Nuclear Energy

The Reading Public Library will host a discussion about nuclear energy featuring Tom Sowdon, a scientist, teacher, and manager of emergency preparedness for EntergyCorp., owner of the Pilgrim Station nuclear plant in Plymouth. The discussion, at 7 p.m. Wednesday, will address a number of key issues, including whether nuclear energy can be part of the solution to an energy-independent and carbon-free future in the United States.

The Fukushima crisis is eroding years of Japanese efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming, as power plants running on oil and natural gas fill the electricity gap left by now-shuttered nuclear reactors. Before last year's devastating tsunami triggered meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, Japan had planned to meet its carbon emissions reduction targets on the assumption that it would rely on nuclear power, long considered a steady, low-emissions source of energy.

LA GUAIRA, Venezuela - President Dmitry Medvedev of Russia agreed to help start a nuclear energy program in Venezuela, and then departed for Cuba yesterday in a tour aimed at restoring ties that have dwindled since the Cold War. Medvedev used his visit to Venezuela - the first by a Russian president - to raise Russia's profile in Latin America and deepen trade and military ties. President Hugo Chávez denied trying to provoke the United States, but he welcomed Russia's growing presence in Latin America as a step away from US influence toward a "multipolar world.

LAST YEAR'S tragedy in three parts — an earthquake, a tsunami, and the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant — is known in Japan simply as 3/11. The suffering of so many will be remembered today, as will Japan's resiliency in the year since. While the earthquake and tsunami were nature's doing, the failures at Fukushima exposed fundamental safety and regulatory gaps. The disaster furthered the view that nuclear energy is "unsafe at any speed," but that would be the wrong lesson for the United States.

KIEV — Tough new guidelines could help prevent accidents like the Chernobyl meltdown, Russia’s president insisted yesterday, defending nuclear energy during solemn ceremonies commemorating the 25th anniversary of the worst nuclear accident in history. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych took part in a religious service outside Chernobyl’s damaged No. 4 nuclear reactor, laying the first stone of a monument to cleanup workers and placing bouquets of red roses at another monument to Chernobyl victims.

TOKYO - Prime Minister Naoto Kan removed three top officials in charge of Japanese nuclear energy policy yesterday, taking aim at the cozy ties between regulators and the power industry that were exposed after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant accident. The three officials include Nobuaki Terasaka, the leader of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, the nation's main nuclear regulatory body. The agency has been criticized for allowing inadequate safety measures at the Fukushima plant, including insufficient defenses against the tsunami...

The Fukushima crisis is eroding years of Japanese efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming, as power plants running on oil and natural gas fill the electricity gap left by now-shuttered nuclear reactors. Before last year's devastating tsunami triggered meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, Japan had planned to meet its carbon emissions reduction targets on the assumption that it would rely on nuclear power, long considered a steady, low-emissions source of energy.

BERLIN - Siemens AG said yesterday that it is quitting the nuclear energy business to focus on other technologies. The German industrial conglomerate confirmed remarks by chief executive Peter Loescher in the magazine Der Spiegel that his company would continue to deliver components to nuclear plants as needed, but would not invest further in nuclear energy. A joint venture planned with the Russian nuclear company Rosatom will be canceled. Loescher's announcement comes months after Chancellor Angela Merkel's government decided to phase out nuclear energy...

MILAN — Italian voters dealt Premier Silvio Berlusconi a serious political blow, overturning laws passed by his government to revive nuclear energy, privatize the water supply, and help him avoid prosecution, final results showed yesterday. Even before the polls closed, Berlusconi conceded that Italy would probably have to give up plans to return to nuclear energy and instead focus on renewable energy. “Italy, following the decision that the Italian people are taking in these hours, probably will have to bid farewell to the question of nuclear power plants,’’...

WASHINGTON -- John W. Finney, an early specialist reporter on nuclear energy whose stories in The New York Times about the origins of US involvement in Vietnam roiled debate over the war, died Friday of prostate cancer at a Washington hospice. He was 80. Mr. Finney was hired in 1957 by the newspaper's Washington bureau chief, James Reston, from the United Press news agency. With the burgeoning nuclear energy industry, the looming space race and fast-developing scientific advances, Reston had seen a need for a reporter to cover nuclear energy and general science...

