Japanese Prime Minister Casts Doubt On Japan’s Future Reliance on Nuclear Power

March 31st, 2011 | Natural Resources News Service | | Leave a comment
Fukushima Daiichi. Photo: GlobalDigital
Fukushima Daiichi. Photo: GlobalDigital

A feeling of desperation is sweeping over Japan as news from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power site worsens with high levels of radiation now showing up in groundwater. International Atomic Energy Agency monitors are urging a wider evacuation zone beyond the Japanese government’s evacuation perimeter.

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Republicans Launch Sneak Attack on Clean Water in Budget

February 16th, 2011 | Natural Resources News Service | | Leave a comment

Photo: W.Marsh / Flickr
Photo: W.Marsh / Flickr

Some environmentalists fear that industry lobbyists responsible for weakening the Clean Water Act have successfully convinced the Republican leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives to use this year’s Continuing Resolution budget to further weaken CWA regulations.

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Little Progress Disposing of 34 Metric Tons of Surplus Weapons Grade Plutonium

January 26th, 2011 | National Security News Service | | Leave a comment

Nuclear Waste Container coming out of Nevada Test Site. Photo: Bill Ebbesen
Nuclear Waste Container coming out of Nevada Test Site. Photo: Bill Ebbesen
Too slow, too expensive, too risky: the multi-billion dollar Mixed Oxide Fuel (MOX) program, under construction at the Savannah River Site, continues to be controversial. A technology chosen by the United States in the mid-1990s to contribute to the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons, today it is being held out as a solution for America’s energy future.

In 1996, the U.S.-Russian Independent Scientific Commission on Disposition of Excess Weapons Plutonium was put in place to propose options to decrease risks of nuclear proliferation. In the framework of the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I) signed by the United States and Russia, the two countries had indeed committed to dispose of 34 metric tons of their surplus weapons plutonium to reduce the threat that this material could be stolen or diverted. Continue reading Little Progress Disposing of 34 Metric Tons of Surplus Weapons Grade Plutonium

Pentagon Protects KBR Poisoning US Soldiers

December 2nd, 2010 | National Security | | Leave a comment

KBR received indemnification from the Pentagon for its work in Iraq to get the oil flowing during the Iraq War even though its actions harmed Army National Guard troops. Thirty-four National Guard soldiers in Oregon have sued KBR alleging that while guarding KBR’s operations, they were exposed to a known carcinogen at the Qarmat Ali water treatment plant in 2003.  See DC Bureau’s multi-part series: No Contractor Left Behind.

http://www.oregonlive.com/health/index.ssf/2010/12/pentagon_disclosure_highlights.html

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