for fifty years." He elaborated: "My comment refers very much to the world scene and is not contentious. Apart from Three Mile Island, the claim experience has been very good. Chernobyl was not insured. Significantly, because Chernobyl was of a design that would not have been an acceptable risk at the time, notably the lack of a containment structure, the accident had no impact on premium rates for Western plants.
"The structure of insurance of nuclear installations is different from ordinary industrial risks. It involves international conventions, national legislation channeling liability to the operators, and pooling of insurance capacity in more than twenty countries. The national nuclear insurance pool approach was particularly developed in the UK in 1956 as a way of marshalling insurance capacity for the possibility of [serious accidents]. Other national pools that followed were modeled on the UK pool - now known as Nuclear Risk Insurers Limited, and based in London."
- - - -
EXCERPTS:
In Canada the Nuclear Liability and Compensation Act is also in line with the international conventions and establishes the licensee's absolute and exclusive liability for third party damage. Suppliers of goods and services are given an absolute discharge of liability. The limit of C$75 million per power plant set in 1976 as the insurance cover required for individual licensees was increased to $650 million in the Act's 2008 revision, though this has not yet passed. Cover is provided by a pool of insurers, and claimants need not establish fault on anyone's part, but must show injury. Beyond the cap level, any further funds would be provided by the government.
= = = = =
Japan is not party to any international liability convention but its law generally conforms to them. Two laws governing them are revised about every ten years: the Law on Compensation for Nuclear Damage and Law on Contract for Liability Insurance for Nuclear Damage. Plant operator liability is exclusive and absolute, and power plant operators must provide a financial security amount of JPY 120 billion (US$ 1.4 billion) - half that to 2010. Beyond that, the government provides coverage, and liability is unlimited. In relation to the 1999 Tokai-mura fuel plant criticality accident, insurance covered JPY 1 billion and the parent company (Sumitomo) paid the balance of JPY 13.5 billion.
MORE:
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf67.html
= = = = =
We tried the nuclear power experiment -- and it didn't work
http://www.thewhig.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3041655
By Joshua Pearce, Kingston Whig Standard (QMI Agency), March 24 2011
Every nation with nuclear power is currently in a frenzy to determine if they are at risk of ending up in a "situation" like the one plaguing Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant.
What is happening now in Japan simply lets the public in on a secret that has been well known in both the energy and insurance industries for decades: No nuclear power plant would exist without a government-backed insurance liability subsidy.
Nuclear energy is simply not insurable in the free market. Period.
Thus, the nuclear industry is completely dependent on an artificial cap on insurance liability, which reduces the costs of nuclear energy to something affordable rather than its real cost. In the U.S. this cap is about $10 billion.
If the nuclear disaster amounts to something like $310 billion, as the U.S. Sandia National Lab. estimated in the 1980s for a major screw-up, then the public ends up picking up the tab on $300 billion. In Canada this cap is orders of magnitude lower, exposing the public to an even greater potential financial risk.
These liability caps represent an indirect subsidy because no money actually flows from government coffers unless a disaster occurs. In general these indirect subsidies have been ignored because they are hard to calculate.
MORE:
http://www.thewhig.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3041655
MORE on Nuclear Liability Insurance: http://forum.stopthehogs.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=836
================
13. Investors Ask Utilities For Water Management Transparency
http://www.care2.com/causes/environment/blog/
investors-ask-utilities-for-water-use-transparency/
posted by: Beth Buczynski March 24, 2011
Earlier this week, three major utilities agreed to significantly expand reporting and disclosure on water availability risks and plans for mitigating those risks in direct response to shareholder requests.
The negative environmental impacts of extracting and using nuclear energy, coal, oil and natural gas are well known, but few people realize that these industries require an estimated 136 billion gallons of water a day for generating and cooling the steam that drives electric turbines. This represents almost 40 percent of all freshwater withdrawals in the United States.
Water risks are already leading some utilities in drought-prone regions in the U.S. West to turn away from water-intensive coal-fired power generation. Some power plants have been blocked from obtaining water permits as they have attempted to expand or build new coal-fired facilities.
Investors filed shareholder resolutions with Dominion, Southern and PPL several months ago asking them to evaluate and disclose their strategies for wide-ranging water risks, including low flows, thermal impacts, and emerging regulations.
"Water scarcity is a growing risk to many public utilities and investors want to know how companies are preparing for increased competition for supplies, emerging regulations and potential revenue losses from shortages,” said Mindy S. Lubber, president of Ceres and director of the $9.5 trillion Investor Network on Climate Risk.
MORE:
http://www.care2.com/causes/environment/blog/
investors-ask-utilities-for-water-use-transparency/
==================
14. Libya: Largest Military Undertaking since the Invasion of Iraq. Towards a Protracted Military Operation
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23815
By Michel Chossudovsky Global Research, March 20, 2011
Outright lies by the international media: Bombs and missiles are presented as an instrument of peace and democratization...
This is not a humanitarian operation. The war on Libya opens up a new regional war theater.
There are three distinct war theaters in the Middle East Central Asian region. Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq.
What is unfolding is a fourth US-NATO War Theater in North Africa, with the risk of escalation.
These four war theaters are functionally related, they are part of an integrated US-NATO military agenda. (Emphasis added. Ed.)
The bombing of Libya has been on the drawing board of the Pentagon for several years as confirmed by former NATO commander General Wesley Clark.
Operation Odyssey Dawn is acknowledged as the "biggest Western military intervention in the Arab world since the invasion of Iraq began exactly eight years ago." (Russia: Stop 'indiscriminate' bombing of Libya - Taiwan News Online, March 19, 2011).
This war is part of the battle for oil. Libya is among the World's largest oil economies with approximately 3.5% of global oil reserves, more than twice those of the US.
The underlying objective is to gain control over Libya's oil and gas reserves under the disguise of a humanitarian intervention.
The geopolitical and economic implications of a US-NATO led military intervention directed against Libya are far-reaching.
"Operation Odyssey Dawn " is part of a broader military agenda in the Middle East and Central Asia which consists in gaining control and corporate ownership over more than sixty percent of the world's reserves of oil and natural gas, including oil and gas pipeline routes.
With 46.5 billion barrels of proven reserves, (10 times those of Egypt), Libya is the largest oil economy in the African continent followed by Nigeria and Algeria (Oil and Gas Journal). In contrast, US proven oil reserves are of the order of 20.6 billion barrels (December 2008) according to the Energy Information Administration.
U.S. Crude Oil, Natural Gas, and Natural Gas Liquids Reserves).
MORE:
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23815
=================
15. Now not a good time to purchase F-35s: poll
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7650&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
Posted: 24 Mar 2011 09:05 PM PDT
According to the latest CTV/Globe/Nanos Poll, when asked about the Harper government’s plan to purchase F-35 jet fighters, 68% of Canadians believe that now is not the right time to purchase the aircraft. Canadians identified healthcare as their number one unprompted issue of concern. 29% of respondents named it their top priority, next to 18% [...]
=================
16. FINLEY: “Cougars for cops" is a national (Canada) program.
http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=1629
March 11, 2011 1:33 PM
I think we had better do something. Things are unfolding.
COMMENT
http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=1629
YORK REGIONAL POLICE GET VERSATILE ROLLING FORTRESS, GLOBE & MAIL, MARCH 7, 2011
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/
york-regional-police-get-versatile-rolling-fortress/article1932035/
METRO VANCOUVER POLICE ANNOUNCE ARRIVAL OF ARMOURED RESCUE VEHICLE, VANCOUVER SUN, MARCH 2, 2011
http://www.vancouversun.com/
Metro+Vancouver+police+announce+arrival+armoured+rescue+vehicle/4373207/story.html
SASKATOON, POLICE SHOPPING FOR ARMOURED VEHICLE, STAR PHOENIX, JANUARY 25, 2011
http://www.leaderpost.com/news/
todays-paper/Police+shopping+armoured+vehicle/4161626/story.html
OTTAWA COPS GET NEW TOY, OTTAWA SUN, MARCH 24, 2010 –
http://www.ottawasun.com/news/ottawa/
2010/03/24/13343821.html#/news/ottawa/2010/03/24/pf-13343931.html
MARCH 24, 2010: "ARMOURED VEHICLES ADOPTED BY B.C. RCMP, OTHER CITIES CAN EXPECT TO SEE THE VEHICLES ON THEIR STREETS, TOO"
http://news.ca.msn.com/local/britishcolumbia/
article.aspx?cp-documentid=23717966.
READER COMMENTS ON YORK POLICE ARMOURED VEHICLE (MARCH 7, 2011)
http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=1629
“LIGHT ARMOURED VEHICLES” (LAVs), WHAT ARE THEY? (AMERICAN WEAPONS MANUFACTURER, CAMBLI INTERNATIONAL IN QUEBEC) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambli_Int ... _Thunder_1
Feb 20, 2011, OSHKOSH DEFENSE (AMERICAN) UNVEILED ITS PROTOTYPE FOR CANADA'S TACTICAL ARMOURED PATROL VEHICLE (TAPV) PROGRAM
http://defense-update.com/wp/20110220_oshkosh-tapv.html
MYTHS FOR PROFIT: CANADA'S ROLE IN INDUSTRIES OF WAR AND PEACE
http://www.dominionpaper.ca/node/2214
"FROM MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX TO PERMANENT STATE OF WAR" (U.S.) - Gareth Porter
http://original.antiwar.com/porter/2011/01/17/
from-military-industrial-complex-to-permanent-war-state/
WILLIAM HARTUNG - "PROPHETS OF WAR: LOCKHEED MARTIN AND THE MAKING OF THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX"
http://www.watsoninstitute.org/events_d ... fm?id=1638
Full Text:
http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=1629
- - - -
Sandra Finley
Saskatoon SK S7N 0L1
306-373-8078
sabest1@sasktel.net
www.sandrafinley.ca
===================
17. FINLEY: Lockheed Martin and FBI in biometrics. Census battle in Ireland April 10. UK is March 27. Canada in May.
http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=1881
2011-03-08
[ http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=1854 ]
Lockheed Martin is working with the FBI on a large centre for biometric identification of individual people.
FBI Announces Creation of Biometric Database
[ http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/usnews/
constitution/6771-fbi-announces-creation-of-biometric-database ]
2009-07-01
[ http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=1872 ]
The American National Security Agency (NSA) is building a $1.6 billion storage facility in Utah to warehouse personal surveillance data. They’re the people with a budget way larger than the FBI, who monitor all the phone calls and emails and . . . you name it.
Lockheed Martin is behind the American Census Bureau. Most Americans do not know about LM’s involvement in their Census Bureau. Lockheed would hold the same influence in Canada and in the U.K., except that they have been slowed down by public awareness here. For people in Scotland and Ireland it is CACI Corporation instead of LM, but all the same, the American military-industrial complex.
ALWAYS, in history, detailed files on citizens are the enabler of a police state. Access to census data bases may be the last give-away. 10% is roughly the portion of Canadian Government revenue that goes to military spending. The contracts for Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth bombers were untendered and not debated in Parliament. The Government has racked up the largest debt, set to escalate because of the $16 to $32 billion dollars for the bombers.
MORE:
http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=1881
Sandra Finley
Saskatoon SK S7N 0L1
306-373-8078
sabest1@sasktel.net
www.sandrafinley.ca
1. Happy birthday, Pops: A tribute to David Suzuki (with a great PHOTO)
2. LISTEN: Debate on nuclear - Radio Canada International (20 min.)
3. Canada’s nuclear plants ordered to review safety after disaster in Japan
4. Peterborough-Kawarthas chapter opposes new nuclear reactors on Lake Ontario
5. We never wanted to talk about nuclear meltdowns
6. The Billion Dollar "oops" at the Bruce Nuclear Station
7. UPDATE ON NUCLEAR SITUATION IN JAPAN
8. HAZARDS OF BOILING WATER REACTORS IN THE UNITED STATES
9. Five reasons every wonk in DC is humping the leg of natural gas right about now
10. Oldest US nuclear reactor: a 'disaster' in waiting?
11. Chernobyl: The Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment
12. The Problem with Nuclear Liability Insurance
13. Investors Ask Utilities For Water Management Transparency
14. Libya: Largest Military Undertaking since the Invasion of Iraq. Towards a Protracted Military Operation
15. Now not a good time to purchase F-35s: poll
16. FINLEY: “Cougars for cops" is a national (Canada) program
17. FINLEY: Lockheed Martin and FBI in biometrics. Census battle in Ireland April 10. UK is March 27. Canada in May.
================
1. Happy birthday, Pops: A tribute to David Suzuki (with a great PHOTO)
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/
Happy+birthday+Pops+tribute+David+Suzuki/4494896/story.html
Daughter writes, 'He's one heck of a role model' for Canadians
By Sarika Cullis-suzuki, Vancouver Sun March 24, 2011 5:32 AM
It's a strange sight, watching a group of macho college students tell your dad they love him and attack him with high-fives.
It never gets old, walking down the street with David Suzuki.
Another thing that doesn't seem to get old: The man in question. That's why it's startling news to hear he's turning 75.
It's not his packed schedule that's astounding, or the diversity of projects he's involved in (I just found out he's started French classes on the side). It's his ceaseless energy.
[ . . . ]
=============
2. LISTEN: Debate on nuclear - Radio Canada International (20 min.)
To hear a portion of the RCI broadcast of March 18 2011:
http://ccnr.org/Nuclear_power_2011_March.MP3
It is an impromptu nuclear debate on "The Link" (Radio Canada International)
- Gordon Edwards,
www.ccnr.org
===============
3. Canada’s nuclear plants ordered to review safety after disaster in Japan
http://www.waterkeeper.ca/2011/03/23/
canada’s-nuclear-plants-ordered-to-review-safety-after-disaster-in-japan-the-globe-and-mail-2/
Shawn McCarthy, The Globe and Mail, March 23rd, 2011
Canada’s nuclear industry is facing repercussions from Japan’s alarming reactor failures, as the federal regulator orders safety reviews and critics demand a halt to any new projects.
One of the first casualties may be Quebec’s only nuclear station, the Gentilly-2 plant, which is slated for a $2-billion refurbishment to extend its life for 40 years. The Parti Québécois has joined with activists in the province to demand the government put a halt to the project.
In Ontario, environmental groups are urging the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to suspend licensing hearings into Ontario Power Generation’s plan to build two reactors at its Darlington site. The review panel began its work on Monday in Courtice, Ont., and the provincial and federal energy ministers have said there is no reason to adjourn
However, the CNSC has ordered all reactor operators to review their safety protocols in light of the unfolding crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear station, and to report on plans to address shortcomings by the end of April.
- - - -SNIP - - -
The panel established by CNSC and Environment Canada began hearings Monday in Courtice, Ont., to determine the suitability of the Darlington site. OPG would require separate licences to construct the reactors and to operate them.
As the hearing opened, the provincial New Democrats and environmental groups demanded an adjournment, to no avail.
Theresa McClenaghan, of the Canadian Environmental Law Association, pressed the procedural hearing for an adjournment of the formal hearings in light of the Japanese disaster.
“If we proceed now, we will receive assurances as opposed to information,” she told the panel. “Those assurances cannot possibly be based on an informed analysis of the events in Japan.”
================
4. Peterborough-Kawarthas chapter opposes new nuclear reactors on Lake Ontario
http://www.canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=6415
February 15, 2011
The Council of Canadians Peterborough-Kawarthas chapter is a member group in Safe and Green Energy (SAGE). This group will be intervening in the upcoming hearings on the building of two new nuclear reactors on the north shore of Lake Ontario near Clarington (about 22 kilometres from Peterborough).
The Ontario government chose the Darlington nuclear plant as the site of two new nuclear reactors and Ontario Power Generation would operate the new facility. NewsDurhamRegion.com reports that, “The environmental assessment to build new nuclear reactors on the site next to the existing Darlington nuclear station was submitted in September 2010. Since then, the federal government has been working through the review process with a three-person review committee appointed by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. …’If the federal government accepts their findings, the panel will be in a position to issue a licence to prepare the site,’ said Albert Sweetnam, executive vice-president of the Darlington New Nuclear Project.”
Another NewsDurhamRegion article reports that, “The (Joint Review Panel) public hearing (for the Darlington nuclear power project) has been scheduled to begin March 21 and is expected to take approximately three weeks. ‘This will be one of the largest Joint Review Panel (hearings) in North America,’ said Clarington CAO Franklin Wu. The hearing will be held at Hope Fellowship Church, 1685 Bloor Street in Courtice. Topics that will be addressed over the course of the hearing include emissions, human health, land use, aquatic biota and habitat, and the management of conventional and nuclear waste. …The public hearing will give interested residents an opportunity to hear about the project and provide their views to the Joint Review Panel.”
“The licence to prepare the site could be issued before the end of 2011.”
The Council of Canadians rejects nuclear power because it poses an unacceptable risk to people and the environment. It is neither clean, safe, peaceful, nor economic. We are opposed to the further expansion of nuclear power in our country. Faced with climate change and diminishing energy resources globally, we recognize the need for a just transition away from a fossil fuel and nuclear dependent society, while ensuring Canadians access to basic energy needs, to sustainable, publicly funded and publicly delivered energy alternatives that benefit both workers and their communities. We support renewable, non-invasive energy sources (such as solar and wind power), energy efficiency and conservation.
The news reports are at
http://www.newsdurhamregion.com/news/article/170272
http://www.newsdurhamregion.com/news/article/169928.
More on SAGE at
http://www.gosage.net/Site/About_SAGE.html.
====================
5. We never wanted to talk about nuclear meltdowns
www.waterkeeper.ca
Waterkeeper.ca Weekly: March 23rd, 2011
Lake Ontario Waterkeeper’s purpose is to protect and celebrate Lake Ontario. We work for you, for the water, for fish and birds, communities and culture. In the past we have stood firm against Lafarge; held an American company accountable for pollution in Canada; and fought for navigation rights. This week as we begin the Darlington New Nuclear Power Plant hearing, we feel as though the ground has been pulled from beneath us. We struggle to bring you news from the hearing when the information is coming at us so quickly, when there is a nuclear tragedy unfolding in Japan, and when the hearing process itself is deeply, deeply flawed. We have opted to bring you a more personal take on the issue this week, written by our Vice President Krystyn Tully. This is a departure from our traditional newsletter format. We hope you understand.
I am a child of the Durham Region nuclear family. I was born and raised and schooled in Oshawa, smack-dab in the middle of the Pickering and Darlington nuclear power plants. My friends’ parents worked in the nuclear industry when I was younger. My friends work there today.
I never wanted to talk about a “worst-case scenario” at a nuclear power plant.
I have dedicated my adult life to protecting and celebrating Lake Ontario, the defining, looming natural presence in the Oshawa community. I have dedicated much of the last two years of my career to researching the potential impacts of the new Darlington nuclear power plant on my lake. I studied about the impacts of cooling water on fish and fish habitat, the air emissions, the wastewater emissions, and the destruction of bird habitat that will be part of the normal operations of the new Darlington nuclear power plant.
I never wanted to talk about accidents, incidents, or anything “abnormal” that might happen at a nuclear power plant.
My friend Ava is also a child of Durham Region. She’s a teacher and a farmer, and I have known her since high school. Ava lives in Japan.
MORE:
www.waterkeeper.ca
===================
6. The Billion Dollar "oops" at the Bruce Nuclear Station
http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/Blog/
the-billion-dollar-oops-at-the-bruce-nuclear-/blog/33932
Blogpost by Keith Stewart - March 24, 2011 at 13:17
[ Additional internal URLs added. Ed. ]
Reading Catherine Porter’s thoughtful column today on nuclear risk,
[ http://www.thestar.com/news/article/
959674--porter-on-nuclear-safety-let-s-think-the-unthinkable ]
I was reminded an interesting things I learned reading a review of a book I co-authored on the history of Ontario Hydro.
[ http://www.amazon.ca/
Hydro-Decline-Ontarios-Electric-Empire/dp/1896357881 ]
The review, by the avowedly pro-nuclear Hydro insider Andy Frame and published in the November 2004 Literary Review of Canada, noted that our “contention ‘that Unit 2 at the Bruce A station was shut down because someone left a lead blanket in the reactor, and the contamination was beyond repair’ is true. To my knowledge, this fact has never been publicly reported. Hydro guarded the information, because it revealed how human error could be such a major factor in nuclear plant operation.”
My co-author Jamie Swift and I had dug that little incident up while doing the research, but I confess that I hadn’t realized it had never been publicly reported before. More surprising (or at least refreshing) was Frame’s honesty with respect to the motive for guarding the information (and to be fair, Frame argues that the risks of nuclear power are real, but worth taking).
Flash forward to 2011. That reactor is still off-line, and the massive refurbishment effort for units 1 and 2 at Bruce A (proudly proclaimed as the largest industrial project in Canada) is now late and at least $2 billion over its $2.75 billion budget.
[ http://www.thestar.com/business/article/
885072--bruce-nuclear-refit-more-than-1b-over-budget ]
Leaving that blanket was a small mistake, but it has cost a lot. And it reminds us that no technology can be 100% proof against human error.
MORE:
http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/Blog/
the-billion-dollar-oops-at-the-bruce-nuclear-/blog/33932
==================
7. UPDATE ON NUCLEAR SITUATION IN JAPAN
Japan reactor core may be leaking radioactive material, official says
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/25/
japan.nuclear.reactors/index.html?hpt=T1
By the CNN Wire Staff March 25, 2011 8:15 a.m. EDT
Tokyo (CNN) -- Authorities in Japan raised the prospect Friday of a likely breach in the all-important containment vessel of the No. 3 reactor at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, a potentially ominous development in the race to prevent a large-scale release of radiation.
Contaminated water likely seeped through the containment vessel protecting from the reactor's core, said Hidehiko Nishiyama of the Japan nuclear and industrial safety agency.
Three men working inside the No. 3 reactor stepped into water this week that had 10,000 times the amount of radiation typical for that locale, Nishiyama said. That water likely indicates "some sort of leakage" from the reactor core, signaling a possible break of the containment vessel that houses the core. [ . . . ]
= = = = =
HOFFMAN: I'm not impressed when people tell me they think something has been "over-engineered." Here's why not.
http://acehoffman.blogspot.com/
March 24, 2011
Dear Readers,
Below is a news item from 2008 regarding negligent behavior in the workplace at San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. You probably had to already be paying attention to the plant's problems when it happened to have noticed it. And even that might not have helped, since at the time, it was just one more incident on top of many. And things have only gotten worse at the plant since then.
But it's an incident that SHOULD be remembered, in light of the ongoing events at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power station.
