Politics’n'Poetry

March 13, 2010

Canadian Nuke Company Connected to Kazakh Investigation

Filed under: Kazakhstan, Uranium, canada — politicsnpoetry @ 9:55 am
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Oops!  A nuker lost his job as head honcho at Kazatomprom, a state-owned nuke company in Kazakhstan.  And there’s a Canuckian connection:

Dzhakishev went on trial in January, charged with stealing 99.8 million tenge (about $679,000) during the opening of the Kazatomprom’s representative office in Vienna. He was ousted as head of the company last May and later arrested on suspicion of embezzling state shares in uranium deposits, including one co- owned by Canada’s Uranium One Inc., by transferring them to offshore companies. An investigation into the charge continues.

It’s an interesting case, to be sure.   A series of YouTube vids were investigated.

Kazakhstan’s Prosecutor General’s Office in November ordered a probe into video clips posted on YouTube of Dzhakishev answering investigators’ questions. In the clips, Dzhakishev says his removal from Kazatomprom facilitated an alleged Russian strategy to block the company’s plan to supply nuclear fuel to Japan, consigning Kazakhstan to the role of a supplier of raw materials.

I don’t speak the language so we’ll have to go with the translation suggested in these articles.

Dzhakishev will spend 14 years in jail, but Mr. Google’s not revealing a thing about the allegations he made regarding the Ruskies’ strategy.   Dear Reader, please let me know if you find any more about it.

March 12, 2010

Successful Slovakian No-Nukes Campaign (& More)

Filed under: Slovakia, Uranium, activism, mining, nuclear — politicsnpoetry @ 9:10 am
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The Slovakian Parliament responded favourably to a petition from the people of Slovakia.  Environmentalists organized a petition drive to give local citizens a stronger voice.

This week the campaign was victorious when, in a momentous decision, the Slovak parliament agreed on legal changes to geological and mining laws to give more power and control to local communities, municipal and regional authorities. This will allow them stop or limit geological research of uranium deposits and to stop proposed uranium mining.

The pro-nukers won’t be too happy about that, I’m sure.  But hey, they’re watching the markets.  And the nukers are wetting their pants about Cameco’s move back to full operation by 2013.  They really do think they can sell nuclear as green.  Scary, huh?

More and more, however, people are stepping up and saying that nukes are not green, nukes won’t work to solve our energy woes, nukes kill.  Why, then, do the nukers persist?

March 10, 2010

More Nuke News

Filed under: AECL, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, Barack Obama, Chalk River, First Nations, Quebec, Stephen Harper, USA, Uranium, canada, ecological racism, medical isotopes, military industrial complex, mining, nuclear — politicsnpoetry @ 12:06 pm
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Not a lot of people liking President O’s greenwashing of nukes.  This most excellent article in the Guardian dispels the myth that nukes are green.

The argument that nuclear is “carbon-free” conveniently omits the entire process of mining uranium, which produces greenhouse gases, along with other pollutants. In Virginia, where a study has just been commissioned to determine its safety, uranium is mined in open pits. This destroys topsoil and increases runoff, which contaminates drinking water with cancer-causing toxins.

The uranium-enrichment process also emits greenhouse gases and is highly wasteful. Eighty percent of the ore that goes through the enrichment process ends up as waste. And this is to say nothing of the lye, sulfuric acid, and other caustic agents that must be used to turn the uranium into reactor-ready fuel.

While on the surface, the steam billowing from the cooling tower of a nuclear reactor is less harmful than the toxic smoke that spews from a coal plant, nuclear reactors still create byproducts that are dangerous to human health and welfare. There’s also the huge problem of radioactive nuclear waste, which can stay hot for hundreds of thousands of years. Storing the radioactive waste isn’t just a security threat; there’s potential for radioactive chemicals to leak, as they are in Vermont and at other aging reactors around the country.

It’s clear to me that the US Prezzie doesn’t read P’n'P.  Perhaps you could invite him to do so via this handy form?

The folks at nuclear news have that article available, as well as a fantastic sidebar, The Very Secret Costs of Nuclear Power.  From their site:

Well it is impossible for anyone to estimate the real costs of nuclear power, as only a narrow range of costs are discussed, even where the nuclear industry is supposedly privately owned.

