Home
Energy Net's Library tagged → View Popular
Absorbing Liquid Nuclear Waste? - Huntington News Network
Although still in experimental infancy, Russian scientists reported in 2008 the discovery of a mineral that absorbs radiation from liquid nuclear waste. They hope to clone the mineral as only a scant amount has been found in nature.
AFP: US, Russia uphold 'spirit' of expiring nuclear pact
Washington and Moscow pledged Friday to uphold the "spirit" of the START nuclear arms treaty and to seek a new agreement as soon as possible, hours before the landmark 1991 pact was to expire.
US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev said in a joint statement they would keep pushing for nuclear disarmament, despite failing to cut a last-minute deal by the treaty's December 5 expiration date.
"We express our commitment, as a matter of principle, to continue to work together in the spirit of the START Treaty following its expiration, as well as our firm intention to ensure that a new treaty on strategic arms enter into force at the earliest possible date," the statement said.
The Obama administration had pushed hard for a new START agreement as part of its efforts to improve strained US ties with Russia, but disputes over US monitoring of Russian missiles had bogged down talks in recent weeks.
Medvedev, Obama discuss new arms reduction pact | Top Russian news and analysis online | 'RIA Novosti' newswire
The Russian and U.S. presidents discussed a new bilateral arms reduction treaty in a phone conversation on Monday, the Kremlin said.
Moscow and Washington are negotiating a replacement for the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I), the basis for Russian-U.S. strategic nuclear disarmament, which expires on December 5.
Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama "touched on issues of future cooperation between Russia and the United States in stabilizing the situation in Afghanistan, and also discussed progress in preparing a new treaty on strategic arms reduction," the Kremlin said.
An outline of the new pact was agreed during a summit held by Obama and Medvedev in Moscow in July, and includes cutting their countries' nuclear arsenals to 1,500-1,675 operational warheads and delivery vehicles to 500-1,000.
Obama also conveyed his condolences to the families of those killed in last Friday's terrorist attack on a train travelling from Moscow to St. Petersburg.
A total of 26 people have been confirmed dead following the derailment of several carriages of the Nevsky Express, and two remain unaccounted for.
Russia upbeat about IAEA resolution on its uranium initiative | Top Russian news and analysis online | 'RIA Novosti' newswire
Russia's Foreign Ministry welcomed on Saturday the UN nuclear watchdog's resolution on Moscow's initiative to establish a reserve of low-enriched uranium.
On Friday, the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency welcomed Russia's offer to establish on its territory a reserve of LEU to the IAEA for its member states.
"The adoption of the resolution paves the way for the signing of a relevant agreement between Russia and the IAEA envisaging the establishment on the Russian territory of a reserve of low-enriched uranium," the Russian Foreign Ministry said on its website.
The ministry said the reserve would be enough to produce two loads of fuel for the world's most popular 1000MW pressurized water reactor.
It said the fuel could be supplied to those IAEA member countries that do not possess nuclear arms and are committed to nuclear non-proliferation.
"This [agreement] will help expand the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. The initiative is aimed at strengthening nuclear non-proliferation," the ministry said.
WWF says energy saving trumps nuclear in Russian emissions cuts | Top Russian news and analysis online | 'RIA Novosti' newswire
n seeking to reduce Russia's greenhouse gas emissions, energy saving programs are more important than increased reliance on nuclear power, a World Wildlife Fund Russia official said on Tuesday.
Commenting on widespread calls to boost the role of nuclear power, Alexei Kokorin, who heads WWF Russia's Climate and Energy program, said: "This point of view is certainly on the rise."
He said that for many countries, including France, Armenia, Finland and Bulgaria, nuclear power may prove the best option for cutting emissions, but that in Russia's case "cheaper options need to be used."
"I know that in Russia, the main way to cut emissions is energy saving and energy efficiency", he said, and highlighted the findings of an International Energy Agency World Energy Outlook report published earlier this month.
Asia Times Online: Turkey's radioactive waltz with Russia ends
Energy-hungry Turkey's nuclear flirtation with Russia came to a painful end last week when the government, under pressure from many fronts, canceled the September 2008 tender that awarded the contract to build and operate the country's first nuclear power plant to Russia's Atomstroyexport and its domestic partners.\n\nTurkey plans to build two nuclear power plants, one in the Black Sea Sinop region and the second in Akkuyu, near the town of Mersin, on the Mediterranean coast.\n\nThe cancellation of the outcome of last year's controversial selection for the latter site came as a shock to many, including the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government itself.
U.S., Russia study ways to extend START verification | Politics | Reuters
U.S. negotiators working to conclude a new strategic arms treaty with Russia are discussing ways to continue nuclear weapons monitoring until the new accord can be ratified, a State Department spokesman said on Monday.
