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July 26, 2016 – Press Pieces

On July 26th, 2016, posted in: Latest News, Press Pieces

July 26, 2016 – The Olympian – Texas radioactive waste company eyes New Mexico site – A West Texas company that treats and disposes of radioactive waste may be ahead of southeastern New Mexico in landing a long-term storage facility for spent nuclear fuel. The Waste Control Specialists signaled this month it wants a spent fuel storage facility at the company’s facility just five miles east of Eunice, New Mexico, the Hobbs News-Sun reports (http://goo.gl/VC3oOA). WCS spokesman Chuck McDonald said the company is asking the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to begin the environmental review of the site now, a process that could take at least 18 months. WCS sent a letter to the NRC this week asking that the process begin so stakeholder meetings with the public can be held.

July 26, 2016 – Pulse.com.gh – Nuclear weapons roll through Scotland – In the dead of night, convoys carrying nuclear warheads wind their way through Glasgow: up the M74 motorway, over the West Street subway station I pass through on my way to work, across the river Clyde as it flows past my home, past the library and the gym and my dog’s vet surgery, past the best burger van and worst Chinese takeaway, and on to the Faslane naval base just outside the city. Every morning, my city risks waking up to news of a crash or meltdown, of a vast radioactive dust cloud sweeping south, of the slow deaths of thousands from incurable radiation sickness. From Faslane, these missiles are loaded onto submarines that slink out to undisclosed locations off Britain’s coastline, ready to launch their missiles – each one seven times more powerful than the bomb that levelled Hiroshima – on the prime minister’s say-so. And if that ever happens, in error or in earnest, you and I and everyone else on Earth will die as each nuke-toting nation retaliates in a matter of minutes.

July 26, 2016 – Albany Times Union – A hefty nuclear subsidy – In coming weeks, New York’s Public Service Commission will consider a clean energy plan that envisions a laudable goal: to derive half of the state’s electricity from clean, renewable sources. It also includes what can be fairly described as a massive subsidy for nuclear power plants. The state argues that with energy prices low right now, nuclear plants, which provide nearly a third of New York’s electricity, are in danger of closing. The state says it can’t quickly develop enough wind and solar to replace the roughly 37 million megawatt hours nuclear power plants provide. Those plants, advocates note, at least produce no greenhouse gas emissions and provide thousands of jobs. But at what cost? It’s one thing to keep nuclear plants running temporarily while the state transitions to green energy. It’s another to hand nuclear plant operators billions of dollars that could instead be used to move New York that much more quickly to a clean energy future.

July 26, 2016 – FTSE News – Perma-Fix Environmental Services, Inc. (PESI) Updated Price Targets – Recently analysts working for numerous investment brokerages have updated their research report ratings and price targets on shares of Perma-Fix Environmental Services, Inc. (PESI). Recent broker ratings and price targets: 05/11/2015 – Perma-Fix Environmental Services, Inc. was upgraded to “hold” by analysts at Zacks. 03/03/2014 – Perma-Fix Environmental Services, Inc. was upgraded to “hold” by analysts at Thomson Reuters/Verus. Perma-Fix Environmental Services, Inc. has a 50 day moving average of 5.14 and a 200 day moving average of 4.18. The stock’s market capitalization is 51.50M, it has a 52-week low of 3.42 and a 52-week high of 5.64.

July 26, 2016 – Nikkei Asian Review – TEPCO asks for removal of “Pokemon Go” character from nuclear plant – Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. has asked the provider of the popular “Pokemon Go” smartphone game to change settings so that the game’s virtual characters will not appear at a nuclear power plant operated by it, the utility said Tuesday. TEPCO said it has detected at least one Pokemon character within the premises of one of the three TEPCO nuclear power stations it tested. The plants are the Fukushima Daiichi plant, which was crippled in the wake of the March 2011 disaster, and the Fukushima Daini plant, both in Fukushima Prefecture, and the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata Prefecture. The company declined to say at which plant the character was found so as to prevent possible trespassers. It has also called on plant workers not to play “Pokemon Go” on the premises of the power stations.