1. The nuclear weapons industry is so connected with nuclear power, and the costs on the nuclear weapons industry are huge.

2. Where the nuclear industry is state owned - e.g. in France, Russia, China, South Korea, taxation, and the costs of electricity are manipulated, and figures given out for nuclear costs are not really reliable.

Secrecy about the nuclear industry is essential anyway, for security reasons. But it is also convenient, as no-one really knows how much it costs for state-owned nuclear facilities to manage nuclear waste. Well, there are ‘cheap’ options used, as we learn from time, with nuclear waste dumping occurring secretly, and without regard for the environment or the people, (usually poor communities, indigenous and rural people.) Eventually someone has to pay for the long-term costs.

Back at home, the nukers are bragging about their exploration in Quebec’s Otish Mountains.

Ditem Explorations /quotes/comstock/11v!dit (CA:DIT 0.08, 0.00, 0.00%) is pleased to report that the 2010 exploration program on the Company’s Otish Mountains uranium property in Quebec is underway. A fully operational camp has been established to accommodate geophysical and drilling crews. Drilling on the first hole began yesterday.

They don’t get that they’re involved in ecological racism. And that sux!  The Quebec no-nukers have been working tirelessly to put an end to nuking the environment.  Check it out.  And here’s a thorough piece from the Dominion about the nuke activity in northern Quebec.

One further focus for criticism is the province’s much-hyped development strategy, known as the “Plan Nord,” which involves targeting government money at selected infrastructure projects favouring principally the resource extraction sector in northern Quebec. According to research conducted by The Dominion, last year’s provincial budget earmarked $130 million for extending Highway 167 by 268km into the Otish Mountains, northeast of the James Bay Cree town of Mistissini. It is in an area without residential communities, but where Vancouver-based Strateco Resources has discovered some of Quebec’s most concentrated uranium deposits.

Finally, here’s another story about Canada’s outrageous and extravagant spending on AECL flowing from the Chalk River Fiasco.

As a result, Ottawa allocated $824-million in the current fiscal year to the problem-plagued nuclear flagship as the government prepares to restructure it and sell its commercial division, according to supplemental estimates released late yesterday.

That’s a 50-per-cent increase from federal spending on AECL in the prior fiscal year. In today’s budget, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will likely provide hundreds of millions more to support AECL’s operating budget and design work on the advanced Candu reactor and refurbish Chalk River laboratories.

Our tax dollars are being sunk into what the PM himself called a “sinkhole” so that the feds can sell it for next to nothing?  WTF?  It seems that PMS definitely needs to hear from you on this ridiculous, costly venture!  Imagine, were that kind of money to be spent on real green technology…

March 9, 2010

A stream of nuke news

Filed under: AECL, Australia, Barack Obama, Chalk River, Environment, Kazakhstan, Quebec, Saskatchewan, USA, Uranium, activism, canada, military industrial complex, nuclear — politicsnpoetry @ 10:16 am
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Grab a coffee or tea.  Find a snack.  Lots of linky news today so this could take a while!

First up:  A Calgary nuke company, Kirrin Resources, is not going to expand its exploration for uranium in Quebec.  That’s good news for Quebec’s citizens.  Not so good for Saskatchewan though.  A few days ago, the company said they’re moving into Saskatchewan.

Kirrin Resources Inc. said it will enter into a 70-30 joint venture with Majesta Resources Inc. on the 36,287-hectare Key Lake Southwest property after agreeing to a deal worth roughly $3.3 million.

Next? A guy who thinks he knows something about nuclear reactors because he once worked at one, is now a nuke promoter.  Read it and weep.

The IFR uses higher energy neutrons — “fast” neutrons — to cause the fuel atoms to split and release their energy. This particular kind of fast reactor can use all the various isotopes of uranium in its fuel load. Therefore, costly enrichment procedures are not needed to make reactor fuel. This reactor also can use the various trans-uranic elements as fuel. This is important. All of the extremely long-lived fission byproducts of pressurized water reactors just happen to be fuel material for this fast neutron reactor.

The non-usable material in used-up IFR fuel has a half life of about 500 years. This is still a long period of time but much more manageable than a period of billions of years. Further, the volume or mass of this material will be considerably less.

