August 23, 2016 – NextBigFuture.com – Will A President Hillary Clinton Close Down Nuclear Power Plants? – No. In fact, Clinton generally supports nuclear energy. She does not want any nuclear power plants to close prematurely, particularly the New York Indian Point plant. Clinton has said that “rapidly shutting down our nation’s nuclear power fleet puts ideology ahead of science and would make it harder and costlier to build a clean energy future”, agreeing with EPA chief Gina McCarthy and leading climate scientist Dr. James Hansen. Clinton opposes the Yucca Mountain nuclear repository and supports the Blue Ribbon Commission’s recommendations for our nuclear future.

August 23, 2016 – Daily Mail – China’s latest food scare: 5,000 TONNES ‘radioactive seafood’ are imported by gang of smugglers from polluted Japanese waters – Thousands of tonnes of potentially corrupted and dangerous seafood products have been imported into China over the past couple of years, according to investigators, raising significant health fears. Illegal smugglers allegedly brought in around 5,000 tonnes of contraband seafood from Japan to sell cheaply since 2014, much of it sourced from near the site of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, according to People’s Daily Online. Customs officers in Qingdao, Shandong province, east China, revealed on August 21 that they have seized a large quantity of scallops, king crabs and fish which was being imported by vans licensed in south-west China’s Guangxi province.

August 23, 2016 – Punjab News Express – Shadow over nationwide Radiologist’s strike, Sonologists not joining – Despite the strike call by the Radiologists association, the sonologists who run 70% of the scan centres shall continue working normally. Owing to bitterness amongst the two associations of Radiologists and Sonologists, public will be saved from suffering heat otherwise directed towards government. The Indian Radiological and Imaging Association (IRIA) had given a call of indefinite strike and paralyzing the ultrasound and other radiology work from September 1, 2016. The anguish of Radiologists body is over the fact that talks between radiologists and the union health ministry on amendments of the PC-PNDT Act had failed. According to the radiologists, they continue to face harsh punishments as well as harassment at the hands of authorities, even for minor clerical errors.

August 23, 2016 – Northern California News – E/V Nautilus to carry out first visual survey of WW-II era naval ship – Expedition ship E/V Nautilus will start a cruise from Monday, August 22, to study the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary (GFNMS) and nearby sanctuary water. In this quest, the vessel will also carry out the first visual survey of the USS Independence, a World War II-era aircraft carrier that was intentionally sunk off San Francisco in 1951. The Nautilus will also live telecast of the survey from 7 to 9 pm ET. In 2015, NOAA has mapped the wreckage with the help of autonomous underwater vehicles. Members involved in the mission have affirmed that the ship will also be imaged for photomosaic and microbathymetry data. NOAA scientists were of the view that the Independence is present 2,600 feet of water off California’s Farallon Islands, but then also it is intact. As per the scientists, the ship’s its hull and flight deck are completely visible. About Independence, it has operated from November 1943 through August 1945 in the central and western Pacific. It was one of the more than 90 vessels present as a target fleet for the Bikini Atoll atomic bomb tests in 1946.

August 23, 2016 – Proactive Investors – NexGen Energy continues to hit high grade uranium near Arrow – NexGen Energy Ltd (CVE:NXE) hailed drill results from multiple holes at the new area 180m southwest of its Arrow deposit on the Rook 1 property in the Athabasca basin, Saskatchewan, which have hit significant high grade uranium. Today’s results are from ten holes from the recently completed winter 2016 drilling program, all of which contained mineralisation. Chief executive of NexGen Leigh Curyer said: “These results confirm the significant expansion potential of Arrow at the 180 m southwest area.

August 23, 2016 – Financial Express – Indore administration’s idea to curb accidents: Stick radium strips on cow horns – In a bid to curb accidents due to vehicles’ collision with stray cows wandering on the streets and roads, Indore administration has come up with an unique idea. The Indore Municipal Corporation with the help of some groups, has started sticking radium strips on cows’ horns and neck belts. These strips glow in the dark and help alert the riders and drivers about the presence of cows on the roads. The riders, after recognising the cow’s presence, may break or turn in time to avoid collision.