U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed in July to work on a new treaty that would cut their deployed strategic nuclear arsenals to between 1,500 and 1,675 warheads.
Canceled nuclear tender disappoints Russians - Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review
The possible cancellation of a nuclear power plant tender in Turkey has disappointed Russians. 'It is very disappointing because we expected progress after the official visits,' economist Natalia Ulchenko tells the Daily News
News that Turkey is going to cancel the tender won by a Russian-led consortium to build a nuclear power plant has disappointed Russians.
Energy Minister Taner Yıldız signaled the cancellation of the nuclear power plant tender Monday. “We will not send the report related to the nuclear plant project to the Cabinet,” Yıldız told reporters.
“It is very disappointing for us because we expected progress in regard to energy cooperation between the two countries after the official visits,” said Natalia Ulchenko, a professor of economics and the head of the Turkish research department at the Oriental Studies Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
St. Petersburg Times - Green Victory as Nuclear Waste Shipments are Halted
Environmentalists from the international pressure group Greenpeace are trumpeting their biggest success in years after German-Dutch company URENCO announced on Monday that it is ending the practice of sending spent nuclear fuel to Russia for reprocessing and storage.
Radioactive loads on board foreign ships had been arriving at the port of St. Petersburg every month for a decade to be sent by rail to factories in Siberia and the Urals.
Environmentalists feared that transporting such loads through the city presented a major threat to public health and environmental security.
In 1999, they failed in their attempts to have the importing of spent nuclear fuel from abroad into Russia banned.
In December 2000, the State Duma voted overwhelmingly to adopt the practice of importing irradiated fuel from other countries.
Russian military to get 30 new ICBMs, 3 nuclear subs in 2010 | Top Russian news and analysis online | 'RIA Novosti' newswire
Russia's Armed Forces are to receive 30 new ground and sea-launched ballistic missiles, three nuclear submarines, and an assortment of other weapons, the Russian president said on Thursday.
Dmitry Medvedev said the list would also include "five Iskander [tactical] missile complexes, about 300 modern armored vehicles, 30 helicopters, 28 warplanes, one corvette-class warship, and 11 spacecraft."
In his state-of-the-nation address to parliament, Medvedev stressed provision of advanced weapon systems to the military was a priority.
"There is no room for debate here: These weapons simply must be procured," he said.
He instructed the government to put in place an effective contract system to strike the right balance between arms manufactured for export and for domestic needs.
BBC NEWS | Litvinenko killing charge dropped
German prosecutors have dropped the case against a suspect in the murder of the Russian dissident, Alexander Litvinenko, in London.
Former KGB agent Mr Litvinenko died in 2006 after he was poisoned with the radioactive substance polonium-210.
Hamburg prosecutors say there is not enough evidence to continue investigating Russian Dmitri Kovtun.
Electricity for Americans From Russia’s Old Nuclear Weapons - NYTimes.com
What’s powering your home appliances?
Multiple warhead ballistic missiles like the ones deployed at this site north of Russia's border with Kazakhstan are being dismantled. Some nuclear material goes to the United States.
For about 10 percent of electricity in the United States, it’s fuel from dismantled nuclear bombs, including Russian ones.
“It’s a great, easy source” of fuel, said Marina V. Alekseyenkova, an analyst at Renaissance Capital and an expert in the Russian nuclear industry that has profited from the arrangement since the end of the cold war.
But if more diluted weapons-grade uranium isn’t secured soon, the pipeline could run dry, with ramifications for consumers, as well as some American utilities and their Russian suppliers.
Already nervous about a supply gap, utilities operating America’s 104 nuclear reactors are paying as much attention to President Obama’s efforts to conclude a new arms treaty as the Nobel Peace Prize committee did.
Moscow says too soon to scrap nuclear weapons | Top Russian news and analysis online | 'RIA Novosti' newswire
Russia has no plans to completely abandon nuclear weapons, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday.
"If there were only five nuclear powers in the world and they abandoned their nuclear weapons, after which only conventional weapons - muskets, cannons, and pistols - would remain, we would have disarmed ourselves a long time ago," Sergei Lavrov told a news conference after a meeting with his British counterpart David Miliband in Moscow.
He added that there were unofficial nuclear powers, and that it was not ruled out that nuclear technology, which "is virtually available via the Internet," would spread.
He stressed the importance of nonproliferation efforts and said that nuclear disarmament "means many things, including practical agreements that will prevent the acquisition of nuclear weapons technology anywhere in the world."
AFP: Russia to boost Obama with nuclear treaty: report
Moscow and Washington want to reach a deal on a key nuclear disarmament treaty before US President Barack Obama receives his Nobel Peace Prize on December 10, a Kremlin source was quoted as saying Friday.
The source, quoted in the Kommersant daily, said the Obama administration wanted to sign an agreement on replacing the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) before the Nobel ceremony and that Moscow was willing to oblige.
