Doctor Congo I presume ?

DR Congo 'uranium ring' men freed

Two men accused of being part of a network to exploit the Democratic Republic of Congo's uranium have been released after their arrest last week.
Scientific Research Minister Sylvanus Mushi said they are still accused of belonging to the international ring.
He said as the nuclear officials had not informed their superiors about a deal they had made with a London-listed company to export uranium, it was void.
But Mr Mushi's predecessor said on Monday that the deal was legitimate.
Kamanda wa Kamanda said that if the deal was cancelled, it would open the door to illegal trading.
The dispute comes amid reports that a large quantity of uranium has gone missing in recent years in DR Congo.
'Deprived'
DR Congo's top nuclear official Fortunat Lumu and his colleague were released after being held in custody for three days.
The BBC's Arnaud Zajtman in the capital, Kinshasa, says they were detained for questioning over allegations of uranium smuggling.
Last week, state prosecutor Tshimanga Mukeba told the BBC that an "important quantity" of uranium was taken from the atomic energy centre in Kinshasa, without revealing any figures.
Mr Mushi said the release of Mr Lumu would harm the potential success of the investigation, which is continuing.
"This was a great disappointment, because we haven't yet uncovered everything there is to uncover," Mr Mushi, recently appointed as part of a new government, told Reuters news agency.
But Mr Kamanda has accused the new scientific research minister of trying to deprive DR Congo of foreign assistance in its attempt to exploit its uranium for civilian purposes.
Security
Last August, a British newspaper, the Sunday Times, reported that uranium had been sold to Iran, a charge vigorously denied by the Congolese authorities.
Uranium is the basic raw material of both civilian and military nuclear programmes.
A mine in DR Congo's southern province of Katanga supplied the uranium that was used in the atomic bombs that were dropped by the Americans on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
The Americans then funded the creation of DR Congo's nuclear centre in 1958.
It was established on the university campus and only for research purpose.
But in the late 1970s, a bar of uranium disappeared from the centre, raising concern about security at the site.
Moreover, the site of the centre is under risk from erosion.
People fear a landslide that could lead to a wider disaster, our reporter says.
In recent years, the International Atomic Energy Agency has visited the centre and security was believed to have improved.

A technology to watch ?! Use a nuke to make the hydrogen

Hydrogen injection could boost biofuel production -

proposed new process for creating fuel from biomass could eliminate two major obstacles to producing sustainable biofuels – the low efficiency of conversion and the need for vast areas of land to grow biomass on.

However, the new method hinges on having a cheap source of hydrogen – something which is not yet readily available. But the researchers behind the new biofuel concept, Rakesh Agrawal and colleagues at Purdue University, US, believe they may be about to make a breakthrough on that front, with cheaper solar cells.

The new method requires two-thirds less biomass to produce one litre of fuel than conventional methods. It is a variant on traditional gasification, which is the partial combustion process that converts biomass into biofuel, plus carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and hydrogen. In current systems, only a third of the carbon ends up as biofuel, while the rest is lost as CO₂ and CO.

Agrawal's team propose adding more hydrogen to the gasification process. The additional hydrogen will react with carbon dioxide to produce carbon monoxide, which in turn reacts with more hydrogen to make extra biofuel and water.

"Adding hydrogen to the gasifier essentially suppresses the CO₂, so that all the carbon that came with biomass ends up in liquid fuel," says Agrawal. If the process can eliminate this "waste" of carbon, the same amount of biofuel fuel will require one-third of the biomass required by traditional methods – and so also one-third of the land.

No hurdles

In the US today, the transport sector consumes 13.8 million barrels of oil daily. The researchers estimate that meeting this demand would require 1.4 million square kilometres using their method. Conventional methods, in contrast, would require between 2.51 and 5.3 million km².

The researchers are now designing a gasifier that can inject the extra hydrogen. To their knowledge, no such machine has ever been built, but they say there are no known technical hurdles.

The more considerable obstacle to making their modified gasification viable on a large scale will be to find a cheap method for producing hydrogen. Using nuclear power to create the gas is one option but is politically contentious.

Solar cells are another option, but are currently costly. Agrawal told New Scientist that he and Hugh Hillhouse, also at Purdue, are very close to producing "spray-on" solar cells using nanotechnology. These would be cheaper and faster to manufacture and other researchers are chasing the same goal.

To date, they have made an "ink" of semi-conductors in solution, which can be sprayed on a surface and dried. "We tested a first one in February," says Agrawal. "It worked – we shone a light on it and got a current."