August 23, 2016 – Space.com – Probes in Orbit Spot Radiation Belt Zap from the Sun – A probe swinging around Earth through the Van Allen radiation belts was able to pick out near-light-speed electrons following a powerful geomagnetic storm, providing a rare look into the interaction between the belts and the space weather event. A new NASA video explores the shocking phenomenon. The probe witnessed the aftermath of what NASA called “the greatest geomagnetic storm of the preceding decade,” when the sun expelled a burst of charged particles, called a coronal mass ejection, toward Earth in 2015. The interplanetary zap hit Earth’s radiation belts right when a NASA probe was passing through, offering a rare glimpse of the event’s impact.

August 23, 2016 – PhysOrg – Researchers make proton radiation in cancerous tissue visible using ultrasound technology – Using ultrasound technology, physicists from the Munich-Centre for Advanced Photonics make proton radiation in cancerous tissue visible. In future, the irradiation of tumors with protons could become more precise. Medical physicists from the Munich-Centre for Advanced Photonics (MAP) at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU), together with physicists from the Technical University (TUM), the Helmholtz Zentrum München (HMGU) and the Universität der Bundeswehr München (UniBWM) have combined conventional ultrasound technology with proton irradiation of a tumor. Using ionoacoustic technology they developed, they are able to observe the action of proton beams in real time via ultrasound. A large number of tumors can be treated with radiation consisting of protons (positively charged hydrogen atoms), which attack and destroy the cancer cells of the tumor. However, it is crucial that the protons attack and kill only cancerous cells while sparing the surrounding healthy tissue. Doctors must therefore direct the energy of the protons precisely within the tumor in order to have maximum impact on the tumor cells.

August 23, 2016 – Your Nuclear News – 2 million-pound CA20 module safely lifted into Vogtle Unit 4 nuclear island – Georgia Power announced today the completion of another major milestone in the construction of Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4 near Waynesboro, Ga. On Saturday, the project team successfully placed the CA20 module into the Unit 4 nuclear island. Weighing nearly two million pounds, or 1,000 tons, and towering more than five stories tall, the module is the heaviest lift at the project so far this year. With a footprint of approximately 67 feet long by 47 feet wide, the critical module will house various plant components, including the used fuel storage area. It was lifted into place using a 560-foot tall heavy lift derrick, one of the largest cranes in the world.

August 23, 2016 – Union of concerned Scientists – UCS Causes Meltdowns at US Nuclear Reactors (no, really) – You won’t see it on our website. You won’t find it in materials we mail out to our members. You won’t hear it in the webinars we hold for prospective donors. But UCS caused a meltdown at a U.S. nuclear power reactor. Well, that’s only half the story. UCS caused meltdowns at two U.S. nuclear power reactors. In our defense, they (being the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the nuclear industry, started it. We only finished it. In March 1996, I still worked in the nuclear industry. Walking through the Charlotte airport, I passed a newsstand with a front window display of four rows by six columns of the current TIME magazine. Two dozen George Galatis faces looked out at me. I’d met George the previous year because we both shared concerns about spent fuel pools in boiling water reactors (Millstone Unit 1 in his case, Susquehanna in mine) and had encountered a Rhett Butler reaction by plants owners and the NRC to the safety concerns (frankly, they just didn’t give a d**n). Eric Pooley’s article in TIME about the NRC’s nonchalance could not be ignored by the federal government any more than I could have failed to notice a window full of Georges that day in Charlotte.

August 23, 2016 – New Europe – As world retreats from nuclear power, Russia pushes faster reactors – In August, a Russia prototype – BN-800 nuclear power reactor started to work at 100% capacity for the first time while an innovative Russian Generation III+ reactor has been connected to the national grid. On August 17, Unit 4 of the Beloyarsk nuclear power plant with BN-800 fast neutron reactor, which should become the most powerful prototype of the commercial reactors of this type, started operating at 100% power for the first time, State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom said in a press release. Thus begins the procedure of comprehensive testing of the unit at its rated power. This procedure is a major and final condition in preparation for the delivery of power in commercial operation. During the 15-day comprehensive test the unit will have to confirm that it is able to consistently run at the rated power load in accordance with the design parameters, without deviation.

