***************************************************************** 06/07/07 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 15.133 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** Send News Stories to news@energy-net.org with title on subject line and first line of body NUCLEAR POLICY 1 NPR: U.S. Nuclear Warhead Numbers Are Kept Secret 2 Interfax: Nazarbayev calls on U.S., Russia to downsize nuclear arsen 3 BBC NEWS: Putin offers joint missile shield 4 afp: Bush-Putin meeting hangs over wealthy nations' summit - 5 UPI: No fast solution to U.S.-Russia ABM woes 6 Guardian Unlimited: Bush, Putin to Discuss Missile Defense NUCLEAR REACTORS 7 Times of India: Bush, PM will try to end nuke deal logjam today 8 TheStar.com: Nuclear support heats up 9 US: PBP: FPL explores option for nuclear reactors 10 US: Green Bay Press-Gazette: Valve problem shuts down nuclear plant 11 US: Rutland Herald: Douglas vetoes energy bill over tax 12 Russia Newswire: Volgodonsk NPP: Czech Nuclear Power Engineers Adopt 13 PRN: ENEL AND CEZ INTERESTED IN BULGARIAS BELENE NUCLEAR POWER PLAN 14 US: Brattleboro Reformer: Cracks in VY 15 IHT: Contaminated zone near Chernobyl nuclear plant becomes wildlife 16 Reuters: Japan's Kansai relies on nuclear to cut CO2 17 US: Evening Post: Editorial News: New future for nuclear energy 18 Hemscott: Finnish nuclear reactor shut down after small fire 19 US: Cumberland Times: Wind, efficiency better investments than nucle 20 Vladivostok News: Nuclear station to anchor near Russky Island Busin 21 US: Orlando Sentinel: Will Florida be a nuclear powerhouse? - 22 NewsRoom Finland: Estonian Energy keen on Finnish nuclear projects - 23 Whitehaven News: Hot pebbles on beach puzzle N-plant experts 24 US: Charlotte Observer: Guards always on high alert NUCLEAR SECURITY 25 US: Ventura County Star: Dirty, dangerous job for workers NUCLEAR SAFETY 26 US: Sandusky Register: Tablets for radiation protection still viable 27 US: Guardian Unlimited: 3 Exposed to Plutonium at Nevada Site 28 ITAR-TASS: Norway PM praises radiation safety cooperation with Russi 29 US: MySA.com: Former Kelly worker is wondering if base contaminants 30 Whitehaven News: New studies show radiation doses increase workers 31 Whitehaven News: Body parts probe: ‘Dad’s funeral halted while m NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 32 Deseret news: EnergySolutions to acquire Brit firm 33 Houston Chronicle: NM: Lawmaker's Trip to Uranium Plant OKd 34 US: SanLuisObispo.com: EPA finds 'hotter' radioactive waste at old O 35 US: VCS: EPA investigates informant's tip on Halaco plant - Port Hue 36 US: Sun Chronicle: Too much stop, too little go at Shpack site 37 PRN: BNFL Announces Agreement to Sell the Reactor Sites 38 Whitehaven News: Lords draw up rules for N-dump approval 39 Whitehaven News: Sellafield waste worries 40 US: Guardian Unlimited Environment: Salt Lake City firm takes over U 41 Whitehaven News: ...and the French acquire a key asset 42 US: Charlotte Observer: Storage dilemma nears critical mass 43 AU ABC: No foreign waste for Muckaty nuclear dump PEACE US DEPT. OF ENERGY 44 Santa Fe New Mexican: Funding shifts could slice LANL budget 45 Tri-City Herald: House bill would hit Hanford vitrification plant 46 Tri-City Herald: Hanford Patrol top gun in U.S. security (w/video) 47 KnoxNews: ORNL gains $1 million biofuels grant 48 Recordnet.com: Lab wants to triple blast size 49 Guardian Unlimited: DOE: Warhead Dismantlement on Fast Track 50 lamonitor.com: Lab budget sees cuts 51 lamonitor.com: Missing nuclear waste prompts reforms 52 Pacific Publishing Company: Now that's a cleanup! ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 NPR: U.S. Nuclear Warhead Numbers Are Kept Secret by David Kestenbaum Correction: The radio version of this story incorrectly reports Robert Norris' estimate of the U.S. nuclear stockpile. According to Norris' figures, cutting the stockpile in half would leave about 5,000 in the stockpile. Technicians at Pantex in Texas work on a W56 nuclear warhead. National Nuclear Security Administration All Things Considered, June 7, 2007 The U.S. government announced Thursday that it has increased the rate at which it is dismantling nuclear warheads. The actual number of weapons taken apart is classified, however, as are most numbers associated with the stockpile. Some officials and lawmakers are trying to change that. Thomas D'Agostino, an official at the National Nuclear Security Administration in Washington, oversees the dismantlement work. He says taking apart a nuclear weapon requires time and care. "I don't want to make it seem this is just grab your Phillips screwdriver and start unscrewing things and taking them apart," D'Agostino said. "These are warheads that have conventional high explosives. We worry about lightning. We worry about static electricity. And we are not about to tolerate any errors in this area." D'Agostino said crews have taken apart 50 percent more nuclear warheads in the past eight months than they dismantled all year in 2006. He said he couldn't be more specific. "I am a bit frustrated I can't tell you the details," D'Agostino said. "I think it would be a good thing for you to hear them." He said the numbers reflect that the Cold War is over and that the stockpile is shrinking. Some lawmakers have expressed frustration about the policy that keeps the numbers secret: It dates back to the 1990s. U.S. Rep. David Hobson (R-OH) wants the figures made public, he said, to facilitate open debate about what the total number of warheads should be. "I've been pushing this for years, and the administration has resisted. I don't know why," Hobson said. "I suspect our potential adversaries know the number of U.S. nuclear warheads much better than do the members of Congress. I think I know the number, but I can't talk about it." The Department of Defense issued a statement to NPR, saying, "The basis for the security requirement ... is to deny militarily useful information to potential or actual enemies, to enhance the effectiveness of nuclear deterrence and to contribute to the security of nuclear weapons, especially against threats of sabotage and terrorism." But that policy hasn't stopped independent analysts from trying to pin down the numbers. "I think we have approximately 10,000, and we feel rather confident based on years of analysis that that's pretty close to the real number," said Robert Norris, senior research analyst at the Natural Resources Defense Council in Washington, D.C. Norris said people who are in the know sometimes leak information. Early stockpile figures are public. "In 1959, 1960, the United States was producing over 7,000 weapons a year. This is, you know, about 25 a day," Norris said. In 1945, there were two weapons. The stockpile peaked in the 1960s around 32,000 warheads, Norris said. President Bush has ordered that the arsenal he started with be cut in half by the year 2012. According to Norris' figures, that will leave about 5,000 in the stockpile. Hans Kristensen of the Federation of American Scientists collaborates with Norris and says the announcement Thursday means the U.S. is probably dismantling a few hundred warheads a year. "One of the ridiculous things we've run into is, just seven years ago, you could call up the Pantex plant down in Texas and say, 'So, how many weapons did you dismantle last month?' and they would give you the number because it wasn't classified," Kristensen said. "And, you know, I find this so Alice in Wonderland — suddenly, numbers that are very important to assure other countries that we're going in the right direction about dismantling nuclear weapons cannot be told anymore." (Information collected by NPR will be used solely for internal NPR or NPR member station purposes and only if you selected 'yes' above. See NPR's privacy policy for more information.) ***************************************************************** 2 Interfax: Nazarbayev calls on U.S., Russia to downsize nuclear arsenals Jun 7 2007 12:49PM ASTANA. June 7 (Interfax) - Russia and the United States should begin gradually downsizing their nuclear arsenals, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said during an online conference on Thursday. "Without reducing their nuclear arsenals, the U.S. and Russia demand that other countries should not spread or produce nuclear weapons. It would be fair if they themselves start to gradually downsize their nuclear arsenals and led by example," he said. "This issue calls for debates within the UN and possibly a revision of previously signed international agreements banning the proliferation, production and transfer of nuclear weapons," Nazarbayev said. 1991-2007 Interfax All rights reserved News and other data on this web site are provided for information purposes only, and are not intended for republication or redistribution. Republication or redistribution of Interfax content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Interfax. ***************************************************************** 3 BBC NEWS: Putin offers joint missile shield Last Updated: Thursday, 7 June 2007, 16:23 GMT 17:23 UK US officials say they will examine Mr Putin's proposal President George W Bush has described as "interesting" a proposal by Russia's president for resolving the row over the planned US missile defence shield. Vladimir Putin said their two countries could use a radar system in Azerbaijan to develop a shield covering all of Europe, during talks at the G8 summit. Mr Putin said the base could detect incoming missiles from so-called rogue states aimed at Europe or the US. Mr Putin has repeatedly scoffed at US claims the defence shield is targeting rogue states, and has said Moscow may in response aim its missiles at Europe. 