A battery that was supposed to power safety systems in an emergency was inoperable for four years. Ho hum, there were others. Enough others? And in a separate incident in the same article, a worker "skipped hourly rounds" for five years (and, of course, falsified reports). And that's just one of many articles about problems at San Onofre. It's an accident waiting to happen. [ . . . ]
= = = = = =
Tepco, Security Sacrificed on the Altar of Profit
http://www.truth-out.org/tepco-security ... rofit68593
Rosa Moussaoui, l'Humanite: "Profit at any price: This could be the motto of Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), the multinational that exploits the nuclear power plants at Fukushima. The largest producer of electricity in the world illustrates the excesses of an industrial sector in which neo-liberalism has unfurled to the last extremities of its destructive logic." [ . . . ]
= = = = =
Radiation Injuries Slow Work at Japan's Nuclear Plant
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110325/ts_ ... _quake_252
The New York Times (Reuters), March 24, 2011
"Despite increased radiation reports, fears of a catastrophic meltdown at the Fukushima plant are receding."
TOKYO (Reuters) - Radiation injuries to three workers complicated the battle to control Japan's crippled nuclear plant on Friday and heightened global anxiety over the worst atomic crisis in 25 years.
Hailed by Japanese as anonymous heroes braving unknown dangers, about 300 engineers have been working around the clock to stabilize the six-reactor Fukushima complex since an earthquake and tsunami struck two weeks ago.
But they had to pull out of some parts of the complex, 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, when three workers replacing a cable near reactor No. 3 were exposed to high contamination by standing in radioactive water on Thursday, officials said. [ . . . ]
= = = = =
A Tragic Story Retold
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/
oped/articles/2011/03/17/a_tragic_story_retold/
How could Japan allow itself to again become a nuclear cautionary tale?
By Peter S. Canellos, The Boston Globe, March 17, 2011
THE OFFICE of the Japan Confederation of A-bomb and H-bomb Sufferers is in a quiet storefront amid the blossoming modern city of Hiroshima. There, elderly people with blue hair and genial expressions snack on tea and crackers amid posters of utter desolation and books with titles like “Chernobyl.’’
For 65 years, the survivors of the world’s first nuclear attack have sought to give deeper meaning to their lost loved ones by making their city the epicenter of the anti-nuclear movement, a story as much as a place.
Now, there is a new chapter, as post-earthquake Japan prepares to grapple with a profound question: How a nation devoted to its past, that smoothly processed and emerged from a devastating defeat, could have allowed itself to again become a nuclear cautionary tale.
For those who identify themselves as “sufferers’’ of the atomic attack — the term survivor, for some, conveys disrespect for the dead — the answer isn’t a mystery, but rather a failure to learn from experience. [ . . . ]
=============
8. HAZARDS OF BOILING WATER REACTORS IN THE UNITED STATES
http://www.nirs.org/factsheets/bwrfact.htm
BACKGROUND
Of the 104 operational nuclear power reactors in the United States, thirty-five are boiling water reactors (BWR). General Electric is the sole designer and manufacturer of BWRs in the United States. The BWR's distinguishing feature is that the reactor vessel serves as the boiler for the nuclear steam supply system. The steam is generated in the reactor vessel by the controlled fissioning of enriched uranium fuel which passes directly to the turbogenerator to generate electricity.
- - - SNIP - - -
Here are copies of the three original AEC memos, including Hendrie's:
November 11, 1971:
outlines problems with the design and pressure suppression system containment.
http://www.nirs.org/reactorwatch/accidents/
19711117-hanauer-memo-bwr-pressure-suppression-containment.pdf
September 20, 1971:
memo from Steven Hanauer recommends that U.S. stop licensing reactors using pressure suppression system
http://www.nirs.org/reactorwatch/accidents/
19720920-hanauer-memo-pressure-suppression-containments.pdf
September 25, 1972:
memo from Joseph Hendrie (top safety official at AEC) agrees with recommendation but rejects it saying it "could well mean the end of nuclear power..."
http://www.nirs.org/reactorwatch/accidents/
19720925-hendrie-pressure-suppression-concerns-end-of-nucl~1.pdf
MORE:
http://www.nirs.org/factsheets/bwrfact.htm
- - - - -
Fukushima Reactors Designed By General Electric Also Used In U.S. Have Serious Design Flaws (See articles below…Ed.)
http://stretchingminds.wordpress.com/2011/03/15/
fukushima-reactors-designed-by-general-electric-also-used-used-in-u-s-have-serious-design-flaws/
March 15, 2011
The jest of the design flaws, and implications for U.S. reactors, is this. An earthquake is not needed for this to happen, only a failure of some sort.
The design of the Fukushima reactors was also used in 23 nuclear plants operating in the US in Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Vermont.
There is no way to vent the hydrogen gas during a reactor failure. This is what caused generator buildings to explode in Fukushima.
This design also features huge pools of waste water high up in the containment building that hold huge amounts of old radioactive material. Robert Alvarez, a former nuclear energy adviser to President Bill Clinton says if just one reactor fails it can release several times the amount of radiation as was released at Chernobyl because each pool contains 5 to 10 times as much material as the reactor itself.
- - - - -
Nuclear Reactor Design Caused GE Scientists To Quit In Protest
http://beforeitsnews.com/story/490/400/
Nuclear_Reactor_Design_Caused_GE_Scientist_To_Quit_In_Protest.html
March 17, 2011
Thirty-five years ago, Dale G. Bridenbaugh and two of his colleagues at General Electric resigned from their jobs after becoming increasingly convinced that the nuclear reactor design they were reviewing -- the Mark 1 -- was so flawed it could lead to a devastating accident.
Questions persisted for decades about the ability of the Mark 1 to handle the immense pressures that would result if the reactor lost cooling power, and today that design is being put to the ultimate test in Japan. Five of the six reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, which has been wracked since Friday's earthquake with explosions and radiation leaks, are Mark 1s.
"The problems we identified in 1975 were that, in doing the design of the containment, they did not take into account the dynamic loads that could be experienced with a loss of coolant," Bridenbaugh told ABC News in an interview. "The impact loads the containment would receive by this very rapid release of energy could tear the containment apart and create an uncontrolled release."
The situation on the ground at the Fukushima Daiichi plant is so fluid, and the details of what is unfolding are so murky, that it may be days or even weeks before anyone knows how the Mark 1 containment system performed in the face of a devastating combination of natural disasters.
- - - - -
The Idiocy and Hubris of Engineers: Will GE Get Whacked for the Catastrophic Failure of its Nuk Plants in Fukushira?
http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/node/509
Mon, 03/14/2011 – 12:44 by: Dave Lindorff
GE, the company that boasts that it “brings good things to life,” was the designer of the nuclear plants that are blowing up like hot popcorn kernels at the Fukushima Dai-ichi generating plant north of Tokyo that was hit by the double-whammy of an 8.9 earthquake and a huge tsunami.
The company may escape tens or hundreds of billions of dollars in liability from this continuing disaster, which could still result in a catastrophic total meltdown of one or more of the reactors (as of this writing three of the reactors are reported to have suffered partial meltdowns, and all could potentially become more serious total meltdowns with a rupture of the reactor container), thanks to Japanese law, which makes the operator–in this case Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) liable. But if it were found that it was design flaws by GE that caused the problem, presumably TEPCO or the Japanese government could pursue GE for damages.
In fact, the design of these facilities–a design which, it should be noted, was also used in 23 nuclear plants operating in the US in Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Vermont–appear to have included serious flaws, from a safety perspective. [ . . . ]
Related Story:
http://www.vancouverobserver.com/world/asia/
2011/03/15/japan-spent-fuel-rods-pose-danger-worse-chernobyl
===================
9. Five reasons every wonk in DC is humping the leg of natural gas right about now
http://www.grist.org/article/
2011-03-22-five-reasons-every-wonk-in-dc-is-humping-the-leg-of-natural-gas-
THIS FAUSTIAN IS A BARGAIN!
BY Christopher Mims 22 MAR 2011 10:58 AM
The Times wants you to know that our energy crisis is over, because there's at least one abundant fossil fuel still standing between civilization and the abyss of energy poverty. In a piece remarkable for its complete failure to mention renewables, a bunch of old-economy energy analysts describe a 21st century that looks only vaguely different than our recent past.
1. So much for nuclear power. Now that Fukushima is right on the cusp of becoming a verb, ("The insurance company cut me a check ‘cause it's completely Fukushima'd, so, hello Carribean vacation!") you cannot throw a rock in any statehouse or newsroom on the planet without hitting someone who wants you to know that the supposed "nuclear renaissance" is now about as likely as a Two and a Half Men reunion.
2. So much for oil. Deepwater drilling is going to come back, sure, but it's going to labor under increased scrutiny. Also there is that small detail that oil is mostly just going to get more expensive from here on out.
3. Japan is going to make up for the shortfall in electricity production from nuclear power plants by buying more liquefied natural gas -- lots more.
MORE:
http://www.grist.org/article/
2011-03-22-five-reasons-every-wonk-in-dc-is-humping-the-leg-of-natural-gas-
Read more:
"Natural Gas Now Viewed as Safer Bet" The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/22/business/global/
22gas.html?src=busln
===================
10. Oldest US nuclear reactor: a 'disaster' in waiting?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110324/sc_afp/
japanquakeusnuclear
by Karin Zeitvogel Karin Zeitvogel – Thu Mar 24, 3:52 pm ET
LACEY, New Jersey (AFP) – A sleepy New Jersey town has popped onto people's radar screens because it has the oldest running nuclear power plant in the United States -- and, some say, the most dangerous.
Named for a Revolutionary War general, Lacey is the kind of American town that few from outside the seaside settlement knew much about before the earthquake and tsunami in Japan triggered a nuclear crisis.
Down the road from the 1950s-style diner and across from the bridge that locals use as a fishing pier stands the Oyster Creek nuclear plant.
It uses a GE Mark I Boiling Water reactor identical to those that lost power at Japan's Fukushima plant in the March 11 earthquake and then was struck by a tsunami that knocked out its backup generators, causing reactor cooling functions to fail.
US anti-nuclear activists and many residents of Lacey and surrounding Jersey shore townships worry that a similar nuclear disaster could happen at Oyster Creek, and it wouldn't need an earthquake or tsunami to trigger it.
Oyster Creek has been dogged by problems including a corroding liner in the carbon steel containment unit; leaks that allow radioactive tritium to seep into drinking water; and huge volumes of stocked spent fuel rods.
"We have 40 years of radiation on site -- two-and-a-half to three times more than in Japan," anti-nuclear activist Jeff Brown told AFP.
"You also have that tremendously stupid design to start with where the spent fuel rods are sitting on top of the reactor," he said, raising a fear among residents that the reactor could be an easy target for a terrorist attack.
"At the very least, we need a no-fly zone over Oyster Creek. We have a no-fly zone over Disney World but not here," said Peggi Sturmfels, a program organizer at the New Jersey Environmental Federation.
MORE:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110324/sc_afp/
japanquakeusnuclear
===================
11. Chernobyl: The Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment
- - - - -
QUOTE: “Alice Slater, representative in New York of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, comments: "The tragic news uncovered by the comprehensive new research that almost one million people died in the toxic aftermath of Chernobyl should be a wake-up call to people all over the world to petition their governments to put a halt to the current industry-driven "nuclear renaissance.' Aided by a corrupt IAEA, the world has been subjected to a massive cover-up and deception about the true damages caused by Chernobyl."
Further worsening the situation, she said, has been "the collusive agreement between the IAEA and the World Health Organization in which the WHO is precluded from publishing any research on radiation effects without consultation with the IAEA." WHO, the public health arm of the UN, has supported the IAEA's claim that 4,000 will die as a result of the accident
"How fortunate," said Ms. Slater, "that independent scientists have now revealed the horrific costs of the Chernobyl accident.".”
- - - - - -
Chernobyl: The Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php? ... &aid=23745
by Alexey V. Yablokov and Vassily B. Nesterenko and Alexey V. Nesterenko
Global Research, March 16, 2011
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment
Written by Alexey V. Yablokov (Center for Russian Environmental Policy, Moscow, Russia), Vassily B. Nesterenko, and Alexey V. Nesterenko (Institute of Radiation Safety, Minsk, Belarus). Consulting Editor Janette D. Sherman-Nevinger (Environmental Institute, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan).
Volume 1181, December 2009 335 Pages
Full Text (To purchase)
https://www.nyas.org/
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This is a collection of papers translated from the Russian with some revised and updated contributions. Written by leading authorities from Eastern Europe, the volume outlines the history of the health and environmental consequences of the Chernobyl disaster. According to the authors, official discussions from the International Atomic Energy Agency and associated United Nations' agencies (e.g. the Chernobyl Forum reports) have largely downplayed or ignored many of the findings reported in the Eastern European scientific literature and consequently have erred by not including these assessments.
- - - SNIP - - -
REVIEW BY KARL GROSSMAN
published in September 2010
This past April 26th [2010] marked the 24th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear plant accident. It came as the nuclear industry and pro-nuclear government officials in the United States and other nations were trying to "revive" nuclear power. And it followed the publication of a book, the most comprehensive study ever made, on the impacts of the Chernobyl disaster.
Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment was published by the New York Academy of Sciences.
It is authored by three noted scientists:
Russian biologist Dr. Alexey Yablokov, former environmental advisor to the Russian president;
Dr. Alexey Nesterenko, a biologist and ecologist in Belarus; and
Dr.Vassili Nesterenko, a physicist and at the time of the accident director of the Institute of Nuclear Energy of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus.
Its editor is Dr. Janette Sherman, a physician and toxicologist long involved in studying the health impacts of radioactivity.
The book is solidly based -- on health data, radiological surveys and scientific reports -- some 5,000 in all.
It concludes that based on records now available, some 985,000 people died, mainly of cancer, as a result of the Chernobyl accident. That is between when the accident occurred in 1986 and 2004. More deaths, it projects, will follow.
The book explodes the claim of the International Atomic Energy Agency-- still on its website that the expected death toll from the Chernobyl accident will be 4,000. The IAEA, the new book shows, is under-estimating, to the extreme, the casualties of Chernobyl.
MORE:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php? ... &aid=23745
===============
12. The Problem with Nuclear Liability Insurance
Don’t nuke green energy
http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/campaigns/
end-the-nuclear-threat/archive/what-we-do/nuclear_liability_compensation_act/
November 16, 2009
Towards full liability for nuclear power plant operators
A new report commissioned by Greenpeace analyses the Harper government's proposed Nuclear Liability and Compensation Act (NLCA) and shows how the legislation would significantly short change Canadians on compensation in the event of a serious nuclear accident.
The report documents how the Harper government's proposed legislation would, if passed, artificially cap the liability of a nuclear operator for accidents at $650 million - a miniscule fraction of the likely actual cost of a nuclear disaster. This cap on liability represents a hidden subsidy for nuclear power, a massive unaccounted liability for the Canadian tax-payer and creates an unfair playing field for safer green energy technologies.
The nuclear industry claims its reactors are safe, but it withholds information on reactor accident risks while requiring this special favour from the federal government to do business - a law protecting nuclear operators from paying the realistic costs of compensation for victims of a nuclear accident.
Protecting the nuclear industry, not Canadians
The Harper government's proposed cap on the liability of the nuclear industry would mean that Canadian victims of a nuclear accident would receive significantly less industry compensation than citizens in other western countries.
American victims of nuclear accidents can count on over $10 billion in industry compensation.
Members of the Paris Convention - most of Western Europe - require that nuclear operators have at least $1.2 billion (€700 million) in insurance to compensate victims.
Germany has no limit on the liability limit of nuclear operators and requires nuclear operators to have €2.5 billion in financial security to compensate victims in case of an accident.
Japan requires nuclear operators make available $1.2 billion to compensate victims of nuclear accidents
Sweden is proposing to nuclear operators guarantee at least €1.2 billion in compensation with no cap on their liability.
Harper's Hidden Tax-Payer Liability
The NLCA would expose the federal taxpayer to billions in possible liabilities by shifting the responsibility for cleaning up after nuclear accident from reactor operators to the federal government. Any damages incurred beyond the liability cap of $650 million would be paid by the federal taxpayer.
Industry studies show that the just the health costs for a catastrophic accident at the Pickering B nuclear station just east of Toronto would exceed $52 billion. A similar accident at the Bruce A nuclear station on Lake Huron would cost $49 billion in health costs.
A smaller scale accident at the Pickering B nuclear station considered "credible" by the nuclear industry and its regulators would cause $1.2 billion in health cost damages alone.
Government studies regarding the impacts of nuclear terrorism contract the government's claim that the $650 million cap is adequate. A federal government study on the economic impacts of a dirty bomb spreading a limited amount of radioactive material by CN Tower estimated costs of clean up at $28 billion.
The Harper government has failed to carry out and release any studies to tell Canadians how large this tax-payer liability or how it could be reduced or eliminated.
The nuclear industry doesn't trust its safety: Why should the public?
The industry's desire for special protection Act shows the private lenders, insurers and even reactor vendors lack confidence in safety of Canada's nuclear reactors.
Special protection for the nuclear industry began in the 1950s because American nuclear reactor designers feared being sued for catastrophic damages caused if one their reactors had an accident. The insurance industry refused to fully insure the nuclear industry so governments stepped in to protect nuclear operators and vendors.
Before they occurred, the nuclear industry and its regulators claimed that the nuclear accidents at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl could not happen. Following the accidents nuclear regulators sought to downplay the potential for future accidents by withholding information on accident risks instead of requiring existing plants be able to withstand a full range of realistic events.
All current and proposed reactor designs in Canada contain fundamental design flaws that leave them vulnerable to catastrophic radiation releases following an accident or terrorist attack.
The Harper government fired the president of Canada's nuclear safety regulator after she imposed modernized international standards on Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) reactors.
Don't nuke green energy!
Canada has committed to implement the polluter pays principal and require polluters to pay all the clean up costs of their own pollution. The NLCA breaks this principal and requires Canadians to pay for the nuclear industry's pollution. This hidden subsidy pushes cleaner, safer and more cost-effective green energy options out of the electricity markets.
The hidden subsidy to nuclear operators would range from 5.4 to 11.0 c/kWh.
Based on the electricity output of Canada's reactors in 2007, the NLCA would provide an implicit subsidy to nuclear operators of $4.8 to 9.7 billion.
Unlike the nuclear operators, renewable energy and clean energy operators pay their own insurance.
Despite receiving billions in direct and hidden subsidies like the NLCA over the past 50 years, the nuclear industry has failed to lower its costs while green energy sources have innovated and become cost-competitive.
What does Greenpeace want?
A level playing field for green energy. Reactor operators must be required to assume responsibility for the risks they impose on society just like green energy operators.
Canadian victims of nuclear accidents deserve to be compensated by the nuclear industry at minimum on a level on par with other Western countries.
= = = =
Liability for Nuclear Damage
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf67.html
(updated March 2011)
[ World Nuclear Association: People and organizations of the global nuclear profession ]
Operators of nuclear power plants are liable for any damage caused by them, regardless of fault. They therefore normally take out insurance for third-party liability, and in most countries they are required to do so.
The potential cross boundary consequences of a nuclear accident require an international nuclear liability regime, so national laws are supplemented by a number of international conventions.
Liability is limited by both international conventions and by national legislation, so that beyond the limit (normally covered by insurance) the state can accept responsibility as insurer of last resort, as in all other aspects of industrial society.
- - - - - -
An illustrative exchange on insuring nuclear power plants
It is commonly asserted that nuclear power stations are not covered by insurance, and that insurance companies don't want to know about them either for first-party insurance of the plant itself or third-party liability for accidents. This is incorrect, and the misconception was addressed as follows in 2006 by a broker who had been responsible for a nuclear insurance pool: "it is wrong [to believe] that insurers will not touch nuclear power stations. In fact, wherever they are available to private sector insurers, Western-designed nuclear installations are sought-after business because of their high engineering and risk management standards. This has been the case for fifty years." He elaborated: "My comment refers very much to the world scene and is not contentious. Apart from Three Mile Island, the claim experience has been very good. Chernobyl was not insured. Significantly, because Chernobyl was of a design that would not have been an acceptable risk at the time, notably the lack of a containment structure, the accident had no impact on premium rates for Western plants.
"The structure of insurance of nuclear installations is different from ordinary industrial risks. It involves international conventions, national legislation channeling liability to the operators, and pooling of insurance capacity in more than twenty countries. The national nuclear insurance pool approach was particularly developed in the UK in 1956 as a way of marshalling insurance capacity for the possibility of [serious accidents]. Other national pools that followed were modeled on the UK pool - now known as Nuclear Risk Insurers Limited, and based in London."
- - - -
EXCERPTS:
In Canada the Nuclear Liability and Compensation Act is also in line with the international conventions and establishes the licensee's absolute and exclusive liability for third party damage. Suppliers of goods and services are given an absolute discharge of liability. The limit of C$75 million per power plant set in 1976 as the insurance cover required for individual licensees was increased to $650 million in the Act's 2008 revision, though this has not yet passed. Cover is provided by a pool of insurers, and claimants need not establish fault on anyone's part, but must show injury. Beyond the cap level, any further funds would be provided by the government.
= = = = =
Japan is not party to any international liability convention but its law generally conforms to them. Two laws governing them are revised about every ten years: the Law on Compensation for Nuclear Damage and Law on Contract for Liability Insurance for Nuclear Damage. Plant operator liability is exclusive and absolute, and power plant operators must provide a financial security amount of JPY 120 billion (US$ 1.4 billion) - half that to 2010. Beyond that, the government provides coverage, and liability is unlimited. In relation to the 1999 Tokai-mura fuel plant criticality accident, insurance covered JPY 1 billion and the parent company (Sumitomo) paid the balance of JPY 13.5 billion.
MORE:
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf67.html
= = = = =
We tried the nuclear power experiment -- and it didn't work
http://www.thewhig.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3041655
By Joshua Pearce, Kingston Whig Standard (QMI Agency), March 24 2011
Every nation with nuclear power is currently in a frenzy to determine if they are at risk of ending up in a "situation" like the one plaguing Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant.
What is happening now in Japan simply lets the public in on a secret that has been well known in both the energy and insurance industries for decades: No nuclear power plant would exist without a government-backed insurance liability subsidy.
Nuclear energy is simply not insurable in the free market. Period.
Thus, the nuclear industry is completely dependent on an artificial cap on insurance liability, which reduces the costs of nuclear energy to something affordable rather than its real cost. In the U.S. this cap is about $10 billion.
If the nuclear disaster amounts to something like $310 billion, as the U.S. Sandia National Lab. estimated in the 1980s for a major screw-up, then the public ends up picking up the tab on $300 billion. In Canada this cap is orders of magnitude lower, exposing the public to an even greater potential financial risk.
These liability caps represent an indirect subsidy because no money actually flows from government coffers unless a disaster occurs. In general these indirect subsidies have been ignored because they are hard to calculate.
MORE:
http://www.thewhig.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3041655
MORE on Nuclear Liability Insurance: http://forum.stopthehogs.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=836
================
13. Investors Ask Utilities For Water Management Transparency
http://www.care2.com/causes/environment/blog/
investors-ask-utilities-for-water-use-transparency/
posted by: Beth Buczynski March 24, 2011
Earlier this week, three major utilities agreed to significantly expand reporting and disclosure on water availability risks and plans for mitigating those risks in direct response to shareholder requests.