Journal reference: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (DOI:10.1073/pnas.0609921104)

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Who would have believed this 20 years ago

Libya may ask for US help on nuclear power - Yahoo! News

TRIPOLI (AFP) - Libya may approach the United States for talks on constructing the country's first nuclear power plant, a senior official indicated on Monday.
The government "has given the green light to enter into negotiations on this question and to discuss with the United States with the aim of reaching an agreement on developing and cooperating on the peaceful use of nuclear power," a senior official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
In Washington, there was no confirmation of any proposed deal.
"I'm certainly aware of no plans for the United States to participate in nuclear programmes with Libya," State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said.
Earlier, the official JANA news agency reported that the Libyan parliament or General People's Committee (GPC) had given its approval for the foreign ministry to sign such a deal.
"The GPC authorised on Sunday the GPC for Foreign Liaison and International Cooperation to sign the agreement related (to) the Libyan-American cooperation in peaceful use of nuclear energy offered by the United States," the agency said in an English-language dispatch.
"The agreement aims at establishing a nuclear station in Libya to produce electricity, desalting water, and developing the radiochemistry performance at energy researches centre."
The draft agreement approved by MPs also provides for Libyan students to receive training in nuclear technology in the United States and for the establishment in Libya of a regional centre for nuclear medicine, JANA said.
Libya was long accused by Western governments of seeking to acquire weapons of mass destruction.
But in late 2003 Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi renounced all attempts to develop a non-conventional arsenal, clearing the way for the restoration of diplomatic relations with the United States in May last year.
Any proposed agreement between the United States and its longtime enemy Libya would come at a time when Washington is intensifying its campaign against the nuclear programme of its arch-foe
Iran' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> Iran.
Iran's programme, which the Islamic republic insists is entirely peaceful, has prompted a number of Arab states to announce plans to work on civil nuclear energy, including pro-Western Egypt and the six oil-rich Gulf states.
Earlier this month, Kadhafi complained that Libya had not been adequately compensated for abandoning nuclear weapons.
"Libya has not been properly compensated, so other countries, like Iran and
North Korea' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> North Korea, will not follow his lead," the Libyan leader said in an interview with the BBC.
"Libya is disappointed because the promises given by America and Britain were not fulfilled," he said.
Kadhafi was for decades an international pariah because of his opposition to the West and his alleged backing for terrorism, before the pledge to give up attempts to develop weapons of mass destruction.
That led to a normalisation of ties with Britain and France as well as the United States. After 20 years of isolation, foreign companies are now in fierce competition to clinch oil deals in Libya.
But Kadhafi told the BBC in Sebha, where on March 2 he celebrated the 30th anniversary of Libya's Jamahiriyah, or State of the Masses political system, there had been a lack of British,
European Union' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> European Union or US investment since.
Kadhafi said he thought it was still possible for Libya to work with the West for mutual benefit, but the lack of foreign cash did not mean his country would slip back into its old ways.
"Libya will never go back. I believe that the era of hostility and confrontation is behind us," he was quoted as saying.

Europe split on atoms?

Split on nuclear power threatens agreement on global warming
| "Split on nuclear power threatens agreement on global warming


David Gow and Ian Traynor
Friday March 9, 2007
The Guardian

A worker at the nuclear reactor factory in Chalon-sur-Saone, France. Nearly 80% of France’s power comes from nuclear plants.
A worker at the nuclear reactor factory in Chalon-sur-Saone, France. Nearly 80% of France’s power comes from nuclear plants. Photograph: Jacques Brinon/AP


Divisions over nuclear power and renewable energy threatened to derail the EU's campaign to assume a global leadership role in the fight against climate change at the bloc's spring summit which began last night. Warning that 'it is closer to five past midnight than five to midnight' for international measures to combat global warming, Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel, chairing the meeting, urged EU leaders to 'deliver results for our grandchildren' by making Europe the world's first low-carbon economy via a unilateral 20% cut in its greenhouse gas emissions by 2020."

With uranium at $80 a pound ....

there's sure to be more uranium mines in Europe to be found -- The Canadians & Australians will find them -- if they haven't already -- afterall the word dollar comes from Thaler which was a silver mine that has some uranium with it -- so the story below is sure to be proved wrong

Fortunes rebound for Europe's last uranium mine

OLNI ROZINKA, Czech Republic (AFP) - Everything from the faded blue overalls donned by the miners to the bone-jolting trains and primitive extraction methods seem to cry out for Europe's last operating uranium mine to be turned into a museum.