'Common work' But after the meeting on the fringes of the summit in Germany, the Russian leader said the threat to re-target Russian missiles could be withdrawn if Washington agreed to use the former Soviet radar base at Gabala in Azerbaijan. This will make it possible for us not to change our stance on the targeting of our missiles Vladimir Putin "This will make it possible for us not to change our stance on the targeting of our missiles," Mr Putin said. "On the contrary, this will create the necessary grounds for common work." "This work should be multi-faceted with the engagement of the states concerned in Europe." Mr Putin added that if Washington and Moscow co-operated transparently on missile defence, "then we will have no problems". Mr Bush said his Russian counterpart had presented some interesting suggestions and that they would discuss the issue further during two days of talks beginning on 1 July in Kennebunkport, Maine. "We both agreed to have a strategic dialogue," he said. "This is a serious issue." Mr Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, said the Russian proposal was a "positive development". He said it showed President Putin acknowledged the potential threat from rogue states and that officials from Russia and the US would sit down in the future to discuss the development of the shield. * BBC Copyright Notice ***************************************************************** 4 afp: Bush-Putin meeting hangs over wealthy nations' summit - by Guy Jackson Thu Jun 7, 3:42 AM ET HEILIGENDAMM, Germany (AFP) - US President George W. Bush and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin were to hold a potentially fraught meeting at the Group of Eight summit Thursday as Germany sought a face-saving global warming accord. German police braced for fresh clashes with thousands of anti-globalisation protesters who have caused chaos around the summit venue on the Baltic Sea coast. The search for a renewed commitment to development aid for Africa was also expected to feature prominently as the world's wealthiest nations held their first full day of talks. The day though was set to be dominated by the first Bush-Putin meeting of the year which comes as US-Russia relations have hit a post-Cold War low, mainly because of Russian opposition to American plans for a missile shield in central Europe and US complaints about democracy failings in Russia. Both sides have sought to ease tensions since Putin threatened at the weekend to aim Russian missiles at European targets if the US shield is deployed in Poland and the Czech Republic. Bush said Wednesday that Russia was not a "threat" and that it would not attack Europe. A Kremlin spokesman said Putin's warning had only been "one of the possible means" for Russia to respond. But before arriving in Germany, the US president upped the stakes by accusing Russia under Putin of "derailing" democratic reforms. The Kremlin angrily rejected the accusations. Russian-US relations have been steadily worsening since Putin said in February that the United States had "imposed itself on other states" and that US dominance in the world was "ruinous." German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the meeting's host, will be keen to prevent the Bush-Putin meeting from overshadowing the three-day summit so that the leaders can focus on salvaging efforts to produce an accord that convinces the world that the G8 nations are serious about countering global warming. Meanwhile, 16,000 German police on duty moved into position for another tense day after spending Wednesday battling protesters who tried to reach the 12-kilometre (seven-mile) long barbed wire fence surrounding the hotel where the leaders are meeting. Eight police were injured Wednesday as police were forced to use water cannons to remove some of the estimated 10,000 demonstrators who tried to block roads into Heiligendamm. More than 140 people were arrested, while a court sentenced two Spaniards and a German to 10 months in jail for violence at a major pre-summit march in Rostock at the weekend. One of the main points of friction between the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States has been global warming. Merkel has staked Germany's G8 presidency on persuading the leaders to agree to limit the global temperature rise to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) and to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent compared with 1990 levels by 2050. But the United States indicated firmly it was still opposed to any agreement that entails mandatory targets. Merkel nevertheless insisted the atmosphere in Heiligendamm was "constructive" but conceded that there was no immediate consensus on climate change between the G8 -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States. Bush also tried to be conciliatory, saying after talks with Merkel he had "a strong desire to work with you on a post-Kyoto agreement." The UN-backed Kyoto Protocol on capping greenhouse gases expires in 2012. Negotiations to thrash out a new agreement begin in Bali in December. But a senior US official said all key polluting nations, including India and China, had to be involved in any agreement. The US president also held talks with Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, making his G8 debut, and the two agreed on the need for the G8 final declaration to take a tough line on North Korea's nuclear weapons. As they G8 leaders met in Heiligendamm, leaders of five major emerging nations -- Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa -- were to have talks in Berlin. Later they will participate in some G8 sessions, underlining their growing importance in international affairs. Tony Blair meanwhile was to hold an early-morning meeting with Bush as the outgoing British prime minister attends his final summit before leaving office this month. Blair has said he wants fresh pledges on meeting the goal set at the G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland two years ago of doubling aid to the poorest countries by 2010. But campaigning rock stars Bono and Senegalese superstar Youssou N'Dour criticised some nations for dragging their feet on the issue. "We're worried about Canada. It would be terrible if they blocked a G8 agreement," N'Dour told AFP. Copyright 2007 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 5 UPI: No fast solution to U.S.-Russia ABM woes United Press International - Security & Terrorism - Briefing Published: June 7, 2007 at 5:14 PM HEILIGENDAMM, Germany, June 7 (UPI) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin's proposal to allow U.S. use of a Russian-operated radar site in Azerbaijan could help resolve the U.S.-Russia ABM standoff. But the road ahead is still rocky. There is more at play than mere Russian unease over U.S. anti-ballistic missile defense hardware close to the Rodina (motherland). The Kremlin has long been agitated over NATO membership creep eastwards to include former Soviet satellite states; that unease -- further stoked by U.S. ABM plans -- over penetration into what it views as its geographic "sphere of influence" is more than a mere legacy of Cold War thinking that could soon dissipate. Russian distrust of the West is centuries old, stretching back at least as far as Napoleon's 1812 invasion. Putin made the proposal Thursday during a much anticipated 45-minute sideline meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush at the G8 summit in Heiligendamm, Germany. But in doing so, he also made clear serious differences still remained between Russia and the United States over common threats posed by missile and nuclear proliferation. Bush, for his part, called the proposal "interesting" and said representatives from the two nations would soon start a "strategic dialogue" on the issue. "It's really too soon to say where this (proposal) heads," Stephen Hadley, Bush's national security adviser, said. "I think also President Putin wanted to de-escalate the tensions a little bit on this issue." Anti-ballistic missile defense is a key component of U.S. military and foreign policy in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and the concern of missile and weapons of mass destruction technology falling into the hands and use of so-called rogue states. Bush, in justifying U.S. moves to place AMB radars in the Czech Republic and missile interceptors in Poland, has used the possible threat of missile attack on Europe from Iran. For weeks, Moscow -- either through direct statements by officials or through media commentaries -- has indicated it sees the ABM component placements as unnecessary at best and anti-Russia at worst. Putin even went so far recently as to warn that placement of the U.S. components in Eastern Europe could result in Moscow ordering its military forces to program European capitals back into its ballistic missile targeting command systems. Copyright 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 6 Guardian Unlimited: Bush, Putin to Discuss Missile Defense From the Associated Press Thursday June 7, 2007 1:01 PM By JENNIFER LOVEN Associated Press Writer HEILIGENDAMM, Germany (AP)- President Bush said he hoped to convince Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday that a Europe-based U.S. missile defense system is not an issue either side should ``be hyperventilating about.'' Bush and Putin are seeing each other here for the first time since they clashed over U.S. plans for a missile shield flared into Cold War-style rhetoric. With U.S.-Russia relations at their lowest point in decades, Putin and Bush will sit down Thursday on the sidelines of a summit of the world's eight major industrialized democracies being held at this seaside resort. The United State says the shield targets a potential Iranian nuclear weapon, not Russian ones. Russia retorts that's an ``insufficient'' explanation. Putin has warned that a new shield could require Russia to retarget missiles toward Europe or take other buildup measures. Trying to tamp down Moscow's anger, Bush officials have argued that it's obvious the defense system isn't aimed at Russia because of its huge arsenal of nuclear rockets. ``A missile defense system cannot stop multilaunch regimes. ... The fact is that you can't stop two, three, four, five missiles,'' the president said after a meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair. He added: ``Russia is not a threat. They're not a military threat. They're not something that we ought to be hyperventilating about.'' Blair had held out hope that he could bridge an impasse between the United States and some other countries over setting specific targets at the meeting for reducing the greenhouse gas emissions thought to cause global warming. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, as summit host, is pushing for binding targets. But Bush stuck to his view that specific targets would not be the result of this week's summit, also attended by other European leaders, as well as those from Canada, Japan and Russia. ``Nothing's going to happen in terms of substantial reductions unless China and India are participating,'' the president said. Blair said he thought the leaders would at least agree on ``the need to make sure that we have a substantial reduction in emissions'' by all the world's top greenhouse gas emitters. For his part, Bush pushed his desire to bring allies along in support of tougher action against Sudan over the crisis in its Darfur region. Bush announced new U.S. penalties against Sudan last week, but he also wants backing for a U.N. resolution to add pressure on the government to allow a U.N. peacekeeping force. ``The international organizations can't move quickly enough,'' Bush said. ``I don't know how long it's going to take for people to hear the call to save lives. ... If the U.N. won't act, we need to take action ourselves.'' The president indulged wistful thoughts about this month's departure of Blair, for years his closest foreign ally. ``It's a nostalgic moment for me,'' Bush said, the Baltic Sea shimmering behind the two men. ``I'm sorry it's come to be. But that's what happens in life.'' In between private meetings on the sidelines, the eight leaders had a full day of meetings to discuss issues ranging from Africa aid to trade and Lebanon. The gathering is being held under tight security, with Heiligendamm entirely encircled by a seven-mile, razor wire-topped fence to keep out protesters and terrorists. Thousands of demonstrators spent the night in a no-demonstration zone established in a half-mile perimeter around the fence. On Thursday, protesters for a second day blockaded roads leading into the summit zone. And offshore, Greenpeace environmental activists led police on a boat chase, with one boatload briefly spilling into the Baltic after collision. There are many items on the disagreement list between Washington and Moscow. Russia is unhappy about U.S. support for independence for the breakaway Serbian province of Kosovo. It bristles at what it sees as U.S. meddling in its affairs and its traditional sphere of influence. Washington is getting fed up with Putin for overseeing what the U.S. perceives as an era of muzzled dissent and centralized power. Bush this week put Russia on a par with China, calling U.S.