July 26, 2016 – PhysOrg – Lonely atoms, happily reunited – The remarkable behaviour of platinum atoms on magnetite surfaces could lead to better catalysts. Scientists at TU Wien (Vienna) can now explain how platinum atoms can form pairs with the help of carbon monoxide. At first glance, magnetite appears to be a rather inconspicuous grey mineral. But on an atomic scale, it has remarkable properties: on magnetite, single metal atoms are held in place, or they can be made to move across the surface. Sometimes several metal atoms on magnetite form small clusters. Such phenomena can dramatically change the chemical activity of the material. Atomic processes on the magnetite surface determine how well certain metal atoms can serve as catalysts for chemical reactions. Scientists at TU Wien (Vienna), together with colleagues from Utrecht University, can now watch single platinum atoms form tiny clusters. Carbon monoxide plays a dual role in this process: It allows single platinum atoms to move and form pairs, and then it holds these pairs together for a long time.

July 26, 2016 – China.org.cn – China’s nuclear power requires rational development – On June 30, Qian Zhimin, general manager of China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), met with Hebei executive vice governor to discuss the construction of the Cangzhou Nuclear Fuel Industrial Park and Haixing Nuclear Power Industrial Park. First built in 2014, the industrial park in Cangzhou, which includes a uranium processing plant, aims to secure a nuclear fuel supply for the country. During a news briefing on Jan. 29 of this year, Pan Jianming, CNNC’s secretary of the board and spokesman, said, “We have already finished the preliminary work, and everything is going smoothly in Cangzhou.” Pan said that the CNNC planned to build two uranium processing plants in the country, with one in Cangzhou, Hebei Province and the other in Guangdong Province, though the specific location has yet to be decided.

July 26, 2016 – Onc Live – Dreicer Addresses Key Questions With Radium-223 in mCRPC – Robert Dreicer, MD Radium-223 dichloride (Xofigo) has proved to be a game-changer in the radiopharmaceutical scene, specifically with the treatment of patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), explains Robert Dreicer, MD.However, even with an encouraging survival benefit in patients with bone-metastatic disease, the agent’s most appropriate use and spot in a sequence with other available agents are still unknown. In an attempt to help answer these questions, ongoing clinical trials are examining the radiopharmaceutical in combinations.One phase III trial is randomizing patients with bone predominant mCRPC to either radium-223 alone or radium-223 with abiraterone acetate (Zytiga) and prednisone.

July 26, 2016 – Healthcare Daily – UT Southwestern Announces Early Collaborative Grants for Heavy Ion Project With UTA – UT Southwestern Medical Center is enlisting the help of UT Arlington professor Dr. Mingwu Jin to bolster its effort to launch the first heavy ion cancer treatment center in the United States. Jin, a physics professor with a background in electrical imaging and radiology, hopes to develop an imaging system that will help doctors see how each treatment is affecting a patient in real time, making it easier to adjust the dosage as needed.

July 26, 2016 – Medical XPress – Markers that cause toxic radiotherapy side-effects in prostate cancer identified – A new study involving researchers from The University of Manchester looked at the genetic information of more than 1,500 prostate cancer patients and identified two variants linked to increased risk of radiotherapy side-effects. Nearly 50% of the 1.1 million men a year worldwide diagnosed with prostate cancer undergo radiotherapy. It is an effective treatment, but between 10 and 50 percent of men suffer from radiotherapy side-effects which can cause long-term problems with urinating or rectal bleeding. It is not known why some men are more susceptible to side-effects and as a result doses are kept low to minimise the risk in all patients – reducing the effectiveness of treatment. The new Radiogenomics Consortium study coordinated from Manchester aimed to identify if there were any genetic markers which could explain this.

July 26, 2016 – Sputnik International – Russia, Turkey Discuss Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant Project – Russia and Turkey have discussed the implementation of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant project, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said Tuesday. “We discussed some investment projects, including the construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant. There is some progress here already. The necessary regulatory framework is being finished by the Turkish side. We expect to be able to move forward quite quickly,” Dvorkovich told reporters. In late June, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in a letter addressed to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, apologized for the downing of the Russian Su-24 attack aircraft by a Turkish jet in November and extended his condolences to the family of the pilot killed in the incident.

