Berkeley nuclear engineers say the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, which is now shut down, is about 40 years old.
The 8.9 earthquake caused the reactor to leak radiation in a way that they say they could not have anticipated and caused evacuations of 50,000 people, within six miles of the plant. Japanese engineers are now concerned about cooling the reactor and avoiding more leaks.
"The reactor is guarded by multiple barriers, so this time apparently some of the barriers were broken, but we still have barriers in the system," said Ahn.
He says that's the reason the radioactivity has so far been confined to the control room and not the atmosphere. At this point, Japanese engineers are trying to safely cool the reactor down by first releasing steam which contains some low levels of radioactivity and then slowly pouring coolant into the system.
"They have to do it within a few days at most. So within, maybe over this weekend well see some major results," said Ahn.
NEWS REPORTER AT COPENHAGEN CONFERENCE 10TH DEC 2009 GETS SHUT DOWN AFTER ASKING ONE QUESTION REGARDING THE LEAKED CLIMATEGATE EMAILS
Censorship Is Not Science.
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Here's a video that will concisely point out Who's Who in Climate Gate; Who's Who and What They Did to cover their tracks. A nice soundtrack, too.
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Professor Phil Jones Exposed
Professor Phil Jones, head of the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, has announced that he is stepping down from his post as Director of the CRU until an independent investigation and revue is complete. The revue comes as a result of the allegations following the publications of emails and software data taken from the CRU by persons known on the Web as only “hadley hack” last month.
Professor Jones says he will be stepping aside during the investigation and cooperating fully with the investigators. Vice-Chancellor Edward Acton will also be stepping aside during the investigation. Professor Peter Liss, so far not named in any of the implicating emails, will be taking over the role of Director.
Of course, the global warming alarmists are up in arms about the “stolen data” and the “bad timing” and making all kinds of conspiranoid claims about who the hadley hack was, what was released, and why. This further relegates them, in my mind, into the realm of the delusional religionist and shows them to be logically brain dead.
“It has created confusion,” said Nicholas Stern, a leading Gorebot economist (meaning climate change cashier), “and confusion never helps scientific discussions.” Apparently Mr. Stern didn’t finish the fifth grade, or otherwise he would have learned that science is all about debate, confusion over the theory, and general bickering about who is right about what. That’s what the scientific vetting process is, at its core. Using the Scientific Method, a research scientist extracts data in as controlled and careful a way as possible. Then he presents it to his peers, who endlessly nit-pick and bicker over it.
Once again, of course, Stern turned to the old “consensus makes correctness” attitude, saying, “The degree of skepticism among real scientists is very small.” There wasn’t much skepticism over the earth being flat, over Newton’s Law, or any of the others that maverick skeptics challenged and proved wrong either. Thank God for skeptics like Galileo, Einstein, and many others!
He then repeats the mantra about Five Degrees and how we’re all going to cook when global temperatures rise that much by century’s end. This totally discounts, of course, the Medieval Warming Period wherein the temperature was a full six degrees higher and Vikings made settlements in then-recently-thawed Greenland and agricultural production reached its highest levels up to that point in human history.
Oh, and the seas weren’t flooding New York or Miami either.
What Stern is really upset about is that their “strategy” won’t be going through at Copenhagen to create a new world market, enforced by governments, in carbon trading. Trading by which Stern, Gore, and all their buddies would profit immensely, being the forces who control the current carbon trading markets in the West.
In other words, if people don’t keep believing in global warming, then poor sobs like Stern might lose their billions in future income potentials. Boo hoo.
Read the AP’s lopsided reporting at this link.
Meanwhile, tomorrow we’ll get back to the business of real environmental issues and problems. You know, the ones that the global warming alarmists gloss over in their continual push for global taxation so they can keep riding the gravy train.
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Professor Bob Carter ( Bob's a Member of the Australian Environmental Foundation ) He uses the Scientific method on the popular theory with global warming being linked to CO2 levels. He examines the hypothesis and it fails the test........... Video Explains clearly & concisely.
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John Coleman, founder of the Weather Channel will be joining 30,000 scientists to sue Al Gore to debunk global warming fraud. He said global warming supporters are not open to scientific, objective discussion but have been silencing their oposition to cover their faulty science. Coleman hopes that the lawsuit will bring the truth of the matter to the public eye and force media and government outlets to give a more balanced report on the claims.