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The Czech government would probably have closed the state-owned Rozna mine in 2004 if it had not been for the around 1,000 jobs at stake in the small towns and villages nestled in the hills of this relatively undeveloped south-east corner of the country.

But last week, industry minister Martin Riman rejected a 640-million koruna (22.5-million euro) bid by Australian uranium mining company Uran Limited for a 50 percent stake in exploitation of current and future uranium reserves.

And he held out the prospect of a new lease of life for the mine if research uncovers fresh reserves of the now coveted resource.

"Uran's bid is interesting but we can mine and survey for reserves on our own," the minister announced.

The Rozna mine has seen its fortunes improve as the price for uranium, used to feed nuclear reactors, soars on concerns about global warming and the cost and security of fossil fuel supplies, such as coal and oil.

The price hit record highs in February after an eightfold increase over the last three years. It had barely budged during the previous decade.

As a result, Rozna's previously loss-making annual production of around 300 tonnes of uranium now turns a profit. "There is about 0.25 percent of uranium in every tonne extracted compared with about 0.10 percent for similar operations in India. It is a very respectable quality," boasted chief engineer Petr Kriz.

He admits conditions below ground for the 115 miners - the rest of the workforce are support staff and employed in processing and cleaning operations - appear primitive.

Wire netting and rusting corrugated iron panels and air ducts cover the network of tunnels of the 24-floor complex. Engineers cut timber supports at the cramped faces where small teams of miners will work with the aid of hammer drills and a mechanical claw to pull rocks towards waiting wagons.

The Australian company claimed modernisation could boost production and profits at Rozna but Kriz argued: "There is not much space, it is difficult to use other methods."

The mine was opened in 1958 not for profit, but as part of the Cold War uranium mining boom when communist Czechoslovakia was one of the main suppliers of the Soviet military-industrial complex.

It was one of half a dozen major uranium mines dotted across the country which sent 96,600 tonnes of uranium, currently valued at more than 470 billion koruna (16.7 billion euros), to the Soviet Union between 1945 and 1989.

"At today's prices we can clearly realise what a fortune was sent by socialist Czechoslovakia almost free of charge to the Soviet Union," Riman commented dryly.

In the early years of the Czechoslovak industry, the price of uranium mining was primarily human. German prisoners of war were used at first for the dangerous, radiation-exposed work. The communist regime, which seized power in 1948, later sent its political prisoners down the mines.

Over 45,000 people were employed in uranium mining in 1954 with output and deliveries to the Soviet Union peaking at around 3,000 tonnes in 1961, just before the Cold War threatened to turn into a nuclear conflagration.

In Rozna's drab offices, pictures charting the mine's achievements are written in both Czech and Russian, harking back to the brothers-in-arms production era. Today's managers stress that political prisoners were a feature of the earlier post-war mines, but not theirs.

In the 1960's, the environment was mining's main casualty as heavily polluting chemical extraction methods were used at some locations. The massive, multi-billion koruna clean-up is likely to last another 40 years.

When the Cold War ended, so did much of the exports. "The armaments race stopped and fuel for power plants started to be prepared from nuclear warheads with enormous reserves of this in Russia," recalls Jiri Jez, the head of state company Diamo, which runs Rozna.

In the early 1990's, Czech mining plummeted to 20 percent of its average over the previous decade, Jez added.

The 65-year-old, who has worked with the firm ever since starting out as a 17-year-old milling machine operator, now sees a uranium revival beckoning not only for Rozna but for other sites in the north and east of the country.

Radioactive Water Leaks From Czech Nuclear Power Plant

" ... forgot to close a valve ..." -- what kind of systems do these guys have?

By VOA News 01 March 2007
Austrian opponent of the Temelin nuclear power plantOfficials at the Czech Republic's Temelin nuclear power plant say about 2,000 liters of mildly radioactive water leaked from the facility earlier this week.
A plant spokesman Thursday said the leak occurred after an employee forgot to close a valve. He said contaminated water flowed to a special tank, preventing any of the liquid from contaminating the environment.
This is the latest incident reported at the troubled plant about 60 kilometers from the Czech-Austrian border.
Austrian officials expressed surprise and anger over a delay in the announcement of the problem, particularly because Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer was in Prague Tuesday for talks about the plant.
Austrian environmentalists promised to continue weekly border blockades as they press for the plant's shutdown.
Earlier in the week, Czech and Austrian leaders agreed to create a joint parliamentary commission with representatives from both countries to examine Temelin's safety record.
The two countries have been at odds over the plant since it opened in 2000. Austrian environmentalists demand its closure because of security concerns. Czech officials insist it is safe.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.
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