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141 comments on DrumBeat: March 6, 2007

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Jussi on March 6, 2007 - 9:33am Permalink | Subthread | Comments top

US-Iran: Raid on nuclear fuel market http://www.courtfool.info/en_Raid%20on%20Nuclear%20Fuel%20Market.htm

In the background of the political joust about Iran, a few countries are reshaping the world. They are taking possession of the global nuclear fuel market. New IAEA regulations should keep newcomers away. The US, UK, France, Germany, Russia, China and Japan will become the world’s nuclear filling stations. Under the auspices of the IAEA these suppliers will dictate the rules, the prices and the currencies they want to get paid in. Iran has become the pretext and test case for their plans. The problems of tomorrow’s world economy are being shaped today.

This may have been discussed here before, in which case I missed it. In any case, I think the article is very interesting indeed.

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Dragonfly41 on March 6, 2007 - 9:36am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Is the the beginning of a Nuke Cartel? Radioactive OPEC?

Interesting.

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John McFadden on March 6, 2007 - 10:00am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

It is interesting how demure little Canada never gets mentioned. We are such a quiet, friendly corner of the world.

Canada will be out competing for reactor sales on the world market, just as Westinghouse will be competing to sell reactors to Canada.

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Syntec on March 6, 2007 - 2:15pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

An ex-Iron Curtain nuclear engineer once told me that our CANDU plants are of a terrible design - no different than what was used in Chernobyl.

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Dezakin on March 6, 2007 - 3:25pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

If he was a nuclear engineer, Chernobyl was no surprise.

CANDU's are good designs that are stable, with full containment domes. They have negative void coefficients, excellent neutron economy, and can be run on natural uranium fuel.

The old RBMK however had a positive void coefficient. The advantage of the RBMK was you didn't have to do any isotope separation to run on natural uranium fuel, but it was unstable. In addition, it was an excercise in everything to do wrong when constructing a reactor. No containment vessel, scram rods that make the core explode, graphite tips on the control rods that increase the reactivity when they're first inserted into the core untill the neutron poison is all the way in. It could only be marginally worse designed if they mandated sticking a giant tank of nerve gas on the roof.

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Syntec on March 6, 2007 - 6:45pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

LOL

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Cid Yama on March 6, 2007 - 9:30pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Yes and the shear number of Uranium Companies trading on the Toronto exchange as well as large Canadian uranium deposits will position Canada nicely.

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Stoneleigh on March 6, 2007 - 1:34pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Russian journalist who died in fall reportedly probed weapons deals

A journalist who fell to his death from a fifth-storey window had received threats while preparing a report claiming Russia planned to provide sophisticated weapons to Syria and Iran, his newspaper said Tuesday....

....Kommersant said Safronov recently told colleagues he had been warned he would face a criminal investigation on charges of revealing state secrets if he reported allegations that Russia had struck a deal to supply advanced Iskander missiles to Syria. Such a contract would upset the balance of forces in the Mideast and likely anger Israel and the United States.

Safronov did not say where the warning came from, according to Kommersant, but he had repeatedly been questioned in the past by the Federal Security Service or FSB, which suspected him of divulging state secrets in his reports. The FSB is the main successor agency to the KGB.

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neon9 on March 6, 2007 - 3:31pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Sounds like the cold war all over again. Can't say I'm suprised with Putin's tone over the past few months. His soul ain't looking so good anymore.

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Aniya on March 6, 2007 - 8:12pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

re: Journalists disappearing, getting shot at, etc.

http://www.cpj.org/

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/03/05/1515205

Iraqi Newspaper Editor Found Dead
The body of an Iraqi journalist who disappeared last week has been found in the Amal district of Baghdad. Jamal al-Zubaidi was the managing editor of Baghdad's al-Safir newspaper.

Russian Critic Shot In Maryland Days After Appearing on NBC
Meanwhile here in this country, an outspoken critic of the Kremlin named Paul Joyal was shot and injured Thursday outside his home in Maryland. The shooting occurred four days after Joyal appeared on Dateline NBC and accused Russian agents of being involved in the radiation poisoning of the former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko. On the program Joyal said a ""message has been communicated to anyone who wants to speak out against the Kremlin: "If you do, no matter who you are, where you are, we will find you and we will silence you in the most horrible way possible."" Another person who appeared on the same Dateline NBC program, the journalist Daniel McGrory of The Times of London, died in London two weeks ago. At the time, MSNBC reported that the cause of death was a heart attack.

More on Joyal: Paul M. Joyal is a Vice President at National Strategies, Inc. and directs the Law Enforcement and Public Safety division of the company.
http://www.nationalstrategiesinc.com/team.htm#pj
http://www.inthenationalinterest.com/Articles/Vol1Issue8/Vol1Issue8Joyal...

More at link above.

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