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This above video gives background about the 70s ice age scare with an update about some of the principal figures involved. Newsweek, April 28, 1975
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For Those Who Enjoy A Little Humour
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THE URANIUM CONUNDRUM AUSTRALIA IN FOCUS
NOW, let's get this straight. Much of the media in the past week has been lambasting Tony Abbott for being a conservative, yet the new Liberal leader is open to a discussion on nuclear energy for Australia.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who is ostensibly on the progressive side of politics, has ruled out such a discussion.
Abbott is a “humans-are-causing-climate-change” agnostic/sceptic, but one with a professed open mind on the subject.
We know where Rudd stands - he believes urgent action is needed lest Bendigo and Charleville become the new seaside places to build that weekender. Yet there is a considerable body of scientific opinion on the side of the argument that nuclear offers a way to provide large quantities of electricity with comparably low carbon emissions.
So a conservative wants to hold a conversation about how nuclear could help reduce emissions, but the left does not.
As someone once famously said: please explain.
But here is the delicious irony: the talk fest now under way in Copenhagen is expected to provide a major boost to the global move towards nuclear generated power, according to the latest energy report out of Brussels from BNP Paribas Fortis Bank. “The much delayed renaissance in the US nuclear power industry will be guaranteed by the Copenhagen accord,” the report adds. The bank is expecting US Energy Secretary Steven Chu to provide government funding for up to another 10 power plants. (Are you with us so far, Kevin?)
The bank is, as a result of the upsurge in nuclear plant building programs, expecting uranium spot prices to hit $US95/lb next year, almost double their present levels (the price dropped by US50c to $US45/lb last week). The forecast is still a long way from the $US140/lb peak in 2007 but get this - the bank says the looming uranium shortage will mean that figure will be reached again “before too long”.
Just in the past week we have seen Armenia announce a new 1000 megawatt nuclear plant, the South African power utility say the only way it can reach its emission reduction target by 2020 is if the country has a nuclear plant operating, India has announced four new 700MW plants and Mississippi regulators have approved expanding the generation capacity of the Grand Gulf nuclear power station in that state.
So, while sobbing uncontrollably about your recently acquired gold stocks which are now looking a little limp or cursing yourself for not getting in on the ground floor for potash and phosphate, this might be the time to start paying attention to what the uranium plays are up to.
In the past 24 hours, for example, we’ve seen a number of announcements.
WildHorse Energy has begun drilling at its 72sq km Mecsek Hills uranium project in Hungary, Extract Resources announced some exciting assays from its Rossing South project in Namibia including 28m at 0.45 per cent U3O8, Aura Energy has committed $1.6 million to define a uranium resource at its Storsjon project in Sweden, and Impact Minerals has started the first drill program at its Botswana uranium project.
This is no time for nodding off when someone mentions uranium.
Indeed Interesting Times Lay Ahead For The Uranium Bulls
Australia's federal opposition is complaining of what it calls a colossal missed opportunity for Australia, after it was revealed that Canada is soon to resume uranium sales to India.
The Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has visited New Delhi to sign a series of agreements on trade and energy, and he has also announced a new civilian nuclear deal with India, which will include big new uranium sales.
India has been asking for Australian uranium for years, but the government of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has a ban in place preventing any sales.
Windows Media Link To Above Article
Recent News Regarding Canada's Close Ties With India September 2009
OTTAWA -- Canada is close to signing a deal with India to sell nuclear technology and materials, Trade Minister Stockwell Day said on Friday, adding he was confident that remaining security concerns would be resolved.
Mr. Day made similar comments in May, saying at that time that a deal was imminent.
He told reporters on a conference call that he was now ironing out a few final stumbling blocks.
"I had a telephone meeting just last week with India's national security adviser. We are down to four fine points ... He and I both agree that final agreement is possible within days, if not just a matter of a few weeks," Mr. Day told reporters on a conference call from India.
Mr. Day said he did not foresee any threat of Canadian materials being diverted to military uses elsewhere in the region because of India's commitment to allow inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency as well as tough transparency and reporting requirements.
"These are very strong provisions," he said.
Canada halted nuclear co-operation with India after the country diverted material from Canadian-designed reactors to make a nuclear bomb in 1974. The conflict between India and Pakistan at the time led to widespread international concerns about India's nuclear intentions.
