Waste

Greenpeace activists 'risk their lives'

Monday, August 18, 2008

GREENPEACE ACTIVISTS protesting against a shipment of nuclear waste on its way to Sellafield are putting themselves at risk of death or injury, the UK nuclear security chief has warned.

Roger Brunt, the director of the government's Office for Civil Nuclear Security (OCNS), has accused the international anti-nuclear group of "recklessness" during attempts to board a boat carrying plutonium-contaminated waste from Sweden.

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Radioactive waste now 'harmless'

Monday, August 18, 2008

Tonnes of radioactive liquid metal - a legacy of the experimental fast reactor programme at Dounreay in Caithness - have been destroyed.

Dounreay Site Restoration Limited (DSRL) said the material was turned into "harmless" salt water.

The water was put through a further process so it could be discharged into the sea.

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France wields clout on Tennessee, U.S. nukes

Monday, August 18, 2008

Electricity ratepayers' dollars in Tennessee as well as federal tax money are increasingly going to a company owned largely by the French government: the nuclear power conglomerate AREVA.

The company holds U.S. Department of Energy contracts for nuclear-related projects at major facilities such as Hanford, Wash., and Yucca Mountain, Nev., and others, including in Erwin, Tenn., and Aiken, S.C.

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Britain holds £160bn stockpile of nuclear fuel

Monday, August 18, 2008

Britain has a stockpile of plutonium and uranium that, if converted to fuel, could be worth nearly £160 billion and power three nuclear reactors for 60 years, scientists say.

The future of the stockpile - largely left over from burning fuel - will be decided by ministers over the next year, The Times has learnt. Its value is estimated as the equivalent of 2.6 billion barrels of oil.

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Greenpeace objects to "Super Waste" Storage

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Greenpeace has raised objections to the underground disposal of highly radioactive wastes from the new Olkiluoto 3 nuclear power unit.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Greenpeace says that the nuclear power industry has plans to create a new underground disposal facility at the Olkiluoto site for the ""super waste" spent fuel that will be created by the Olkiluoto 3 nuclear power unit.

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Romanian police ‘escorts’ Bulgarian nuclear fuel along the Danube River

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Bucharest. The comments on the low control over the transportation of Bulgarian nuclear fuel along the Danube River is among the headlines in the Romanian press today.

The Gandul daily notes that every year the Bulgarian ship Vasil Drumev and the boat Nautilus transport 60 tons of nuclear fuel from Kozloduy to the Ukrainian port of Ismail. The nuclear fuel used in Kozloduy is transported as waste to the Ukrainian port, from where the ship turns back loaded with fresh fuel.
According to the article the ‘tourist’ boats, used by the Romanian police to escort the cargo, often malfunction.

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German Nuclear Exit Should Be Reversed, Ministry Taskforce Says

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Aug. 5 (Bloomberg) -- The German government should abandon its planned phase-out of nuclear energy to help rein in surging electricity prices and protect the environment, according to proposals drawn up by an energy taskforce under Economy Minister Michael Glos.

The plan, in the form of a three-page draft of ''key points'' toward a nuclear-energy law, urges the government to extend the running of nuclear reactors to at least 40 years from a maximum 32 years at present, Berlin-based ministry spokeswoman Charlotte Lauer said today by phone. It is a recommendation only and hasn't been endorsed by Glos, Lauer said.

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Italians to build transport vessel for spent nuclear fuel

Friday, August 1, 2008

The Russian state company on nuclear energy Rosatom this week signed an agreement with the Italian Ministry of Economic Development over the construction of a vessel for transports of spent nuclear fuel from bases on the Kola Peninsula.

According to Rosatom, the vessel will be financed as a whole by the Italian side. The ship, which is to be built by the company Fincantieri is expected to cost 71,5 million EUR.

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Greenpeace files complaints on Areva nuclear leaks

Thursday, July 31, 2008

PARIS (Reuters) - Greenpeace France filed two complaints against nuclear power company Areva over an uranium leak this month that triggered public outrage, as well as older leaks that were later found on the same site.

On July 7, Areva accidentally poured around 18 cubic meters of liquid containing uranium, which was not enriched, onto the ground and into the river at the Tricastin nuclear site, prompting local authorities to launch an official enquiry.

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'We don't want nuclear waste dump built near our homes'

Saturday, July 26, 2008

PEOPLE living near the Dounreay nuclear plant say they will fight plans for a waste dump close to their homes, despite the scheme winning the conditional backing of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.

Sepa says it supports proposals for a £110 million underground low-level radioactive waste store – the first of its type in Scotland – provided seven planning conditions are imposed to protect people and the environment.

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