It gets better.

Better?  Ya, right!  Where do they find these guys?  How much do they pay them?

More news:  HuffPo points to a Mother Jones piece questioning Obama’s recent support for the nuke industry.

The Obama administration has embarked on a high-stakes gamble: devoting billions of dollars to an expansion of nuclear power in the hope of winning Republican votes for a climate bill. But in its eagerness to drum up bipartisan support for one of the hardest sells on Obama’s policy agenda, is the administration turning a blind eye to the financial risk?

…

Bradford, the former nuclear regulator, observes that if the Georgia reactors alone defaulted, taxpayers could be left with a bill of as much as $8.3 billion. “If the Tea Party folks ever figure that out, the [DOE] building is going to be three floors deep in tea bags,” he says. “This administration desperately needs someone to point out that this emperor isn’t wearing any clothes.”

Citizens in the USA ain’t necessarily buying Obama’s nuke dreams.  A US blogger, Greenhoof, calls Obama’s nuke promotion a “greenwashing.” That’s a good word, one I need to consider using more often.  S/he tells it like it is:

President Obama has justified his proposed $55 billion in taxpayer-backed loan guarantees for new nuclear reactors by misrepresenting nuclear reactors as the largest “carbon-free” energy source in the United States.  That’s like saying McDonald’s should be put in charge of a nationwide obesity campaign because it’s the largest restaurant in the U.S. that sells salads.

The argument that nuclear is “carbon-free” conveniently omits the entire process of mining uranium, which produces greenhouse gases, along with other pollutants.  In Virginia, where a study has just been commissioned to determine its safety, uranium is mined in open pits.  This destroys topsoil and increases runoff, which contaminates drinking water with cancer-causing toxins.

More stuff:  Here’s a little tidbit from Australia, another uranium-producing nation with a strong no-nukes movement.

James Neal Blue who helped devise the Predator unmanned aircraft that are in use in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, is the director of a company that bought the Four Mile uranium mine in Australia. Blue is the chairman of Quasar Resources, which is affiliated with General Atomics, a major United States weapons and nuclear energy corporation. General Atomics reportedly holds $700 million in Pentagon contracts. The Four Mile mine is located next to the Beverly Uranium mine, with is owned by another affiliate of General Atomics.

I guess all those pro-nukers like to play in one big tub, eh?  Here’s more on that Ozzie deal.

More CA news:  A Canadian reporter did the math on the Canadian government’s contribution to the nuclear industry and it’s not good!  “Over two years, we’re talking more than $1.1 billion” being spent, about half of it going to the AECL.  Remember the Chalk River Fiasco?

Oy!

Finally, this, from Kazakhstan:

Leading energy and mining firms from Russia, China, Japan, France and Canada have already invested billions here. Kazakhstan, meanwhile, is seeking to leverage its ore into a larger role in the global nuclear industry and has taken a stake in the U.S.-based nuclear giant Westinghouse.

…

Only the nation’s fledgling environmental movement has dared object, pointing out that Kazakhstan has yet to recover from its days as the Soviet Union’s main atomic test site.

The Soviets conducted 456 nuclear blasts in northeastern Kazakhstan, more than anyone else anywhere in the world. Much of the region remains contaminated, residents suffer elevated rates of cancer and other radiation-related illnesses, and babies continue to be born with deformities.

“Nothing good can come of the world’s push for nuclear energy, and we should understand this better because of our past,” said Mels Eleusizov, a veteran environmentalist who complains that the uranium industry is shrouded in secrecy, with no independent monitoring.

Indeed, nothing good can come from nukes and nukers, no matter how you wash it.

Sorry for the length.  Lots going on these days…

March 2, 2010

Harding: After a Decade of Shock and Awe

Filed under: activism, canada, culture of fear, democracy, security state — politicsnpoetry @ 11:27 am
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Here’s Dr. Jim Harding’s latest column. Worth a read.

After a Decade of Shock and Awe

by Jim Harding

It’s common to recap events in decades. We often even adopt decade identities – the rebellious sixties, the greedy eighties, etc. Might we call the first decade of the 21st century the “shock and awe” decade?