-Russian ties ``complex'' and criticizing democracy as being ``derailed'' under Putin. The remarks carried extra sting because they were delivered publicly and in the Czech Republic. The NATO membership of the former Soviet satellite, which threw off communism in 1989, along with others, is a thorn in Russia's side. On the other hand, Moscow has shown more willingness of late to help the West take on Iran over its nuclear program. Washington wants to preserve this momentum. ``There's a lot of constructive work we can do,'' Bush said. The Russians projected a similar air. They said the open hostility was part of a constructive relationship - while reaffirming disagreements with Washington's view of Russian democracy. Moscow's unrelenting objections to the proposed missile shield overshadow everything. Russian suspicions were roused earlier this year when the U.S. chose the Czech Republic and Poland as the missile defense sites. Bush is to visit both countries after the summit. Putin spokesman Dmitri Peskov promised ``uncomfortable consequences'' if the shield is deployed ``next to our borders'' without more acceptable explanations from the United States. But, he added: ``Russia is the last country in this world who is thinking about confrontation or starting another Cold War.'' It turns out Russians aren't the only ones harboring suspicions. White House aides were instructed not to use their wireless e-mail devices during the summit for fear of Russian eavesdropping. ^--- On the Net: White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov/g8/2007/ Guardian Unlimited Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 ***************************************************************** 7 Times of India: Bush, PM will try to end nuke deal logjam today Updated: 8 Jun, 2007 0205hrs IST | Powered by Indiatimes BERLIN/NEW DELHI: On the eve of a crucial meeting to resolve the impasse over the nuclear deal, India appears willing to walk a few steps more to assuage US proliferation concerns on reprocessing in return for a unambiguous recognition of its right to use spent fuel. The right to reprocess should not be a promise, deliverable some years down the line, said sources, sketching India's bottomline a day before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh meets US President George Bush to sort out the differences holding back an agreement. Sources stressed that reprocessing has to be enshrined as a right in the 123 Agreement. In return, India could be ready to consider measures including moving a reprocessing facility into the civilian sector, to address any non-proliferation concerns. It would also be willing to work in a higher level of safeguards with IAEA to accommodate the US. This is expected to be the essence of the message that the PM will put across to Bush on the sidelines of the G-8 summit, when the two meet on Friday. Foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon indicated to media in Berlin that officials from the two sides would meet to try to narrow down differences before the baton is passed on to the two leaders. The 123 Agreement is stuck on the core difference between India and the US: the right to reprocess spent fuel and the consequences of cessation of cooperation, which would disrupt fuel supplies and require a return of all materials. While the right of return can be worked out in the language, India is insisting on maintaining the letter and spirit of the March 2, 2006, joint statement that India would have uninterrupted fuel supplies, as well as build a stockpile. This right was somewhat diminished by the Hyde Act. On reprocessing, the US side has been telling India that they would be willing to grant the request some years down the line. But doing it now would be difficult to sell in a US Congress dominated by the likes of Tom Lantos and Joe Biden and other Democrat non-proliferation heavyweights. This argument does not wash in New Delhi, said sources. diwakar.asthana@timesgroup.com, indrani.bagchi@timesgroup.com Copyright 2007 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 8 TheStar.com: Nuclear support heats up comment - Jun 07, 2007 04:30 AM Nuclear is not up for debate Letter, June 5 Like the proverbial generals who continue to fight the last war while preparing for the next one, Greenpeace Canada's Dave Martin continues to tilt against nuclear power with 30-year-old arguments – despite the fact that the world around him has dramatically changed. An entirely different opinion was recently expressed by the co-founder of Greenpeace, Patrick Moore, who had this to say in a May 11, 2007 article in the Hamilton Spectator: "When I helped found Greenpeace in Vancouver in the 1970s, my colleagues and I were firmly opposed to nuclear energy. But times have changed. I now realize nuclear energy is the only non-greenhouse gas-emitting power source that can effectively replace fossil fuels and satisfy Canada's growing demand for energy." Environmentalist James Lovelock has also recognized nuclear energy's contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Three years ago, he wrote: "We cannot continue drawing energy from fossil fuels, and there is no chance that the renewables – wind, tide and water power – can provide enough energy and in time.... Only one immediately available source does not cause global warming and that is nuclear energy." As society shifts away from coal, oil and natural gas, it is inevitable that demand for electrical power will grow, despite efforts aimed at conservation and energy efficiency. It is fortunate that public opinion in Ontario, the U.K. and elsewhere appears to be moving rapidly toward accepting nuclear energy. David Goodings, Burlington Copyright Toronto Star 1996-2007 | ***************************************************************** 9 PBP: FPL explores option for nuclear reactors By Kristi E. Swartz Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Thursday, June 07, 2007 One day after state regulators told Florida Power & Light Co. it couldn't build a coal-fired power plant in Glades County, the utility asked Miami-Dade County to zone for up to two additional nuclear reactors at its Turkey Point site near Homestead. "It's the step we have to take to be able to continue to evaluate the site," FPL spokesman Tom Veenstra said Wednesday. "If we don't get past this, we have to continue looking elsewhere." FPL, owned by FPL Group Inc. (NYSE: FPL, $59.93) of Juno Beach, has been bullish on nuclear power, saying it's a cleaner form of energy and a cheaper way to make electricity. But the plants are expensive to build and must go through a number of local, state and federal reviews. Still, FPL may be thankful that nuclear power is an option, given that the Florida Public Service Commission unanimously denied the utility's coal plant Tuesday. The two actions are unrelated, Veenstra said. FPL submitted the zoning paperwork to Miami-Dade County Wednesday because it was the last day it could do so to schedule a hearing in the fall, he said. "There's no connection between the two, even though it looks that way," he said. While environmentalists declared victory after the PSC's ruling, FPL threw up its hands in frustration: What does the state mean when it says utilities need to produce electricity from different sources of fuel? "The answer on fuel diversity is, you need the coal plant. And the answer on how you do the coal plant is pretty close to what FPL is doing," said Frank Maisano, an energy lobbyist and spokesman for the Washington, D.C., office of Bracewell & Giuliani LLP. FPL thought so. The utility said Tuesday it "obviously misread" the PSC's intentions for fuel diversity. "We will probably be back talking to them to see specifically what direction they want us to go," FPL spokesman Mayco Villafaa said Wednesday. On Tuesday, the commission said building a coal plant wouldn't be the most cost-effective choice, given the uncertainty of future coal and natural gas prices. PSC spokesman Anthony De Luise said efforts to diversify resources should include a mix of alternative fuels, energy conservation and bringing natural gas into the state a different way. The PSC probably will issue its decision in writing within a week or so. After that, FPL has five days to challenge the decision or 30 days to bring it to the Florida Supreme Court. "We're still evaluating what we're going to do," Villafaa said. FPL gets 60 percent of its fuel from natural gas. The utility has been talking about building a coal plant since Hurricane Katrina slammed into oil rigs in the Gulf Coast in October 2005. Florida lawmakers passed an energy bill in 2006 that said the state needed to become less dependent on natural gas and foreign oil. "I don't think FPL would have spent the money to pursue this option if they hadn't spent a lot of time talking to people in Tallahassee," said David Parker, a Tampa-based utilities analyst for Robert W. Baird & Co. So what happened? "It's clear that politics was at play here," Maisano said. "I think it's a combination of global-warming symbolism, but you're not stopping the global-warming crisis by stopping a coal plant in Florida." Gov. Charlie Crist has made it clear he's concerned about global warming and that he was "very unexcited" about the suite of coal plants planned for Florida over the next 10 years. "This whole climate-change debate is an underlying issue that's been on a lot of people's minds," said Barney Bishop III, president and chief executive of the Tallahassee-based pro-business lobbying group Associated Industries of Florida. However, the PSC doesn't look at environmental factors when deciding whether a utility should build a power plant. Someone has to do some long-term planning, Parker said. Copyright 2007, The Palm Beach Post. All rights reserved. By using PalmBeachPost.com, you accept the terms of our visitor ***************************************************************** 10 Green Bay Press-Gazette: Valve problem shuts down nuclear plant unit Posted June 7, 2007 TWO CREEKS A malfunctioning valve caused Point Beach Nuclear Plant's Unit 1 to be taken offline Tuesday. The plant's operator, Nuclear Management Co,. said the valve is in a non-radioactive area of the plant. The malfunction prompted staff to manually shut down the unit at 3:17 p.m. Tuesday. Nuclear Management Co. said all plant systems responded as designed. Plant operators were investigating the cause of the trip and will make necessary repairs before returning the unit to service, Nuclear Management Co. said in a press release. Point Beach Unit 2 continues to operate. The two-unit plant generates 1,036 megawatts of electricity. It is owned by We Energies of Milwaukee. Richard Ryman/Press-Gazette Contact us at 920-435-4411. greenbaypressgazette.com is a Gannett Company website. ***************************************************************** 11 Rutland Herald: Douglas vetoes energy bill over tax June 07, 2007 By Louis Porter Vermont Press Bureau MONTPELIER Wednesday evening Gov. James Douglas vetoed the energy bill passed by lawmakers this year, saying there are ways to reduce