Canada and other countries lifted their moratorium on nuclear trade with India last year.
Mr. Day said one of the four items to be resolved before signing a deal was the "question of reprocessing", without providing details.
"I'll let our negotiators make progress on those and the others without unduly trying to raise pressure points publicly on them," he said.
The deal means Canadian uranium producers will be able to sell to an Indian market that is seen, along with China's, as one of the top areas of growing demand for nuclear fuel.
Cameco, a top uranium miner, recently said it plans to open a marketing office in India.
"Certainly we're looking forward to having the opportunity to do business in India. It's a large market opportunity for any uranium fuel supplier," said Cameco spokesman Lyle Krahn.
The company plans to open the office next month.
"Once we have the agreement in place, we'll certainly be moving forward," Cameco's spokesman.
On Wednesday, the Canadian government announced a similar nuclear deal with Kazakhstan, where Cameco already has operations.
In My Personal View This Is One Of The Best Videos In Support Of Nuclear Power Generation I Have Seen, & I'm Sure All That Watch Will Surely Agree.
ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT!
Hosted by Stewart Brand. * Full Watch Also Available 1.43Hrs*
Be Patient Approx 30sec-1Minute Pre Load Time Required
I Can Highly Recommend Watching The Full 1.43 Hr Video
In the early 1980s Gwyneth Cravens was one of the protesters against the Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant on Long Island, and also participated in ban-the-bomb rallies. After 15 years of deepening familiarity with nuclear power, she says she still would ban the bomb, but she now regrets that the Shoreham reactor was shut down.
Who changed her mind was a nuclear expert at Sandia Labs in Albuquerque, D. Richard Anderson, known as “Rip.” “Here was someone who thinks in thousands of years, about climate, about nuclear waste storage,” she said. “He applies to nuclear issues the same probabilistic risk assessment that helps us understand what we’re facing with climate change.”
One concept that altered Cravens’ perspective was realizing what “baseload” requires. Rip Anderson, on the stage with her, explained that baseload is the fundamental currency of grid power. It is massive power constantly available 24/7. It comes from only three sources— fossil fuels, hydro-electric dams, and nuclear. Hydro is maxed out. Fossil fuels have to be cut back to slow global warming. That leaves only nuclear growth to handle the expected doubling of energy demand in the world by 2030.
Anderson added that his first scientific discipline was oceanography, so one of his greatest concerns about CO2 loading of the atmosphere is that the resulting carbonic acid in the oceans is dissolving the calcifying organisms and could effectively end the crucial carbon sink that oceans provide.
Cravens went into detail about the harm brought by coal, which currently provides 51% of US electricity (while hydro is 7%, nuclear 20%). Estimates are that coal pollution causes 24,000 deaths a year in the US, 400,000 a year in China (not counting the 5,000 who die annually in Chinese coal mines).
She also mentioned the still-incomplete science of the effects of low radiation— the amounts below 10,000 millirems. People encounter much higher levels of natural radiation at higher elevations and in some radon-rich areas, but there is no indication of higher cancer rates in those places. The fears of long-lingering cancer effects in the Chernobyl region have not proven out.
Comparing the environmental footprint of nuclear versus coal was the most persuasive mind-changer for Cravens. Coal involves vast quanities of mine spoil, vast quantities of fuel, vast quantities of pollution (including mercury and uranium), and vast quantities of carbon dioxide poured into the atmosphere. Nuclear, by contrast, uses the most concentrated form of energy in the world, the plants are small, and the waste amounts to one Coke can per person’s lifetime of energy use.
There is said to be no geological repository for nuclear waste yet, but Rip Anderson pointed out that the WIPP (Waste Isolation Pilot Plant) in a deep salt formation in New Mexico has been operating since 1999. It now handles only military waste, but there is no reason except political that it could not take all of our civilian spent fuel.
Two questions from the audience addressed possible limitations on fast growth of nuclear energy in the world. One was, “Won’t we quickly run out of uranium?” Anderson said that 10% of US electricity currently comes from recycled Soviet nuclear warheads, and we haven’t begun to draw the energy from decommissioned US warheads. The price for uranium ore has been so low in recent decades that mines closed and discovery stopped. Now that the price is rising, mines are reopening and new reserves are being found. (They’re mostly in Canada and Australia, some in the US.) Meanwhile, spent fuel in the US still has 98% of its energy in it. Once we reprocess the spent fuel the way the rest of the world does, we will extract more of that energy, and the final amount of waste will be drastically smaller.