The decade is mostly defined by the aftermath of the Sept. 11th 2001 bombing of New York’s Twin Towers. The hysteria generated after this was instrumental in starting two destructive “wars on terrorism”, which trudge on. The Security State has grown along with insurgencies and the politics of fear, none of which are good foundations for building sustainable societies. But much more happened! The decade saw a global economic crisis, devastating natural disasters, extreme storms and deepening of the climate crisis controversy, all of which will shape the coming decade.

BUBBLES AND LIVES BURSTING

Many corporate bubbles burst in the last decade. The S & P 500 lost 25% of their stock value; the dot.com bubble burst as markets plummeted after 9/11. The decade ended when the real estate bubble burst and the world entered the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression. While a few got richer, the majority did not. Many people lost jobs and large amounts of their pensions. The trillion dollar and growing debt from the U.S’s ongoing “wars on terrorism” and economic bailouts will continue to destabilize that country. In the 1990’we were talking of the U.S. being the world’s only superpower. This last decade likely ended that.

Those facing natural and climate disasters had more fundamental challenges than securing their retirement. The tsunami that followed from the earthquake off Sumatra on December 24, 2004 left 230,000 persons dead. The May 12, 2008 earthquake at Sichuan, China killed another 70,000. And the May 2, 2008 cyclone in Burma killed 140,000 more. In the west we likely know far more about the August 29, 2005 Hurricane Katrina which killed about 2,000 persons. As with the Haitian earthquake, which killed 230,000 persons, social position and political marginalization played a major role in shaping vulnerability.

Extreme weather events and the magnitude of storms propelled worldwide support for actions to prevent irreversible climate change. But the politics of fossil fuel dependency and resistance to moving beyond our carbon economy has won out, so far. Greenhouse gases continued to rise during the last decade, and the Canadian government got a deserved international reputation for undermining climate justice. At the same time the shift towards a green economy and support for renewable energy accelerated worldwide, including in Saskatchewan; the climate controversy won’t be on the back-burner for long.

Over the last decade the politics of fear clearly ascended. One-quarter of Americans now believe they are at risk from a terrorist attack, while, realistically, they face greater dangers from their cars. Our moral sense of proportion became even more warped during the past decade. How do we compare the 2,900 innocent civilians who died so tragically in the Twin Towers or those dead or suffering from occupational hazards after intervening in the ordeal, to the many more soldiers and insurgents who have died at war? Or to the hundreds of thousands of civilians who have died from these terrifying wars? Or to the many more who will now live traumatized lives? Or to those forced to eke out an existence on war-poisoned land? The end-justifies-the means mentality of the last decade is simply not sustainable.

MORE OF SAME?

We humans have huge capacity for denial and dissociation. I, too, look forward to World Cup soccer or Canada-U.S. hockey games, and hope that international sports is making us more accepting of human diversity. But I know that sports and entertainment celebrity culture can also blind us from human suffering and glaring inequalities. How quickly beer-drinking Olympic-mania replaced coverage of the millions still grieving and struggling in Haiti! It’s hard not to conclude that achieving sustainability will require a massive resurgence of human spirituality. Perhaps this has been going on underneath all the shock and awe we have collectively experienced and this will continue to blossom in coming years. Perhaps!

For many the election of President Obama was a sign of moderation and hope, but it was premature to present him with a Peace Prize without any track record. Moving towards more peace and security is a challenge to us all. It is heartening that the U.S. and Russia are talking of nuclear weapons reductions, but nuclear proliferation remains a global threat, with the help of the spreading of nuclear technology. It hasn’t helped the cause that, as the British Inquiry on the War on Iraq is now confirming, the US and UK manipulated fears about Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) to justify their planned invasion of Iraq. All of us can contribute to peace and security by resisting such disinformation campaigns, and demanding more participation and transparency within our democracies. Do we ever need this in Canada now!

The huge changes occurring in the last decade clearly set us up for either more of the same or embracing the needed shift towards sustainability. There will be no tech-fixes in this evolutionary endeavour, but the growth of the internet and other mass communications likely sets the stage for the coming decade. Will the globalizing of communications help us to get a more accurate and compassionate view of the challenges facing humanity? Will this create even more narcissism and attention deficit among those bonding to the new technology market? The last decade vividly shows the challenges to not living in bubbles and to continually enhancing connaection. Perhaps down deep, after all the shock and awe, many will be whispering “enough is enough.” And, like spring winds, whispers can grow.