the use of heating fuels and Vermont's contribution to global warming without levying a tax on the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant. "Unfortunately, despite my frequently voiced concerns, both public and private, an unnecessary and shortsighted tax was added to the bill. That tax is not in the best interests of Vermonters or the long-term economic and environmental security of our state," Douglas said in the veto message he signed Wednesday. In an unusually long statement on a veto, Douglas outlined a plan to enact administratively several of the other less hotly debated measures in the bill and put together new legislation making other provisions into law. And Douglas made several references to other ways to improve the efficient use of heating oil and gas in Vermont, although he did not offer many specifics. "There is also an opportunity to pursue improved fuel efficiency without creating a poorly contemplated, cumbersome bureaucracy funded by an arbitrary tax," Douglas said in his statement. The veto came as Democrats were preparing for former Vice President Al Gore to put his support behind the bill in a video conference today. Legislative leaders said earlier in the day the bill would mean very little without the tax and the heating fuel efficiency program it would support. "Politicians love to take credit for making progress when progress is not made. I am simply not willing to make policy that way," said Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin. "You can design all the efficiency systems in the world but if you don't have the courage to invest the money now to save it tomorrow you aren't doing anything. "You are either going to show courage and pass a bill that can actually work or have to face incredibly unhappy defeat," Shumlin added. "There are times when you can play politics and there are times when you have to do the heavy lifting." Speaker of the House Gaye Symington, D-Jericho, said a bill without a so-called "all fuels" efficiency modeled on the state's system for electricity would have much less meaning. "That is the section of this bill that provides the greatest opportunity for saving money. It is that simple," she said. "The funding that is in the bill is quite targeted and moves towards tax fairness in a reasonable way for Vermont Yankee." The legislative proposal would increase the power generation tax on the plant's parent company, Entergy Nuclear, to as much as $25 million a year and use some of the money to fund the efficiency program until the plant's current license expires in 2010. That is fair, according to lawmakers, because the generation tax that was negotiated with the state is less than Yankee would pay under the property tax it is designed to replace. Douglas has opposed the tax, saying it could send a message that would harm economic development in the state. Instead, administration officials have argued for a market-based approach founded on tax incentives and private investment with some government support. "The governor has, in the absence of legislative interest, asked his administration to outline an alternative fuel efficiency program that produces more advantages for Vermonters and is progressive in the sense that it provides additional assistance to low- and moderate-income residents and does not involve new taxes and new government bureaucracies," said Jason Gibbs, a spokesman for the governor. Douglas will likely "outline his ideas in the near future," Gibbs added. Ever since Douglas made it clear he would oppose the bill earlier this year, legislators vowed they will work to override a veto and make the measure into law without his signature. "With time, more and more Vermonters and legislators are learning about the benefits of this bill," Symington said. A veto override, which requires the support of two-thirds of the lawmakers present, is almost never an easy task. That is especially true in the House where the Democratic majority is slimmer than in the Senate. According to information gathered in the state archives, there have been only six successful veto override votes since 1836. In his veto message, Douglas said he would put in place as much of the 23 other sections of the bill as he could administratively. Those include measures designed to further renewable energy development, "smart metering" that charges electricity customers based on when they use power, energy planning and weatherization. In addition, he will work with lawmakers to pass new legislation putting in place other components of the bill, including measures to encourage renewable energy development on farms and giving customers more information and options to purchase renewable power. Supporters of the efficiency program discovered that the Connecticut General Assembly has passed and Gov. M. Jodi Rell this week signed into law an energy bill that includes a similar heating fuel efficiency program. That measure, which caused little stir in a bill that included controversial sections on energy market deregulation, would use increases in the gross receipts taxes on heating fuel to support the program, up to $10 million annually. "We tried with our bill to look at the future, to lower costs," said Connecticut State Rep. Joe Mioli, D-Westport, who co-sponsored the bill. "Sometimes $1 today is worth $5 tomorrow. I hope we are right." Supporters of the Vermont program said they hoped the state would follow Connecticut's lead. "The Connecticut energy bill and the Vermont energy bill both create business opportunities. The difference is that Gov. Rell has signed their bill, and our governor, who likes to talk about business but not follow that with action, is going to veto the Vermont energy bill," said James Moore of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group, and a leading lobbyist for the efficiency program. Shumlin agreed. "I think we have an incredible opportunity here. Vermont can be a leader or a follower, but it would seem if the state of Connecticut has figured out they can save Connecticut residents money, reduce their dependence on foreign oil and create jobs and it would seem to be a pretty simply conclusion for our governor to reach as well," he said. Gibbs said that while the Connecticut bill is interesting, it may not directly relate to Vermont's goals. "Reviewing the work of other states informs our own public policy, but ultimately Vermont is always going to do what is in the best interests of Vermont. One size doesn't fit all," he said. "While we are already a national leader in energy conservation and efficiency and our emissions are a tiny fraction of those emitted by other states, we will continue to do more to combat climate change," Douglas said in the conclusion of his veto message. Contact Louis Porter at louis.porter@rutlandherald.com 2007 Rutland Herald ***************************************************************** 12 Russia Newswire: Volgodonsk NPP: Czech Nuclear Power Engineers Adopt Russian Experience Date: 06/06/2007 MOSCOW (RNWire) - In late May a delegation of Temelin NPP (the Czech Republic) visited Volgodonsk NPP The objective of the visit was to see how the personnel of VNPP operate and maintain their equipment. The guests attended conferences concerning the fulfillment of the planned repairs presently conducted at the plant, examined relevant documents, spoke with the personnel. Special attention was given to organization, management of financial and human resources, safety culture. One of the delegates Radek Sula said: "We have seen that Volgodonsk NPP has highly-qualified specialists who can solve the most difficult problems. We are taking home a couple of interesting ideas, which we will try to apply at our plant. We have also shared our own experience. We are professional partners and we are equally interested in each other's experience and knowledge." Since Apr 17 the 1st unit of Volgodonsk NPP has been under planned repair. The repair is aimed at enhancing the safety and efficiency of the plant. It will last till June 15. Copyright 2004-2007 Russia Newswire ***************************************************************** 13 PRN: ENEL AND CEZ INTERESTED IN BULGARIAS BELENE NUCLEAR POWER PLANT - Press Review news 10:11 Thu 07 Jun 2007 Italian energy company Enel and Czech CEZ presented offers for the acquisition of 49 per cent of the Belene nuclear power plant (NPP). In May 2007 Bulgaria offered major investors to purchase part of the NPP, thus funding its construction. Bulgaria will keep the major package of shares, mediapool.bg said. The deadline for the offers expired on June 6 2007. CEZ took part in the tender for the construction of the NPP as member of the Skoda Allianz consortium, but lost the bid. The Czech company owns shares in the electricity supplying companies in Sofia , the region of Sofia and possesses Varnas heating company. Enel had shown several times long-term interest in Bulgarias energy market, mediapool.bg said. The company already works on the modernisation of the Maritsa Iztok power plant. Enrico Viale, regional manager of Enel for Southeastern Europe, said that he was sure Enel would continue to the next stage of partner selection. Web www.sofiaecho.com 2001-2007, Sofia Echo Media Ltd. Web development and design by ***************************************************************** 14 Brattleboro Reformer: Cracks in VY BRATTLEBORO, VT component worry state regulators The Associated Press Thursday, June 7 VERNON (AP) -- Concerned about new cracking in a component at Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, state regulators want to know whether a recent boost in its power generation may have been the cause. Twenty four cracks -- or the beginnings of them -- have been discovered in the steam dryer of the Vernon plant, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The state now wants additional information on five of them from the NRC and plant owner Entergy Nuclear, said Sarah Hofmann, director of public advocacy for the Department of Public Service. "There are some cracks we are interested in that are possibly caused by stresses from the power uprate," Hofmann said. Entergy officials say the cracks don't compromise safety and are not an indication of anything being amiss. "The dryer is in great condition," said Entergy spokesman Rob Williams. Thirteen cracks first identified in 2005 are no longer visible because of the normal corrosion on the stainless steel, Williams said. Plant officials say the state's interest is related to whether the steam dryer could cause an unplanned shutdown that would reduce the state's electricity supply. Tapes of an underwater inspection of the dryer were reviewed by Bill Sherman, a special consultant for the state, and he came away concerned about five cracks, Hofmann said. She said she did not know the dimensions of the cracks. The cracks were discovered during a more detailed inspection of the steam dryer when the plant was being refeuled and maintenance was being performed, Entergy staff told an NRC panel Tuesday. There previously were 64 cracks identified in the steam dryer, discovered during a refueling outage and inspection in 2005. The steam dryer is of special interest to the state because it's a component that has caused costly problems and lengthy shutdowns in nuclear plants of a similar design after their power output was boosted. The company gave a similar report to the NRC's Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, which is considering whether the plant's operating license should be extended for 20 years beyond its 2012 expiration. The company says that's because of investments Entergy has made in the plant. Williams said the state's concerns were about whether Yankee would be able to fulfill contracts to provide power to Vermont utilities. A state agreement provides for the utilities to be reimbursed if the plant shuts down unexpectedly and that can be traced to the steam dryer. But that agreement expires in 60 days. NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said the commission was awaiting a fuller investigation of the new cracks by Entergy. The reliability of the steam dryer has been a point of contention since Yankee sought permission to produce 20 percent more power. The equipment removes excess moisture from steam before it moves through generating turbines. Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This ***************************************************************** 15 IHT: Contaminated zone near Chernobyl nuclear plant becomes wildlife haven - International Herald Tribune The Associated Press Published: June 7, 2007 PARISHEV, Ukraine: Two decades after an explosion and fire at the nearby Chernobyl nuclear power plant sent clouds of radioactive particles drifting over the fields near her home, Maria Urupa says the wilderness is encroaching. Packs of wolves have eaten two of her dogs, the 73-year-old told a visitor in May, and wild boar trample through her corn field. Meanwhile, she said, fox, rabbits and snakes infest the meadows near her tumbledown cottage. "I've seen a lot of wild animals here!" said Urupa, one of about 300 mostly elderly residents who insist on living in Chernobyl's contaminated evacuation zone. The return of wildlife to the region near the world's worst nuclear power accident, first reported more than a decade ago, is an apparent paradox that biologists are still trying to measure and understand. It certainly doesn't look like one today. Dense forests have reclaimed farm fields and apartment house courtyards. Residents, visitors and some biologists report seeing wildlife including moose and lynx rarely sighted in the rest of Europe. Some birds even nest inside the cracked concrete sarcophagus shielding the shattered remains of the reactor itself. Wildlife has returned despite radiation levels in much of the evacuated zone that although they have fallen significantly since the accident due to radioactive decay remain 10 to 100 times higher than background levels, according to a 2005 U.N. report. Some researchers insist that by halting the destruction of habitat, the Chernobyl disaster helped wildlife flourish. Others say animals may be filtering into the zone, but that they appear to suffer malformations and other ills that threaten to send their tenuous populations crashing. Both sides say more research is needed into the long-term health of a variety of Chernobyl's wildlife species, as governments around the world consider switching from fossil fuel plants, blamed for helping drive global climate change, to nuclear power. Biologist Robert J. Baker of Texas Tech University was one of the first Western scientists to report that Chernobyl had become a wildlife haven. He says the mice and other rodents he has studied Chernobyl since the early 1990s have shown remarkable tolerance for the region's elevated radiation levels. But Timothy Mousseau of the University of South Carolina, a biologist who studies barn swallows at Chernobyl, says that while wild animals may filter into the area from outside, they have struggled to build new populations here. Far from thriving, he says, a high proportion of the birds he and his colleagues have examined suffer from radiation-induced sickness and genetic damage. Survival rates are dramatically lower for those living in the most contaminated areas. In explaining their starkly differing views, Baker and Mousseau criticize each other's studies as poorly designed. But their disagreement also reflects a deeper split among biologists who study the effects of exposure to radiation. Some, like Baker, think organisms can cope with the destructive effects of radiation up to a point beyond which they begin to suffer irreparable damage. Others believe that even low doses of radiation can trigger cancers and other illnesses. In the Journal of Mammology in 1996, Baker and his colleagues reported that the disaster had not reduced either the diversity or abundance of a dozen species of rodents including mice, shrews, voles, rats and weasels near the Chernobyl plant. "Our studies show that a dynamic ecosystem is present in even the most radioactive habitats," they wrote. Baker's group reported sighting red fox, gray wolf, moose, river otter, roe deer, Russian wild boar and brown hare within a 10-kilometer (6-mile) radius of the crippled plant the most heavily contaminated area. Outside of 30 kilometer (18.6 miles), they saw just one live animal, a brown hare. Genetic tests showed Chernobyl's animals suffered some damage to their DNA, Baker and his colleagues reported. But they said overall it didn't seem to hurt wildlife populations. "The resulting environment created by the Chernobyl disaster is better for animals," Baker told the Associated Press in a phone interview. Mousseau and his colleagues have painted a far more pessimistic picture. In the journal Biology Letters in March, a group led by Anders Moller, from Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris, said that in a study of 7,700 birds examined since 1991 they found 11 rare or unknown abnormalities in a population of Chernobyl's barn swallows. Roughly one-third of 248 Chernobyl nestlings studied were found to have ill-formed beaks, albino feathers, bent tail feathers and other malformations. Mousseau was a co-author of the report. In other studies, Mousseau - whose work is funded by the National Science Foundation and National Geographic Society - and his colleagues have found increased genetic damage, reduced reproductive rates and what he calls "dramatically" higher mortality rates for birds living near Chernobyl. The work suggests, he said, that Chernobyl is a "sink" where animals migrate but rapidly die off. Mousseau suspects that relatively low-level radiation reduces the level of antioxidants in the blood, which can lead to cell damage. "From every rock we turn over, we find consequences," he told the Associated Press in a phone interview. "These reports of wildlife flourishing in the area are completely anecdotal and have no scientific basis." While the experts debate, Maria Urupa, one of about 350 so-called "self-settlers" who defied authorities and moved back to their homes inside the exclusion zone, harvests tomatoes from her garden, buys fish from the nearby Pripyat River and brews her own moonshine vodka. Eating locally-produced food is risky, health experts agree, because plants and animals can concentrate radioactive materials as they cycle through the food chain. Doesn't she fear the effects of her exposure to radiation? "Radiation? No!" she said. "What humans do? Yes." Copyright 2007 the International Herald Tribune All rights ***************************************************************** 16 Reuters: Japan's Kansai relies on nuclear to cut CO2 Thu Jun 7, 2007 8:43AM EDT By Osamu Tsukimori OSAKA (Reuters) - Japanese utility Kansai Electric Power Co. (9503.T: Quote, Profile, Research) aims to lower its carbon dioxide (CO2) levels from the electricity it sells by around 20 percent from 2008 through increased nuclear power generation and credit buying. The country's second-largest power generator aims to cut CO2 to 0.282 kg per kilowatt hour of electricity sold in the five business years from April 2008, versus its latest data for 0.358 kg in the 2005/2006 business year. This will be the lowest among Japanese utilities, who are cutting emissions under the country's Kyoto Protocol commitments, though Tokyo has not imposed mandatory targets unlike the European Union and analysts say it will struggle to meet its goal. "Japan is resource poor, so we have no choice but to rely on nuclear power as a major source of energy," the firm's Executive Officer Masao Ikoma said in an interview as part of the Reuters Energy Summit. Kansai Electric uses nuclear power to generate some 55 percent of electricity, with 32 percent thermal power from coal, oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) and the remaining 13 percent from hydropower. The firm said it aimed to improve its nuclear utilization to 80.5 percent in the 2007/8 business year, from 77 percent last year, as well as upgrading to more efficient combined cycled gas-fired plants and buying CO2 credits from projects cutting emissions overseas. Japan vowed last week to meet its Kyoto target to cut by 6 percent from 1990 levels, but its emissions have risen by 8 percent, leaving a 14 percent gap to be covered. Group of Eight leaders meeting in Germany on Thursday agreed on the need for substantial cuts in world greenhouse gas emissions, short of European calls to halve emissions by 2050. (nL07182869: Quote, Profile, Research) Continued... Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 17 Evening Post: Editorial News: New future for nuclear energy Charleston, SC Latest Thursday, June 7, 2007 The recent restart of reactors in Alabama by the Tennessee Valley Authority after a 22-year shutdown may well anticipate a greater reliance on nuclear power in the United States. The nation is facing a series of fundamental decisions in the immediate future about how it gets its electricity and at what economic and environmental cost. The role of nuclear energy looms large in these calculations because it is the nation's largest source of electricity that does not degrade air quality or add carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. With the growing acknowledgment about the relationship of increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to global warming, the advantages of nuclear power are rightly getting new attention. The shift is evident on Capitol Hill, where some former opponents are now willing to consider nuclear power as a way to lower greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. The Los Angeles Times counts House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in that number, quoting her in a recent report, as saying, "I think it has to be on the table." The Times cites other lawmakers who support caps to greenhouse gas emissions, along with incentives to build more nuclear plants. Their number includes Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton, John McCain and Barack Obama, all of whom are presidential candidates. The United States currently gets 20 percent of its electricity from the 103 nuclear plants designed and built more than a generation ago. But most of the nation's electricity comes from polluting coal-fired plants. Other sources of electrical energy — natural gas, oil, water, wind and solar — have limited room for expansion or negative consequences, leaving coal and nuclear the dominant fuels for the foreseeable future. Beginning around 2020, older nuclear power plants will begin shutting down as they reach the end of their 60-year useful lives. The last of them will shut down around mid-century. Unless the permitting process improves, it can take more than a decade to launch a new nuclear power plant. So the calendar dictates that now is the time to begin thinking about nuclear energy's future in the United States. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 provides billion of dollars of incentives to the nuclear power industry for new plants. Unless these plants are built, it is probable that nuclear power will not be a feature in this country's energy profile long-term. That would be a mistake. The Energy Department forecasts that electricity demand in the United States could roughly double by 2050. Though some experts believe improved efficiency in the use of electricity could rule out the need for additional power plants, demand also could rise more than projected by the DOE if the nation succeeds in shifting private transportation to the electrical network though plug-in hybrid vehicles in order to reduce dependence on foreign oil. Meanwhile, the recent Supreme Court decision taking the Bush administration to task for failing to impose limits on greenhouse gases under existing clean air legislation should serve as another incentive. The administration supports greater use of nuclear power. There are still major waste disposal questions for the industry, created largely by opponents to the Yucca Mountain waste disposal site. Moreover, there are security concerns related to nuclear sites as targets for terrorists. And there are the lingering fears as a result of the reactor accident at Three Miles Island, near Harrisburg, Pa., in 1977. But the need for energy independence and lower greenhouse gases provides new arguments for an expansion of nuclear power. Preserving the nuclear option as an alternative to coal is a prudent decision in spite of the still formidable security and waste disposal questions associated with the industry. Copyright © 1997 - 2007 the Evening Post Publishing Co. ***************************************************************** 18 Hemscott: Finnish nuclear reactor shut down after small fire HELSINKI (Thomson Financial) - A Finnish nuclear reactor has been shut down following a small fire this morning, the plant's operator Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) has said. TVO said the fire was discovered on a turbine bearing at the Olkiluoto 2 reactor, and extinguished by staff. 'The incident did not have any radiation or environmental impacts,' it said. The company added that the unit would be reconnected to the national grid once it has established the cause of the fire. The plant is situated near Rauma, on Finland's south-west coast, and is on the same site on which Areva and Siemens AG are building Finland's fifth nuclear reactor. james.etheridge@thomson.com je/ejb Copyright AFX News Limited 2007. All rights reserved. The copying, ***************************************************************** 19 Cumberland Times: Wind, efficiency better investments than nuclear energy Published: June 07, 2007 10:26 am Perhaps you've seen the ads on TV - a smiling woman with blue skies and a green meadow in the background extolling the benefits of nuclear power. Vice President Cheney says nuclear power "is a very important part of our energy policy today in the U.S. ... America's electricity is already being provided through the nuclear industry efficiently, safely, and with no discharge of greenhouse gases or emissions." If only this rosy picture were true. The scientific facts say nuclear power is dirty, dangerous and extremely expensive. Nuclear power is, simply put, a complex, expensive and dangerous process for boiling water for a steam turbine. Producing the nuclear fuel requires burning vast amounts of fossil fuel to mine uranium, ship it and process it. The enrichment facility at Paducah, Ky., uses two dirty coal-fired plants to produce energy, releasing significant C02 into the atmosphere. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the plant also leaks CFC 144 gas, a powerful greenhouse gas that destroys the ozone. Somehow the industry or its apologists never mention this vast greenhouse-gas-producing infrastructure that supports nuclear power. Water used to cool reactors becomes contaminated with such things as tritium (radioactive life 200 years) and carbon 14 (radioactive life 114,600 years). Instead of insuring that these radioactive isotopes don't enter the environment, the contaminated water is routinely dumped into water we drink. The nuclear power industry also releases enormous amounts of radioactive gases into the atmosphere. Nuclear waste is a major problem. America has approximately 40,000 metric tons of spent radioactive fuel, adding 2,000 metric tons each year. We have over 750,000 tons of depleted uranium - U-238, which is left over after the U-235 is removed -that must, by law, be kept out of the environment. (Depleted uranium is used in tank shells and other munitions fired in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other recent wars, raising the question of how it can be safe for weapons use when U.S. law requires it to be kept out of the environment.) Helen Caldicott points out that for the nuclear industry to actually help reduce greenhouse gases, three things would have to happen. First, the 441 working nuclear power plants worldwide would need to be replaced by new plants. Second, nuclear power would need to provide half of all electricity growth. Third, nuclear power plants would need to replace half the world's coal fired plants. As Caldicott has written, "This would mean the construction over the next fifty years of some 2,000 to 3,000 nuclear reactors of 1,000 megawatt size - one per week for fifty years!" Hardly a possibility. The expense of nuclear power ain't cheap. Between 1948 and 1998, the government subsidized the industry with $70 billion. The 2005 Energy Bill gives nuclear power $13 billion. The Price-Anderson Act even protects the industry from liability in a major accident. (David Lochbaum, Union of Concerned Scientists, says of a nuclear catastrophe, "It's not if but when.") In one of those wonderful ironies that abound in our current society, Paul Rauber writes, "A dollar spent on energy efficiency would save seven times more carbon dioxide than a dollar spent on nuclear power." Yet over the years, the federal government has spent approximately four times the amount of money on nuclear power as energy efficiency. Caldicott points out that wind power in a few rural counties in the Dakotas could generate twice the nuclear electricity currently used in the U.S. In fact, she says, "For the same amount of investment, wind power creates five times as many jobs and generates 2.3 times as much electricity as nuclear power." That our government supports nuclear power is a testament to the power of the well-heeled lobbyists who have bought off our supposed representatives in Congress. I certainly don't see Sens. Byrd or Rockefeller or Congressman Mollohan standing up for a sane energy policy by discarding this dirty, dangerous, and expensive form of energy. How sad, since we have only a few years to reduce global greenhouse gases enough to save the planet from an environmental catastrophe. No doubt the nuclear power industry will take comfort in all they did for the world as the Earth shucks us off. Craig Etchison Center for Nonviolent Alternatives Fort Ashby, W.VA. 2007, The Cumberland Times-News 19 Baltimore Street, Cumberland, MD 21502 Phone: 301.722.4600 Send us your feedback Associated Press content 2007. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 20 Vladivostok News: Nuclear station to anchor near Russky Island Business Vladivostok News Online :: vn.vladnews.ru June 07, 2007 vn.vladnews.ru / Issue #572 / Business / Reading article... Combined reports A floating nuclear power station may appear by the year 2011 near Vladivostok’s Russky Island, the proposed venue of the 2012 APEC summit, a press statement from Russia’s state-owned nuclear power generator Rosenergoatom reported Monday. The final decision concerning the project will be made by Rosenergoatom, the Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency, this autumn, the Regnum.ru news agency said. If approved, the project will become the second of its kind in the country, with the first floating nuclear plant in to be built by May 2010 in Severodvinsk, in northern Russia. Currently, Rosenergoatom is conducting a feasibility study of the projects. According to The Vladivostok newspaper, 12 foreign countries have shown an interest in the projects. According to Rosenergoatom’s Vice-Director Sergei Krysov, the lifespan of the floating stations varies from to 38 to 40 years. The new nuclear stations proposed by Rosenergoatom are essentially self-contained ship-based nuclear power plants. The stations are to be mass-produced at ship-building facilities and then towed to their destinations in coastal waters near cities, towns or industrial enterprises. Each vessel can provide up to 70MW of electrical or 300MW of heat energy. The plant can also be used for water desalination, producing 240,000 cubic meters of fresh water daily. Atomic experts claim that the reactor to be used in the floating nuclear power stations will be ecologically safe, with 8 cubic meters of liquid and 2.5 cubic meters of solid radioactive waste released annually. Copyright 2007 Vladivostok Novosti, Ltd. All rights reserved. 13 Narodny Prospect Vladivostok, 690014 Russia Phone: 7 (4232) 415-590, Fax: 7 (4232) 415-615 Published by Vladivostok Novosti, Ltd. ***************************************************************** 21 Orlando Sentinel: Will Florida be a nuclear powerhouse? - Industry officials anticipate a surge in applications here and in 2 other states. Kevin Spear | Sentinel Staff Writer Posted June 7, 2007 Nuclear power's comeback from national disfavor likely will start with construction of plants in Florida and two other states in the coming decade, the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Wednesday at a conference in Orlando. Dr. Dale Klein said his agency is bracing for a surge of license applications late this year and in early 2008. He predicted Florida, Virginia and South Carolina would lead in efforts to plug nearly three dozen proposed plants into the nation's electric grid. It's "nice we can say 'nuclear' in public again," Klein told a small gathering of industry leaders at the General Electric Co. Nuclear Innovations conference at the Portofino Bay Hotel. Renewed interest in splitting atoms to generate electricity has soared in recent years. Advocates for reviving nuclear energy say the next generation of plants will have standard designs with safer systems and discharge virtually no global-warming carbon dioxide compared with plants that burn oil, natural gas and coal. Those fuels generate 84 percent of Florida's electricity. Meeting electricity demand in Florida is particularly challenging because of its isolation from the rest of the continent. The state is mostly on its own for keeping lights on, having little connection to power generated in other states. For now, Progress Energy Florida, which proposes to build two reactors in rural Levy County, regularly points out that it has not made a final decision on whether to proceed with a multibillion-dollar investment. The company expects to apply for a license