Australian union bans workers from nuclear facilities

"Fears of radiation exposure to uranium workers has led to the Electrical Trades Union in Brisbane, Australia, to ban members from working in uranium mines, nuclear power stations, and any part of the nuclear fuel cycle, according to a BBC report. Union leaders believe uranium exposure will replace asbestos as the high profile toxic workplace contaminant...the reasons stated for not allowing union workers in Australia be exposed to uranium recalls statements made by dying and ill workers in the United States who unknowingly made the ultimate sacrifice working at Cold War uranium diffusion and processing plants." More.

Hong Kong worried about leaking nuke on China's mainland

"The Hong Kong government said a radioactive leak occurred last month at a nearby nuclear power reactor in mainland China, raising concerns about safety and transparency at a facility 50 kilometers from the city's border." Wall Street Journal. (requires subscription)

Uranium in drinking water responsible for disabled children

High levels of uranium, perhaps from depleted uranium used by the US in the Iraq war, along with other heavy metals, has been found responsible for brain disabilities among children, according to Germany's Microtrace Mineral Lab. Punjab Newsline reports that hair samples of affected children contain these heavy metals, uranium being the only radioactive one. Children of the southern Malwa region of the Punjab are most affected.

Malaysia's radioactive waste danger

Under the threat of new reactor construction, Malaysia is taking stock of its current nuclear waste storage which consists of 80,000 200-liter drums continuing thorium hydroxide and stored above ground in a concrete facility. See the story in The Star.

New UK Minister of Energy and Climate Change: nuclear power a "dead end"

The London Telegraph reports that the new U.K. Minister of Energy and Climate Change, Liberal Democrat Chris Huhne, has previously stated that “No private sector investor has built a nuclear power station anywhere in the world without lashings of government subsidy since Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. The World Bank refuses to lend on nuclear projects because of the long history of overruns. Our message is clear, No to nuclear, as it is not a short cut, but a dead end.”