Next time I’ll explore how population growth affects sustainability.

Originally published in RTown News, February 26, 2010

February 20, 2010

Scientist vanishes without trace

Filed under: Chalk River, Lachlan Cranswick, Science — politicsnpoetry @ 8:01 pm
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I must’ve missed this in the post-holiday haze.  He’s been missing for a month.  And that frightens me.

http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/article/768621–scientist-vanishes-without-trace

Scientist vanishes without trace

Adrian Morrow Staff Reporter

On Jan. 18, Lachlan Cranswick left the Chalk River nuclear facility, where he worked, and took a bus to Deep River, the small town on the Ottawa River where he lived.

The 41-year-old physicist, whose job entailed running experiments for the National Research Council, had just finished some work for a researcher overseas and left his findings on his desk, to be mailed later.

Sometime that night or the next morning, he took his garbage bins outside for pickup.

Then, he vanished without a trace.

When he didn’t show up for work for several days and missed a game with the local curling club, of which he was a devoted member, his friends went looking for him.

At his house, his door was unlocked and his car was parked in the garage. His wallet, keys and passport were all there. But Cranswick was nowhere to be found.

Now, a month after he was last seen, police say they have done everything they can to find him, but they still have no idea where he is.

“We’re at the end of all the possible information we have received,” said Const. Darin Faris, the Deep River police officer leading the investigation. “There has been no information from the public that has helped.”

Police originally believed Cranswick had gone for a walk on one of the many trails near his house and got lost, Faris said. However, all the items he usually took with him when going for nature walks – a fanny pack, flashlight, whistle to ward off wildlife and a GPS system – were found in his house.

A search of the area with tracking dogs and a helicopter could find no trace of him. Police checked across the Ottawa River, and searched nearby hospitals. They had no luck.

Police, along with the scientist’s colleagues at the National Research Council, have contacted his acquaintances to see if he had been planning to travel.

Faris said Cranswick is known as a well-organized, regimented man who would be unlikely to take a spontaneous trip without telling anyone. He also points to the work left unmailed on the scientist’s desk as evidence he wasn’t planning to leave.

“If he was going to go away for any length of time, or if he was ending his life, he would have finished it up,” he said.

If Cranswick had been murdered or accidentally killed, Faris said, there would be some physical evidence left behind. Police have found none.

Cranswick grew up in Melbourne, Australia, before moving to England as a young man. He worked as an experimental physicist in Britain before taking up his job in Canada in 2003.

The Neutron Beam Centre in Chalk River is used as a laboratory for scientists from around the world to conduct various experiments and academic research. Cranswick’s job was to help them by running tests. His primary specialty was earth sciences and testing samples of substances to find their molecular structure, said colleague Daniel Banks.

Cranswick’s family declined to comment when contacted in Australia by the Star, but said the scientist’s brother had been in Canada for more than a week looking for him.

January 21, 2010

Hey, Mr. Harper!

Filed under: Canadian Parliament, Stephen Harper, democracy, fascism — politicsnpoetry @ 9:32 am
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Hey, Stevie! Prorogue this!

Large middle finger salute

See you at the rallies!

Regina Info & Events

R A L L Y!

Saturday, January 23rd, 2010, 1pm

South End of Scarth St. Mall (By the Buffalo)

B E   T H E R E !!!

Saskatoon Info & Events

RALLY!

SATURDAY JANUARY 23
at
CITY HALL
at
1:00 pm !

Prince Albert Info & Events

Rally

PA Union Centre
107-8th St. E.
1:30 pm

November 29, 2009

U.S. firm sheds liability for Canadian nuclear peril

Filed under: Canadian Politics, Stephen Harper, canada, nuclear — politicsnpoetry @ 1:03 pm

Gee, thanks, Steve.  Our country is so safe with you at the helm.  NOT!!!