next year and possibly start construction in 2010 to have at least one reactor running nine years from now. FPL also has announced interest in building a new plant in South Florida. In a surprise development earlier this week, the Florida Public Service Commission unanimously denied Florida Power & Light's request to build a pair of massive coal-burning generators in South Florida. The proposed plant drew controversy for being too near the Everglades and as a new source of carbon-dioxide pollution at a time when the nation is searching for solutions to global warming. But the decision left experts baffled as to what comes next. Florida leaders have set few far-reaching priorities among energy options that include conservation, coal, natural gas, solar, wind, ocean currents and ethanol. The state now gets 14 percent of its electricity from five nuclear reactors in the state. "Florida desperately needs a real energy plan," said Tommy Boroughs, an Orlando attorney who is chairman of the Florida Energy Commission. The panel will provide the Legislature with recommendations for power choices. Whether Florida or the nation embraces nuclear power for future energy demand remains to be seen. Stephen Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance For Clean Energy, said there is lots of unique risk. "I think some nuclear plants are going to get through the gate because there's a lot of momentum," Smith said. "But in the post-9-11 world of terrorism, holding out nuclear power as a solution to global warming is naive." Nationally, interest in nuclear energy collapsed after meltdowns at Three Mile Island, Pa., in 1979 and Chernobyl, Russia, in 1986. But parts of Europe and Asia continued to build plants. John Ritch, director general of the World Nuclear Association in London, told conference participants the drawbacks of nuclear energy are dwarfed when compared with the ongoing damage from coal-burning plants using the atmosphere as a "carbon dump site." To solve global warming and meet the needs of a growing population will require a "twenty-fold" increase of the 440 nuclear plants that now provide one-sixth of the world's electricity, Ritch said. Yet Klein of the NRC and representatives of major utilities outlined several obstacles that must be addressed to ensure a resurgence in nuclear power. They pointed to the ongoing failure of the industry and nation to open a storage site for spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste that is piling up at the campuses of nuclear plants. Efforts to open the proposed Yucca Mountain facility in Nevada, a site studied for nearly 20 years, has been stymied by politics and arguments over science. Tom O'Neill, a vice president at Exelon Nuclear, said his company is looking for certainty in regulations, solid public support and favorable financial support. "Certainly we in Exelon are confident these can and will be resolved," O'Neill said. Kevin Spear can be reached at kspear@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5062. Copyright 2007, Orlando Sentinel | © 2007 Orlando Sentinel Communications ***************************************************************** 22 NewsRoom Finland: Estonian Energy keen on Finnish nuclear projects -BNS 7.6.2007 at 11:25 Sandor Liive, the chairman of Estonian Energy, was quoted as saying by the Baltic News Service (BNS) on Wednesday that the utility was interested in participating in possible Finnish nuclear power station projects. "We are interested in participating in nuclear energy projects. In addition to the ongoing project in Lithuania we are seriously interested in nuclear energy projects in Finland as well," Mr Liive told the news agency. Mr Liive added that Finland had splendid experience in the development of modern nuclear power projects and the issue of nuclear waste was very well solved. An Estonian-Latvian-Lithuanian project to build a nuclear power station in Lithuania is threatened by differences over the sizes of the holdings. Finnish utilities Fortum and Teollisuuden Voima have both launched environmental impact assessment processes on what would be the country's sixth nuclear power station. On Wednesday, Swedish miner and smelter Boliden, German utility E.ON, Finnish regional utility Kattern, Finnish steelmaker Outokumpu and Finland's Rauman Energia said they would form a joint venture called Fennovoima to build a nuclear power station in Finland. /STT/ Copyright STT 2007 1995 2005, Virtual Finland Produced by: Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland Department for Communication and Culture/Unit for Promotion and Publications ***************************************************************** 23 Whitehaven News: Hot pebbles on beach puzzle N-plant experts Published on 07/06/2007 EXPERTS at Sellafield are puzzled by the discovery of pebbles on local beaches that have absorbed radioactivity. The handful of cases of ‘hot pebbles’ came to light after a new eight-wheeled scanning and monitoring machine made extensive checks across beaches at Sellafield, Seascale and St Bees. The meeting of the environmental sub committee of the West Cumbria sites stakeholder group heard of the discovery from Tim Parker, BNG’s environmental monitoring manager. The meeting was told the radioactive traces found on the beaches posed an even lower risk than the risk of being struck by lightening. Mr Parker said the estimated risk to beach users from the minute traces of radioactivity would be one in 100 million compared with the risk of being struck by lightening which were one in 10 million. Mr Parker said that a new ‘groundhog’ monitoring machine was being used to monitor beaches. He said over 100 hectares were being checked and there had been nine finds near Sellafield, three at Braystones, one at St Bees and 22 at the mouth of the River Ehen. He said that 14 of the finds were pebbles that had somehow absorbed radioactive caesium. This had puzzled the experts and he said: “We need to do more work on the pebbles.” At the meeting Matthew Emptage, representing the Environment Agency, said that last month they had served an enforcement notice on BNG to use best practice in ensuring solid particles were excluded from the liquid effluent discharges from Sellafield into the sea. Since the notorious 1983 beach ban incident the Environment Agency has required beach monitoring. This has been by hand held scanners and had only found a handful of radioactive particles. Chairman of the committee Professor John Haywood heard that most of the small particles were thought to be from Sellafield operations in past decades. View this story and the latest newspaper in full digital reproduction, just like the printed copy at www.whitehaven-news.co.uk/digitalcopy ***************************************************************** 24 Charlotte Observer: Guards always on high alert 06/07/2007 | Inside Duke's McGuire nuclear plant, an armed guard was never far from visitors recently touring one of two storage pools that hold nuclear waste inside metal casings. Visitors enter wearing street clothes covered with yellow tape, used to seal pockets and hold down sunglasses and other items that might fall into the spent fuel pools. The pools also are used to transfer fresh fuel into the reactor. About every 18 months, uranium pellets inside the rods are injected into the reactors under the safety of the 23 feet of water, treated with boron to prevent unwanted nuclear reactions. The depth of the water keeps the radiation trapped. With storage racks like cells in a beehive, the pools are guarded like inmates in maximum-security prisons. Items brought in by visitors, such as pens and notepads, are logged in and accounted for later. Badges worn around the neck record radiation exposure. And a record for each worker and visitor is kept. Personal items, such as shoes, are scanned for exposure at various checkpoints. At most entrances, a guard with a firearm stands at the ready, watching the reactors, the pool and the nuclear waste. Christopher D. Kirkpatrick ***************************************************************** 25 Ventura County Star: Dirty, dangerous job for workers Volatile chemicals, fires, explosions all a constant threat By Scott Hadly (Contact) Monday, June 4, 2007 The Halaco Files Visit our Halaco Web site for more information including videos that cover the history, cleanup and the reactions of those who live near and worked at Halaco; an interactive graphic that details site hot spots; an interactive timeline; an interactive graphic showing the dangerous elements found at the site and their possible effects on the body; documents from inspections, complaints, legal actions and more; a slide show of past and present images; an archive of Halaco-related stories; and links to numerous resources. DAY 1 * Halaco: What went wrong? * Costly cleanup process has many steps * Halaco's history * About this series DAY 2 * Future of Halaco's mountainous mess is unceretain * Dirty, dangerous job for workers Jason Redmond / Star staff "They wouldn't do anything until someone complained about it," says Gary Howe, left of the owners. He and his brother Bob both worked at Halaco in the late 1990s. Both are now on disability for job related injuries. Most of the people who worked at the now bankrupt Halaco Engineering company say they knew how it was all going to end. They weren't surprised by the bankruptcy in 2002 or when the company simply stopped its operations two years after that and its owners picked up stakes and moved to Tennessee to start a new business. They didn't even raise an eyebrow when the Environmental Protection Agency stepped in earlier this year saying the site might qualify for a Superfund hazardous waste cleanup. "No, I wasn't surprised by none of that," said Bob Howe, 51, who worked in various capacities at the plant for about four years. "There was constant talk of the EPA and CoastWatchers and whatever other environmental groups, plus they had a lot of government agencies watching 'em. I always figured they'd eventually cut their losses." But like a lot of employees, Howe was less worried about being exposed to pollution at work than getting injured on the job. The place was a workers' compensation nightmare. California Division of Occupational and Safety and Health cited the company at least six times since 1990. Process was labor-intensive The company recycled millions of pounds of aluminium, magnesium, and for a short time, zinc. The process was labor-intensive, involving heavy lifting, sorting and working with fire as well as harsh and volatile chemicals. One employee talked about the mysterious loads Halaco would receive. Workers were never sure what they would be getting for the recycling efforts. Sometimes they'd open a barrel and it would flare up or catch fire when it hit the water in the plant's big silo-sized tumblers. One former employee said one of the managers cruised the facility with a Geiger counter checking loads for radiation. At one point this employee was asked by a manager to "get rid of some rocks that came off the pile," the man said. His boss told him he didn't want to know what he'd done with it, said the man who asked that his name not be used because he feared being prosecuted for illegal dumping. According to the EPA, crews found material similar to what he'd described buried in a berm at the edge of the