Bellona: Rosatom’s foreign market strategy: Exporting nuclear risks for questionable profit
MOSCOW – As the lofty, but helplessly overblown idea of a “nuclear renaissance” continues to deflate right before our eyes both in Russia and elsewhere in the world, one particular aspect is becoming more and more intriguing: Where will the Russian atomic industry next direct its undying energy? And what sorts of risks will the world and the ecological community be left to deal with? In effect, the real question, when one thinks of where, in today’s tough economic conditions, the State Nuclear Corporation Rosatom – Russia’s topmost authority in all things nuclear – will likely invest its remaining resources is this: What field or fields of development will it be where most threats will be newly created? It is becoming increasingly obvious that Rosatom is going to concentrate its efforts first and foremost on those technologies and projects that have at least some conceivable prospects on the international market. That can be anticipated either in reactor construction abroad or in export of energy. And, apparently, in uranium production as well.
DNA India: 10-fold hike in Jaitapur package?
In the stand-off between the government and the locals over the Jaitapur nuclear power plant, the former has blinked first. A day after the state arrested 11 villagers near the proposed plant site on charges of rioting, Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) has hinted that it plans to substantially increase compensation to project-affected people. “We are in the process of finalising a very attractive rehabilitation package, which is about 10 times the existing one,” NPCIL chairman and MD SK Jain said on Wednesday. NPCIL will also pay a higher purchase price for land already acquired. Jain said while land-losers were earlier paid money only for the land sacrificed, the new package was a comprehensive one. Every family that has given land will be entitled to free housing with basic amenities and an annuity from LIC for 20 years. Other provisions include two year’s daily wages for agricultural labourers; lifetime pension for senior citizens and women;and a job for one family member or Rs5 lakh cash in lieu of that. NCPIL will also spend a part of the corpus set aside for corporate social responsibility activities in Jaitapur.
Tehran Times: Iran, Zimbabwe to cooperate on uranium mining: Zimbabwean FM
TEHRAN – Zimbabwean Foreign Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi has said that his country plans to cooperate with Iran on uranium mining. “Zimbabwe has rich uranium reserves, but is faced with shortage of funds and does not possess the technical knowledge and equipment needed for extracting rich uranium ores,” Mumbengegwi told ISNA in an interview published on Wednesday. “If we can work together on uranium mining, it will improve the economic situation of both countries,” he said. The Zimbabwean official also said that the two countries can have cooperation in the energy sector, especially in construction of oil refineries. He went on to say that Zimbabwe is willing to buy fuel from Iran. Elsewhere in his remarks, the Zimbabwean foreign minister said it is the best time for the Iranian companies to invest in Zimbabwe, adding when a country’s economy is in a bad situation, it is the best time for making investment in that country because investors will receive many incentives.
AFP: Syria agrees to IAEA inspection of nuclear site
VIENNA — Syria has agreed to a vist by inspectors from the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency to a nuclear site for the first time since June 2008, diplomats said Wednesday. The site, at Homs in the west of the country, is known to the IAEA and is not thought to be suspect. "Syria has agreed to the principle of a visit," said a source close to the IAEA. It is due to take place on April 1 though the details remain to be determined. The agreement follows numerous requests and growing impatience on the part of the agency with Damascus's refusals. The visit will not take in a posible uranium enrichment facility at Al Kibar, which was bombed by Israeli warplanes in 2007, the source said. News of the visit comes a week before the next meeting of the IAEA's board of governors, to be held from March 7 to 11, during which they will scrutinise Syria's case.
Newsnet5: Nuclear plant leak suspected of causing cancer
CLEVELAND - An exclusive 5 On Your Side investigation has uncovered a possible link between a nuclear plant and cancer after an Ohio man died from multiple cancerous tumors throughout his body. Charlie Swinney died one year ago from cancer that ravaged his body for more than a decade, but the Navy veteran may have left behind an important clue into what caused his death. Our exclusive investigation uncovered multiple letters that Swinney sent to the U.S. Veterans Administration describing a nuclear plant that was built at a base he served at in Antarctica. The McMurdo Nuclear plant was built in Antarctica in the early 1960s and provided power to the base until it was shut down in 1972. Swinney and an estimated 15,000 other veterans served at McMurdo Station as part of a support team throughout the plant's operation. The Navy's final operating report found the plant had 438 malfunctions over its history, including leaking water surrounding the reactor and hairline cracks in the reactor liner as early as 1964.
Times of India: Anti-Nuclear plant stir enters 200th day
FATEHABAD: The dharna and protest by the Gorakhpur village against the proposed nuclear power plant on Wednesday entered the 200th day. Under the leadership of Kisan Sangharsh Samiti president Hans Raj Siwach dharna against the proposed Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) is being staged outside of the mini-secretariat here in Fatehabad. "The government issued notice to us for acquisition of our land, but we won't let them take it away for nuclear power plant," Siwach said. A few farmers from Gorakhpur met Haryana Power Generation Corporation Limited (HPGCL) Managing Director Sanjeev Kaushal seeking revocation of notices on January 28. One of them, Ram Swaroop Gorakhpuriya, said, "We have been protesting for the past 200 days, but when will the government wake up?" Irate farmers have now announced that no government official would be allowed to enter Gorakhpur village to initiate the process of acquiring land further. Notably, government plans to acquire 1,131 acre of Gorakhpur land for nuclear power plant. The state has already initiated the process in this regard.
CNN: Forget $100 oil. $100 uranium is a real problem.
FORTUNE -- Just after Christmas, the container ship Altona, bound for China and carrying a load of 770,000 pounds of uranium concentrate (also known as yellowcake, the transportable form of uranium that will eventually be processed into nuclear fuel), ran into a storm in the South Pacific, between Hawaii and the Midway Islands. After three days of gales and heaving seas, the crew discovered that the containers in the hold had shifted and two drums of yellowcake had been smashed open. There was loose uranium in the hold. The ship returned to British Columbia, and Canadian mining giant Cameco (CCJ) --which was delivering the processed uranium to a Chinese utility in Zhangjiang -- assured the world press there was never any serious danger of the uranium leaking into the sea, or harming the crew. The Altona berthed at Vancouver before transferring up the coast to a Cameco plant for clean-up. While the incident sparked little outcry, it's an apt symbol for the unsettled waters into which the nuclear-power industry is sailing. Supplies of uranium, which has been in surplus since the fall of the Soviet Union, are beginning to tighten, and prices are rising again after plummeting during the world financial crisis of 2008-09. Uranium hit a three-year high of $73 a pound on the spot market at the beginning of February, and there are predictions that it could go much, much higher: a pair of analysts at CRU Group, a commodities and minerals analysis and consulting firm, said in a recent report that prices over the next decade could challenge the all-time high of $136/lb., set in the pre-crash days of 2007.