The negative environmental impacts of extracting and using nuclear energy, coal, oil and natural gas are well known, but few people realize that these industries require an estimated 136 billion gallons of water a day for generating and cooling the steam that drives electric turbines. This represents almost 40 percent of all freshwater withdrawals in the United States.
Water risks are already leading some utilities in drought-prone regions in the U.S. West to turn away from water-intensive coal-fired power generation. Some power plants have been blocked from obtaining water permits as they have attempted to expand or build new coal-fired facilities.
Investors filed shareholder resolutions with Dominion, Southern and PPL several months ago asking them to evaluate and disclose their strategies for wide-ranging water risks, including low flows, thermal impacts, and emerging regulations.
"Water scarcity is a growing risk to many public utilities and investors want to know how companies are preparing for increased competition for supplies, emerging regulations and potential revenue losses from shortages,” said Mindy S. Lubber, president of Ceres and director of the $9.5 trillion Investor Network on Climate Risk.
MORE:
http://www.care2.com/causes/environment/blog/
investors-ask-utilities-for-water-use-transparency/
==================
14. Libya: Largest Military Undertaking since the Invasion of Iraq. Towards a Protracted Military Operation
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23815
By Michel Chossudovsky Global Research, March 20, 2011
Outright lies by the international media: Bombs and missiles are presented as an instrument of peace and democratization...
This is not a humanitarian operation. The war on Libya opens up a new regional war theater.
There are three distinct war theaters in the Middle East Central Asian region. Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq.
What is unfolding is a fourth US-NATO War Theater in North Africa, with the risk of escalation.
These four war theaters are functionally related, they are part of an integrated US-NATO military agenda. (Emphasis added. Ed.)
The bombing of Libya has been on the drawing board of the Pentagon for several years as confirmed by former NATO commander General Wesley Clark.
Operation Odyssey Dawn is acknowledged as the "biggest Western military intervention in the Arab world since the invasion of Iraq began exactly eight years ago." (Russia: Stop 'indiscriminate' bombing of Libya - Taiwan News Online, March 19, 2011).
This war is part of the battle for oil. Libya is among the World's largest oil economies with approximately 3.5% of global oil reserves, more than twice those of the US.
The underlying objective is to gain control over Libya's oil and gas reserves under the disguise of a humanitarian intervention.
The geopolitical and economic implications of a US-NATO led military intervention directed against Libya are far-reaching.
"Operation Odyssey Dawn " is part of a broader military agenda in the Middle East and Central Asia which consists in gaining control and corporate ownership over more than sixty percent of the world's reserves of oil and natural gas, including oil and gas pipeline routes.
With 46.5 billion barrels of proven reserves, (10 times those of Egypt), Libya is the largest oil economy in the African continent followed by Nigeria and Algeria (Oil and Gas Journal). In contrast, US proven oil reserves are of the order of 20.6 billion barrels (December 2008) according to the Energy Information Administration.
U.S. Crude Oil, Natural Gas, and Natural Gas Liquids Reserves).
MORE:
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23815
=================
15. Now not a good time to purchase F-35s: poll
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7650&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
Posted: 24 Mar 2011 09:05 PM PDT
According to the latest CTV/Globe/Nanos Poll, when asked about the Harper government’s plan to purchase F-35 jet fighters, 68% of Canadians believe that now is not the right time to purchase the aircraft. Canadians identified healthcare as their number one unprompted issue of concern. 29% of respondents named it their top priority, next to 18% [...]
=================
16. FINLEY: “Cougars for cops" is a national (Canada) program.
http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=1629
March 11, 2011 1:33 PM
I think we had better do something. Things are unfolding.
COMMENT
http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=1629
YORK REGIONAL POLICE GET VERSATILE ROLLING FORTRESS, GLOBE & MAIL, MARCH 7, 2011
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/
york-regional-police-get-versatile-rolling-fortress/article1932035/
METRO VANCOUVER POLICE ANNOUNCE ARRIVAL OF ARMOURED RESCUE VEHICLE, VANCOUVER SUN, MARCH 2, 2011
http://www.vancouversun.com/
Metro+Vancouver+police+announce+arrival+armoured+rescue+vehicle/4373207/story.html
SASKATOON, POLICE SHOPPING FOR ARMOURED VEHICLE, STAR PHOENIX, JANUARY 25, 2011
http://www.leaderpost.com/news/
todays-paper/Police+shopping+armoured+vehicle/4161626/story.html
OTTAWA COPS GET NEW TOY, OTTAWA SUN, MARCH 24, 2010 –
http://www.ottawasun.com/news/ottawa/
2010/03/24/13343821.html#/news/ottawa/2010/03/24/pf-13343931.html
MARCH 24, 2010: "ARMOURED VEHICLES ADOPTED BY B.C. RCMP, OTHER CITIES CAN EXPECT TO SEE THE VEHICLES ON THEIR STREETS, TOO"
http://news.ca.msn.com/local/britishcolumbia/
article.aspx?cp-documentid=23717966.
READER COMMENTS ON YORK POLICE ARMOURED VEHICLE (MARCH 7, 2011)
http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=1629
“LIGHT ARMOURED VEHICLES” (LAVs), WHAT ARE THEY? (AMERICAN WEAPONS MANUFACTURER, CAMBLI INTERNATIONAL IN QUEBEC) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambli_Int ... _Thunder_1
Feb 20, 2011, OSHKOSH DEFENSE (AMERICAN) UNVEILED ITS PROTOTYPE FOR CANADA'S TACTICAL ARMOURED PATROL VEHICLE (TAPV) PROGRAM
http://defense-update.com/wp/20110220_oshkosh-tapv.html
MYTHS FOR PROFIT: CANADA'S ROLE IN INDUSTRIES OF WAR AND PEACE
http://www.dominionpaper.ca/node/2214
"FROM MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX TO PERMANENT STATE OF WAR" (U.S.) - Gareth Porter
http://original.antiwar.com/porter/2011/01/17/
from-military-industrial-complex-to-permanent-war-state/
WILLIAM HARTUNG - "PROPHETS OF WAR: LOCKHEED MARTIN AND THE MAKING OF THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX"
http://www.watsoninstitute.org/events_d ... fm?id=1638
Full Text:
http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=1629
- - - -
Sandra Finley
Saskatoon SK S7N 0L1
306-373-8078
sabest1@sasktel.net
www.sandrafinley.ca
===================
17. FINLEY: Lockheed Martin and FBI in biometrics. Census battle in Ireland April 10. UK is March 27. Canada in May.
http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=1881
2011-03-08
[ http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=1854 ]
Lockheed Martin is working with the FBI on a large centre for biometric identification of individual people.
FBI Announces Creation of Biometric Database
[ http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/usnews/
constitution/6771-fbi-announces-creation-of-biometric-database ]
2009-07-01
[ http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=1872 ]
The American National Security Agency (NSA) is building a $1.6 billion storage facility in Utah to warehouse personal surveillance data. They’re the people with a budget way larger than the FBI, who monitor all the phone calls and emails and . . . you name it.
Lockheed Martin is behind the American Census Bureau. Most Americans do not know about LM’s involvement in their Census Bureau. Lockheed would hold the same influence in Canada and in the U.K., except that they have been slowed down by public awareness here. For people in Scotland and Ireland it is CACI Corporation instead of LM, but all the same, the American military-industrial complex.
ALWAYS, in history, detailed files on citizens are the enabler of a police state. Access to census data bases may be the last give-away. 10% is roughly the portion of Canadian Government revenue that goes to military spending. The contracts for Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth bombers were untendered and not debated in Parliament. The Government has racked up the largest debt, set to escalate because of the $16 to $32 billion dollars for the bombers.
MORE:
http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=1881
Sandra Finley
Saskatoon SK S7N 0L1
306-373-8078
sabest1@sasktel.net
www.sandrafinley.ca
- Oscar
- Site Admin
- Posts: 9965
- Joined: Wed May 03, 2006 3:23 pm
NUKE NEWS: March 27, 2011
by Oscar » Sun Mar 27, 2011 6:15 pm
NUKE NEWS: March 27, 2011
1. Saskatchewan town wants nuclear waste site
2. Anti-nuclear campaigner attacks expansion of Darlington
3. Pickering Nuclear experienced a brief partial loss of power on its Unit 1 reactor, while performing start up activities.
4. Uranium mining rejected at Iqaluit public forum/Dr. Cole letter
5. No Nukes News - March 26, 2011
6. Fukushima and Chernobyl (8 articles)
7. World Health Organization vigil continues
8. GENERAL ELECTRIC IN THE NUKE BUSINESS
9. Resolution in Parliament supports nuclear weapons convention – Dec. 2010
10. Depleted uranium: a strange way to protect Libyan civilians (Graphics)
11. LIBYA UPDATE
12. Canadian-made armoured vehicles enter Bahrain
13. Partnership of Equals
14. Africa Must Unite Against Neocolonialism And Imperialism
15. Iraqis Take to the Streets, Call for Real Democracy
16. BOOK: Earth into Property: Colonization, Decolonization, and Capitalism (Paperback) by Anthony J. Hall (author)
17. 'Barefoot' grandmothers electrify rural communities
18. Harper government falls, Barlow comments on upcoming election
19. Yes, contempt of Parliament does matter
==============
1. Saskatchewan town wants nuclear waste site
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/
story/2011/03/16/sk-creighton-nuclear-1103.html
CBC News Posted: Mar 16, 2011
A northern Saskatchewan town has formally announced it is interested in storing Canada's nuclear waste The town council of Creighton, which is next to the border with Manitoba, recently voted to enter the site selection process.
The Nuclear Waste Management Organization will now study the area to see if it will work.
Saskatchewan has no nuclear power plants, but provinces that do are running out of room to store spent fuel on-site.
The industry is looking at trucking nuclear waste to a central storage site, where it can be buried deep underground.
[ In light of the earthquake disaster at Japanese nuclear power plants, should Saskatchewan worry about the expansion of its own nuclear industry? Market Research -
View Results:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/
story/2011/03/16/sk-creighton-nuclear-1103.html
===============
2. Anti-nuclear campaigner attacks expansion of Darlington
http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/960365
March 25, 2011 John Spears
Dr. Helen Caldicott’s message to a panel weighing a proposal for two new nuclear reactors at Darlington Nuclearl Generating Station was stark and unequivocal: “No radiation is safe.”
The veteran anti-nuclear campaigner launched a scathing attack on nuclear energy and its advocates before the panel, warning: “Increasing background radiation is going to increase cancer.”
It wasn’t comforting. It wasn’t meant to be.
“Every male in the northern hemisphere has a tiny load of plutonium in his testicles from nuclear (weapons) testing days,” Caldicott says, as men in the audience squirmed.
She wasn’t finished.
If a man is cremated, she observed, the plutonium goes up the chimney, where it can be breathed in by another man, and lodge in his testicles.
Caldicott related with relish that she had once had a paper rejected by an academic journal, which said she had neglected to say anything positive about nuclear energy. Caldicott said she had nothing good to say.
Her message was a stark contrast to the measured tones of Ontario Power Generation, the agency tasked with generating and selling electricity in Ontario, which insisted the project poses no credible risk.
MORE:
http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/960365
================
3. Pickering Nuclear experienced a brief partial loss of power on its Unit 1 reactor, while performing start up activities.
http://www.opg.com/power/nuclear/report ... pdates.asp
Special Interest Station Updates - Q1, 2011
Low level event
[Mar. 26, 2011]: On Mar. 25, Pickering Nuclear experienced a brief partial loss of power on its Unit 1 reactor, while performing start up activities.
Standby systems automatically restored the power, with no impact on employee, public or equipment safety.
Pickering's operating staff responded according to procedure and notified the proper authorities of this low level, but reportable event.
Start up activities resumed on Unit 1, following a maintenance outage.
Pickering Units 4, 6, 7 and 8 are all operating at or near full power, while planned maintenance outage work on Unit 5 continues.
- - - - - -
Low impact filtered water release to environment
[MAR. 15, 2011]: On March 14 Pickering Nuclear had an unintended water release into the environment.
The event was a low level regulatory event with only negligible effect to the environment and no public health implications.
A pump seal failure at the Pickering Nuclear A station released an estimated 73,000 litres of filtered water to Lake Ontario on March 14. (This is a conservative estimated calculation for the maximum possible release.) The release was attributed to a faulty pump seal. The release was immediately stopped upon discovery and the pump seal is being replaced.
The filtered (demineralised) water contained trace amounts of tritium, far below any regulatory limits. Routine content of tritium in water at local water treatment plants is generally between six and 10 becquerels per litre some of which is naturally occurring in Lake Ontario and some from the nuclear station and other sources. The estimates of the maximum potential impact of this release means a tritium increase of .56 becquerels per litre, still well within normal range.
The provincial standard for tritium in drinking water is 7,000 becqerels per litre. All appropriate regulatory agencies and stakeholders were notified.
From a regulatory perspective, this is a very low level event. There is no impact to quality of drinking water.
- - - -
Questions? For more information on the Station Updates listed, contact: Kevin Powers, Director, Public Affairs at (416) 592-8470.
================
4. Uranium mining rejected at Iqaluit public forum/Dr. Cole letter
http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2011/03/18/
nunavut-uranium-iqaluit-forum.html
Inuit attack Nunavut Tunngavik for supporting development
CBC website, March 18, 2011
- - - -
QUOTE: The Nunavut government is holding another public forum in Baker Lake on March 30 and 31. It will then go to Cambridge Bay on April 12 and 13.
Those who cannot attend the meetings in person can also send in comments online, or by email, phone, fax or postal mail.”
- - - - -
Many Nunavummiut who attended a uranium forum Thursday night said they do not want uranium mining in Nunavut, while some even attacked the territory's Inuit group for supporting uranium development.
More than 120 people in Iqaluit came out to the public forum, which was organized by the Nunavut government as it works on developing its own policy on uranium mining in the territory.
After hearing presentations from eight panellists on the topic, most of those who came up to the microphone made it clear that they want nothing to do with uranium mining.
"For me, there's about four industries that we should never go into, and they're asbestos, uranium, the tobacco industry, and building of weapons," said Madeleine Cole, a family doctor in the city. [ . . . ]
= = = =
An open letter from an Iqaluit physician about Uranium Mining in Nunmavut – by Madeleine Cole, Iqaluit
http://forum.stopthehogs.com/phpBB2/
viewtopic.php?t=1055&sid=b991ab1f78be9677b747abfb7638ed44
Government of Nunavut
Uranium Consultation
March 15, 2011
Dear Premier Aariak,
Thank you for inviting the opinions of Nunavummiut on uranium.
I am writing to you as a parent, a physician and as someone who cares deeply about the future of Nunavut. I have not been shy to speak out against nuclear energy and specifically uranium mining. Part of my professional role as a doctor is to advocate for the health and well being of the people I care for, and it is definitely my job as a
parent to do this.
While I do understand fully how important it is for us to build job opportunities and revenue, there are few legal industries that are so deeply unethical that I feel Nunavut should never consider getting involved with them and they are uranium, military arms, and the tobacco industry.
As a member of Physicians for Global Survival (the Canadian chapter of the Nobel prize winning group International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War), being wary of nuclear energy in all it forms comes easily to me. At the PGS website (www.pgs.ca) you can read about why many physicians are calling for a ban on uranium mining.
The College of Family Physicians of Ontario has called for a ban on uranium mining as has CAPE (Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment). The provinces of British Columbia and Nova Scotia have a permanent ban on uranium mining because that is what their voting public has demanded. As you well know, Greenland maintains its ‘No Uranium stand’ while other parts of Inuit Nunaat have current moratoriums or are struggling with the issue.
The current map of Uranium mines in Saskatchewan matches fairly closely with rural Aboriginal communities, who like Nunavut communities were looking for ways to foster economic independence.
But why is it okay for such a toxic industry to be accepted on Aboriginal land, when the Canadian mainstream in BC and Nova Scotia and everywhere else in the country have said ‘no way, not on our land’?
MORE:
http://forum.stopthehogs.com/phpBB2/
viewtopic.php?t=1055&sid=b991ab1f78be9677b747abfb7638ed44
==================
5. No Nukes News - March 26, 2011
We have finally arrived at the watershed moment when the fairy tale of nuclear safety is being seriously challenged. - Pan Han-shen, Taiwan’s Green Party
For the best updates on the Japan nuclear crisis see
http://www.beyondnuclear.org/
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Officials suspect dangerous breach at Fukushima nuclear plant
A suspected breach in the reactor at the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant could mean more serious radioactive contamination
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/
960481--officials-suspect-dangerous-breach-at-fukushima-nuclear-plant?bn=1
Japanese nuclear officials fear crack in reactor core
Possible damage at Fukushima nuclear power plant could cause leak of high levels of radiation
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/25/
japanese-nuclear-fear-crack-reactor-core
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Nuclear in the Spotlight – Wed. Mar. 30, Toronto
Wed. March 30th, 7:30 p.m.
Annex Live, 296 Brunswick (at Bloor), Toronto
With performers Mike Ford, Meghan Morrison, Richard Underhill, Michael Louis Johnson, the Raging Grannies and more.
Kevin Kamps from Beyond Nuclear will speak to the current situation in Japan.
Help OCAA turn Ontario away from nuclear and toward safer options.
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=192323914141758
tp://nuclearspotlight.eventbrite.com/
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Nuclear question marks
Public hearings about nuclear reactors are supposed to answer questions. But the first week of hearings into proposed new reactors at the Darlington nuclear site has left some answers hanging.
http://www.thestar.com/business/companies/article/
961876--nuclear-question-marks
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Anti-nuclear campaigner attacks expansion of Darlington
Caldicott marvelled that Canada is considering new reactors in the face of the Fukushima catastrophe. “We are on the precipice of absolute devastation in Japan,” she said.
http://www.thestar.com/business/article/
960365--anti-nuclear-campaigner-attacks-expansion-of-darlington
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Ottawa needs to be weaned from its nuclear obsession
New nuclear reactors – around the entire world – are 100 per cent subsidized. – Amory Lovins
Enough is enough. For environmental reasons, for economic reasons and for political reasons (including nuclear proliferation), the government should end its obsession with nuclear power: Until the industry can buy its own reactors, get rid of its own wastes and pay for its own insurance.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/
commentary/neil-reynolds/ottawa-needs-to-be-weaned-from-its-nuclear-obsession/article1951790/
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Preventing the Next Nuclear Meltdown
The Lessons of the Fukushima Disaster for U.S. Nuclear Policy
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/67667/
victor-gilinsky/preventing-the-next-nuclear-meltdown
Note: The author warns against the dangers of refurbishing old reactors whose standards were inadequate to begin with, because they were based on false assumptions and invalid design calculations. Also, while this article refers to US nuclear policy, Canadians and others should take note.
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We tried the nuclear power experiment -- and it didn't work
Nuclear energy is simply not insurable in the free market. Period.
Nuclear power is simply not worth risk. We tried the nuclear experiment -- it did not work. It is time we cut our losses and started putting all of our financial resources into a portfolio of renewable energy technologies.
http://www.thewhig.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3041655
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Spewing from Meltdowns: Dangerous Plumes of DisinformationThere is no level of radiation exposure, no matter how small, that is harmless. Every federal agency that regulates radioactive pollution agrees.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/03/23-1
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Anishinabe Women Oppose Nuclear Shipment Through Great Lakes
5 minute video.
A group of Anishinabe women are determined to stop a proposed shipment of steam generators contaminated with nuclear waste travelling through the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway.
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2011/03/
anishinabe-women-oppose-nuclear-shipment-through-great-lakes/
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Germany’s solar panels produce more power than Japan’s entire Fukushima complex
http://www.grist.org/article/
2011-03-22-germanys-solar-panels-produce-more-power-than-japans-entire-fuku#comments#comments
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OPG Failure to comply with Undertaking to the Commissioner of Competition
The Ontario Clean Air Alliance has filed an official complaint with the federal Commissioner of Competition, Melanie Aitken, with respect to Ontario Power Generation’s newspaper advertisements which falsely claimed that it had completed its last three major nuclear projects “on budget”. We have asked the Commissioner to penalize OPG for false advertising and to require it to print prominent retractions in every daily newspaper in Ontario.
Please contact melanie.aitken@bc-cb.gc.ca and ask her to investigate our complaint and issue a decision as soon as possible.
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Angela Bischoff, Outreach Director
Ontario Clean Air Alliance
Tel: 416 926 1907 x 246
625 Church Street, #402, Toronto, ON M4Y 2G1
angela@cleanairalliance.org
www.cleanairalliance.org
www.ontariosgreenfuture.ca
Our Facebook Group
No Nukes News
Health Power
Coal Must Go
6. FUKUSHIMA and CHERNOBYL (8 articles)
Fukushima's "Chernobyl moment" could be fast approachinghttp://www.opednews.com/articles/
Fukushima-s-Chernobyl-mom-by-Mike-Whitney-110326-450.html
March 26, 2011 at 16:10:21
- - -
QUOTES: “The media's goal is to conceal the scale of the catastrophe in order to protect the nuclear industry”
“According to Reuters: "It's only a matter of days before it disperses in the entire northern hemisphere," said Andrea Stahl, a senior scientist at the Norwegian Institute for Air Research."
- - - -
The calamity at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is deteriorating and the nightmare scenario is becoming more likely. The levels of radioactive iodine in the seawater beyond the plant have soared to 1,250-times above normal, contaminating the fish in the area and turning the coastal waters into a nuclear wasteland. At the same time, the prospect of a full-core meltdown still looms-large with no remedy in sight. Brave workers have put their lives on the line with no meaningful sign of improvement. The lights are still "blinking red." [ . . . ]
= = = = =
Missing in the Japan Catastrophe: Thinking the Unthinkable
Irradiated Zone: Don't Go There!
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/03/22-4
by Tom Engelhardt Published on Tuesday, March 22, 2011 by TomDispatch.com
EXCERPT:[
Note for readers: In the couple of days since I first drafted this piece, a small number of articles speculating about worst-case possibilities have begun to appear (though generally not in the mainstream). Among them, the always sharp Justin Elliott over at Salon.com wrote “Japan’s Nuclear Danger Explained,” and at Mother Jones, Kate Sheppard interviewed expert Robert Alvarez who suggested that, under the worst conditions, an area “as large as several northeastern states” could become uninhabitable. In the mainstream, eleven days after the Fukushima incident began, pieces have begun sidling up to worst-case scenarios mainly via descriptions of what happened at Chernobyl almost a quarter century ago and through scattered Chernobyl references (“If the accident becomes bigger, like Chernobyl…”). [ . . . ]
= = = = = =
WATCH: BATTLE OF CHERNOBYL - 2006 Documentary
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiCXb1Nhd1o
Best Chernobyl Documentary 2006 1hr 32min 1 clip
THE BATTLE OF CHERNOBYL dramatically chronicles the series of harrowing efforts to stop the nuclear chain reaction and prevent a second explosion, to "liquidate" the radioactivity, and to seal off the ruined reactor under a mammoth "sarcophagus." These nerve-racking events are recounted through newly available films, videos and photos taken in and around the plant, computer animation, and interviews with participants and eyewitnesses, many of whom were exposed to radiation, including government and military leaders, scientists, workers, journalists, doctors, and Pripyat refugees.
