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Prime Minister Tony Blair plans to begin construction of new nuclear plants in Britain, The Times of London reports. The newspaper said Blair not only wants new nuclear generating stations but plans to speed up the process so the first can be under way in less than a decade. Although a government report two years ago came down against nuclear power, Blair has decided it is the only way the country can get an adequate energy supply while reducing emissions of air pollutants, his advisors told the Times. Margaret Beckett, the environment secretary and the government's leading critic of nuclear...

A consortium of eight companies said on Thursday that it would spend about $100 million to prepare applications to build two nuclear reactors, in Mississippi and Alabama, a step that seems to move the industry closer to its first new reactor order since the 1970's. The announcement was made by NuStart Energy, a consortium of companies that has substantial government financing. The consortium selected a site in Claiborne County, Miss., adjacent to Entergy Nuclear's Grand Gulf reactor, and another in northern Alabama, next to the Tennessee Valley Authority's long-abandoned Bellefonte nuclear construction project. The Energy Department is committed to sharing...

Nuclear power was one of the big winners in new omnibus energy legislation signed on 8 August by US president George W Bush at Sandia National Laboratory in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The signing of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 was hosted by New Mexico’s two senators, energy and natural resources committee chairman Pete Domenici (R) and the committee’s ranking democratic member Senator Jeff Bingaman, who were key players in moving the 1724-page bill through the congressional approval process. The act, which government and outside analysts estimate will carry a price tag of about $14.5 billion, includes a sizeable package...

US's $5 billion nuclear gamble with China By Kaushik Kapisthalam On the surface, it's the biggest deal in the history of the Export-Import Bank of the United States - US$5 billion to finance the building of Chinese nuclear power plants by US firms in the energy-starved economic giant. But there's much more to it than big business: closer scrutiny and interviews with experts reveal a weak, inconsistent and ultimately dangerous US policy with regard to China and its past (some say present) weapons proliferation, as well as China's own efforts to acquire nuclear reactors and other Western high technology that...

TEHRAN, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Iran and Russia signed a nuclear fuel supply deal on Sunday which will allow Tehran to start up its first nuclear power plant in 2006. Here are some facts about the deal.Under the deal, Russia will supply Iran with enriched uranium for Iran's first nuclear reactor in Bushehr on Iran's southern Gulf coastThe first fuel is expected to be delivered to Iran from Siberia in mid-2006. Bushehr will be commissioned in late-2006.. . . Iran will return spent fuel from the reactor to Russia. Spent nuclear reactor fuel can be reprocessed to make bomb-grade plutonium....

Believe it or not, got tipped off to these photos from a thread at DU. I'll give credit where credit is due. Looks like CNN has stepped into it again. Opinions?

HOSPITAL patients were given radiation treatment at a nuclear reactor without proper authorisation or supervision by a doctor, according to newly declassified documents. Memos sent by Scottish Office officials in 1967 noted that the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) was concerned that proper procedures were not being followed when some patients were treated at the Scottish Research Reactor Centre in East Kilbride. At one point in the late 1960s, up to 30 people a day were being treated at the centre. Patients were given small doses of an iron isotope and vitamin B12 containing cobalt iron in connection with work on...

For the past 25 years when Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, why did Saddam Hussein not use those weapons of mass destruction against the US or Israel, or hand them over to the Al-Qaeda terrorists or the terrorists in the west bank, even though during the past 25 years, on and off, the following were done which angered and humiliated Saddam Hussein (1) Israel destroyed Saddam Hussein's nuclear reactors in the 80s (2) Through the Iran-Contra scandal, the US supplied arms to Iran in the Iran-Iraq war in the 80s (3) In the 90s, the US ousted Saddam...

A minor incident at the Balakovskaya nuclear power plant created widespread panic in Saratov and nearby regions, with people clearing iodine off drugstore shelves and several being rushed to the hospital with symptoms of iodine poisoning. Reactor No. 2 at the Balakovskaya nuclear power plant, located outside the city of Balakov in the Saratov region, some 900 km southeast of Moscow, shut down on Thursday [4 Nov 2004] after a pipe burst, but, there was no radiation leak, the Federal Nuclear Power Agency said in a statement on Friday [12 Nov 2004]. However, the incident, which was 1st reported on...

French connection armed Saddam By Bill Gertz THE WASHINGTON TIMES The United States stood by for years as supposed allies helped its enemies obtain the world's most dangerous weapons, reveals Bill Gertz, defense and national security reporter for The Washington Times, in the new book "Treachery" (Crown Forum). In this excerpt, he details France's persistence in arming Saddam Hussein. First of three excerpts New intelligence revealing how long France continued to supply and arm Saddam Hussein's regime infuriated U.S. officials as the nation prepared for military action against Iraq. The intelligence reports showing French assistance to Saddam ongoing in the...

These days, the phrase "nuclear ambitions" is applied ominously to countries or heads of state. Yet it aptly describes an ordinary teenager in suburban Detroit named David Hahn. His experience is a frightening indication of how easily dangerous materials can be acquired - and hidden. Despite growing up in an era of no-nukes activism, David wanted nothing more than to join the Curies in the annals of atomic history. That the radium they discovered eventually killed the Curies doesn't seem to have muted his enthusiasm.David's aptitude for science was phenomenal. From a 1960s-era book of chemistry experiments, he quickly gleaned...

<p>Presidential hopeful Howard Dean, who accuses President Bush of being weak on homeland security, was warned repeatedly as Vermont governor about security lapses at his state's nuclear power plant and was told the state was ill-prepared for a disaster at its most attractive terrorist target.</p>

NEW YORK (AP) -- The United States, South Korea, Japan and the European Union on Friday said they are halting construction work on two nuclear reactors in North Korea, which is suspected of secretly developing atomic weapons. All four are members of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) executive board, which has been building the light-water reactors as part of a 1994 deal between the United States and North Korea. The reactors were meant to come online in 2007. The one-year work suspension will begin Dec. 1, KEDO said in a statement read by spokesman Roland Tricot at...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Thursday said nine nuclear reactors in four U.S. states were shut following a massive blackout that hit the Northeast United States and Canada. "At this point, we have nine reactors that are offline. And there is no timeline as to when these will return to service," NRC spokesman Scott Burnell said. Burnell said the reactors are in New York, New Jersey, Ohio and Michigan.