July 26, 2016 – Rand Daily Mail – Why Eskom’s Brian Molefe is pumping up the nuclear propaganda – What Eskom CEO Brian Molefe understands well is that much of the success of doing business in a state-owned company comes down to how well you do at politics. To win at politics, you must use your power well: be unafraid to exercise it and brave enough to push the limits. It’s only by doing so that you become more powerful. As well as this, you need to get the wider public on your side. You need to win the propaganda war. As Eskom prepares to roll back the rise of independent power producers (IPPs) and lay the basis for the nuclear build, the propaganda war is going to be critical. This is because, on the facts alone, Eskom’s central argument — that SA’s energy future is a straight choice between variable and unreliable renewables and reliable base load nuclear — is nonsense.

July 26, 2016 – City AM – EDF staff in last-ditch attempt to derail Hinkley Point – Unions members at EDF launched a last ditch attempt to derail plans to build a nuclear power plant in Britain, amid fears over whether the French utility giant’s balance sheet will be able to withstand the £18bn project. It comes as EDF board members prepare to consider the final investment decision for Hinkley Point C at a meeting on Thursday. EDF works council secretary, Jean-Luc Magnaval, told Reuters the EDF works council had filed a complaint with a Paris court, and a hearing on the case is due to take place 2 August. “We demand a suspension of the decision,” Magnaval said. The UK must replace about 20 per cent of its ageing nuclear and coal power plants during the next 10 years, and Hinkley Point power is integral to keeping the lights on. The project will power six million homes for about 60 years, however its come under fire over its value for money for the tax payer.

July 26, 2016 – Dhaka Tribune – Bangladesh signs credit deal with Russia for Rooppur power plant – Bangladesh has signed a $11.38 billion credit deal with Russia in Moscow on July 26 to implement the Bangladesh’s first ever 2,400 MW nuclear power plant at Rooppur in Pabna. Kamrul Islam bhuiyan, an information officer at the Ministry of Science and Technology confirmed about the deal to the Dhaka Tribune. On July 18, the Russian government approved a deal to loan up to $11.38 billion to build the Rooppur nuclear power plant in Bangladesh.

July 26, 2016 – Union of Concerned Scientists – Nuclear Plant Accidents: Three Mile Island – At 4:00 am on March 28, 1979, workers at the Three Mile Island (TMI) nuclear plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania were preparing to restart the Unit 1 reactor from a refueling outage. The Unit 2 reactor was marking its first anniversary—exactly one year earlier, a nuclear chain reaction had been achieved for the first time. A series of events over the next 135 minutes would end Unit 2’s life and delay Unit 1’s restart for several years. Unit 2 was operating at 97% power when one of the two condensate pumps unexpectedly stopped running. The two feedwater pumps pulled more water from the piping than the single remaining condensate pump could supply. Automatic protective devices tripped both feedwater pumps. The loss of the feedwater pumps caused the water level in the steam generators as steam continued to exit them with little makeup water in return. Protective devices automatically tripped the main turbine and moments later triggered the rapid shut down of the reactor.

July 26, 2016 – OpenPR – Global Nuclear Steam Generator Market 2016 – Areva, Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy, Westinghouse Electric, Atomic Energy of Canada – Report On 2016 Global Nuclear Steam Generator Industry provides a deep analysis of the Nuclear Steam Generator market. Global Nuclear Steam Generator Consumption Price, Nuclear Steam Generator Market Size (Volume and Value) and End Users Analysis. In the beginning, (Worldwide Nuclear Steam Generator Market-2016) provides a basic overview of the Nuclear Steam Generator industry including definitions, classifications, applications and Nuclear Steam Generator industry chain structure. The Nuclear Steam Generator market analysis is provided for the international market, which includes Nuclear Steam Generator industry development history, competitive landscape analysis and Nuclear Steam Generator market major regions development status.

July 26, 2016 – The Shillong Times – Uranium mining in Meghalaya – The Uranium issue has come to haunt us yet again. Germane to the debate is that uranium as nuclear scientist Dr Gordon Edwards says is ‘the deadliest metal on earth,’ as is borne out by scientific evidence. Edwards says all uranium ends up as either nuclear weapons or highly radioactive waste from nuclear reactors. In the process of mining uranium naturally occurring radioactive substances, which are among the most harmful materials known to science are liberated. Scientists today believe that nuclear technology never was and never will be a solution to any human problem and that there are alternative ways of generating electricity through water power, wind power, geothermal power, etc. If uranium is to be used for power generation then is solar power not a better and safer option?