= = = = = =
A Chernobyl scientist recalls her years spent at the plant
http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/961776
March 25, 2011 Sarah Millar
In memory of her years spent working at what was, until two weeks ago, the world’s most infamous nuclear power plant, Natalia Manzurova has what she calls a “Chernobyl necklace” around her neck.
It is not made of silver or gold or precious stones, but rather two long scars. They are a constant reminder of two surgeries to remove her malignant thyroid, operations made necessary after exposure to the radiation at Chernobyl. [ . . . ]
= = = = =
"Monbiot's fallacy"; "Source term is about the same as Chernobyl"
http://acehoffman.blogspot.com/2011/03/
monbiots-fallacy-source-term-is-about.html
by Ace Hoffman March 25, 2011
Items included in this newsletter:
(1) Commentary by Ace Hoffman, Author
(2) Stick nuclear waste where the sun don't shine!
(3) "Source term is about the same as Chernobyl"
(4) "Tool of the Nuclear Establishment -- The New York Times"
(5) On YouTube -- "Chernobyl: A Million Casualties"
(6) "Time To Reassess The International Atomic Safety Regime"
(7) What, ME a pessimist? I'm just a very hard realist!
(8) Contact information for the author of this newsletter appears below:
This newsletter maybe freely distributed.
The author's book on nuclear issues, The Code Killers, is available online from his web site:
www.acehoffman.org .
Ace Hoffman, Owner & Chief Programmer, The Animated Software Co.
POB 1936, Carlsbad CA 92018
U.S. & Canada (800) 551-2726; elsewhere: (760) 720-7261
home page:
www.animatedsoftware.com
email: rhoffman@animatedsoftware.com
= = = = =
Beyond Fukishima: A World in Denial About Nuclear Risks
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/03/21-0
by Danny Schechter Published on Monday, March 21, 2011 by CommonDreams.org
What will it take for our world to recognize the dangers that nuclear scientists and even Albert Einstein were warning about at the “dawn” of the nuclear age?
Amy Goodman reminds us of the prophetic statement by Australian journalist Wilfred Burchett who tried to find words to describe the horror he was seeing in Hiroshima in 1945 after the bomb fell.
“It looks as if a monster steamroller had passed over it and squashed it out of existence. I write these facts ... as a warning to the world.”
The world heard his warning, but seems to have ignored it. In fact, what followed has been decades of nuclear proliferation, the spread of nuclear power plants and the escalation of the arms race with new higher tech weaponry.
As Hiroshima becomes yesterday’s distant memory and Fukishima the current threat, the full extent of the casualties and body count are not yet in, partly because the Japanese government and the power companies don’t want to alarm the public. [ . . . ]
= = = = =
Traces of radioactivity detected in Swiss air
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss_news/
Traces_of_radioactivity_detected_in_Swiss_air_.html?cid=29840398
March 25, 2011
Radioactive traces from the damaged Japanese nuclear plant at Fukushima have been detected in the air above Switzerland but they pose no threat, Swiss authorities say.
The Federal Health Office said the traces, found at 6,000 metres above sea level, were “extremely minor”. [ . . . ]
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Preventing the Next Nuclear Meltdown -- Victor Gilinski
From: Gordon Edwards
Sent: Friday, March 25, 2011 12:42 PM
Subject: Preventing the Next Nuclear Meltdown -- Victor Gilinski
Background:
Victor Gilinsky was one of the five Commissioners of the US NRC (Nuclear
Regulatory Commission) during President Carter's years in office.
At that time he was very forthright in exposing the nuclear industry's campaign of disinformation on the issue of nuclear weapons proliferation -- citizens and decision-makers were being told that you cannot make an atomic bomb from reactor-grade plutonium. This assertion is entirely false, and Commissioner Gilinski did not mince words in setting the record straight.
On this topic, he is quoted in a number of CCNR's early documents: see
http://ccnr.org/Stop_and_Think.html for example.
In an important article [below], Victor Gilinski now warns against the dangers of refurbishing old reactors whose standards were inadequate to begin with, because they were based on false assumptions and invalid design calculations.
Although he is talking about US reactors, Canadians and others should take note!
Gordon Edwards
www.ccnr.org
===============
Preventing the Next Nuclear Meltdown http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/67667/
victor-gilinsky/preventing-the-next-nuclear-meltdown
The Lessons of the Fukushima Disaster for U.S. Nuclear Policy
Victor Gilinsky, Foreign Affairs Online, March 21, 2011
Summary:
As Japan's ongoing nuclear crisis shows, older reactors are the most vulnerable to failure. Aging nuclear plants pose a risk in the United States as well, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission must enforce up-to-date safety standards more forcefully -- or risk the possibility of a disaster.
VICTOR GILINSKY is a physicist and an energy consultant. He served on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission from 1975 to 1979 and was the senior commissioner in charge during the first day of the Three Mile Island accident in 1979.
- - - -
By now everyone has seen the videos of explosions at Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant and the aerial photos of what looks like the result of a World War II bombing. The Fukushima accident has revived the long-dormant issue of nuclear safety, and these indelible images will no doubt accompany all future debates over nuclear energy. Lately, policy discussions have focused on expanding the role of nuclear power; they must now shift to making sure the existing nuclear plants, and especially the older ones, meet strict contemporary standards.
MORE:
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/ ... -gilinsky/
preventing-the-next-nuclear-meltdown
=================
7. World Health Organization vigil continues
http://www.beyondnuclear.org/home/2011/3/26/
world-health-organization-vigil-continues.html
Mar26, 2011
The World Health Organization cannot make any comment or decision regarding nuclear energy without deferring to the International Atomic Energy Agency which actively promotes nuclear power. On Friday, Dr. Alexey Yablokov, a Russian expert on Chernobyl, referred to this conflict in pointing out why his book - which found likely one million deaths as a result of the Chernobyl accident - has been met with silence by agencies like the WHO. A daily vigil outside WHO headquarters in Geneva continues. Dr. Yablokov's co-author, the late Vassili Nesterenko (far left), along with Yablokov (left) and many others have actively participated in the vigil. As Oliver Tickell wrote in The Guardian: the 1959 agreement gave "the IAEA an effective veto on any actions by the WHO that relate in any way to nuclear power – and so prevent the WHO from playing its proper role in investigating and warning of the dangers of nuclear radiation on human health." The WHO vigil is now entering its 204th consecutive week.
= = =
Deal between IAEA and WHO Denied
http://pgs.ca/wp-content/uploads/2008/0 ... proof3.pdf
Physicans for Global Survival Newsletter – Winter 2011 – page. 3
IAEA, WHO and Chernobyl: At a book-launching in Ottawa, Rauf Tariq, Head of the Verification and Security Policy Coordination, Vienna International Centre, utterly denied both the seniority conveyed by the reporting structure of the two agencies and the control exerted by the IAEA over radiation-health research to WHO. The pronouncements by WHO which illustrate the “precautionary principle” of 1956 and in 1958 are the last public statements made by the World Health Organization on concern about radiation and health. After 1959, it became
“unconcerned”. This sounds like a topic for further research.
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8. GENERAL ELECTRIC IN THE NUKE BUSINESS
http://forum.stopthehogs.com/phpBB2/vie ... php?t=1056
GE, World's Largest Corporation, Paid Zero Dollars in U.S. Taxes Last Year
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/540426/
ge%2C_world%27s_largest_corporation%2C_paid_zero_dollars_in_u.s._taxes_last_year/#paragraph6
By Lauren Kelley | Sourced from 358
Posted at March 25, 2011, 9:36 am
You know how we've been covering the efforts of U.S. Uncut, the growing campaign to stop corporate tax dodgers from exploiting overseas tax havens? Well here's an excellent example of why such efforts are desperately needed, from the front page of the New York Times: General Electric, the nation’s largest corporation, had a very good year in 2010.
The company reported worldwide profits of $14.2 billion, and said $5.1 billion of the total came from its operations in the United States. Its American tax bill? None. In fact, G.E. claimed a tax benefit of $3.2 billion. How can that be, you ask? [ . . . ]
= = = =
HAZARDS OF BOILING WATER REACTORS IN THE UNITED STATES
http://www.nirs.org/factsheets/bwrfact.htm
BACKGROUND
Of the 104 operational nuclear power reactors in the United States, thirty-five are boiling water reactors (BWR). General Electric is the sole designer and manufacturer of BWRs in the United States. The BWR's distinguishing feature is that the reactor vessel serves as the boiler for the nuclear steam supply system. The steam is generated in the reactor vessel by the controlled fissioning of enriched uranium fuel which passes directly to the turbogenerator to generate electricity.
- - - SNIP - - -
Here are copies of the three original AEC memos, including Hendrie's:
November 11, 1971:
outlines problems with the design and pressure suppression system containment.
http://www.nirs.org/reactorwatch/accidents/
19711117-hanauer-memo-bwr-pressure-suppression-containment.pdf
September 20, 1971:
memo from Steven Hanauer recommends that U.S. stop licensing reactors using pressure suppression system
http://www.nirs.org/reactorwatch/accidents/
19720920-hanauer-memo-pressure-suppression-containments.pdf
September 25, 1972:
memo from Joseph Hendrie (top safety official at AEC) agrees with recommendation but rejects it saying it "could well mean the end of nuclear power..."
http://www.nirs.org/reactorwatch/accidents/
19720925-hendrie-pressure-suppression-concerns-end-of-nucl~1.pdf
MORE:
http://www.nirs.org/factsheets/bwrfact.htm
= = = = =
Fukushima Reactors Designed By General Electric Also Used In U.S. Have Serious Design Flaws (See articles below…Ed.)
http://stretchingminds.wordpress.com/2011/03/15/
fukushima-reactors-designed-by-general-electric-also-used-used-in-u-s-have-serious-design-flaws/
March 15, 2011
The jest of the design flaws, and implications for U.S. reactors, is this. An earthquake is not needed for this to happen, only a failure of some sort.
The design of the Fukushima reactors was also used in 23 nuclear plants operating in the US in Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Vermont.
There is no way to vent the hydrogen gas during a reactor failure. This is what caused generator buildings to explode in Fukushima.
This design also features huge pools of waste water high up in the containment building that hold huge amounts of old radioactive material. Robert Alvarez, a former nuclear energy adviser to President Bill Clinton says if just one reactor fails it can release several times the amount of radiation as was released at Chernobyl because each pool contains 5 to 10 times as much material as the reactor itself.
= = = = =
Nuclear Reactor Design Caused GE Scientists To Quit In Protest
http://beforeitsnews.com/story/490/400/
Nuclear_Reactor_Design_Caused_GE_Scientist_To_Quit_In_Protest.html
March 17, 2011
Thirty-five years ago, Dale G. Bridenbaugh and two of his colleagues at General Electric resigned from their jobs after becoming increasingly convinced that the nuclear reactor design they were reviewing -- the Mark 1 -- was so flawed it could lead to a devastating accident.
Questions persisted for decades about the ability of the Mark 1 to handle the immense pressures that would result if the reactor lost cooling power, and today that design is being put to the ultimate test in Japan. Five of the six reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, which has been wracked since Friday's earthquake with explosions and radiation leaks, are Mark 1s. [ . . . ]
- - - - -
The Idiocy and Hubris of Engineers: Will GE Get Whacked for the Catastrophic Failure of its Nuk Plants in Fukushira?
http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/node/509
Mon, 03/14/2011 – 12:44 by: Dave Lindorff
GE, the company that boasts that it “brings good things to life,” was the designer of the nuclear plants that are blowing up like hot popcorn kernels at the Fukushima Dai-ichi generating plant north of Tokyo that was hit by the double-whammy of an 8.9 earthquake and a huge tsunami. [ . . . ]
Related Story: http://www.vancouverobserver.com/world/asia/2011/03/15/
japan-spent-fuel-rods-pose-danger-worse-chernobyl
= = = = = =
NIRS: Calls for Permanent Shutdown of 23 US General Electric Mark-I Reactors - Same Design as Fukushima
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2011/03/22-20
Calls Design Flaws Fundamental--Cannot Be Fixed
A list of the 23 US GE Mark I reactors is here:
http://www.nirs.org/reactorwatch/accide ... rsinus.pdf
WASHINGTON - March 22 - Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) has launched a new campaign to permanently close the 23 General Electric Mark I reactors currently operating in the United States.
More than 3800 people have sent letters to President Obama, Congress and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in support of permanent shutdown just since Saturday afternoon (March 19), when a website was first set up to encourage such letters:
(http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5502/p/dia/action/
public/?action_KEY=6111).
The action was added on Monday to Change.org:
http://www.change.org/petitions/
its-time-demand-permanent-shutdown-of-ge-mark-i-reactors-in-the-us#?opt_new=f&opt_fb=f
“For nearly 40 years, top U.S. safety officials at the Atomic Energy Commission and later the Nuclear Regulatory Commission have warned about the safety shortcomings of the GE Mark I design,” said Michael Mariotte, executive director of NIRS. “A 1972 recommendation that the U.S. stop licensing the design was accepted on technical grounds but denied by the AEC’s top safety official, Joseph Hendrie, because it ‘could very well be the end of nuclear power.’ In 1986 Harold Denton, then the top safety official at the NRC, warned that Mark I containments have a 90% probability of failing under accident conditions.”
Despite these warnings, the NRC has not only allowed these reactors to continue operating, 21 of the 23 already have received license renewals to operate an additional 20 years, including the highly controversial Vermont Yankee reactor yesterday. There was no examination of the fundamental design flaws during the renewal application process for any of these 21 reactors, as the issue is considered generic and only site-specific issues are allowed to be heard in the license renewal process.
MORE:
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2011/03/22-20
==================
9. Resolution in Parliament supports nuclear weapons convention – Dec. 2010
http://ottawa.mcc.org/stories/news/
canadian-parliament-resolution-supports-nuclear-weapons-convention
Jennifer Wiebe 12/20/2010
On December 7, the House of Commons gave its unanimous consent to adopt a motion from the Senate supporting a number of initiatives for nuclear disarmament.
Submitted by Bill Siksay—NDP MP and Chair of the Canadian section of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament (PNND)—the motion called on the government to engage in negotiations for a Nuclear Weapons Convention as outlined in the UN Secretary General's five-point plan.
First introduced by Conservative Senator Hugh Segal on June 2, the motion received unanimous support in the Senate following the release of a letter from 536 recipients of the Order of Canada, which urged the Canadian government to take a lead role in endorsing and supporting a Nuclear Weapons Convention.
The House of Commons and Senate have now achieved a common resolution.
While not binding, this resolution is a significant moment for Canada's Parliament. In expressing a united voice between the House and the Senate, this joint action has garnered government attention and laid the groundwork for a national debate.
================
10. Depleted uranium: a strange way to protect Libyan civilians (Graphics)
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php? ... &aid=23985
by David Wilson
Global Research, March 27, 2011
http://www.globalresearch.ca/
Stop the War Coalition - 2011-03-26
http://stopwar.org.uk/content/view/2321/27/
"[uranium tipped missiles] fit the description of a dirty bomb in every way... I would say that it is the perfect weapon for killing lots of people." - Marion Falk, chemical physicist (retd), Lawrence Livermore Lab, California, USA
In the first 24 hours of the Libyan attack, US B-2s dropped forty-five 2,000-pound bombs. These massive bombs, along with the Cruise missiles launched from British and French planes and ships, all contained depleted uranium (DU) warheads.
DU is the waste product from the process of enriching uranium ore. It is used in nuclear weapons and reactors. Because it is a very heavy substance, 1.7 times denser than lead, it is highly valued by the military for its ability to punch through armored vehicles and buildings. When a weapon made with a DU tip strikes a solid object like the side of a tank, it goes straight through it, then erupts in a burning cloud of vapor. The vapor settles as dust, which is not only poisonous, but also radioactive.
An impacting DU missile burns at 10,000 degrees C. When it strikes a target, 30% fragments into shrapnel. The remaining 70% vaporises into three highly-toxic oxides, including uranium oxide. This black dust remains suspended in the air and, according to wind and weather, can travel over great distances. If you think Iraq and Libya are far away, remember that radiation from Chernobyl reached Wales.
Particles less than 5 microns in diameter are easily inhaled and may remain in the lungs or other organs for years. Internalized DU can cause kidney damage, cancers of the lung and bone, skin disorders, neurocognitive disorders, chromosome damage, immune deficiency syndromes and rare kidney and bowel diseases. Pregnant women exposed to DU may give birth to infants with genetic defects. Once the dust has vaporised, don't expect the problem to go away soon. As an alpha particle emitter, DU has a half life of 4.5 billion years.
In the 'shock and awe' attack on Iraq, more than 1,500 bombs and missiles were dropped on Baghdad alone. Seymour Hersh has claimed that the US Third Marine Aircraft Wing alone dropped more than "five hundred thousand tons of ordnance". All of it DU-tipped.
Al Jazeera reported that invading US forces fired two hundred tons of radioactive material into buildings, homes, streets and gardens of Baghdad. A reporter from the Christian Science Monitor took a Geiger counter to parts of the city that had been subjected to heavy shelling by US troops. He found radiation levels 1,000 to 1,900 times higher than normal in residential areas. With its population of 26 million, the US dropped a one-ton bomb for every 52 Iraqi citizens or 40 pounds of explosives per person.
William Hague has said that we are in Libya " to protect civilians and civilian-populated areas".You don't have to look far for who and what are being 'protected'.
In that first 24 hours the 'Allies' 'expended' £100 million on DU-tipped ordnance. The European Union's arms control report said member states issued licences in 2009 for the sale of £293.2 million worth of weapons and weapons systems to Libya. Britain issued arms firms licences for the sale of £21.7 million worth of weaponry to Libya and were also paid by Colonel Gadaffi to send the SAS to train his 32nd Brigade.
For the next 4.5 billion years, I'll bet that William Hague will not be holidaying in North Africa.
= = = = =
'US drops uranium bombs on Libya'
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/171881.html
Sun Mar 27, 2011 2:36PM
The Stop the War Coalition says the bombs and missiles that the US-led military alliance has dropped on several Libyan cities contain depleted uranium (DU).
The report recently published on the Coalition's website said that in the first 24 hours of the war on Libya, dozens of bombs and cruise missiles were launched by US, British, and French forces -- all with depleted uranium warheads.
US B-2 aircraft dropped forty-five 2,000-pound bombs on key Libyan cities, it added.
DU munitions are controversial because they raise long-term health concerns like kidney damage, cancer, skin disorders and genetic defects.
"[Depleted uranium tipped missiles] fit the description of a dirty bomb in every way... I would say that it is the perfect weapon for killing lots of people," said Marion Falk, chemical physicist (retd.), Lawrence Livermore Lab in California.
The report comes as the Western forces claim the operation in Libya is aimed at protecting civilians. [ . . . ]
====================
11. LIBYA UPDATE
Who are the Libyan Freedom Fighters and Their Patrons?
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23947
By Prof. Peter Dale ScottGlobal Research, March 25, 2011
The Asia-Pacific Journal Vol 9, Issue 13 No 3, March 28, 2011.
http://japanfocus.org/-Peter_Dale-Scott/3504
Peter Dale Scott's Libyan Notebook
[Editor's Note: Author's selected quotations and analysis]
Preface
The world is facing a very unpredictable and potentially dangerous situation in North Africa and the Middle East. What began as a memorable, promising, relatively nonviolent achievement of New Politics - the Revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt - has morphed very swiftly into a recrudescence of old habits: America, already mired in two decade-long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and sporadic air attacks in Yemen and Somalia, now, bombing yet another Third World Country, in this case Libya.
The initially stated aim of this bombing was to diminish Libyan civilian casualties. But many, senior figures in Washington, including President Obama, have indicated that the US is gearing up for a quite different war for regime change, one that may well be protracted and could also easily expand beyond Libya.1 If it does expand, the hope for a nonviolent transition to civilian government in Tunisia and Egypt and other Middle East nations experiencing political unrest, may be lost to a hard-edged militarization of government, especially in Egypt. All of us, not just Egyptians, have a major stake in seeing that that does not happen.
The present article does not attempt to propose solutions or a course of action for the United States and its allies, or for the people of the Middle East. It attempts rather to examine the nature of the forces that have emerged in Libya over the last four decades that are presently being played out.
To this end I have begun to compile what I call my Libyan Notebook, a collection of relevant facts that underlie the present crisis. This Notebook will be judgmental, in that I am biased towards collecting facts that the US media tend to ignore, facts that are the product in many instances of investigative reporting that cuts to the heart of power relations, deep structures, and economic interests in the region including the US, Israel, and the Arab States as these have played out over the last two decades and more. But I hope that it will be usefully objective and open-ended, permitting others to draw diverse conclusions from the same set of facts.2
I wish to begin with two ill-understood topics: I. Who Are the Libyan Opposition, and II. Where Are the Libyan Rebel Arms Coming From?
MORE:
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23947
= = = = = =
Canadian general to lead Libya mission
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7666&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
Posted: 25 Mar 2011 08:42 PM PDT
Canadian Lieutenant-General Charles Bouchard has been tapped to lead the no-fly and arms-embargo elements of the Libya intervention now that NATO has agreed to run those operations (Daniel Leblanc, “Canadian general to take command of NATO mission in Libya,” Globe and Mail, 25 March 2011). However, the Alliance has not yet formally agreed to run [...]
= = = = = = =
Military budget growth set to continue
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7638&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
Posted: 23 Mar 2011 01:38 PM PDT
The new federal budget, presented on Tuesday by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, confirms last year’s pledge of somewhat delayed, but continued, growth in Canada’s military spending. The chart above, drawn from last year’s budget documents, depicts the continued upward path of Canadian military spending as projected by the government. It is worth noting that the [...]
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Stop arms shipments to Saudi Arabia: Rideau Institute
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7632&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
Posted: 21 Mar 2011 12:42 PM PDT
The Rideau Institute is calling on the Canadian government to prevent further shipments to Saudi Arabia of military vehicles made in Canada, and to institute an embargo on the export of all military goods to the region during the current political turmoil. On March 14, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates entered [...]
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12. Canadian-made armoured vehicles enter Bahrain
http://www.ceasefire.ca/?p=7585
March 15, 2011
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates sent troops into neighbouring Bahrain on Monday in an effort to shore up the Bahraini government, which has been facing escalating demands for democratic reform. An estimated 1200 soldiers from the Saudi National Guard and 800 from the UAE entered the country from Saudi Arabia, ostensibly to help protect public infrastructure (Ethan Bronner & Michael Slackman, “Saudi Troops Enter Bahrain to Help Put Down Unrest,” New York Times, 14 March 2011).
[ http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/15/world ... .html?_r=2 ]
The video above shows Saudi humvees, troop trucks, other support vehicles, and light armoured vehicles (LAVs) driving into Bahrain.