"On December 10 the ceremony for awarding Nobel laureates will take place... Our partners want the document to be signed before the Nobel Peace Prize is given to Barack Obama," the Kremlin source was quoted as saying.
Russia aims to control 25% of global nuclear fuel market by 2030 | Top Russian news and analysis online | 'RIA Novosti' newswire
Russian state-controlled nuclear fuel supplier TVEL plans to control 25% of the world's nuclear fuel market by 2030, the company's vice president said on Tuesday.
The company, which currently controls 17% of the world's market of fuel for nuclear power plants, previously said it intended to gain a 30% share.
Pyotr Lavrenyuk said the adjustment was due to "a change in global nuclear power plant construction dynamics."
In 2008, there were 436 reactors in the world, with a total installed capacity of 370 GW. By 2030, their number is expected to increase to 660.
TVEL supplies fuel to 76 power generating reactors and 30 research reactors worldwide.
Fine Print: Lowering alert levels in U.S. and Russia - washingtonpost.com
The high alert levels for U.S. and Russian strategic nuclear forces are more political statements carried over from the Cold War than military necessities for the 21st century, according to a multinational study released last week.
The two nations "could examine how measures to reduce operational readiness can accompany the bilateral arms control process" as part of the current negotiations over renewal of the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty, according to the study by the EastWest Institute, a nonprofit think tank. The study, "Reframing Nuclear De-Alert: Decreasing the Operational Readiness of U.S. and Russian Nuclear Arsenals," was supported by the governments of Switzerland and New Zealand governments.
The study reminds readers that the United States "keeps roughly 1,000 nuclear warheads on alert" atop 450 Minuteman III land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and on the submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) aboard as many as four Trident subs patrolling in different parts of the world.
Radioactive Waste: German Company Sent Nuclear Material for Open-Air Storage in Siberia - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International
The Western media reported last week on how the German company Urenco shipped nuclear material to Siberia, where the highly toxic waste was stored in containers in the open air. The company has stopped deliveries and will store the material with higher standards in Germany in the future.
The radiation warning sign was so small that few passers-by took note in the commuter rail station in Kapitolovo, Russia. Fifty-six steel canisters were sitting there on a summer day three years ago. Just a stone's throw away, people were waiting for trains to take them to downtown St. Petersburg.
Anti-nuclear group criticizes German waste shipments to Russia | Environment & Development | Deutsche Welle | 15.10.2009
In the wake of a French investigation into reports that nuclear waste is sent from French plants to Siberia, news has emerged that Germany has a long tradition of shipping toxic waste to Russia.
The German anti-nuclear group "Ausgestrahlt" said that since 1996, Germany's only uranium enrichment plant in Gronau has shipped about 22,000 tons of uranium hexafluoride, which is a compound used in the uranium enrichment process, to Russia.
"Ausgestrahlt" reported on Wednesday that only 10 percent of that was returned to Germany as enriched uranium. The anti-nuclear activists said the remaining 90 percent was stored in Siberia, outdoors and in rusting containers. Uranium hexafluoride is highly toxic and corrosive to most metals.
International organizations indignant about arrest of Russian atomic physician - Charter'97 :: News from Belarus - Belarusian News - Republic of Belarus - Minsk
The famous ecological Bellona Foundation, whose expert atomic physician Andrei Ozharovsky was arrested in Belarus, sent an official request to Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov asking that his office look into the arrest of the Russian citizen.
The request, published on the NGO’s website says a representative of Russia’s consular mission to Belarus hasn’t met with Andrei Ozharovsky yet. Bellona notes that Ozharovsky was arrested for his intent to distribute at the hearing copies of a report entitled “Critical Notes on the State Environmental Impact Study of the Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant,” which he had co-authored.
Arrested Ozharovsky has not been given access to a lawyer.
EDF 'sends used nuclear material' to Siberia - Telegraph
EDF, the French firm which owns eight of Britain's nuclear power stations has shipped hundreds of tons of used radioactive material to Russia.
More than 1,500 tons of spent fuel produced by the power company EDF was discovered in metal containers near a Siberian town.
The company claims that it recycles almost all of its fuel. Environmental experts have claimed that 13 per cent of the spent fuel from the company's French power plants is on the site and described it as "really dirty stuff".
Selected Tags
Related Tags
Sponsored Links
Top Contributors
Groups interested in russia
-
russia
Russia, Century 21
Items: 9 | Visits: 107
Created by: anatoly antohin
-
Russia Nato America
World peace is important as...
Items: 1 | Visits: 66
Created by: liveinfreedom .
-
Russia vs World
Russia is expressing new do...
Items: 1 | Visits: 46
Created by: liveinfreedom .
Diigo is about better ways to research, share and collaborate on information. Learn more »
Join Diigo