August 23, 2016 – Interfax-Ukraine – Energoatom seeks to finance building of spent nuclear fuel facility via issue of bonds in U.S. – National Nuclear Generating Company Energoatom seeks to finance building of the centralized spent nuclear fuel storage facility via the issue of securities on the U.S. stock market with the help of Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Energoatom announced the start of negotiations with Bank of America Merrill Lynch regarding coordination of due diligence, drafting preliminary financing conditions, cooperation with OPIC in registering the insurance policy and preparation of documents for the issue of the bonds. The expected cost of the agreement between Energoatom and Bank of America Merrill Lynch is $1.5 million.

August 23, 2016 – Syracuse.com – Companies ask regulators to approve sale of FitzPatrick nuclear plant – The companies involved in the $110 million sale of FitzPatrick nuclear plant have asked New York regulators to approve the transaction by Nov. 18, saying the deal could fall apart without prompt regulatory approval. Entergy Corp., the current owner, and Exelon Corp., the buyer, filed a petition Monday asking the state Public Service Commission to approve the sale. They also will seek approvals soon from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the IRS and other agencies. The sale will be automatically canceled, unless Entergy and Exelon mutually agree to move ahead, if PSC approval and other conditions are not met by Nov. 18, according to a copy of the sales agreement provided to state regulators.

August 23, 2016 – Richmond Register – Estill citizens group wants say in landfill settlement – When state officials take action on the illegal dumping of low-level radioactive fracking waste at an Estill County landfill, the local citizens group wants a “seat at the table.” “The Concerned Citizens of Estill County are not satisfied with the plans by the Energy and Environmental Cabinet to allow mere comments on agreements made between the Cabinet and Advanced Disposal Services,” the group said in a letter to Energy and Environment Cabinet Sec. Charles Snavely. Advanced Disposal Services owns the Estill landfill where 2,000 tons of radioactive waste was illegally dumped.

August 23, 2016 – Guam Daily Post – Indigenous Australians fight nuclear dump plan on sacred land – Enice Marsh remembers the black clouds of “poison stuff” that billowed from the northwest after British atomic bomb tests in the 1950s spread fallout across swathes of South Australia. Now a new kind of radioactivity could head to her ancestral home in the remote Flinders Ranges – a nuclear waste dump. “To me, it feels like a death penalty,” said Marsh, 73, standing in the cemetery of the outback town of Hawker, where many of her relatives are buried under red earth. “We are one big family and the land also is family to us. We care for the land just in the same way we care for our family.” South Australia is at the heart of a debate over the nation’s nuclear future that highlights a familiar tension between quick economic gain and long-term custodianship of land occupied by Aboriginal people for more than 50,000 years.

August 23, 2016 – Food Safety News – Hong Kong still testing food imports for Fukushima’s radiation – More than five years ago on Friday, March 11, 2011, the Great East Japan Earthquake with a magnitude of 9.0 set off a large tsunami sending a 50-foot wall of water over three Fukushima Daiichi reactors. Three of the nuclear cores melted down in the next three days. About 1,600 miles away on the next day, Saturday, March 12, 2011, the Center for Food Safety (CFS) in Hong Kong began stepped up surveillance of fresh foods including milk, vegetables and fruits, imported from Japan for radiation testing. Eleven days later, on Wednesday, March 23, 2011, CFS discovered three samples imported from Japan with radioactivity levels exceeding those considered to be safe by international Codex Alimentarius Commission. CFS is a unit of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department of Hong Kong’s City government, which is part of China. The CFS continues to test those Japanese imports but hasn’t found any additional shipments with unsafe radiation levels.

August 23, 2016 – Los Alamos Daily Post – LANL Scientist David L. Clark Receives 2017 Glenn T. Seaborg Award For Nuclear Chemistry – Los Alamos National Laboratory chemist David L. Clark has been selected as the 2017 recipient of the Glenn T. Seaborg Award for Nuclear Chemistry, sponsored by the American Chemical Society Division of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology. “Dave is well-known for his breadth of accomplishment in actinide synthesis, characterization, and electronic structure elucidation, as well as the development of modern multi-method approaches to the characterization of complex actinide behaviors,” said Alan Bishop, Principal Associate Director of the Laboratory’s Science, Technology and Engineering directorate. Clark was honored for his innovative systematic studies of the fundamental chemistry of actinide elements using novel experimental techniques and giving new insights into chemical bonding of 5f electrons.