During the 1990s and early 2000s Canada sold more than 1200 LAVs built by General Motors Diesel Division (now General Dynamics Land Systems Canada) of London, Ontario to the Saudi National Guard.
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13. Partnership of Equals
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23906
By Fidel Castro Ruz
Global Research, March 24, 2011
Cuba Debate - 2011-03-23
Saturday evening, the 19th, after a sumptuous banquet, NATO leaders ordered the attack on Libya.
Of course, nothing could occur without the United States claiming its irrefutable role as supreme leader. From its command post of that institution in Europe, a senior official declared that “Odyssey Dawn” was about to begin.
World public opinion was deeply touched by the tragedy in Japan . The number of victims of the earthquake, the tsunami and the nuclear accident has kept on growing. By now there are thousands of dead, missing and radiation contaminated. Resistance to the use of nuclear energy will also grow considerably.
The world is suffering, at the same time, the consequences of climatic changes; shortages and prices of foods, military spending and the squandering of natural and human resources are increasing. War was the timeliest event that could happen at this time.
Obama’s trip through Latin America moved into the background, people were hardly paying any attention to it. In Brazil , the contradictory interests between the United States and this sister nation have become evident.
We cannot forget that Rio de Janeiro competed with Chicago to host the 2016 Olympic Games.
MORE:
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23906
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14. Africa Must Unite Against Neocolonialism And Imperialism
http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=76066&s2=22
By Justice Afrikhan. March 21, 2011
Over half a century ago, one of Africa’s most illustrious sons, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah fearlessly fought for and led the present day Ghana to achieve independence from British colonial rule. At the time, Nkrumah did not only believe that the Blackman was capable of managing or worse still, mismanaging his own affairs, but he also foresaw and exposed the subtle machinations and exploitations by the Western powers to perpetually maintain the status quo by ensuring that the African continent and indeed most part of the world remained divided and for that matter incapacitated economically, politically, and most importantly militarily...It was therefore no surprising that the western powers, especially the Americans who saw Nkrumah as a real treat to their exploitation of the black race particularly, and the rest of the word orchestrated the overthrow of his regime, of course with the connivance of certain inward looking selfish African brothers and impliedly facilitated the demise of his vision for a United States of Africa. Again, it is not surprising that over four decades down the line, the US, UK, and France are leading a military attack against Lybia, which is one of the few most endowed and prosperous countries in Africa in terms of natural resources (oil). The fundamental reason for the attack is to ostensibly ensure the overthrow of the regime of Colonel Muamar Ghadafy who has presided over his country for more than forty years to be replaced! by unna med armed "Libyan rebel group" supported by America and her allies. Isn’t it interesting?...
MORE:
http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=76066&s2=22
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15. Iraqis Take to the Streets, Call for Real Democracy
http://www.truth-out.org/
for-iraqs-unemployed-nothing-has-changed-eight-years68633
David Bacon | Friday 25 March 2011
The war in Iraq is supposedly over. The US administration says the occupation, which began on March 20 eight years ago, is ending as well, with the withdrawal of US combat troops. But as the US, Great Britain and France begin another military intervention in North Africa, their respective administrations are silent about the price Iraqis are paying for the last one.
The Iraqis, however, are not remaining silent. Demonstrations have taken place in Baghdad, Basra and Kirkuk, among other cities, calling on the US in particular to stop its escalating military intervention in Libya. Iraqi unions have been especially vocal, linking the US invasion of Iraq with continued misery for its working people. According to one union representative, Abdullah Muhsin of the General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW), "Eight years have ended since the fall of Saddam's regime, yet the empty promises of the 'liberators' - the invaders and the occupiers who promised Iraqis heaven and earth - were simply lies, lies and lies." [ . . . ]
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16. BOOK: Earth into Property: Colonization, Decolonization, and Capitalism (Paperback) by Anthony J. Hall (author)
http://www.amazon.ca/
product-reviews/077353122X/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=
REVIEW by John Duddy (Calgary, Alberta) Mar 24 2011
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QUOTE: "The attack goes on; Canada now runs with the big boys; our uranium (depleted) falls on brown people in the Middle East."
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Call to Action, before it's too late.
Readers, get this vital book for your library, for your future, for your children, for your Member of Parliament, for your Congressman/Senator/President.
You have never read North American history from this panoramic perspective. Here is a call to humanity... "Get active or get Radio-active".
The book is too heavy to read in bed; you need to study it at the kitchen table. Then shout a wake-up call to politicians on all sides.
Weeks will pass as you absorb this encyclopedic history viewed through the eyes of a former Native American studies professor, now professor of Globalization based in Blackfoot Country, Alberta.
Our future is grim if we allow the secret rulers to continue expanding criminal aggression through corporate manipulated greed.
Since 1492 the settlers in the New World have acquired the property of other landowners, sweeping across the planet through the Americas to Asia, into the Middle East, Hawaii and Africa; they want it all. The great sucking sound of territorial acquisition seems endless; democracy has been sucked up. Social justice has been destroyed by corporate greed starting with the theft of Native American land.
Globalization, corporate fascism, banker fraud, the biggest theft in history added to the
creation of the global war on terror, the war on drugs, endless wars for oil and resources, global pollution, depleted uranium used liberally polluting us all, new wars for democracy abroad, while democracy has been extinguished at home all add up to a bleak future for humanity. And Dr. Hall rejects the official 9/11, 2001 conspiracy theory foisted on the world.
The attacks on New York and the Pentagon were designed to justify and expand the grab for wealth, energy and resources worldwide.
Dr. Hall compares the treatment of indigenous peoples by Canadian and US authorities; neither government emerges with glowing pride.
You will read details of US, British Columbian and Canadian development of former Indian lands; you will find information not taught in school.
The attack goes on; Canada now runs with the big boys; our uranium (depleted) falls on brown people in the Middle East.
Every school library needs this history; every student needs this information; well done Dr. Hall.
Brace yourself; the damage done by the Evil Empire (with Canadian help) has a half life of 4.5 billion years.
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17. 'Barefoot' grandmothers electrify rural communities
http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/innovation/01/24/
barefoot.college.india/index.html
January 26, 2011
(CNN) -- Turning grandmothers into solar engineers is one of Sanjit "Bunker" Roy's favorite jobs.
Roy is the social entrepreneur and founder of the Barefoot College and has been championing a bottom-up approach to education and empowering rural poor since 1972.
It is now a global enterprise with roots in India. Roy recruits women from around the world to install and maintain solar lighting and power in their home villages.
"If you ask any solar engineer in the world, 'Can anyone make this in a village?' they say it's technically impossible. And if I say a grandmother is making it who is illiterate, he can't believe it, it's beyond his comprehension," says Roy.
The United Nations estimates that around 1.5 billion people still live without electricity, and often the best and most immediate way to bring non-polluting electricity to remote regions is with solar energy.
Roy certainly believes so.
"The way to go about this is not a centralized grid system, which brings in power from hundreds of miles away," he says.
"It is to bring in basic light right down to the level of basic household wherein they take ownership and control over that technology."
Women are the focus for the solar power projects that the Barefoot College runs because men "were very untrainable," says Roy.
"(Men) were restless, compulsively mobile, and they all want a certificate and the moment you give them a certificate they leave the village and go to the cities looking for jobs.
"So why not invest in women, older women, mature women, gutsy women who have roots in the village and train them."
Coming from countries across the world, the women are trained for six months before returning home. Many of the women have previously never left their villages before.
MORE:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/innovation/01/24/
barefoot.college.india/index.html
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18. Harper government falls, Barlow comments on upcoming election
http://www.canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=7172
March 25, 2011
Just moments ago, a House of Commons vote of non-confidence in the Harper Conservative government passed and we now appear headed for a Monday May 2 election.
The Council of Canadians will be fully engaged over this six-week election campaign.
Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow said this afternoon, "The Council of Canadians focuses on critical issues and highlights to Canadians our shared values, concerns and priorities for social, environmental and economic justice. We do not tell anyone who to vote for, nor do we advocate strategic voting. This enables every Canadian to make an individual choice on voting day. But, at the same time, we must highlight the negative implications of another Conservative minority government, or worse, a Conservative majority government. Most Canadians have not voted for the Harper Conservatives in the last three elections. Stopping the Conservatives from gaining power in this election will be a win in and of itself. We continue to believe that the best likely outcome is a coalition government - based on a progressive policy platform. And whoever forms the next government, the Council of Canadians will hold them accountable to the demands of millions of Canadians for climate, trade, health care and water justice."
For daily updates, blogs, media releases, materials, statements, action alerts and much more during this election, please visit
http://www.canadians.org.
To read selected campaign blogs written in the lead-up to this election, please see:
(January) NEWS: A federal election this spring?,
http://www.canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=5891;
(January) NEWS: Federal election speculation continues,
http://www.canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=6230;
(February) NEWS: Border security likely to be major election issue,
http://www.canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=6280; and
(March) UPDATE: Key ridings, demographics for the May 2 election,
http://www.canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=7140.
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19. Yes, contempt of Parliament does matter
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/
962022--walkom-yes-contempt-of-parliament-does-matter
March 25, 2011 Thomas Walkom
The Conservatives say their government’s contemptuous approach to Parliament doesn’t matter. They are wrong.
They are wrong on any number of levels. The most basic is the most obvious. For all of its imperfections (and they are many), the only thing close to a democratic national body in Canada is the House of Commons.
To be contemptuous of its members is to disdain those who elected them. Canadians get precious few chances to determine what their leaders do. When voters elected a minority government in 2008, they were signalling that they didn’t trust Stephen Harper’s Conservatives (or indeed any other party) to run the nation’s business single-handed.
Instead, they wanted the opposition parties to check government — to act as watchdogs, moderate its ideological excesses and keep it in line.
But throughout the life of this now-dead Parliament, Prime Minister Stephen Harper refused to accept the voters’ verdict. His decision to operate as if he controlled a majority of Commons seats may have been good short-term politics. But it contradicted both the spirit and reality of the very limited mandate voters had given him.
Had he stopped there, Harper’s approach might have been excused. The fact that his government survived as long as it did can be blamed in large part on the opposition’s failure to call his bluff earlier
What cannot be excused is the attitude behind this approach. True, Harper is not the Great Satan that some paint him to be. He is thoughtful and intelligent. Those who know him far better than I credit him with a sense of humour.
But there is a bitterness to this prime minister that has infected his entire caucus. All politicians are partisan by definition. Harper’s partisanship is over the top. He not only disagrees with Canadians who are liberals and left-leaners. He seems to despise them.
All of this was manifest before he took over the merged Conservative Party. In those days, he disparaged what he called the moral failings of liberals, calling them nihilists bent on the destruction of western values.
In power, his rhetoric was often more restrained. But as former nuclear regulator Linda Keen found, those he believed tainted by Liberalism could expect no mercy. Keen was axed in 2007 because she insisted that Canadian nuclear plants have back-up power systems — systems we now know that Japan’s ill-fated Fukushima reactors famously lacked.
But her real sin was to have been appointed to by a previous Liberal government. That, Harper suggested, made her inherently untrustworthy.
Opposition MPs and others who had the temerity to disagree with the government were given equally short shrift. Canadians who questioned Ottawa’s handling of Afghan prisoners were treated as traitors. Richard Colvin, the veteran diplomat who testified to this mistreatment, was savagely and personally attacked.
MORE:
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/
962022--walkom-yes-contempt-of-parliament-does-matter
1. Saskatchewan town wants nuclear waste site
2. Anti-nuclear campaigner attacks expansion of Darlington
3. Pickering Nuclear experienced a brief partial loss of power on its Unit 1 reactor, while performing start up activities.
4. Uranium mining rejected at Iqaluit public forum/Dr. Cole letter
5. No Nukes News - March 26, 2011
6. Fukushima and Chernobyl (8 articles)
7. World Health Organization vigil continues
8. GENERAL ELECTRIC IN THE NUKE BUSINESS
9. Resolution in Parliament supports nuclear weapons convention – Dec. 2010
10. Depleted uranium: a strange way to protect Libyan civilians (Graphics)
11. LIBYA UPDATE
12. Canadian-made armoured vehicles enter Bahrain
13. Partnership of Equals
14. Africa Must Unite Against Neocolonialism And Imperialism
15. Iraqis Take to the Streets, Call for Real Democracy
16. BOOK: Earth into Property: Colonization, Decolonization, and Capitalism (Paperback) by Anthony J. Hall (author)
17. 'Barefoot' grandmothers electrify rural communities
18. Harper government falls, Barlow comments on upcoming election
19. Yes, contempt of Parliament does matter
==============
1. Saskatchewan town wants nuclear waste site
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/
story/2011/03/16/sk-creighton-nuclear-1103.html
CBC News Posted: Mar 16, 2011
A northern Saskatchewan town has formally announced it is interested in storing Canada's nuclear waste The town council of Creighton, which is next to the border with Manitoba, recently voted to enter the site selection process.
The Nuclear Waste Management Organization will now study the area to see if it will work.
Saskatchewan has no nuclear power plants, but provinces that do are running out of room to store spent fuel on-site.
The industry is looking at trucking nuclear waste to a central storage site, where it can be buried deep underground.
[ In light of the earthquake disaster at Japanese nuclear power plants, should Saskatchewan worry about the expansion of its own nuclear industry? Market Research -
View Results:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/
story/2011/03/16/sk-creighton-nuclear-1103.html
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2. Anti-nuclear campaigner attacks expansion of Darlington
http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/960365
March 25, 2011 John Spears
Dr. Helen Caldicott’s message to a panel weighing a proposal for two new nuclear reactors at Darlington Nuclearl Generating Station was stark and unequivocal: “No radiation is safe.”
The veteran anti-nuclear campaigner launched a scathing attack on nuclear energy and its advocates before the panel, warning: “Increasing background radiation is going to increase cancer.”
It wasn’t comforting. It wasn’t meant to be.
“Every male in the northern hemisphere has a tiny load of plutonium in his testicles from nuclear (weapons) testing days,” Caldicott says, as men in the audience squirmed.
She wasn’t finished.
If a man is cremated, she observed, the plutonium goes up the chimney, where it can be breathed in by another man, and lodge in his testicles.
Caldicott related with relish that she had once had a paper rejected by an academic journal, which said she had neglected to say anything positive about nuclear energy. Caldicott said she had nothing good to say.
Her message was a stark contrast to the measured tones of Ontario Power Generation, the agency tasked with generating and selling electricity in Ontario, which insisted the project poses no credible risk.
MORE:
http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/960365
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3. Pickering Nuclear experienced a brief partial loss of power on its Unit 1 reactor, while performing start up activities.
http://www.opg.com/power/nuclear/report ... pdates.asp
Special Interest Station Updates - Q1, 2011
Low level event
[Mar. 26, 2011]: On Mar. 25, Pickering Nuclear experienced a brief partial loss of power on its Unit 1 reactor, while performing start up activities.
Standby systems automatically restored the power, with no impact on employee, public or equipment safety.
Pickering's operating staff responded according to procedure and notified the proper authorities of this low level, but reportable event.
Start up activities resumed on Unit 1, following a maintenance outage.
Pickering Units 4, 6, 7 and 8 are all operating at or near full power, while planned maintenance outage work on Unit 5 continues.
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Low impact filtered water release to environment
[MAR. 15, 2011]: On March 14 Pickering Nuclear had an unintended water release into the environment.
The event was a low level regulatory event with only negligible effect to the environment and no public health implications.
A pump seal failure at the Pickering Nuclear A station released an estimated 73,000 litres of filtered water to Lake Ontario on March 14. (This is a conservative estimated calculation for the maximum possible release.) The release was attributed to a faulty pump seal. The release was immediately stopped upon discovery and the pump seal is being replaced.
The filtered (demineralised) water contained trace amounts of tritium, far below any regulatory limits. Routine content of tritium in water at local water treatment plants is generally between six and 10 becquerels per litre some of which is naturally occurring in Lake Ontario and some from the nuclear station and other sources. The estimates of the maximum potential impact of this release means a tritium increase of .56 becquerels per litre, still well within normal range.
The provincial standard for tritium in drinking water is 7,000 becqerels per litre. All appropriate regulatory agencies and stakeholders were notified.
From a regulatory perspective, this is a very low level event. There is no impact to quality of drinking water.
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Questions? For more information on the Station Updates listed, contact: Kevin Powers, Director, Public Affairs at (416) 592-8470.
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4. Uranium mining rejected at Iqaluit public forum/Dr. Cole letter
http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2011/03/18/
nunavut-uranium-iqaluit-forum.html
Inuit attack Nunavut Tunngavik for supporting development
CBC website, March 18, 2011
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QUOTE: The Nunavut government is holding another public forum in Baker Lake on March 30 and 31. It will then go to Cambridge Bay on April 12 and 13.
Those who cannot attend the meetings in person can also send in comments online, or by email, phone, fax or postal mail.”
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Many Nunavummiut who attended a uranium forum Thursday night said they do not want uranium mining in Nunavut, while some even attacked the territory's Inuit group for supporting uranium development.
More than 120 people in Iqaluit came out to the public forum, which was organized by the Nunavut government as it works on developing its own policy on uranium mining in the territory.
After hearing presentations from eight panellists on the topic, most of those who came up to the microphone made it clear that they want nothing to do with uranium mining.
"For me, there's about four industries that we should never go into, and they're asbestos, uranium, the tobacco industry, and building of weapons," said Madeleine Cole, a family doctor in the city. [ . . . ]
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An open letter from an Iqaluit physician about Uranium Mining in Nunmavut – by Madeleine Cole, Iqaluit
http://forum.stopthehogs.com/phpBB2/
viewtopic.php?t=1055&sid=b991ab1f78be9677b747abfb7638ed44
Government of Nunavut
Uranium Consultation
March 15, 2011
Dear Premier Aariak,
Thank you for inviting the opinions of Nunavummiut on uranium.
I am writing to you as a parent, a physician and as someone who cares deeply about the future of Nunavut. I have not been shy to speak out against nuclear energy and specifically uranium mining. Part of my professional role as a doctor is to advocate for the health and well being of the people I care for, and it is definitely my job as a
parent to do this.
While I do understand fully how important it is for us to build job opportunities and revenue, there are few legal industries that are so deeply unethical that I feel Nunavut should never consider getting involved with them and they are uranium, military arms, and the tobacco industry.
As a member of Physicians for Global Survival (the Canadian chapter of the Nobel prize winning group International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War), being wary of nuclear energy in all it forms comes easily to me. At the PGS website (www.pgs.ca) you can read about why many physicians are calling for a ban on uranium mining.
The College of Family Physicians of Ontario has called for a ban on uranium mining as has CAPE (Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment). The provinces of British Columbia and Nova Scotia have a permanent ban on uranium mining because that is what their voting public has demanded. As you well know, Greenland maintains its ‘No Uranium stand’ while other parts of Inuit Nunaat have current moratoriums or are struggling with the issue.
The current map of Uranium mines in Saskatchewan matches fairly closely with rural Aboriginal communities, who like Nunavut communities were looking for ways to foster economic independence.
But why is it okay for such a toxic industry to be accepted on Aboriginal land, when the Canadian mainstream in BC and Nova Scotia and everywhere else in the country have said ‘no way, not on our land’?
MORE:
http://forum.stopthehogs.com/phpBB2/
viewtopic.php?t=1055&sid=b991ab1f78be9677b747abfb7638ed44
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5. No Nukes News - March 26, 2011
We have finally arrived at the watershed moment when the fairy tale of nuclear safety is being seriously challenged. - Pan Han-shen, Taiwan’s Green Party
For the best updates on the Japan nuclear crisis see
http://www.beyondnuclear.org/
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Officials suspect dangerous breach at Fukushima nuclear plant
A suspected breach in the reactor at the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant could mean more serious radioactive contamination
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/
960481--officials-suspect-dangerous-breach-at-fukushima-nuclear-plant?bn=1
Japanese nuclear officials fear crack in reactor core
Possible damage at Fukushima nuclear power plant could cause leak of high levels of radiation
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/25/
japanese-nuclear-fear-crack-reactor-core
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Nuclear in the Spotlight – Wed. Mar. 30, Toronto
Wed. March 30th, 7:30 p.m.
Annex Live, 296 Brunswick (at Bloor), Toronto
With performers Mike Ford, Meghan Morrison, Richard Underhill, Michael Louis Johnson, the Raging Grannies and more.
Kevin Kamps from Beyond Nuclear will speak to the current situation in Japan.
Help OCAA turn Ontario away from nuclear and toward safer options.
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=192323914141758
tp://nuclearspotlight.eventbrite.com/
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Nuclear question marks
Public hearings about nuclear reactors are supposed to answer questions. But the first week of hearings into proposed new reactors at the Darlington nuclear site has left some answers hanging.
http://www.thestar.com/business/companies/article/
961876--nuclear-question-marks
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Anti-nuclear campaigner attacks expansion of Darlington
Caldicott marvelled that Canada is considering new reactors in the face of the Fukushima catastrophe. “We are on the precipice of absolute devastation in Japan,” she said.
http://www.thestar.com/business/article/
960365--anti-nuclear-campaigner-attacks-expansion-of-darlington
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Ottawa needs to be weaned from its nuclear obsession
New nuclear reactors – around the entire world – are 100 per cent subsidized. – Amory Lovins
Enough is enough. For environmental reasons, for economic reasons and for political reasons (including nuclear proliferation), the government should end its obsession with nuclear power: Until the industry can buy its own reactors, get rid of its own wastes and pay for its own insurance.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/
commentary/neil-reynolds/ottawa-needs-to-be-weaned-from-its-nuclear-obsession/article1951790/
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Preventing the Next Nuclear Meltdown
The Lessons of the Fukushima Disaster for U.S. Nuclear Policy
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/67667/
victor-gilinsky/preventing-the-next-nuclear-meltdown
Note: The author warns against the dangers of refurbishing old reactors whose standards were inadequate to begin with, because they were based on false assumptions and invalid design calculations. Also, while this article refers to US nuclear policy, Canadians and others should take note.
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We tried the nuclear power experiment -- and it didn't work
Nuclear energy is simply not insurable in the free market. Period.
Nuclear power is simply not worth risk. We tried the nuclear experiment -- it did not work. It is time we cut our losses and started putting all of our financial resources into a portfolio of renewable energy technologies.
http://www.thewhig.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3041655
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Spewing from Meltdowns: Dangerous Plumes of DisinformationThere is no level of radiation exposure, no matter how small, that is harmless. Every federal agency that regulates radioactive pollution agrees.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/03/23-1
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Anishinabe Women Oppose Nuclear Shipment Through Great Lakes
5 minute video.
A group of Anishinabe women are determined to stop a proposed shipment of steam generators contaminated with nuclear waste travelling through the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway.
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2011/03/
anishinabe-women-oppose-nuclear-shipment-through-great-lakes/
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Germany’s solar panels produce more power than Japan’s entire Fukushima complex
http://www.grist.org/article/
2011-03-22-germanys-solar-panels-produce-more-power-than-japans-entire-fuku#comments#comments
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OPG Failure to comply with Undertaking to the Commissioner of Competition
The Ontario Clean Air Alliance has filed an official complaint with the federal Commissioner of Competition, Melanie Aitken, with respect to Ontario Power Generation’s newspaper advertisements which falsely claimed that it had completed its last three major nuclear projects “on budget”. We have asked the Commissioner to penalize OPG for false advertising and to require it to print prominent retractions in every daily newspaper in Ontario.
