Mining giant BHP was complicit in the Samarco mining disaster in Brazil but the company has not learned from the experience.
… BHP betrays international safety efforts Dr Jim Green David Noonan | … approval for TSF6 without a comprehensive safety impact assessment and without setting … of BHP employees and is unfit for community safety expectations in the 2020's. Such …
The clean-up after the February 2014 explosion at the world's only deep underground repository for nuclear waste in New Mexico, USA, is massively over budget, writes Jim Green - and full operations won't resume until at least 2021. The fundamental cause of the problems: high level radioactive waste, poor regulation, rigid deadlines and corporate profit make a dangerous mix.
… of the clean-up has involved poor safety practices. Last year, the DOE's … that this pressure was contributing to poor safety practices. The report states: "The EA … on the workforce contributed to poor safety performance and incidents during that …
NASA scientist James Hansen is heading to COP21 in Paris to berate climate campaigners for failing to support 'safe and environmentally-friendly nuclear power', writes Jim Green. But they would gladly support nuclear power if only it really was safe and environment friendly. In fact, it's a very dangerous and hugely expensive distraction from the real climate solutions.
… be nigh impossible" , Brook claimed. 'Nuclear safety' - a contradiction in terms? An article … be as low as 50. 'Nuclear power has the best safety record of any energy technology' … claims that "nuclear power has the best safety record of any energy technology." …
Several nuclear facilities in Ukraine have been attacked by the Russian military over the past fortnight.
… Moreover, SNRIU said that its nuclear safety inspectors are not allowed to access … but that they could not guarantee their safety on the journey home, nor of workers … and repair work." The European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group warned on March 6 …
The Fukushima disaster was fuelled by Australian uranium but lessons were not learned and the industry continues to fuel global nuclear insecurity with irresponsible uranium export policies.
… had systematically and routinely falsified safety data and breached safety regulations for 25 years or more. The … would have registered in the Japanese media. Safety But the uranium industry denied …
This week Finland cancelled its option for a second European Pressurised Reactor as the existing EPR project sinks into a abyss of cost over-runs, delays and litigation, writes Jim Green. It now looks like the EPR is a failed technology and its owner, French nuclear giant Areva, is fast running out of both money and orders as its 'hot prospects' evaporate.
… licensing process by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission was terminated. In 2009, … (NRC) , EPRs have four sets of active safety systems, each capable of cooling the reactor on its own, and other safety features including a double-walled …
All the 'main' political parties are backing nuclear power in bold defiance of all the evidence that it's expensive, dangerous and not even low-carbon, writes David Lowry. Even George Osborne just admitted that Hinkley C is 'unaffordable' - but supports it anyway. For a rational nuclear policy, the way is Green.
… last week from France that serious safety troubles have been discovered with the … of construction in Normandy. France's nuclear safety regulator, Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire … (ASN) revealed that the steel ordered for the safety casings or 'pressure vessels' for six …
The global rebirth of nuclear power was meant to be well under way by now, writes Jim Green. But in fact, nuclear's share of world power generation is on a steady long term decline, and new reactors are getting ever harder to build, and finance. The only real growth area is decommissioning, but that too has a problem: where's the money to pay for it?
… insiders have warned about inadequate nuclear safety standards in China; China's nuclear … who have raised concerns about nuclear safety standards; China has the world's worst … disaster, a major scandal over forged safety documents, and a hacking attack on …
… nuclear industry : with inadequate nuclear safety and security standards, inadequate … indispensable pillars for ensuring nuclear safety and security in an armed conflict has … of nuclear facilities; the operation of safety and security systems; the working …
Despite the endless rhetoric about a 'nuclear renaissance', there are fewer power reactors today than there were a decade ago, writes Jim Green. The one country with a really big nuclear build program is China, but no one expects it to meet its targets. And with over 200 reactor shut-downs due by 2040, the industry will have to run very hard indeed just to stay put.
… likely because of China's inadequate nuclear safety standards, inadequate regulation, lack … - shut down a year ago because of serious safety concerns over numerous leaks and, at … for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) - a government authority under …
The huge marquee for VIP nuclear guests was already erected at the Hinkley site; champagne was already on ice; VIPs were en route to Somerset to party at the final breakthrough, when hundreds of thousands of contractual pages were due to be authorised with co-signatures of the contracting parties. Suddenly, everything was off. So what really happened asks DAVID LOWRY
… increased in recent years given the extra safety considerations following the Fukushima … attention at all, the official UK nuclear safety and security regulator, the Office for … power stations are robust and designed with safety in mind and are stress-tested to …
'Fast breeder' reactors are promoted by nuclear enthusiasts as the clean, green energy technology of the future, writes Jim Green. But all the evidence tells us they are a catastrophic failure: complex, expensive, unreliable and accident-prone. Is Japan's decision to abandon its Monju reactor the latest nail in the coffin of a dead technology? Or the final stake through its rotten heart?
… pieces of equipment at Monju, including safety-critical equipment. In November 2015, … imposed in 2013 after the revelation that safety inspections of thousands of components …
2013 has been the nuclear power industry's annus horribilis and the nuclear renaissance can now be pronounced stone cold dead. Dr Jim Green reveals the global unravelling of the nuclear dream ...
… developed markets, partly due to increased safety expenditure, and due to smaller … a major scandal involving bribery and faked safety certificates for thousands of reactor …
Nuclear energy is essential to preserve the world's biodiversity, according to 69 conservation scientists. But there's a mysterious omission in their analysis, writes Jim Green: nuclear weapons proliferation. And after a major exchange of nuclear bombs, and the 'nuclear winter' that would follow, exactly how much biodiversity would survive?
… emissions, cost, dispatchability, land use, safety (fatalities), solid waste, and …
Jim Ratcliffe of Ineos, Environment Secretary Liz Truss, the Environment Agency and its ex-boss Lord Smith all suffer from a blind spot, writes David Lowry - the dangers of fracking, its radioactive emissions and the toxic chemicals that threaten to pollute our aquifers. As for official advice that 'regulation needs to be strongly and robustly applied' - pass the Tippex!
… to Public Health England and the Health and Safety Executive, two other regulatory quango, …
Important developments are unfolding at the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty negotiations in New York this week, writes David Lowry. These include the surprisingly large scale of the US's warhead scrapping, and a grassroots rebellion against the nuclear states led by South Africa. But the UK and its media remain aloof from it all - intent on renewing Trident no matter what.
… warhead designs and calibrations, and nuclear safety R&D support for Trident. It is a very …
The UK is embarking on a reckless endeavour in its attempted nuclear union with China, write David Lowry & Oliver Tickell. China's investments will come at a high price, one that transcends mere money and the undoubted security risk inherent in its control of key elements of our energy infrastructure. At risk is the UK's very future as a sovereign, independent nation.
… to mention is the chief nuclear security and safety inspector, Dr Andy Hall, has just …
Decades of deceit have been thrown overboard with the new nuclear sales pitch, argues JIM GREEN. The new sales pitch openly links nuclear power to weapons and argues that weapons programs will be jeopardised unless greater subsidies are provided for the civil nuclear industry
… the end public support and perception of the safety of nuclear energy may be diminished by …
Just as climate change deniers leap from scientific uncertainty over the precise impacts of greenhouse gas emissions to certainty of little or no impact at all, so 'pro-nuclear environmentalists' conflate uncertainty of the mortality arising from Chernobyl and other nuclear disasters to certainty of few if any deaths, writes Jim Green. Their position is equally indefensible.
… Hansen's claim that the nuclear industry's safety record is "superior to any other major …