Iran's foreign minister has called for other countries to chose engagement over confrontation in resolving their differences over his nation's nuclear program. Ali Akbar Salehi told the U.N.-hosted Conference on Disarmament that "nuclear energy is not equated with nuclear weapons" and Iran has no intention to develop weapons of mass destruction. Iran claims its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. But the International Atomic Energy Agency has raised alarms that its uranium enrichment program might be a precursor to building nuclear weapons.

FESSENHEIM, France - French President Nicolas Sarkozy is refusing to close an aging nuclear plant that has become a symbol of growing resistance to atomic energy in the country. The future of nuclear energy in France has become a campaign issue as the presidential election nears this spring, in part because of the earthquake and tsunami disaster at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant last year. But Sarkozy, who lags in the polls, said yesterday while visiting the plant in Fessenheim that it would be a huge mistake and a scandal to close it and lay off its workers.

Attorney General Martha Coakley is asking the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to review the refusal of its licensing board to consider the impact of the recent nuclear disaster in Japan on relicensing procedures for the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth. The Fukushima power plant was destroyed by an earthquake and tsunami in March, resulting in a large release of radioactive material. During the Pilgrim plant's relicensing process in 2006, Coakley said that an accident involving the spent fuel pool at Pilgrim could pose a significant risk to...

Very low levels of radiation, which are higher than normal but don't seem to pose a health hazard, are being registered in the Czech Republic and elsewhere in Europe, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Friday. The agency said the cause was not known but was not the result of Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, which spread radiation across the globe in March. The "very low levels of iodine-131 have been measured in the atmosphere," the agency said in a statement.

BERLIN - Siemens AG said yesterday that it is quitting the nuclear energy business to focus on other technologies. The German industrial conglomerate confirmed remarks by chief executive Peter Loescher in the magazine Der Spiegel that his company would continue to deliver components to nuclear plants as needed, but would not invest further in nuclear energy. A joint venture planned with the Russian nuclear company Rosatom will be canceled. Loescher's announcement comes months after Chancellor Angela Merkel's government decided to phase out nuclear energy by 2022, following Japan's...

TOKYO - A former top diplomat vying to become Japan's next prime minister proposed yesterday that the country stop building new nuclear power plants after the Fukushima disaster and phase out the use of atomic energy over 40 years. Former foreign minister Seiji Maehara took the clearest stand against nuclear power at a press conference at which five members of the ruling Democratic Party outlined their policy goals in the campaign to replace Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who said Friday that he is stepping down.

FESSENHEIM, France - French President Nicolas Sarkozy is refusing to close an aging nuclear plant that has become a symbol of growing resistance to atomic energy in the country. The future of nuclear energy in France has become a campaign issue as the presidential election nears this spring, in part because of the earthquake and tsunami disaster at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant last year. But Sarkozy, who lags in the polls, said yesterday while visiting the plant in Fessenheim that it would be a huge mistake and a scandal to close it and lay off its workers.

LAST YEAR'S tragedy in three parts — an earthquake, a tsunami, and the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant — is known in Japan simply as 3/11. The suffering of so many will be remembered today, as will Japan's resiliency in the year since. While the earthquake and tsunami were nature's doing, the failures at Fukushima exposed fundamental safety and regulatory gaps. The disaster furthered the view that nuclear energy is "unsafe at any speed," but that would be the wrong lesson for the United States.

The Reading Public Library will host a discussion about nuclear energy featuring Tom Sowdon, a scientist, teacher, and manager of emergency preparedness for EntergyCorp., owner of the Pilgrim Station nuclear plant in Plymouth. The discussion, at 7 p.m. Wednesday, will address a number of key issues, including whether nuclear energy can be part of the solution to an energy-independent and carbon-free future in the United States.

TOKYO - Prime Minister Naoto Kan removed three top officials in charge of Japanese nuclear energy policy yesterday, taking aim at the cozy ties between regulators and the power industry that were exposed after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant accident. The three officials include Nobuaki Terasaka, the leader of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, the nation's main nuclear regulatory body. The agency has been criticized for allowing inadequate safety measures at the Fukushima plant, including insufficient defenses against the tsunami that was unleashed by a deadly...