Please contact melanie.aitken@bc-cb.gc.ca and ask her to investigate our complaint and issue a decision as soon as possible.
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Angela Bischoff, Outreach Director
Ontario Clean Air Alliance
Tel: 416 926 1907 x 246
625 Church Street, #402, Toronto, ON M4Y 2G1
angela@cleanairalliance.org
www.cleanairalliance.org
www.ontariosgreenfuture.ca
Our Facebook Group
No Nukes News
Health Power
Coal Must Go
6. FUKUSHIMA and CHERNOBYL (8 articles)
Fukushima's "Chernobyl moment" could be fast approachinghttp://www.opednews.com/articles/
Fukushima-s-Chernobyl-mom-by-Mike-Whitney-110326-450.html
March 26, 2011 at 16:10:21
- - -
QUOTES: “The media's goal is to conceal the scale of the catastrophe in order to protect the nuclear industry”
“According to Reuters: "It's only a matter of days before it disperses in the entire northern hemisphere," said Andrea Stahl, a senior scientist at the Norwegian Institute for Air Research."
- - - -
The calamity at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is deteriorating and the nightmare scenario is becoming more likely. The levels of radioactive iodine in the seawater beyond the plant have soared to 1,250-times above normal, contaminating the fish in the area and turning the coastal waters into a nuclear wasteland. At the same time, the prospect of a full-core meltdown still looms-large with no remedy in sight. Brave workers have put their lives on the line with no meaningful sign of improvement. The lights are still "blinking red." [ . . . ]
= = = = =
Missing in the Japan Catastrophe: Thinking the Unthinkable
Irradiated Zone: Don't Go There!
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/03/22-4
by Tom Engelhardt Published on Tuesday, March 22, 2011 by TomDispatch.com
EXCERPT:[
Note for readers: In the couple of days since I first drafted this piece, a small number of articles speculating about worst-case possibilities have begun to appear (though generally not in the mainstream). Among them, the always sharp Justin Elliott over at Salon.com wrote “Japan’s Nuclear Danger Explained,” and at Mother Jones, Kate Sheppard interviewed expert Robert Alvarez who suggested that, under the worst conditions, an area “as large as several northeastern states” could become uninhabitable. In the mainstream, eleven days after the Fukushima incident began, pieces have begun sidling up to worst-case scenarios mainly via descriptions of what happened at Chernobyl almost a quarter century ago and through scattered Chernobyl references (“If the accident becomes bigger, like Chernobyl…”). [ . . . ]
= = = = = =
WATCH: BATTLE OF CHERNOBYL - 2006 Documentary
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiCXb1Nhd1o
Best Chernobyl Documentary 2006 1hr 32min 1 clip
THE BATTLE OF CHERNOBYL dramatically chronicles the series of harrowing efforts to stop the nuclear chain reaction and prevent a second explosion, to "liquidate" the radioactivity, and to seal off the ruined reactor under a mammoth "sarcophagus." These nerve-racking events are recounted through newly available films, videos and photos taken in and around the plant, computer animation, and interviews with participants and eyewitnesses, many of whom were exposed to radiation, including government and military leaders, scientists, workers, journalists, doctors, and Pripyat refugees.
= = = = = =
A Chernobyl scientist recalls her years spent at the plant
http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/961776
March 25, 2011 Sarah Millar
In memory of her years spent working at what was, until two weeks ago, the world’s most infamous nuclear power plant, Natalia Manzurova has what she calls a “Chernobyl necklace” around her neck.
It is not made of silver or gold or precious stones, but rather two long scars. They are a constant reminder of two surgeries to remove her malignant thyroid, operations made necessary after exposure to the radiation at Chernobyl. [ . . . ]
= = = = =
"Monbiot's fallacy"; "Source term is about the same as Chernobyl"
http://acehoffman.blogspot.com/2011/03/
monbiots-fallacy-source-term-is-about.html
by Ace Hoffman March 25, 2011
Items included in this newsletter:
(1) Commentary by Ace Hoffman, Author
(2) Stick nuclear waste where the sun don't shine!
(3) "Source term is about the same as Chernobyl"
(4) "Tool of the Nuclear Establishment -- The New York Times"
(5) On YouTube -- "Chernobyl: A Million Casualties"
(6) "Time To Reassess The International Atomic Safety Regime"
(7) What, ME a pessimist? I'm just a very hard realist!
(8) Contact information for the author of this newsletter appears below:
This newsletter maybe freely distributed.
The author's book on nuclear issues, The Code Killers, is available online from his web site:
www.acehoffman.org .
Ace Hoffman, Owner & Chief Programmer, The Animated Software Co.
POB 1936, Carlsbad CA 92018
U.S. & Canada (800) 551-2726; elsewhere: (760) 720-7261
home page:
www.animatedsoftware.com
email: rhoffman@animatedsoftware.com
= = = = =
Beyond Fukishima: A World in Denial About Nuclear Risks
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/03/21-0
by Danny Schechter Published on Monday, March 21, 2011 by CommonDreams.org
What will it take for our world to recognize the dangers that nuclear scientists and even Albert Einstein were warning about at the “dawn” of the nuclear age?
Amy Goodman reminds us of the prophetic statement by Australian journalist Wilfred Burchett who tried to find words to describe the horror he was seeing in Hiroshima in 1945 after the bomb fell.
“It looks as if a monster steamroller had passed over it and squashed it out of existence. I write these facts ... as a warning to the world.”
The world heard his warning, but seems to have ignored it. In fact, what followed has been decades of nuclear proliferation, the spread of nuclear power plants and the escalation of the arms race with new higher tech weaponry.
As Hiroshima becomes yesterday’s distant memory and Fukishima the current threat, the full extent of the casualties and body count are not yet in, partly because the Japanese government and the power companies don’t want to alarm the public. [ . . . ]
= = = = =
Traces of radioactivity detected in Swiss air
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss_news/
Traces_of_radioactivity_detected_in_Swiss_air_.html?cid=29840398
March 25, 2011
Radioactive traces from the damaged Japanese nuclear plant at Fukushima have been detected in the air above Switzerland but they pose no threat, Swiss authorities say.
The Federal Health Office said the traces, found at 6,000 metres above sea level, were “extremely minor”. [ . . . ]
= = = = =
Preventing the Next Nuclear Meltdown -- Victor Gilinski
From: Gordon Edwards
Sent: Friday, March 25, 2011 12:42 PM
Subject: Preventing the Next Nuclear Meltdown -- Victor Gilinski
Background:
Victor Gilinsky was one of the five Commissioners of the US NRC (Nuclear
Regulatory Commission) during President Carter's years in office.
At that time he was very forthright in exposing the nuclear industry's campaign of disinformation on the issue of nuclear weapons proliferation -- citizens and decision-makers were being told that you cannot make an atomic bomb from reactor-grade plutonium. This assertion is entirely false, and Commissioner Gilinski did not mince words in setting the record straight.
On this topic, he is quoted in a number of CCNR's early documents: see
http://ccnr.org/Stop_and_Think.html for example.
In an important article [below], Victor Gilinski now warns against the dangers of refurbishing old reactors whose standards were inadequate to begin with, because they were based on false assumptions and invalid design calculations.
Although he is talking about US reactors, Canadians and others should take note!
Gordon Edwards
www.ccnr.org
===============
Preventing the Next Nuclear Meltdown http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/67667/
victor-gilinsky/preventing-the-next-nuclear-meltdown
The Lessons of the Fukushima Disaster for U.S. Nuclear Policy
Victor Gilinsky, Foreign Affairs Online, March 21, 2011
Summary:
As Japan's ongoing nuclear crisis shows, older reactors are the most vulnerable to failure. Aging nuclear plants pose a risk in the United States as well, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission must enforce up-to-date safety standards more forcefully -- or risk the possibility of a disaster.
VICTOR GILINSKY is a physicist and an energy consultant. He served on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission from 1975 to 1979 and was the senior commissioner in charge during the first day of the Three Mile Island accident in 1979.
- - - -
By now everyone has seen the videos of explosions at Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant and the aerial photos of what looks like the result of a World War II bombing. The Fukushima accident has revived the long-dormant issue of nuclear safety, and these indelible images will no doubt accompany all future debates over nuclear energy. Lately, policy discussions have focused on expanding the role of nuclear power; they must now shift to making sure the existing nuclear plants, and especially the older ones, meet strict contemporary standards.
MORE:
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/ ... -gilinsky/
preventing-the-next-nuclear-meltdown
=================
7. World Health Organization vigil continues
http://www.beyondnuclear.org/home/2011/3/26/
world-health-organization-vigil-continues.html
Mar26, 2011
The World Health Organization cannot make any comment or decision regarding nuclear energy without deferring to the International Atomic Energy Agency which actively promotes nuclear power. On Friday, Dr. Alexey Yablokov, a Russian expert on Chernobyl, referred to this conflict in pointing out why his book - which found likely one million deaths as a result of the Chernobyl accident - has been met with silence by agencies like the WHO. A daily vigil outside WHO headquarters in Geneva continues. Dr. Yablokov's co-author, the late Vassili Nesterenko (far left), along with Yablokov (left) and many others have actively participated in the vigil. As Oliver Tickell wrote in The Guardian: the 1959 agreement gave "the IAEA an effective veto on any actions by the WHO that relate in any way to nuclear power – and so prevent the WHO from playing its proper role in investigating and warning of the dangers of nuclear radiation on human health." The WHO vigil is now entering its 204th consecutive week.
= = =
Deal between IAEA and WHO Denied
http://pgs.ca/wp-content/uploads/2008/0 ... proof3.pdf
Physicans for Global Survival Newsletter – Winter 2011 – page. 3
IAEA, WHO and Chernobyl: At a book-launching in Ottawa, Rauf Tariq, Head of the Verification and Security Policy Coordination, Vienna International Centre, utterly denied both the seniority conveyed by the reporting structure of the two agencies and the control exerted by the IAEA over radiation-health research to WHO. The pronouncements by WHO which illustrate the “precautionary principle” of 1956 and in 1958 are the last public statements made by the World Health Organization on concern about radiation and health. After 1959, it became
“unconcerned”. This sounds like a topic for further research.
==================
8. GENERAL ELECTRIC IN THE NUKE BUSINESS
http://forum.stopthehogs.com/phpBB2/vie ... php?t=1056
GE, World's Largest Corporation, Paid Zero Dollars in U.S. Taxes Last Year
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/540426/
ge%2C_world%27s_largest_corporation%2C_paid_zero_dollars_in_u.s._taxes_last_year/#paragraph6
By Lauren Kelley | Sourced from 358
Posted at March 25, 2011, 9:36 am
You know how we've been covering the efforts of U.S. Uncut, the growing campaign to stop corporate tax dodgers from exploiting overseas tax havens? Well here's an excellent example of why such efforts are desperately needed, from the front page of the New York Times: General Electric, the nation’s largest corporation, had a very good year in 2010.
The company reported worldwide profits of $14.2 billion, and said $5.1 billion of the total came from its operations in the United States. Its American tax bill? None. In fact, G.E. claimed a tax benefit of $3.2 billion. How can that be, you ask? [ . . . ]
= = = =
HAZARDS OF BOILING WATER REACTORS IN THE UNITED STATES
http://www.nirs.org/factsheets/bwrfact.htm
BACKGROUND
Of the 104 operational nuclear power reactors in the United States, thirty-five are boiling water reactors (BWR). General Electric is the sole designer and manufacturer of BWRs in the United States. The BWR's distinguishing feature is that the reactor vessel serves as the boiler for the nuclear steam supply system. The steam is generated in the reactor vessel by the controlled fissioning of enriched uranium fuel which passes directly to the turbogenerator to generate electricity.
- - - SNIP - - -
Here are copies of the three original AEC memos, including Hendrie's:
November 11, 1971:
outlines problems with the design and pressure suppression system containment.
http://www.nirs.org/reactorwatch/accidents/
19711117-hanauer-memo-bwr-pressure-suppression-containment.pdf
September 20, 1971:
memo from Steven Hanauer recommends that U.S. stop licensing reactors using pressure suppression system
http://www.nirs.org/reactorwatch/accidents/
19720920-hanauer-memo-pressure-suppression-containments.pdf
September 25, 1972:
memo from Joseph Hendrie (top safety official at AEC) agrees with recommendation but rejects it saying it "could well mean the end of nuclear power..."
http://www.nirs.org/reactorwatch/accidents/
19720925-hendrie-pressure-suppression-concerns-end-of-nucl~1.pdf
MORE:
http://www.nirs.org/factsheets/bwrfact.htm
= = = = =
Fukushima Reactors Designed By General Electric Also Used In U.S. Have Serious Design Flaws (See articles below…Ed.)
http://stretchingminds.wordpress.com/2011/03/15/
fukushima-reactors-designed-by-general-electric-also-used-used-in-u-s-have-serious-design-flaws/
March 15, 2011
The jest of the design flaws, and implications for U.S. reactors, is this. An earthquake is not needed for this to happen, only a failure of some sort.
The design of the Fukushima reactors was also used in 23 nuclear plants operating in the US in Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Vermont.
There is no way to vent the hydrogen gas during a reactor failure. This is what caused generator buildings to explode in Fukushima.
This design also features huge pools of waste water high up in the containment building that hold huge amounts of old radioactive material. Robert Alvarez, a former nuclear energy adviser to President Bill Clinton says if just one reactor fails it can release several times the amount of radiation as was released at Chernobyl because each pool contains 5 to 10 times as much material as the reactor itself.
= = = = =
Nuclear Reactor Design Caused GE Scientists To Quit In Protest
http://beforeitsnews.com/story/490/400/
Nuclear_Reactor_Design_Caused_GE_Scientist_To_Quit_In_Protest.html
March 17, 2011
Thirty-five years ago, Dale G. Bridenbaugh and two of his colleagues at General Electric resigned from their jobs after becoming increasingly convinced that the nuclear reactor design they were reviewing -- the Mark 1 -- was so flawed it could lead to a devastating accident.
Questions persisted for decades about the ability of the Mark 1 to handle the immense pressures that would result if the reactor lost cooling power, and today that design is being put to the ultimate test in Japan. Five of the six reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, which has been wracked since Friday's earthquake with explosions and radiation leaks, are Mark 1s. [ . . . ]
- - - - -
The Idiocy and Hubris of Engineers: Will GE Get Whacked for the Catastrophic Failure of its Nuk Plants in Fukushira?
http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/node/509
Mon, 03/14/2011 – 12:44 by: Dave Lindorff
GE, the company that boasts that it “brings good things to life,” was the designer of the nuclear plants that are blowing up like hot popcorn kernels at the Fukushima Dai-ichi generating plant north of Tokyo that was hit by the double-whammy of an 8.9 earthquake and a huge tsunami. [ . . . ]
Related Story: http://www.vancouverobserver.com/world/asia/2011/03/15/
japan-spent-fuel-rods-pose-danger-worse-chernobyl
= = = = = =
NIRS: Calls for Permanent Shutdown of 23 US General Electric Mark-I Reactors - Same Design as Fukushima
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2011/03/22-20
Calls Design Flaws Fundamental--Cannot Be Fixed
A list of the 23 US GE Mark I reactors is here:
http://www.nirs.org/reactorwatch/accide ... rsinus.pdf
WASHINGTON - March 22 - Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) has launched a new campaign to permanently close the 23 General Electric Mark I reactors currently operating in the United States.
More than 3800 people have sent letters to President Obama, Congress and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in support of permanent shutdown just since Saturday afternoon (March 19), when a website was first set up to encourage such letters:
(http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5502/p/dia/action/
public/?action_KEY=6111).
The action was added on Monday to Change.org:
http://www.change.org/petitions/
its-time-demand-permanent-shutdown-of-ge-mark-i-reactors-in-the-us#?opt_new=f&opt_fb=f
“For nearly 40 years, top U.S. safety officials at the Atomic Energy Commission and later the Nuclear Regulatory Commission have warned about the safety shortcomings of the GE Mark I design,” said Michael Mariotte, executive director of NIRS. “A 1972 recommendation that the U.S. stop licensing the design was accepted on technical grounds but denied by the AEC’s top safety official, Joseph Hendrie, because it ‘could very well be the end of nuclear power.’ In 1986 Harold Denton, then the top safety official at the NRC, warned that Mark I containments have a 90% probability of failing under accident conditions.”
Despite these warnings, the NRC has not only allowed these reactors to continue operating, 21 of the 23 already have received license renewals to operate an additional 20 years, including the highly controversial Vermont Yankee reactor yesterday. There was no examination of the fundamental design flaws during the renewal application process for any of these 21 reactors, as the issue is considered generic and only site-specific issues are allowed to be heard in the license renewal process.
MORE:
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2011/03/22-20
==================
9. Resolution in Parliament supports nuclear weapons convention – Dec. 2010
http://ottawa.mcc.org/stories/news/
canadian-parliament-resolution-supports-nuclear-weapons-convention
Jennifer Wiebe 12/20/2010
On December 7, the House of Commons gave its unanimous consent to adopt a motion from the Senate supporting a number of initiatives for nuclear disarmament.
Submitted by Bill Siksay—NDP MP and Chair of the Canadian section of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament (PNND)—the motion called on the government to engage in negotiations for a Nuclear Weapons Convention as outlined in the UN Secretary General's five-point plan.
First introduced by Conservative Senator Hugh Segal on June 2, the motion received unanimous support in the Senate following the release of a letter from 536 recipients of the Order of Canada, which urged the Canadian government to take a lead role in endorsing and supporting a Nuclear Weapons Convention.
The House of Commons and Senate have now achieved a common resolution.
While not binding, this resolution is a significant moment for Canada's Parliament. In expressing a united voice between the House and the Senate, this joint action has garnered government attention and laid the groundwork for a national debate.
================
10. Depleted uranium: a strange way to protect Libyan civilians (Graphics)
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php? ... &aid=23985
by David Wilson
Global Research, March 27, 2011
http://www.globalresearch.ca/
Stop the War Coalition - 2011-03-26
http://stopwar.org.uk/content/view/2321/27/
"[uranium tipped missiles] fit the description of a dirty bomb in every way... I would say that it is the perfect weapon for killing lots of people." - Marion Falk, chemical physicist (retd), Lawrence Livermore Lab, California, USA
In the first 24 hours of the Libyan attack, US B-2s dropped forty-five 2,000-pound bombs. These massive bombs, along with the Cruise missiles launched from British and French planes and ships, all contained depleted uranium (DU) warheads.
DU is the waste product from the process of enriching uranium ore. It is used in nuclear weapons and reactors. Because it is a very heavy substance, 1.7 times denser than lead, it is highly valued by the military for its ability to punch through armored vehicles and buildings. When a weapon made with a DU tip strikes a solid object like the side of a tank, it goes straight through it, then erupts in a burning cloud of vapor. The vapor settles as dust, which is not only poisonous, but also radioactive.
An impacting DU missile burns at 10,000 degrees C. When it strikes a target, 30% fragments into shrapnel. The remaining 70% vaporises into three highly-toxic oxides, including uranium oxide. This black dust remains suspended in the air and, according to wind and weather, can travel over great distances. If you think Iraq and Libya are far away, remember that radiation from Chernobyl reached Wales.
Particles less than 5 microns in diameter are easily inhaled and may remain in the lungs or other organs for years. Internalized DU can cause kidney damage, cancers of the lung and bone, skin disorders, neurocognitive disorders, chromosome damage, immune deficiency syndromes and rare kidney and bowel diseases. Pregnant women exposed to DU may give birth to infants with genetic defects. Once the dust has vaporised, don't expect the problem to go away soon. As an alpha particle emitter, DU has a half life of 4.5 billion years.
In the 'shock and awe' attack on Iraq, more than 1,500 bombs and missiles were dropped on Baghdad alone. Seymour Hersh has claimed that the US Third Marine Aircraft Wing alone dropped more than "five hundred thousand tons of ordnance". All of it DU-tipped.
Al Jazeera reported that invading US forces fired two hundred tons of radioactive material into buildings, homes, streets and gardens of Baghdad. A reporter from the Christian Science Monitor took a Geiger counter to parts of the city that had been subjected to heavy shelling by US troops. He found radiation levels 1,000 to 1,900 times higher than normal in residential areas. With its population of 26 million, the US dropped a one-ton bomb for every 52 Iraqi citizens or 40 pounds of explosives per person.
William Hague has said that we are in Libya " to protect civilians and civilian-populated areas".You don't have to look far for who and what are being 'protected'.
In that first 24 hours the 'Allies' 'expended' £100 million on DU-tipped ordnance. The European Union's arms control report said member states issued licences in 2009 for the sale of £293.2 million worth of weapons and weapons systems to Libya. Britain issued arms firms licences for the sale of £21.7 million worth of weaponry to Libya and were also paid by Colonel Gadaffi to send the SAS to train his 32nd Brigade.
For the next 4.5 billion years, I'll bet that William Hague will not be holidaying in North Africa.
= = = = =
'US drops uranium bombs on Libya'
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/171881.html
Sun Mar 27, 2011 2:36PM
The Stop the War Coalition says the bombs and missiles that the US-led military alliance has dropped on several Libyan cities contain depleted uranium (DU).
The report recently published on the Coalition's website said that in the first 24 hours of the war on Libya, dozens of bombs and cruise missiles were launched by US, British, and French forces -- all with depleted uranium warheads.
US B-2 aircraft dropped forty-five 2,000-pound bombs on key Libyan cities, it added.
DU munitions are controversial because they raise long-term health concerns like kidney damage, cancer, skin disorders and genetic defects.
"[Depleted uranium tipped missiles] fit the description of a dirty bomb in every way... I would say that it is the perfect weapon for killing lots of people," said Marion Falk, chemical physicist (retd.), Lawrence Livermore Lab in California.
The report comes as the Western forces claim the operation in Libya is aimed at protecting civilians. [ . . . ]
====================
11. LIBYA UPDATE
Who are the Libyan Freedom Fighters and Their Patrons?
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23947
By Prof. Peter Dale ScottGlobal Research, March 25, 2011
The Asia-Pacific Journal Vol 9, Issue 13 No 3, March 28, 2011.
http://japanfocus.org/-Peter_Dale-Scott/3504
Peter Dale Scott's Libyan Notebook
[Editor's Note: Author's selected quotations and analysis]
Preface
The world is facing a very unpredictable and potentially dangerous situation in North Africa and the Middle East. What began as a memorable, promising, relatively nonviolent achievement of New Politics - the Revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt - has morphed very swiftly into a recrudescence of old habits: America, already mired in two decade-long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and sporadic air attacks in Yemen and Somalia, now, bombing yet another Third World Country, in this case Libya.
