nuclear power

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If Fukushima Happened in US ... We'd Be Hosed

40% of Americans live within 50 miles of a nuclear plant

(Newser) - An AP investigation suggests that America's nuclear power plants and safety policies have not aged well: The once-rural areas around the plants have become far more crowded and difficult to evacuate, and the plants themselves are running at higher power and thus pose more of a risk in the...

US Nuclear Regulators Routinely Weaken Rules
US Nuclear Regulators Routinely Weaken Rules
Investigation

US Nuclear Regulators Routinely Weaken Rules

Changing standards keep ancient reactors running, despite wear and tear

(Newser) - US regulators are helping the nuclear power industry keep its aging plants in line with safety requirements by repeatedly loosening those requirements, according to a year-long AP investigation . The AP found thousands of problems—from cracking tubes to failed cables to leaking valves—all of which made the plants less...

Germany: All Nuke Plants Shut Down by 2022

Country is largest industrial power to make such a pledge

(Newser) - In the wake of the disaster at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, Germany has announced plans to phase out all of its nuclear power plants by 2022. With this move, Germany will become the largest industrial power to give up nuclear energy, the BBC reports. The country’s seven...

Japan Fears Reactor Core Breach

Damage may have occurred in explosion last week

(Newser) - Japanese officials fear that one of the reactor cores of the Fukushima nuclear facility may have been breached, raising the specter of significant environmental damage and halting work at the nuclear complex. "It is possible that somewhere the reactor may have been damaged," says a spokesman for the...

US Has 72K Tons of Still-Hot Nuclear Waste

Amount is growing every year, but there's still no long-term storage solution

(Newser) - The US may not have a Fukushima-like crisis on its hands, but it does have plenty of still-hot nuclear waste piling up at plants across the country—71,862 tons of it, to be precise, reports the AP . Most of the waste is stored in cooling pools similar to those...

Germany Shuts Down 7 Nuclear Reactors

Older reactors will cease operations for at least 3 months

(Newser) - Japan’s growing nuclear crisis has led Germany to shut down seven of its nuclear power plants for at least three months, the New York Times reports. Plants that began operating before the close of 1980 will temporarily close while officials complete a safety review for all 17 of the...

Japan's Nuclear Crisis: Let's Not Freak Out
Let's Not Freak Out Over Japan's Nuclear Crisis 

OPINION

Let's Not Freak Out Over Japan's Nuclear Crisis

It's far from another Chernobyl

(Newser) - America is positively freaking out over the state of Japan’s nuclear reactors, with some calling for a halt to the development of new nuclear plants. But that’s a wild overreaction, opines a Wall Street Journal editorial. The media’s done a poor job of putting the tragedy in...

Joe Lieberman: After Japan Nuclear Troubles, Time to Put the Brakes on New US Nuclear Power Plants
 Lieberman: 
 'Put the Brakes' 
 on Nuclear Power 
TALK SHOW ROUNDUP

Lieberman: 'Put the Brakes' on Nuclear Power

Plus, the no-fly zone and more from the Sunday talk shows

(Newser) - As Japan struggles to avoid a nuclear meltdown following its massive earthquake and tsunami, Sen. Joe Lieberman thinks it might be time to stop permitting new nuclear power plants in the US, Politico reports. "I think we've got to kind of quietly—quickly put the brakes on until we...

Think $100 Oil Is Bad? Here Comes $100 Uranium

American firms lag as world prepares for big crunch in supplies

(Newser) - While we’re worrying about a spike in oil prices, the rising cost of another energy source is being largely ignored: uranium. Last month, the nuclear power source reached $73 a pound, a three-year high—and in the next 10 years, it could approach its all-time high of $136 a...

Satellite Reveals N. Korea Nuke Building

Reactor would give country cause to enrich uranium

(Newser) - Satellite photos reveal construction at North Korea’s main atomic complex, suggesting the country is fulfilling its plans to build a light-water nuclear reactor, the AP reports. The images, from a private Washington institute, show at least two cranes and an under-construction rectangular structure, and come amid reports that work...

German Nuclear Protests Turn Violent
 Nuclear Protests Turn Violent 

Nuclear Protests Turn Violent

Demonstrators against nuclear power attack police, face water cannon

(Newser) - Protesters railing against the use and storage of nuclear materials in Germany became violent yesterday, lashing out against police with sticks and pepper spray, CNN reports. Police responded with mounted officers and water cannon. Anger was prompted by a train carrying nuclear waste to Germany from France for storage. The...

Exploding Transformer Shuts NY Nuke Plant

Indian Point blast being investigated

(Newser) - One of two units at a nuclear power plant 24 miles north of New York City was shut down after a transformer exploded last night. No one was injured and there was no danger of a radiation leak, officials at the Indian Point plant told AP . The unit will remain...

Iran Begins Loading Nuke Reactor Core

Country's first nuclear plant set to supply power by 2011

(Newser) - Iran has moved a step closer to bringing its first nuclear reactor online, according to officials. State media reports that fuel rods have been loaded into the core of the Bushehr nuclear power plant in southern Iran. The Iranian government says the plant—hit by delays including a leak and...

Dems Use Nukes to Lure GOP to Climate Bill

Plants, drilling offered as sweetener for cap-and-trade

(Newser) - The climate change bill up for Senate committee debate tomorrow doesn't stand a chance unless its Democratic backers can sweet talk some of their GOP colleagues, the Washington Post reports. The legislation focuses on a cap-and-trade system where companies could buy and sell emissions permits as needed. But Republican support...

Red Tape Chokes Path to Next-Gen Nukes
Red Tape Chokes Path to Next-Gen Nukes
OPINION

Red Tape Chokes Path to Next-Gen Nukes

Government must get out of the way of cheap, clean energy sources

(Newser) - A handful of startups are designing an exciting new generation of modular nuclear reactors that could solve our energy woes, writes legendary tech investor Bob Metcalfe in the Wall Street Journal. Small enough to fit on a kitchen table, they’re cheap and safe and use non-weapons-grade fuel. “As...

Obama Pushes Global Uranium Fuel Bank

Shared supply would undercut Iran's claims of 'peaceful' enrichment

(Newser) - President Obama has proposed the creation of a global supply of uranium that would allow nations to obtain fuel for civilian nuclear power but would curtail rogue states' ability to build weapons. An international bank could hamper Iran's efforts to justify its covert enrichment program, the Boston Globe reports. "...

Torture Video Derails US-Emirates Nuke Deal

(Newser) - Video of a member of the UAE’s royal family brutally torturing an Afghan salesman threatens to sink a nuclear trade deal between the UAE and the US, the Times of London reports. Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al-Nahyan, a brother of the UAE president, is shown beating the trader and...

US Seeks to Join Nuke Talks With Iran

(Newser) - The US wants to be a direct party to nuclear talks between Iran and the UN, CNN reports. Washington had stayed away from earlier negotiations because it has no diplomatic relationship with the country, but the State Department said today it had asked an EU official to invite Iran to...

US May Soften on Iran Civil Nuke Program

(Newser) - In negotiations with Iran, the Obama administration may be willing to accept less than a complete halt of uranium enrichment activities for civil use, the Financial Times reports. Insiders say an internal review of the administration’s policies now under way will take into account the apparently immovable stance of...

US Puts UAE on Fast Track to Nuclear Power

Abu Dhabi could have electricity program by 2017

(Newser) - An Arab state may be on the fast track to developing nuclear power—with the help of the US, the Wall Street Journal reports. American experts have been jetting to Abu Dhabi in recent few months to support the UAE’s nuclear aspirations, which could be speedily realized by 2017...

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