July 26, 2016 – The New Yorker – America at the Atomic Crossroads – On July 25, 1946, the United States Navy carried out the fifth detonation of an atomic bomb in history, in a lagoon at Bikini Atoll, in the South Pacific. The device was anchored about ninety feet beneath a barge, and when it exploded it sent up an immense column of radioactive seawater, topped by a flattened white mushroom cloud. The column rose some six thousand feet, then collapsed back into the lagoon, generating a wave that was nearly the height of the Chrysler Building. From the air, the explosion’s shock front could be seen racing across the lagoon toward an armada of ninety mothballed warships—American, German, and Japanese—which were moored nearby. By the time the chaos subsided, eight had sunk and many more had been damaged. The very first nuclear test, a year earlier, was called Trinity, a name that evoked the intellectual mysticism of its chief scientific architect, J. Robert Oppenheimer. The test series at Bikini was given a less esoteric but perhaps more fitting moniker: Operation Crossroads. That was what 1946 was—a crossroads, a year of choices about the character of the postwar, newly nuclear world.

July 26, 2016 – Space Daily – World’s most sensitive dark matter detector completes search – The Large Underground Xenon (LUX) dark matter experiment, which operates beneath a mile of rock at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in the Black Hills of South Dakota, has completed its silent search for the missing matter of the universe. Today at an international dark matter conference (IDM 2016) in Sheffield, U.K., LUX scientific collaborators presented the results from the detector’s final 20-month run from October 2014 to May 2016. The new research result is also described with further details on the LUX Collaboration’s website.

July 26, 2016 – Korea Joonang Daily – Seoul plans for nuclear waste site – The government finalized its plans to choose a site to store high-level radioactive waste within 12 years and to construct a facility in 36 years. In a meeting at the Seoul Government Complex on Monday, Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn announced specifics for the project. The government said there are 36 nuclear power plants operating in Korea and each facility will run out of space for storage as early as 2019. The prime minister said safety issues of people and environment are top priorities in considering new construction.

July 26, 2016 – Nature World News – Russian City Called ‘Graveyard of the Earth,’ Closed Off to Visitors – The 1970 film “China Syndrome” shocked the world about the crippling effects of nuclear accidents. However, for one city in Russia, residents lived in such conditions where nuclear accidents were a norm. Contaminated water and poison berries plague Ozersk, dubbed as the “Graveyard of the Earth.” For the 100,000 citizens living in Ozersk, life was bountiful even in times when the rest of Russia crawled through poverty. Tucked in the Ural Mountains, residents of Ozersk had plentiful sources for food, lived in private apartments, sent their children to well-regarded schools, and had access to great healthcare. Yet, there is a downside to living in the place called “Graveyard of the Earth.” According to a report by the Guardian, water is contaminated, berries and mushrooms are poisoned, and the children are sick. City 40, another name for the city of Ozersk, was the site of Soviet Union’s nuclear weapons program.

July 26, 2016 – Environment360 – Sticker Shock: The Soaring Costs – German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s 2011 decision to rapidly phase out the country’s 17 nuclear power reactors has left the government and utilities with a massive problem: How to clean up and store large amounts of nuclear waste and other radioactive material. The cavern of the salt mine is 2,159 feet beneath the surface of central Germany. Stepping out of a dust-covered Jeep on an underground road, we enter the grotto and are met by the sound of running water — a steady flow that adds up to 3,302 gallons per day. “This is the biggest problem,” Ina Stelljes, spokesperson for the Federal Office for Radiation Protection, tells me, gesturing to a massive tank in the middle of the room where water waits to be pumped to the surface. The leaking water wouldn’t be an issue if it weren’t for the 125,000 barrels of low- and medium-level nuclear waste stored a few hundred feet below. Most of the material originated from 14 nuclear power plants, and the German government secretly moved it to the mine from 1967 until 1978. For now, the water leaking into the mine is believed to be contained, although it remains unclear if water has seeped into areas with waste and rusted the barrels inside.