Second question: “Are there enough nuclear engineers in the pipeline to deal with a worldwide nuclear renaissance?” Answer: No. That’s the most limiting resource at this point.
The uranium spot market was relatively quiet last week, with uranium market consultant TradeTech's U3O8 Weekly Spot Price Indicator slipping just US$0.50/lb to US$46.00/lb after a drop of US$3.50/lb the previous week.
There were only three transactions totalling approximately 400,000 pounds U3O8 equivalent registered by TradeTech for the week.
Two reactors at Canada's Bruce A nuclear power plant that have been out of service for over a decade have been given regulatory approval for refueling and restart. At the same time, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) has announced five-year operating Licence renewals for the Bruce A and B nuclear power stations.
Units 1 and 2 at the Bruce A plant have been undergoing a major refurbishment to replace their fuel channels and steam generators plus upgrade ancillary systems to current standards in an operation that should enable them to operate for a further 25 years. The announcement by regulator CNSC that refueling can go ahead means the project looks to be on line for the projected 2010 restarts.
The regulator also announced that it had decided to renew the operating licences for Bruce A and the four-unit Bruce B plant, with the new licences valid from 1 November 2009 to 31 October 2014. (The five-year renewal is in line with Canadian regulatory practice, whereby nuclear power plant operating licences are granted for a fixed term and must be renewed periodically.)
As part of its ruling, CNSC has requested that detailed information on the status of the refurbishment of the Bruce A units and on the status of Bruce Power's follow-up monitoring be included in its own annual Status Report on Power Reactors. It has similarly requested detailed information on the status of Bruce Power's follow-up monitoring, ageing management, any safety-significant dates for equipment, and any forecasted end of life plans, be included in the annual Status Report for Bruce B.
Units 1 and 2 at the four-unit Bruce A plant started up in 1977, but unit 2 was shut down in 1995 because a steam generator suffered corrosion after a lead shielding blanket used during maintenance was mistakenly left inside. In the late 1990s then-owner Ontario Hydro decided to lay up all four units at the plant to concentrate resources on other reactors in its fleet, and unit 1 was taken out of service in December 1997 with units 3 and 4 in following in 1998. The four units at sister power station Bruce B continued to operate. Bruce Power took over the operations of both Bruce plants from Ontario Hydro in 2001 and restarted units 3 and 4 by early 2004. Bruce A units 3 and 4 are likely to undergo a similar refurbishment once units 1 and 2 are back in operation.
The decision to refurbish the units followed a 2005 agreement by Bruce Power and the government of Ontario to refurbish the two 769 MWe Candu reactors as a faster option than building new ones in the face of impending power shortages. A similar approach has been adopted elsewhere in Canada, with refurbishment work already completed at Pickering A units 1 and 4, ongoing at Point Lepreau 1 and planned to commence at Gentilly 2 in 2011.
Bruce Power decided to withdraw its application for a third nuclear power station at Bruce in July, saying it would focus on the refurbishment of the existing Bruce plants rather than building Bruce C. It also announced it was scrapping plans for a second new nuclear plant at Nanticoke in Ontario.
Two leading senators sign on with Colorado Sen. Mark Udall
Sen Mark Udall (Colorado Senator Mark Udall, below) Has introduced a bill to authorize federal R&D for small, modular reactors. Udall said in a speech on the Senate floor he believes nuclear energy is an important part of the nation's response to global warming.
"Given the economic, national security, and environmental threats that our current energy system creates, we need a comprehensive and cleaner energy policy. In this regard, nuclear energy clearly has emerged as an important player in our search for a stable and domestic energy source that has less greenhouse gas emissions."
Video of Udall’s Senate speech on nuclear energy
In supporting nuclear energy, Udall is going against his political base and family history. Colorado is one of the greenest states with a long history of opposition to nuclear energy spurred in part by the failure of the Ft. St. Vrain nuclear reactor located 40 miles north of Denver. It never had an accident, but it was a technical and financial failure. Decommissioning was completed in 1992.
Also, Udall is the son of the late Arizona congressman Morris Udall. He is the nephew of former secretary of the interior Stewart Udall. According to media reports,he is considered an strong supporter of environmental organizations and has support their drive to expand the use of renewable energy sources including solar, wind, and biomass.