 

From The G&M:

 

U.S. firm sheds liability for Canadian nuclear peril

Nuclear plant supplier GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy shielding finances from the risks of an accident at a Canadian nuclear station

 

Martin Mittelstaedt

From Saturday’s Globe and Mail Published on Saturday, Nov. 28, 2009 12:37AM EST

One of the world’s largest nuclear plant suppliers has ordered its Canadian division to hermetically seal itself off from its U.S. parent, going so far as to forbid engineers at the U.S. wing from having anything to do with Canadian reactors.

The move by GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy is spurred by concerns about liability – if an accident at a Canadian plant spreads damage across the border, Americans might be able to sue the parent company. The result is a Canadian company cut off from the technical advances of its parent, a leading player in the industry.

The company also won’t allow any equipment built or designed by the U.S. parent to be used in Canadian reactors for the same reason.

The efforts of private sector companies in the nuclear industry to shield their finances from the risk of atomic accidents aren’t well known. GE Hitachi revealed its precautions earlier this month at a parliamentary committee reviewing a bill that proposes raising insurance coverage for victims of a nuclear power plant mishap to $650-million from $75-million.

GE Hitachi favoured the increase, saying the existing insurance level is so low it believes U.S. judges would scoff at it and allow U.S. courts to hear lawsuits seeking damages in connection with accidents that happened across the border.

That would put GE, with annual revenue of $180-billion (U.S.), at risk of becoming a juicy target for liability lawsuits if components from the U.S. parent company were found to be involved in causing the incident. “From a shareholder point of view, that’s a big concern,” Peter Mason, president of GE Hitachi’s Canadian arm, said in an interview.

GE Hitachi said is not acting to isolate its Canadian subsidiary beyond the legal protections usually provided by separate incorporations because nuclear accidents are likely. “The nuclear industry has got a great track record,” Mr. Mason said, adding that the company’s steps have been driven by legal advice and not by Canadian reactor safety concerns. “You sit down with any lawyer and they paint the worst-case scenario, which I think is what environmentalists do as well,” he said.

But Shawn-Patrick Stensil, a spokesman for Greenpeace, said the company’s internal assessment of its financial risks has to be linked to the odds of an accident. “If they’re that scared that they need to hermetically seal the branch plant here in Canada because they’re worried about an accident, it shows they believe it’s a realistic possibility,” he asserted.

In addition to isolating the Canadian branch to protect itself legally, GE Hitachi – along with Babcock & Wilcox Canada Ltd., another major nuclear supplier, and Bruce Power, the operator of two nuclear stations in Ontario – urged the federal government at the hearings to sign the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage. It is an international pact ratified by the U.S. that stipulates legal jurisdiction for a nuclear incident lies only in the courts of the country where the accident occurs.

If Canada were to ratify the convention, it would free companies from cross-border liability worries by preventing U.S. victims of Canadian nuclear fallout from suing over it in their own courts, and preclude Canadians from doing likewise in Canada over damages from a U.S. nuclear station mishap.

Fallout from any accident would be most likely to cross the international boundary along the shores of the Great Lakes, which have 10 U.S. and five Canadian nuclear generating stations.

Mr. Mason said worries over liability were among the reasons GE Hitachi was unwilling to submit a bid on building a new nuclear station under a recent request by the Ontario government. He said Canada isn’t the only country it avoids because of liability concerns. It won’t sell in China for the same reason.

August 19, 2009

MoRe: Chalk River Fiasco

Filed under: AECL, Chalk River, politics — politicsnpoetry @ 11:34 am

Thank goodness for P’n'P that Impolitical’s kept tabs on the Chalk River Fiasco!

May 6, 2009

Inter Pares – Take Back the Day

Filed under: Feminist Activism, activism, mothers' day — politicsnpoetry @ 12:48 pm
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Inter Pares – Take Back the Day
CELEBRATE Mother’s Day the way her-story intended: with a little peace and justice.

MOTHER’S DAY was born from the dream of a devoted activist and mother who first organized women into public health brigades, and then founded “Mothers Friendship Day” to reconcile communities torn apart by the U.S. Civil War. A few years later, a new “Mothers’ Day for Peace” began with a call for women to unite across national boundaries to end war. For over fifty years, Mother’s Day was about women working together for a better world.

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