The initially stated aim of this bombing was to diminish Libyan civilian casualties. But many, senior figures in Washington, including President Obama, have indicated that the US is gearing up for a quite different war for regime change, one that may well be protracted and could also easily expand beyond Libya.1 If it does expand, the hope for a nonviolent transition to civilian government in Tunisia and Egypt and other Middle East nations experiencing political unrest, may be lost to a hard-edged militarization of government, especially in Egypt. All of us, not just Egyptians, have a major stake in seeing that that does not happen.
The present article does not attempt to propose solutions or a course of action for the United States and its allies, or for the people of the Middle East. It attempts rather to examine the nature of the forces that have emerged in Libya over the last four decades that are presently being played out.
To this end I have begun to compile what I call my Libyan Notebook, a collection of relevant facts that underlie the present crisis. This Notebook will be judgmental, in that I am biased towards collecting facts that the US media tend to ignore, facts that are the product in many instances of investigative reporting that cuts to the heart of power relations, deep structures, and economic interests in the region including the US, Israel, and the Arab States as these have played out over the last two decades and more. But I hope that it will be usefully objective and open-ended, permitting others to draw diverse conclusions from the same set of facts.2
I wish to begin with two ill-understood topics: I. Who Are the Libyan Opposition, and II. Where Are the Libyan Rebel Arms Coming From?
MORE:
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23947
= = = = = =
Canadian general to lead Libya mission
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7666&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
Posted: 25 Mar 2011 08:42 PM PDT
Canadian Lieutenant-General Charles Bouchard has been tapped to lead the no-fly and arms-embargo elements of the Libya intervention now that NATO has agreed to run those operations (Daniel Leblanc, “Canadian general to take command of NATO mission in Libya,” Globe and Mail, 25 March 2011). However, the Alliance has not yet formally agreed to run [...]
= = = = = = =
Military budget growth set to continue
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7638&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
Posted: 23 Mar 2011 01:38 PM PDT
The new federal budget, presented on Tuesday by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, confirms last year’s pledge of somewhat delayed, but continued, growth in Canada’s military spending. The chart above, drawn from last year’s budget documents, depicts the continued upward path of Canadian military spending as projected by the government. It is worth noting that the [...]
= = = = = =
Stop arms shipments to Saudi Arabia: Rideau Institute
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=7632&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
Posted: 21 Mar 2011 12:42 PM PDT
The Rideau Institute is calling on the Canadian government to prevent further shipments to Saudi Arabia of military vehicles made in Canada, and to institute an embargo on the export of all military goods to the region during the current political turmoil. On March 14, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates entered [...]
=====================
12. Canadian-made armoured vehicles enter Bahrain
http://www.ceasefire.ca/?p=7585
March 15, 2011
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates sent troops into neighbouring Bahrain on Monday in an effort to shore up the Bahraini government, which has been facing escalating demands for democratic reform. An estimated 1200 soldiers from the Saudi National Guard and 800 from the UAE entered the country from Saudi Arabia, ostensibly to help protect public infrastructure (Ethan Bronner & Michael Slackman, “Saudi Troops Enter Bahrain to Help Put Down Unrest,” New York Times, 14 March 2011).
[ http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/15/world ... .html?_r=2 ]
The video above shows Saudi humvees, troop trucks, other support vehicles, and light armoured vehicles (LAVs) driving into Bahrain.
During the 1990s and early 2000s Canada sold more than 1200 LAVs built by General Motors Diesel Division (now General Dynamics Land Systems Canada) of London, Ontario to the Saudi National Guard.
==================
13. Partnership of Equals
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23906
By Fidel Castro Ruz
Global Research, March 24, 2011
Cuba Debate - 2011-03-23
Saturday evening, the 19th, after a sumptuous banquet, NATO leaders ordered the attack on Libya.
Of course, nothing could occur without the United States claiming its irrefutable role as supreme leader. From its command post of that institution in Europe, a senior official declared that “Odyssey Dawn” was about to begin.
World public opinion was deeply touched by the tragedy in Japan . The number of victims of the earthquake, the tsunami and the nuclear accident has kept on growing. By now there are thousands of dead, missing and radiation contaminated. Resistance to the use of nuclear energy will also grow considerably.
The world is suffering, at the same time, the consequences of climatic changes; shortages and prices of foods, military spending and the squandering of natural and human resources are increasing. War was the timeliest event that could happen at this time.
Obama’s trip through Latin America moved into the background, people were hardly paying any attention to it. In Brazil , the contradictory interests between the United States and this sister nation have become evident.
We cannot forget that Rio de Janeiro competed with Chicago to host the 2016 Olympic Games.
MORE:
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23906
===================
14. Africa Must Unite Against Neocolonialism And Imperialism
http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=76066&s2=22
By Justice Afrikhan. March 21, 2011
Over half a century ago, one of Africa’s most illustrious sons, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah fearlessly fought for and led the present day Ghana to achieve independence from British colonial rule. At the time, Nkrumah did not only believe that the Blackman was capable of managing or worse still, mismanaging his own affairs, but he also foresaw and exposed the subtle machinations and exploitations by the Western powers to perpetually maintain the status quo by ensuring that the African continent and indeed most part of the world remained divided and for that matter incapacitated economically, politically, and most importantly militarily...It was therefore no surprising that the western powers, especially the Americans who saw Nkrumah as a real treat to their exploitation of the black race particularly, and the rest of the word orchestrated the overthrow of his regime, of course with the connivance of certain inward looking selfish African brothers and impliedly facilitated the demise of his vision for a United States of Africa. Again, it is not surprising that over four decades down the line, the US, UK, and France are leading a military attack against Lybia, which is one of the few most endowed and prosperous countries in Africa in terms of natural resources (oil). The fundamental reason for the attack is to ostensibly ensure the overthrow of the regime of Colonel Muamar Ghadafy who has presided over his country for more than forty years to be replaced! by unna med armed "Libyan rebel group" supported by America and her allies. Isn’t it interesting?...
MORE:
http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=76066&s2=22
=================
15. Iraqis Take to the Streets, Call for Real Democracy
http://www.truth-out.org/
for-iraqs-unemployed-nothing-has-changed-eight-years68633
David Bacon | Friday 25 March 2011
The war in Iraq is supposedly over. The US administration says the occupation, which began on March 20 eight years ago, is ending as well, with the withdrawal of US combat troops. But as the US, Great Britain and France begin another military intervention in North Africa, their respective administrations are silent about the price Iraqis are paying for the last one.
The Iraqis, however, are not remaining silent. Demonstrations have taken place in Baghdad, Basra and Kirkuk, among other cities, calling on the US in particular to stop its escalating military intervention in Libya. Iraqi unions have been especially vocal, linking the US invasion of Iraq with continued misery for its working people. According to one union representative, Abdullah Muhsin of the General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW), "Eight years have ended since the fall of Saddam's regime, yet the empty promises of the 'liberators' - the invaders and the occupiers who promised Iraqis heaven and earth - were simply lies, lies and lies." [ . . . ]
=====================
16. BOOK: Earth into Property: Colonization, Decolonization, and Capitalism (Paperback) by Anthony J. Hall (author)
http://www.amazon.ca/
product-reviews/077353122X/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=
REVIEW by John Duddy (Calgary, Alberta) Mar 24 2011
- - - - -
QUOTE: "The attack goes on; Canada now runs with the big boys; our uranium (depleted) falls on brown people in the Middle East."
- - - -
Call to Action, before it's too late.
Readers, get this vital book for your library, for your future, for your children, for your Member of Parliament, for your Congressman/Senator/President.
You have never read North American history from this panoramic perspective. Here is a call to humanity... "Get active or get Radio-active".
The book is too heavy to read in bed; you need to study it at the kitchen table. Then shout a wake-up call to politicians on all sides.
Weeks will pass as you absorb this encyclopedic history viewed through the eyes of a former Native American studies professor, now professor of Globalization based in Blackfoot Country, Alberta.
Our future is grim if we allow the secret rulers to continue expanding criminal aggression through corporate manipulated greed.
Since 1492 the settlers in the New World have acquired the property of other landowners, sweeping across the planet through the Americas to Asia, into the Middle East, Hawaii and Africa; they want it all. The great sucking sound of territorial acquisition seems endless; democracy has been sucked up. Social justice has been destroyed by corporate greed starting with the theft of Native American land.
Globalization, corporate fascism, banker fraud, the biggest theft in history added to the
creation of the global war on terror, the war on drugs, endless wars for oil and resources, global pollution, depleted uranium used liberally polluting us all, new wars for democracy abroad, while democracy has been extinguished at home all add up to a bleak future for humanity. And Dr. Hall rejects the official 9/11, 2001 conspiracy theory foisted on the world.
The attacks on New York and the Pentagon were designed to justify and expand the grab for wealth, energy and resources worldwide.
Dr. Hall compares the treatment of indigenous peoples by Canadian and US authorities; neither government emerges with glowing pride.
You will read details of US, British Columbian and Canadian development of former Indian lands; you will find information not taught in school.
The attack goes on; Canada now runs with the big boys; our uranium (depleted) falls on brown people in the Middle East.
Every school library needs this history; every student needs this information; well done Dr. Hall.
Brace yourself; the damage done by the Evil Empire (with Canadian help) has a half life of 4.5 billion years.
===================
17. 'Barefoot' grandmothers electrify rural communities
http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/innovation/01/24/
barefoot.college.india/index.html
January 26, 2011
(CNN) -- Turning grandmothers into solar engineers is one of Sanjit "Bunker" Roy's favorite jobs.
Roy is the social entrepreneur and founder of the Barefoot College and has been championing a bottom-up approach to education and empowering rural poor since 1972.
It is now a global enterprise with roots in India. Roy recruits women from around the world to install and maintain solar lighting and power in their home villages.
"If you ask any solar engineer in the world, 'Can anyone make this in a village?' they say it's technically impossible. And if I say a grandmother is making it who is illiterate, he can't believe it, it's beyond his comprehension," says Roy.
The United Nations estimates that around 1.5 billion people still live without electricity, and often the best and most immediate way to bring non-polluting electricity to remote regions is with solar energy.
Roy certainly believes so.
"The way to go about this is not a centralized grid system, which brings in power from hundreds of miles away," he says.
"It is to bring in basic light right down to the level of basic household wherein they take ownership and control over that technology."
Women are the focus for the solar power projects that the Barefoot College runs because men "were very untrainable," says Roy.
"(Men) were restless, compulsively mobile, and they all want a certificate and the moment you give them a certificate they leave the village and go to the cities looking for jobs.
"So why not invest in women, older women, mature women, gutsy women who have roots in the village and train them."
Coming from countries across the world, the women are trained for six months before returning home. Many of the women have previously never left their villages before.
MORE:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/innovation/01/24/
barefoot.college.india/index.html
==============
18. Harper government falls, Barlow comments on upcoming election
http://www.canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=7172
March 25, 2011
Just moments ago, a House of Commons vote of non-confidence in the Harper Conservative government passed and we now appear headed for a Monday May 2 election.
The Council of Canadians will be fully engaged over this six-week election campaign.
Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow said this afternoon, "The Council of Canadians focuses on critical issues and highlights to Canadians our shared values, concerns and priorities for social, environmental and economic justice. We do not tell anyone who to vote for, nor do we advocate strategic voting. This enables every Canadian to make an individual choice on voting day. But, at the same time, we must highlight the negative implications of another Conservative minority government, or worse, a Conservative majority government. Most Canadians have not voted for the Harper Conservatives in the last three elections. Stopping the Conservatives from gaining power in this election will be a win in and of itself. We continue to believe that the best likely outcome is a coalition government - based on a progressive policy platform. And whoever forms the next government, the Council of Canadians will hold them accountable to the demands of millions of Canadians for climate, trade, health care and water justice."
For daily updates, blogs, media releases, materials, statements, action alerts and much more during this election, please visit
http://www.canadians.org.
To read selected campaign blogs written in the lead-up to this election, please see:
(January) NEWS: A federal election this spring?,
http://www.canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=5891;
(January) NEWS: Federal election speculation continues,
http://www.canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=6230;
(February) NEWS: Border security likely to be major election issue,
http://www.canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=6280; and
(March) UPDATE: Key ridings, demographics for the May 2 election,
http://www.canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=7140.
======================
19. Yes, contempt of Parliament does matter
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/
962022--walkom-yes-contempt-of-parliament-does-matter
March 25, 2011 Thomas Walkom
The Conservatives say their government’s contemptuous approach to Parliament doesn’t matter. They are wrong.
They are wrong on any number of levels. The most basic is the most obvious. For all of its imperfections (and they are many), the only thing close to a democratic national body in Canada is the House of Commons.
To be contemptuous of its members is to disdain those who elected them. Canadians get precious few chances to determine what their leaders do. When voters elected a minority government in 2008, they were signalling that they didn’t trust Stephen Harper’s Conservatives (or indeed any other party) to run the nation’s business single-handed.
Instead, they wanted the opposition parties to check government — to act as watchdogs, moderate its ideological excesses and keep it in line.
But throughout the life of this now-dead Parliament, Prime Minister Stephen Harper refused to accept the voters’ verdict. His decision to operate as if he controlled a majority of Commons seats may have been good short-term politics. But it contradicted both the spirit and reality of the very limited mandate voters had given him.
Had he stopped there, Harper’s approach might have been excused. The fact that his government survived as long as it did can be blamed in large part on the opposition’s failure to call his bluff earlier
What cannot be excused is the attitude behind this approach. True, Harper is not the Great Satan that some paint him to be. He is thoughtful and intelligent. Those who know him far better than I credit him with a sense of humour.
But there is a bitterness to this prime minister that has infected his entire caucus. All politicians are partisan by definition. Harper’s partisanship is over the top. He not only disagrees with Canadians who are liberals and left-leaners. He seems to despise them.
All of this was manifest before he took over the merged Conservative Party. In those days, he disparaged what he called the moral failings of liberals, calling them nihilists bent on the destruction of western values.
In power, his rhetoric was often more restrained. But as former nuclear regulator Linda Keen found, those he believed tainted by Liberalism could expect no mercy. Keen was axed in 2007 because she insisted that Canadian nuclear plants have back-up power systems — systems we now know that Japan’s ill-fated Fukushima reactors famously lacked.
But her real sin was to have been appointed to by a previous Liberal government. That, Harper suggested, made her inherently untrustworthy.
Opposition MPs and others who had the temerity to disagree with the government were given equally short shrift. Canadians who questioned Ottawa’s handling of Afghan prisoners were treated as traitors. Richard Colvin, the veteran diplomat who testified to this mistreatment, was savagely and personally attacked.
MORE:
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/
962022--walkom-yes-contempt-of-parliament-does-matter
Last edited by Oscar on Fri Apr 29, 2011 4:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- Oscar
- Site Admin
- Posts: 9965
- Joined: Wed May 03, 2006 3:23 pm
NUKE NEWS: April 29, 2011
by Oscar » Fri Apr 29, 2011 4:41 pm
NUKE NEWS: April 29, 2011
1. Green Party's Position on nuclear power in Canada
2. Jack Layton on nuclear power in Canada
3. Japan's Nuclear Catastrophe Leaves Little to Celebrate on Children's Day
4. No Nukes News – Japan considers solar power - April 29, 2011
5. Clinging to the nuclear energy option is a reckless denial of reality
6. Fukushima and Chernobyl Raise Questions about WHO's Role
7. Godspeed, little book!
8. Nuclear plants must not turn into radiological weapons
9. Radiation Readings in Fukushima Reactor Rise to Highest Since Crisis Began
10. Radioactivity level in contaminated seawater approaches record high
11. Fukushima, risk, and probability: Expect the unexpected
12. Clinging to the nuclear energy option is a reckless denial of reality
13. Thailand to delay development of nuclear power
14. WATCH: Chernobyl Catastrophe: 25th Anniversary of World's Worst Nuclear Accident
15. The first million is the hardest..
16. 'Storing nuclear waste next to the Great Lakes is irresponsible', says US Senator
================
1. Green Party's Position on nuclear power in Canada
http://greenparty.ca/vision-green/p1.21
Nevertheless, it is neither clean nor green.
From: Gordon Edwards
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2011 10:39 AM
Subject: Green Party's Position on nuclear power in Canada
From the Green Party Platform:
Can nuclear power meet our energy needs and be the solution to climate change?
Not when one considers the cost, pollution and threat to global security associated with nuclear power.
The Greens insist that energy choices should be economically rational. The best energy choices to respond to the climate crisis should be those that deliver the greatest reduction of GHG per dollar invested. By this criterion, nuclear energy is among the very worst options. Reactors cost billions of dollars, take more than a decade to build, operate unreliably after about the first dozen years of operation, and only produce one type of energy: electricity.
Even if the industry were "green and clean" as claimed by the pro-nuclear propaganda efforts, it fails on the economics. Nevertheless, it is neither clean nor green.
http://greenparty.ca/vision-green/p1.21
Thanks for this go to Stephen Leahy
Green Party Candidate 2011
Riding of Durham (Uxbridge, Scugog, Clarington)
905.862.3044 (mob: 416 .779.5364)
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/leahystephen
===================
2. Jack Layton on nuclear power in Canada
From: Gordon Edwards
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2011 9:25 AM
Background:
Canadians go to the polls on Monday May 2 to elect new representatives for the House of Commons, Canada's elected Parliament Jack Layton is the leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP), which has received a very dramatic surge in popular support in recent days, a surge which is mainly felt in the province of Quebec but which is also being noticed across Canada.
Here is a brief statement from Mr. Layton on the subject of nuclear power.
http://www.cleanairalliance.org/files/active/0/
NDP%20response.pdf
April 8, 2011
Mr. Jack Gibbons
Chair, Ontario Clean Air Alliance
Suite 402 -625 Church Street
Toronto, ON M4Y 2G1
Dear Mr. Gibbons,
Thank you for your letter of March 29, 2011 asking about New Democrat's position on subsidizing the construction of new nuclear reactors in Ontario.
Jack Layton and New Democrats advocate ending public subsidies for nuclear energy industry. New Democrats believe in halting nuclear expansion and upgrading the safety and security of current nuclear energy and waste management facilities. We believe in promoting clean, renewable energy to mitigate the negative effect of non-renewable energy such as fossil fuel.
The Canadian Nuclear Industry regularly describes itself as a mature industry, particularly concerning government regulation. As a mature industry it should be able to operate without major subsidies from government.
It was for this reason that Canada's New Democrats opposed the minor increase to Canada's Nuclear Liability Act the Harper Conservatives have tried several times to drive through the House of Commons. It is our position that these legislated maximum liability levels are a hidden subsidy for this industry. New Democrats feel the industry must either accept at a minimum a liability level of $10 billion dollars rather than the few hundred million the Harper Conservatives have in mind.
While there may be a need for government support of nuclear research New Democrats does not see the need for government subsidies of a mature industry just as we oppose subsidies for the tar sand. As it stands, Canadians would be better off investing in clean energy technologies rather than nuclear considering the major risks associated with this
technology.
Sincerely,
Jack Layton, Leader
Canada's New Democrats
http://www.cleanairalliance.org/files/active/0/
NDP%20response.pdf
==========
3. Japan's Nuclear Catastrophe Leaves Little to Celebrate on Children's Day
http://www.ips-dc.org/blog/
japans_nuclear_catastrophe_leaves_little_to_celebrate_on_childrens_day
The Japanese government is celebrating Children's Day, a national holiday on May 5th, by dramatically raising radiation exposure limits in schools.
Robert Alvarez, April 29, 2011
May 5 is Children's Day, a Japanese national holiday that celebrates the happiness of childhood. This year, it will fall under a dark, radioactive shadow.
Japanese children in the path of radioactive plumes from the crippled nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi power station are likely to suffer health problems that a recent government action will only exacerbate.
On April 19, the Japanese government sharply ramped up its radiation exposure limit to 2,000 millirem per year (20 mSv/y) for schools and playgrounds in Fukushima prefecture. Japanese children are now permitted to be exposed to an hourly dose rate 165 times above normal background radiation and 133 times more than levels the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency allows for the American public.
Japanese school children will be allowed to be exposed to same level recommended by the International Commission on Radiation Protection for nuclear workers. Unlike workers, however, children won't have a choice as to whether they can be so exposed.
This decision callously puts thousands of children in harm's way.
MORE:
http://www.ips-dc.org/blog/
japans_nuclear_catastrophe_leaves_little_to_celebrate_on_childrens_day
=====================
4. No Nukes News - Japan considers solar power - April 29, 2011
http://www.ontariosgreenfuture.ca/nonukesnews.php
=======================
5. Clinging to the nuclear energy option is a reckless denial of reality
http://www.helencaldicott.com/pdf/nussbaum.pdf
by Dr Rudi H. Nussbaum April 26, 2011
Besides its unacceptable lasting effects on public health, even if operating normally (see section 3 below), nuclear energy technology cannot be financed by private capital. The nuclear power industry holds citizens hostage to protect its profits. The industry's safety claims and newlabel of "safer design" is largely a cynical hoax. Physicians for Social Responsibility's commitment to protect public health translates into demanding the de-commissioning of all currently operating nuclear plants and for the taxpayers to refuse to subsidize the construction of new ones with guaranteed loans and liability insurance premiums. Why? Here is the scientific/common sense justification for such an uncompromising position: [ . . . ]
========================
6. Fukushima and Chernobyl Raise Questions about WHO's Role
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=55403
By Gustavo Capdevila, Inter-Press Service (IPS), April 27 2011
QUOTE: ". . . . . the nuclear lobby has managed to get the WHO to renounce taking care of the victims of nuclear disasters," said Swiss academic Jean Ziegler, currently vice president of the U.N. Human Rights Council's Advisory Committee.”
GENEVA, Apr 27, 2011 (IPS) - The nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan and the 25th anniversary of the catastrophe in the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine have thrown into relief contradictions in the role played by the World Health Organisation, which civil society organisations have spent years pointing out.
An international coalition of NGOs, IndependentWHO, says the multilateral agency has never shown independence in its decisions or actions, in terms of living up to its mandate of protecting the victims of radioactive contamination.
The groups blame the WHO's alleged inactivity in this area on an agreement it signed in 1959 with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), an independent United Nations organisation founded to promote "safe, secure and peaceful nuclear technologies."
The coalition of NGOs states that the agreement makes the WHO "subservient" to the IAEA and prevents the U.N. health agency from "taking any initiative or action to achieve its objectives: the preservation and the improvement of health." [ . . . ]
====================
7. Godspeed, little book!
http://acehoffman.blogspot.com/
by Russell 'Ace' Hoffman April 28th, 2011
Dear Readers,
There has certainly been a change in the weather. It's irradiated, and nobody likes it.
Opinion polls around the world are running strongly against nuclear power even in France and here in America. And that's despite the official lies, cover-ups, and secrecy that's been going on regarding Fukushima.
Or maybe it's because of those things, too. I always thought it was the lies about Chernobyl that did in the Soviet Union.
Either way, as the truth gets out, people everywhere are getting disgusted with nuclear energy. Thank God (and DARPA) for the Internet!