UPDATE 2-BHP: Olympic Dam force majeure. Full Output Not Expected Until .......... June - July 2010
Australia's BHP has declared force majeure on uranium and copper supplies from its stricken Olympic Dam mine on Wednesday, saying it did not expect to resume full output there until early next year.
BHP Billiton said the Australian operation, the world's fourth largest copper deposit and largest known uranium deposit, was running at only 25 percent of ore-haulage capacity after a runaway skip took its main shaft out of operation this month.
"We anticipate that ore-hoisting will be at approximately 25 percent of capacity until full production resumes in the third quarter of the 2010 financial year (July/June)," the company said in its first-quarter production report.
Uranium Spot Price Uptrend Alert
UxC's weekly spot price indicator has risen to US$47.75/lb. Its Mid-Term price indicator remains unchanged at US$55/lb. Long Term Contract Pricing remained steady at US$65/lb. Possibility This Could Be The Trigger To Send A To Investors
TradeTech’s Uranium Spot Price Indicator is $47.50 per pound U3O8—up $2.00 from the October 9 value. The spot price continued to climb this week on the news that BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam mine was shutdown following a mechanical failure to the main haulage system. BHP will provide an update of the situation on October 21. Until then, sellers are taking advantage of the momentum created as a result of the accident by raising offer prices.
Currently, all active demand can be characterized as discretionary in nature. While buyers are not “chasing” the price up, a number of parties are assessing the market and have concluded that purchases at current price levels are economical.
Six transactions were concluded this week; all at prices at, or very near, today’s Spot Price Indicator. Buyers included utilities, traders, investors, and financial entities. Offers are due next week to a non-US utility seeking 300 thousand pounds U3O8.
Uranium stocks surge on mine shutdown
Australian report says BHP Billiton has declared force majeure on deliveries from Olympic Dam following shaft accident Update To Be Announced On Wednesday October 21 2009
Here's An excellent film about the benefits of nuclear power. Made inthe 1970's. Included is footage of Cotter Corporation's Schwartzwalder Mine inColorado and the Canon City Mill.
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A (late 1970's?) BBC Production. Shows in detail how hydrothermal primary and secondary sedimentary deposits are formed. Shows uranium mining activities and equipment. Includes footage from the following Uranium Mines
Schwartzwalder Mine, Near Boulder, Colorado King Solomon Mine near Uravan, Colorado Key Lake Mine , Saskatchewan, Canada
A Little Of Topic But Here's A Couple of Links For The Gold Bugs
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FOR CANADIAN & U.S. TRADERS
What exchanges does MarketClub cover?
* National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ) * New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) * American Stock and Options Exchange (AMEX) * Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) * Canadian Venture Exchange (CDNX) * New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX/COMEX) * New York Board of Trade (NYBOT/CSCE/NYCE) * Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) * Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) * Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) * Kansas City Board of Trade (KCBT) * Minneapolis Grain Exchange (MGEX) * Realtime Foreign Exchange (FOREX)
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Here's An excellent film about the benefits of nuclear power. Made in the 1970's. Included is footage of Cotter Corporation's Schwartzwalder Mine in Colorado and the Canon City Mill.
Dines Take On The Next Phase Of "The Coming Uranium Boom" 9th May 2009
) Click Image Below For James Dines Audio
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LINKS TO JAMES DINES LATEST AUDIO'S Monday, September 7, 2009 AUDIO PART I
James Dines: Part II Monday, September 14, 2009
Legendary James Dines has come out with a new prediction for a “Super Major Bull Market” on May 22nd of this year which has already made tremendous amounts of money for his subscribers. This is the first time in 9 years that James Dines has issued a call for a new “Super Major Bull Market.” In this Part II interview Mr. Dines covers gold, silver, deflation, inflation, hyperinflation, dictatorships, financial corruption, the Fed, uranium and nuclear energy, oil and more.
LINK TO JAMES DINES LATEST Monday, September 14, 2009 AUDIO PART II
“The Hulbert Financial Digest has just updated its results through August.
They show that the Dines Letter, edited by octogenarian James Dines, is up 87.5% over the year to date, versus 13.93% for the dividend-reinvested Wilshire 5000 Total Stock Market Index”.
Australian Uranium News - Research
