The IAEA and Syria: A New Paradigm for Noncompliance? Mark Hibbs | Carnegie Commentary
The board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), by nearly a three-to-one margin, declared Syria out of compliance with its safeguards obligations and reported the issue to the UN Security Council on June 9.
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Jeff Donn | Associated Press
Radioactive tritium has leaked from three-quarters of U.S. commercial nuclear power sites, often into groundwater from corroded, buried piping, an Associated Press investigation shows. The number and severity of the leaks has been escalating, even as federal regulators extend the licenses of more and more reactors across the nation. Tritium, which is a radioactive form of hydrogen, has leaked from at least 48 of 65 sites. Full Article
Gavin Blair | Christian Science Monitor
The ongoing crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant may spell the end of nuclear power in resource-poor Japan, as citizen opposition grows and local authorities refuse permission to restart reactors that have undergone safety checks. Following the latest setback in the operation to stabilize reactors at the plant over the weekend, when a new system for removing radioactivity from cooling water had to be shut down shortly after it came online, Tokyo Electric Power Company's road map for a complete cold shutdown by January looks increasingly unachievable. Full Article
Gregg Benzow | Deutsche Welle
Germany's major energy companies have authorized a number of prominent law firms to prepare a lawsuit against the government over plans to shut down the country's nuclear power plants. The energy utilities, E.on, Vattenfall and RWE, were aiming to have Germany's recently passed nuclear power law declared unconstitutional, and then sue the government for damages - a move that could cost taxpayers billions of euros if successful. In an assessment prepared for E.on, former Defense Minister Rupert Scholz and legal counsel Christoph Moench said the German government's exit from nuclear energy production is clearly unconstitutional. Full Article
Ian Sample | The Guardian
The British government made contingency plans at the height of the Fukushima nuclear crisis which anticipated a "reasonable worst case scenario" of the plant releasing more radiation than Chernobyl, new documents released to the Guardian show. The grim assessment was used to underpin plans by the British embassy in Tokyo to issue protective iodine pills to expats and visitors. It also prompted detailed plans by Cobra, the government's emergency committee, to scramble specialist teams to screen passengers returning from Japan at UK airports for radioactive contamination. Full Article
Jeff Donn | Associated Press
Federal regulators have been working closely with the nuclear power industry to keep the nation's aging reactors operating within safety standards by repeatedly weakening those standards, or simply failing to enforce them, an investigation by The Associated Press has found. Time after time, officials at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission have decided that original regulations were too strict, arguing that safety margins could be eased without peril, according to records and interviews. Full Article
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