This evening at a Nuclear Regulatory Commission hearing in San Juan Capistrano, California, I handed out about 75 copies of a new book I've just completed, a pictorial called SHUT SAN ONOFRE.
You can download the (free) 20-page book here:
http://www.acehoffman.org/petitions/shut-san-onofre.pdf
(File size is about 7 megabytes.)
It's VERY new -- in fact, I only started writing it yesterday morning! Hooray for modern technology*! [ . . . ]
===================
8. Nuclear plants must not turn into radiological weapons
http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201104270183.html
by Fumihiko Yoshida, The Asahi Shimbun, April 28 2011 THE COLUMN
As a hibakusha survivor of the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Keijiro Matsushima, 82, has been speaking publicly about his personal experience in English for foreign audiences. Soon after the accident at Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant triggered by the March 11 massive earthquake and tsunami, he was asked to give an interview with the U.S. cable TV news channel CNN.
While reports of radioactive leaks were making headlines, he thought how best to describe what was happening and what went through his mind.
Atomic bombs release intense heat and blasts in addition to radiation. Their destructive power is incomparably greater than nuclear power plant accidents, which do not lead to nuclear explosions. People who underwent atomic bombings may see the Fukushima accident differently, depending on their experiences.
After much thought, Matsushima made up his mind to speak frankly without hesitation about how he felt.
"It's like the third atomic bomb attack on Japan. But this time, we made it ourselves," he told CNN. [ . . . ]
=================
9. Radiation Readings in Fukushima Reactor Rise to Highest Since Crisis Began
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/
2011-04-27/tokyo-water-radiation-falls-to-zero-for-first-time-since-crisis.html
By Tsuyoshi Inajima and Michio Nakayama, Apr 27, 2011
Radiation readings at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi station rose to the highest since an earthquake and tsunami knocked out cooling systems, impeding efforts to contain the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl.
Two robots sent into the reactor No. 1 building at the plant yesterday took readings as high as 1,120 millisierverts of radiation per hour, Junichi Matsumoto, a general manager at Tokyo Electric Power Co., said today. That’s more than four times the annual dose permitted to nuclear workers at the stricken plant.
[Note: these are measurements of the penetrating gamma radiation only; they do not include the less-penetrating beta and alpha radiation. (GE)] [ . .. ]
==================
10. Radioactivity level in contaminated seawater approaches record high
http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201104230223.html
by Tomoyuki Yamamoto, Staff Writer, Asahi, April 24 2011
The level of radioactivity from contaminated water that leaked into the sea from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant is close to the highest levels ever recorded.
The water that leaked from a crack in a concrete wall near the No. 2 reactor building at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant is estimated to be 4,700 trillion becquerels, the Tokyo Electric Power Co. said April 21.
That figure is about 20,000 times higher than the permissible annual standard stipulated by the government. Officials said 520 tons of the contaminated water leaked into the ocean from the crippled Fukushima plant. The leakage of the highly contaminated water was discovered April 2 and was halted April 6.
The worst case in history took place in Sellafield on the coast of the Irish Sea in Cumbria, England, in the 1960s-70s. Cesium-137 with a radioactivity of 5,230 trillion becquerels a year was discharged into the Irish Sea from a nuclear fuel reprocessing factory at the peak year of 1975.
Although the radioactivity level in the water in the Fukushima disaster is lower than that of the Sellafield case, officials say it is still a serious situation because the radioactive substances were discharged into the sea over a much shorter period of time. [ . . . ]
====================
11. Fukushima, risk, and probability: Expect the unexpected
http://www.thebulletin.org/web-edition/features/
fukushima-risk-and-probability-expect-the-unexpected
By Charles Perrow | 1 April 2011 Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
We continue to populate our planet with technologies that have catastrophic potential. We have vulnerable concentrations of humans, economic power, and hazardous materials. The most fearful concentrations of hazardous materials are in nuclear power plants. A serious accident there could kill hundreds or even thousands of people, and contaminate large areas of land for as long as a century. [ . . . ]
=====================
12. Clinging to the nuclear energy option is a reckless denial of reality
http://www.helencaldicott.com/pdf/nussbaum.pdf
by Dr Rudi H. Nussbaum April 26, 2011
Besides its unacceptable lasting effects on public health, even if operating normally (see section 3 below), nuclear energy technology cannot be financed by private capital. The nuclear power industry holds citizens hostage to protect its profits. The industry's safety
claims and newlabel of "safer design" is largely a cynical hoax.
Physicians for Social Responsibility's commitment to protect public health translates into demanding the de-commissioning of all currently operating nuclear plants and for the taxpayers to refuse to subsidize the construction of new ones with guaranteed loans and liability insurance premiums. Why? Here is the scientific/common sense justification for such an uncompromising position: [ . . . ]
=======================
13. Thailand to delay development of nuclear power
http://www.intellasia.net/news/articles/regional/
111323074.shtml
29-APR-2011 Intellasia |
Wall Street Journal 29 Apr, 2011 - 7:00:00 AM
http://online.wsj.com/article/
SB10001424052748704099704576288782682893862.html
Thailand will delay the commercial startup of five planned nuclear-power plants by three years because of safety concerns following the nuclear crisis in Japan.
Energy minister Wannarat Charnnukul said Thailand will instead build three 800-megawatt combined-cycle power plants to offset the deferral of the nuclear plants under the country's long-term energy development plan.
Thailand had planned to start commercial operations of the first nuclear-power plant in 2020.
Wannarat said the decision by the National Energy Policy Council was due in part to recent comments from the International Atomic Energy Agency, which said that it didn't believe Thailand was ready for nuclear power.
The United Nations' nuclear watchdog raised issues including Thai laws and regulations, and the opposition of local people to the construction of nuclear-power plants [ . . . ]
====================
14. WATCH: Chernobyl Catastrophe: 25th Anniversary of World's Worst Nuclear Accident
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/4/26/
chernobyl_catastrophe_25th_anniversary_of_worlds
April 26, 2011
As Japan continues to deal with its nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power facility, memorials are being held in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia today to mark the 25th anniversary of the nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl. On April 26, 1986, an explosion at the power plant sent a cloud of radioactive fallout into Russia, Belarus and over a large portion of Europe. Until the crisis in Japan, Chernobyl was the world's only Level 7 "major accident" nuclear disaster, the most severe designation issued by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Watch/Listen/Read:
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/4/26/
chernobyl_catastrophe_25th_anniversary_of_worlds
====================
15. The first million is the hardest..
http://acehoffman.blogspot.com/
by Russell 'Ace' Hoffman April 26, 2011.
Today's topics:
(1) The first million is the hardest... (by Ace Hoffman)
(2) The Real Story: Chernobyl show to air on Earth Focus TODAY
(3) Jeff Phillips (writing from New Zealand): Uranium mining over and under
(4) Iris Cheng (Greenpeace): Chernobyl: distorted reality, and unanswered
questions
(5) Conrad Miller: Chernobyl 25th anniversary disaster
(6) Google Earth Maps Out At-Risk Populations Around Nuclear Power Plants
(7) Contact information for the author of this newsletter
FULL TEXT:
http://acehoffman.blogspot.com/
===================
16. 'Storing nuclear waste next to the Great Lakes is irresponsible', says US Senator
http://www.canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=7659
Council of Canadians April 25, 2011
WLS-TV reports that "the Zion nuclear power plant" on the shores of Lake
Michigan in Illinois is being "shut down" and "slowly dismantled. More than
1,000 tons of radioactive waste will be stored on a 10-acre lot (in a dry
storage facility)." [ . . . ]
1. Green Party's Position on nuclear power in Canada
2. Jack Layton on nuclear power in Canada
3. Japan's Nuclear Catastrophe Leaves Little to Celebrate on Children's Day
4. No Nukes News – Japan considers solar power - April 29, 2011
5. Clinging to the nuclear energy option is a reckless denial of reality
6. Fukushima and Chernobyl Raise Questions about WHO's Role
7. Godspeed, little book!
8. Nuclear plants must not turn into radiological weapons
9. Radiation Readings in Fukushima Reactor Rise to Highest Since Crisis Began
10. Radioactivity level in contaminated seawater approaches record high
11. Fukushima, risk, and probability: Expect the unexpected
12. Clinging to the nuclear energy option is a reckless denial of reality
13. Thailand to delay development of nuclear power
14. WATCH: Chernobyl Catastrophe: 25th Anniversary of World's Worst Nuclear Accident
15. The first million is the hardest..
16. 'Storing nuclear waste next to the Great Lakes is irresponsible', says US Senator
================
1. Green Party's Position on nuclear power in Canada
http://greenparty.ca/vision-green/p1.21
Nevertheless, it is neither clean nor green.
From: Gordon Edwards
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2011 10:39 AM
Subject: Green Party's Position on nuclear power in Canada
From the Green Party Platform:
Can nuclear power meet our energy needs and be the solution to climate change?
Not when one considers the cost, pollution and threat to global security associated with nuclear power.
The Greens insist that energy choices should be economically rational. The best energy choices to respond to the climate crisis should be those that deliver the greatest reduction of GHG per dollar invested. By this criterion, nuclear energy is among the very worst options. Reactors cost billions of dollars, take more than a decade to build, operate unreliably after about the first dozen years of operation, and only produce one type of energy: electricity.
Even if the industry were "green and clean" as claimed by the pro-nuclear propaganda efforts, it fails on the economics. Nevertheless, it is neither clean nor green.
http://greenparty.ca/vision-green/p1.21
Thanks for this go to Stephen Leahy
Green Party Candidate 2011
Riding of Durham (Uxbridge, Scugog, Clarington)
905.862.3044 (mob: 416 .779.5364)
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/leahystephen
===================
2. Jack Layton on nuclear power in Canada
From: Gordon Edwards
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2011 9:25 AM
Background:
Canadians go to the polls on Monday May 2 to elect new representatives for the House of Commons, Canada's elected Parliament Jack Layton is the leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP), which has received a very dramatic surge in popular support in recent days, a surge which is mainly felt in the province of Quebec but which is also being noticed across Canada.
Here is a brief statement from Mr. Layton on the subject of nuclear power.
http://www.cleanairalliance.org/files/active/0/
NDP%20response.pdf
April 8, 2011
Mr. Jack Gibbons
Chair, Ontario Clean Air Alliance
Suite 402 -625 Church Street
Toronto, ON M4Y 2G1
Dear Mr. Gibbons,
Thank you for your letter of March 29, 2011 asking about New Democrat's position on subsidizing the construction of new nuclear reactors in Ontario.
Jack Layton and New Democrats advocate ending public subsidies for nuclear energy industry. New Democrats believe in halting nuclear expansion and upgrading the safety and security of current nuclear energy and waste management facilities. We believe in promoting clean, renewable energy to mitigate the negative effect of non-renewable energy such as fossil fuel.
The Canadian Nuclear Industry regularly describes itself as a mature industry, particularly concerning government regulation. As a mature industry it should be able to operate without major subsidies from government.
It was for this reason that Canada's New Democrats opposed the minor increase to Canada's Nuclear Liability Act the Harper Conservatives have tried several times to drive through the House of Commons. It is our position that these legislated maximum liability levels are a hidden subsidy for this industry. New Democrats feel the industry must either accept at a minimum a liability level of $10 billion dollars rather than the few hundred million the Harper Conservatives have in mind.
While there may be a need for government support of nuclear research New Democrats does not see the need for government subsidies of a mature industry just as we oppose subsidies for the tar sand. As it stands, Canadians would be better off investing in clean energy technologies rather than nuclear considering the major risks associated with this
technology.
Sincerely,
Jack Layton, Leader
Canada's New Democrats
http://www.cleanairalliance.org/files/active/0/
NDP%20response.pdf
==========
3. Japan's Nuclear Catastrophe Leaves Little to Celebrate on Children's Day
http://www.ips-dc.org/blog/
japans_nuclear_catastrophe_leaves_little_to_celebrate_on_childrens_day
The Japanese government is celebrating Children's Day, a national holiday on May 5th, by dramatically raising radiation exposure limits in schools.
Robert Alvarez, April 29, 2011
May 5 is Children's Day, a Japanese national holiday that celebrates the happiness of childhood. This year, it will fall under a dark, radioactive shadow.
Japanese children in the path of radioactive plumes from the crippled nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi power station are likely to suffer health problems that a recent government action will only exacerbate.
On April 19, the Japanese government sharply ramped up its radiation exposure limit to 2,000 millirem per year (20 mSv/y) for schools and playgrounds in Fukushima prefecture. Japanese children are now permitted to be exposed to an hourly dose rate 165 times above normal background radiation and 133 times more than levels the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency allows for the American public.
Japanese school children will be allowed to be exposed to same level recommended by the International Commission on Radiation Protection for nuclear workers. Unlike workers, however, children won't have a choice as to whether they can be so exposed.
This decision callously puts thousands of children in harm's way.
MORE:
http://www.ips-dc.org/blog/
japans_nuclear_catastrophe_leaves_little_to_celebrate_on_childrens_day
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4. No Nukes News - Japan considers solar power - April 29, 2011
http://www.ontariosgreenfuture.ca/nonukesnews.php
=======================
5. Clinging to the nuclear energy option is a reckless denial of reality
http://www.helencaldicott.com/pdf/nussbaum.pdf
by Dr Rudi H. Nussbaum April 26, 2011
Besides its unacceptable lasting effects on public health, even if operating normally (see section 3 below), nuclear energy technology cannot be financed by private capital. The nuclear power industry holds citizens hostage to protect its profits. The industry's safety claims and newlabel of "safer design" is largely a cynical hoax. Physicians for Social Responsibility's commitment to protect public health translates into demanding the de-commissioning of all currently operating nuclear plants and for the taxpayers to refuse to subsidize the construction of new ones with guaranteed loans and liability insurance premiums. Why? Here is the scientific/common sense justification for such an uncompromising position: [ . . . ]
========================
6. Fukushima and Chernobyl Raise Questions about WHO's Role
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=55403
By Gustavo Capdevila, Inter-Press Service (IPS), April 27 2011
QUOTE: ". . . . . the nuclear lobby has managed to get the WHO to renounce taking care of the victims of nuclear disasters," said Swiss academic Jean Ziegler, currently vice president of the U.N. Human Rights Council's Advisory Committee.”
GENEVA, Apr 27, 2011 (IPS) - The nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan and the 25th anniversary of the catastrophe in the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine have thrown into relief contradictions in the role played by the World Health Organisation, which civil society organisations have spent years pointing out.
An international coalition of NGOs, IndependentWHO, says the multilateral agency has never shown independence in its decisions or actions, in terms of living up to its mandate of protecting the victims of radioactive contamination.
The groups blame the WHO's alleged inactivity in this area on an agreement it signed in 1959 with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), an independent United Nations organisation founded to promote "safe, secure and peaceful nuclear technologies."
The coalition of NGOs states that the agreement makes the WHO "subservient" to the IAEA and prevents the U.N. health agency from "taking any initiative or action to achieve its objectives: the preservation and the improvement of health." [ . . . ]
====================
7. Godspeed, little book!
http://acehoffman.blogspot.com/
by Russell 'Ace' Hoffman April 28th, 2011
Dear Readers,
There has certainly been a change in the weather. It's irradiated, and nobody likes it.
Opinion polls around the world are running strongly against nuclear power even in France and here in America. And that's despite the official lies, cover-ups, and secrecy that's been going on regarding Fukushima.
Or maybe it's because of those things, too. I always thought it was the lies about Chernobyl that did in the Soviet Union.
Either way, as the truth gets out, people everywhere are getting disgusted with nuclear energy. Thank God (and DARPA) for the Internet!
This evening at a Nuclear Regulatory Commission hearing in San Juan Capistrano, California, I handed out about 75 copies of a new book I've just completed, a pictorial called SHUT SAN ONOFRE.
You can download the (free) 20-page book here:
http://www.acehoffman.org/petitions/shut-san-onofre.pdf
(File size is about 7 megabytes.)
It's VERY new -- in fact, I only started writing it yesterday morning! Hooray for modern technology*! [ . . . ]
===================
8. Nuclear plants must not turn into radiological weapons
http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201104270183.html
by Fumihiko Yoshida, The Asahi Shimbun, April 28 2011 THE COLUMN
As a hibakusha survivor of the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Keijiro Matsushima, 82, has been speaking publicly about his personal experience in English for foreign audiences. Soon after the accident at Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant triggered by the March 11 massive earthquake and tsunami, he was asked to give an interview with the U.S. cable TV news channel CNN.
While reports of radioactive leaks were making headlines, he thought how best to describe what was happening and what went through his mind.
Atomic bombs release intense heat and blasts in addition to radiation. Their destructive power is incomparably greater than nuclear power plant accidents, which do not lead to nuclear explosions. People who underwent atomic bombings may see the Fukushima accident differently, depending on their experiences.
After much thought, Matsushima made up his mind to speak frankly without hesitation about how he felt.
"It's like the third atomic bomb attack on Japan. But this time, we made it ourselves," he told CNN. [ . . . ]
=================
9. Radiation Readings in Fukushima Reactor Rise to Highest Since Crisis Began
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/
2011-04-27/tokyo-water-radiation-falls-to-zero-for-first-time-since-crisis.html
By Tsuyoshi Inajima and Michio Nakayama, Apr 27, 2011
Radiation readings at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi station rose to the highest since an earthquake and tsunami knocked out cooling systems, impeding efforts to contain the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl.
Two robots sent into the reactor No. 1 building at the plant yesterday took readings as high as 1,120 millisierverts of radiation per hour, Junichi Matsumoto, a general manager at Tokyo Electric Power Co., said today. That’s more than four times the annual dose permitted to nuclear workers at the stricken plant.
[Note: these are measurements of the penetrating gamma radiation only; they do not include the less-penetrating beta and alpha radiation. (GE)] [ . .. ]
==================
10. Radioactivity level in contaminated seawater approaches record high
http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201104230223.html
by Tomoyuki Yamamoto, Staff Writer, Asahi, April 24 2011
The level of radioactivity from contaminated water that leaked into the sea from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant is close to the highest levels ever recorded.
The water that leaked from a crack in a concrete wall near the No. 2 reactor building at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant is estimated to be 4,700 trillion becquerels, the Tokyo Electric Power Co. said April 21.
That figure is about 20,000 times higher than the permissible annual standard stipulated by the government. Officials said 520 tons of the contaminated water leaked into the ocean from the crippled Fukushima plant. The leakage of the highly contaminated water was discovered April 2 and was halted April 6.
The worst case in history took place in Sellafield on the coast of the Irish Sea in Cumbria, England, in the 1960s-70s. Cesium-137 with a radioactivity of 5,230 trillion becquerels a year was discharged into the Irish Sea from a nuclear fuel reprocessing factory at the peak year of 1975.
Although the radioactivity level in the water in the Fukushima disaster is lower than that of the Sellafield case, officials say it is still a serious situation because the radioactive substances were discharged into the sea over a much shorter period of time. [ . . . ]
====================
11. Fukushima, risk, and probability: Expect the unexpected
http://www.thebulletin.org/web-edition/features/
fukushima-risk-and-probability-expect-the-unexpected
By Charles Perrow | 1 April 2011 Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
We continue to populate our planet with technologies that have catastrophic potential. We have vulnerable concentrations of humans, economic power, and hazardous materials. The most fearful concentrations of hazardous materials are in nuclear power plants. A serious accident there could kill hundreds or even thousands of people, and contaminate large areas of land for as long as a century. [ . . . ]
=====================
12. Clinging to the nuclear energy option is a reckless denial of reality
http://www.helencaldicott.com/pdf/nussbaum.pdf
by Dr Rudi H. Nussbaum April 26, 2011
Besides its unacceptable lasting effects on public health, even if operating normally (see section 3 below), nuclear energy technology cannot be financed by private capital. The nuclear power industry holds citizens hostage to protect its profits. The industry's safety
claims and newlabel of "safer design" is largely a cynical hoax.
Physicians for Social Responsibility's commitment to protect public health translates into demanding the de-commissioning of all currently operating nuclear plants and for the taxpayers to refuse to subsidize the construction of new ones with guaranteed loans and liability insurance premiums. Why? Here is the scientific/common sense justification for such an uncompromising position: [ . . . ]
=======================
13. Thailand to delay development of nuclear power
http://www.intellasia.net/news/articles/regional/
111323074.shtml
29-APR-2011 Intellasia |
Wall Street Journal 29 Apr, 2011 - 7:00:00 AM
http://online.wsj.com/article/
SB10001424052748704099704576288782682893862.html
Thailand will delay the commercial startup of five planned nuclear-power plants by three years because of safety concerns following the nuclear crisis in Japan.
Energy minister Wannarat Charnnukul said Thailand will instead build three 800-megawatt combined-cycle power plants to offset the deferral of the nuclear plants under the country's long-term energy development plan.
Thailand had planned to start commercial operations of the first nuclear-power plant in 2020.
Wannarat said the decision by the National Energy Policy Council was due in part to recent comments from the International Atomic Energy Agency, which said that it didn't believe Thailand was ready for nuclear power.
The United Nations' nuclear watchdog raised issues including Thai laws and regulations, and the opposition of local people to the construction of nuclear-power plants [ . . . ]
====================
14. WATCH: Chernobyl Catastrophe: 25th Anniversary of World's Worst Nuclear Accident
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/4/26/
chernobyl_catastrophe_25th_anniversary_of_worlds
April 26, 2011
As Japan continues to deal with its nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power facility, memorials are being held in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia today to mark the 25th anniversary of the nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl. On April 26, 1986, an explosion at the power plant sent a cloud of radioactive fallout into Russia, Belarus and over a large portion of Europe. Until the crisis in Japan, Chernobyl was the world's only Level 7 "major accident" nuclear disaster, the most severe designation issued by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Watch/Listen/Read:
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/4/26/
chernobyl_catastrophe_25th_anniversary_of_worlds
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15. The first million is the hardest..
http://acehoffman.blogspot.com/
by Russell 'Ace' Hoffman April 26, 2011.
Today's topics:
(1) The first million is the hardest... (by Ace Hoffman)
(2) The Real Story: Chernobyl show to air on Earth Focus TODAY
(3) Jeff Phillips (writing from New Zealand): Uranium mining over and under
(4) Iris Cheng (Greenpeace): Chernobyl: distorted reality, and unanswered
questions
(5) Conrad Miller: Chernobyl 25th anniversary disaster
(6) Google Earth Maps Out At-Risk Populations Around Nuclear Power Plants
(7) Contact information for the author of this newsletter
FULL TEXT:
http://acehoffman.blogspot.com/
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16. 'Storing nuclear waste next to the Great Lakes is irresponsible', says US Senator
http://www.canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=7659
Council of Canadians April 25, 2011
WLS-TV reports that "the Zion nuclear power plant" on the shores of Lake
Michigan in Illinois is being "shut down" and "slowly dismantled. More than
1,000 tons of radioactive waste will be stored on a 10-acre lot (in a dry
storage facility)." [ . . . ]
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