property. Several other employees mentioned the death of a worker in the mid-1980s after a superheated ingot pot exploded. But Cal/OSHA, which did not have records before 1990 archived, could not find any reference to the incident. There were volatile chemicals, and the fire and explosions were a constant threat. Magnesium is highly flammable, particularly when it's in a powder form. When it's molten, or starts to burn, it will explode if it touches water. When it rained, there was a constant threat of fire, because Halaco's buildings leaked. There were at least two magnesium fires that Howe remembered while working at the facility. "It was just a really dangerous place to work," said Howe, who is now on disability for neck injuries he sustained on the job. He'd been driving a forklift loaded with thousands of pounds of magnesium ingots when the front forks broke, throwing the lift into the air and driving him into the ceiling. Howe's 55-year-old brother, Gary, who also worked at the plant, also was injured. The company wasn't interested in modernizing or improving its process, Gary Howe said. "They wouldn't do anything until someone complained about it," he said. "I wasn't so much concerned about what they were doing until whatever they were burning would come out of the stack and you'd see flakes covering you. I would get concerned then." At least a half-dozen former Halaco workers who agreed to be interviewed echoed those concerns. But to a man and they were all men the former employees said it may have been a dirty and dangerous job, but it was a good one. Some of the former workers blamed bureaucrats and environmentalists for closing the plant down and putting them out of work. Brian Trembly blamed Santa Barbara Channelkeeper, an environmental watchdog, for the company being shut down. "In all these years of working there, I never saw anyone getting sick from the slag pile," said Trembly, who's now working at a hardware store in Oxnard. "Is it hazardous? I'm 57. I was there almost 20 years, and I'm fine." At its busiest, the company employed more than 100 people and operated three shifts a day, seven days a week. A family-owned business, the company had employees who stayed for decades. The company's founder, Clarence Haack, 92, said he's been around the material all his life and is perfectly healthy. He expects to live to 100. Other former workers said the owner gamed the system and failed to invest money into the company to meet pollution standards. "They operated just above the line, just above the law," said Jerry Moore, who worked 26 years at the plant, leaving as a foundry foreman. Now 58 years old and on disability for diabetes and liver problems, Moore said he liked working at Halaco but never had any illusions about what was going on there. Also, like all the former employees who spoke with The Star, he doesn't blame his current health problems on the company. Halaco's air pollution control equipment was meant for handling aluminum, not magnesium, Moore said. Kept its lighting low at night Company managers also were conscious of how not to get caught, burning the worse stuff at night when people were asleep and the smoke wasn't visible, Moore said. Halaco even kept its lighting low at night to make it harder to detect the smoke, and the employees relied more on the fires from the furnaces to illuminate the plant. After dark the fires cast an eerie red glow on the metal scaffolding and the surrounding waste pile. According to employees, the company owners were untroubled by the idea that people might be breathing the smoke coming from the plant as they slept. "They (the owners) weren't there for the people," he said. But they painted themselves otherwise. In one of the heated standoffs Halaco had with government regulators, the company sent a busload of its employees to a California Coastal Commission meeting in San Luis Obispo in the early 1980s. Art Fine, the company's attorney and son of its co-founder, the late Les Fine, often argued Halaco was an "affirmative action employer," that it brought $13.5 million into the community in salaries and goods and services, and that it helped the environment by recycling up to a billion aluminum cans a year. Here were these men who would lose their jobs if regulators cracked down. But many of Halaco's former workers remembered feeling like the company considered them expendable. Moore felt like they hired guys who were not the kind to complain and most knew what they were getting into when they took the job, he said. "I didn't care," Moore said. "When you go into a job like that, you've got to know that it's not good for you unless you're an idiot." 2007 Ventura County Star ***************************************************************** 26 Sandusky Register: Tablets for radiation protection still viable By JACOB LAMMERS | Thursday June 07 2007, 6:47am PORT CLINTON Residents living within range of a nuclear power plant have been told tablets to protect against radiation damage are still viable. The Ohio Health Department and Ottawa County Health Department advised residents to keep the potassium iodide (KI) tablets that were distributed throughout Ottawa County five years ago. The expiration on the packaging is May 31, 2007. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration extended the expiration date of tablets to May 2009. This a LAUGH wrote on Jun 7, 2007 8:06 AM: " .. If they didn't tell the public about the 6 inch hole in the Nuclear vessel, what makes you believe they will give you enough notice to take your iodine PILL? Very Funny " All content Copyright © Sandusky Register. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 27 Guardian Unlimited: 3 Exposed to Plutonium at Nevada Site From the Associated Press Thursday June 7, 2007 5:31 AM LAS VEGAS (AP) - Authorities are investigating how three workers were exposed to radioactive plutonium during environmental restoration work at the Nevada Test Site, the National Nuclear Security Administration said. Two female workers for the test site's main contractor, National Securities Technologies, received the highest of what NNSA spokesman Kevin Rohrer characterized as ``minor radiation exposure'' on April 30. A man received less exposure, Rohrer said. The three were among eight workers in the area, including a health physicist and technicians. All were wearing protective gear, including respirators. ``The exposures are relatively low, but they're high enough that it concerns us,'' he said. The workers remained on the job, but the women were not allowed into radiation areas, Rohrer said. For privacy reasons, the names of the eight workers were not released. A spokeswoman for the contractor, Gillian Silver, said the company was conducting an internal investigation and that the company doesn't have any reason ``to believe there were any security or safety considerations here.'' Guardian Unlimited Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 ***************************************************************** 28 ITAR-TASS: Norway PM praises radiation safety cooperation with Russia 07.06.2007, 15.14 MURMANSK, June 7 (Itar-Tass) - Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said present-day Russia is a more democratic country than it was throughout its history, and this allows a more fruitful cooperation with it, including in securing radiation safety of nuclear facilities on the Kola Peninsula. Stoltenberg arrived in Murmansk on Wednesday within the framework of his official visit to Russia. He attended on Thursday a ceremony of turning over to Murmansk emergency department of Norwegian-made equipment for the liquidation of sea oil spills. Stoltenberg said Norway had very close cooperation with Russian authorities in securing radiation safety on the Kola Peninsula, including at spent nuclear fuel storage in Andreyev Bay. Safety of the storage has appreciably increased as a result of ten-year joint work, he said. The Murmansk regions governor Yuri Yevdokomov said the international cooperation at the ecologically hazardous facility was effective. The implementation of joint plans provided possibilities for moving nuclear fuel from the Andreyev Bay for recycling in the nearest years. The first container with spent nuclear fuel will be moved in 2010, he promised. Stoltenberg will travel from Murmansk to Moscow. He will finish his visit in St. Petervurg, where he will attend an international economic forum. ITAR-TASS. All rights reserved. You undertake not to copy, store ***************************************************************** 29 MySA.com: Former Kelly worker is wondering if base contaminants caused cancer Metro | State Roddy Stinson: Web Posted: 06/06/2007 10:55 PM CDT Express-News On the Sleuthing Trail ... CASE: The other day I received a call from a 58-year-old San Antonio man who worked at Kelly AFB from 1983 to 1999. He said he recently had a cancerous kidney removed, and he wondered what I could tell him about Kelly workers' exposure to carcinogens that cause kidney cancer. Most of my Kelly-contamination research and the columns that reported my findings are 6 to 10 years old, and I told the cancer victim that I couldn't recall any specifics about kidney cancer. The problem proved to be my memory, not a lack of published information. A search of the Express-News archives turned up a dozen columns in which Kelly contaminants and potential kidney problems were discussed. INVESTIGATION: The first reference to Kelly contaminants and kidney cancer appeared in a March 22, 1998, column in which I reported that extraordinarily high levels of two volatile organic compounds perchloroethylene (PCE) and trichloroethylene (TCE) had been found in groundwater near Kelly. For decades, TCE and PCE were used as degreasers at the base. "Studies in animals," I told readers, "show that ingesting or breathing TCE can produce nervous system changes, liver and kidney damage and tumors of the liver, kidney and lung." A month later, after further research, I reported that Air Force investigators had confirmed the presence of a pool of groundwater under the base that was "92 percent PCE ... a colorless liquid that can cause kidney and liver damage." Skip ahead to 2001, when I combed through a number of federal documents that included Kelly-related environmental/health studies and reported to Express-News readers: For nearly 30 years, Building 301 was the Air Force's largest facility for plating airplane parts. The process involved the use of large amounts of cadmium, a metallic chemical that a Labor Department Substance Safety Data Sheet singled out as particularly hazardous: "Repeated or long-term exposure to cadmium, even at relatively low concentrations, may result in kidney damage." For a number of years, workers in buildings 365 and 375 removed, repaired and reinstalled radioactive aircraft components that contained depleted uranium (DU). While opinions differ about whether DU is hazardous to health, the U.S. Depleted Uranium Management Program takes this position: "DU can cause health risks because uranium is radioactive and therefore can increase the likelihood of cancer in people who are exposed to it. "If you breathe in uranium, it can get into your bloodstream, and it can have toxic effects on your body organs, mainly your kidneys." Research conducted by federal investigators between 1999 and 2001 turned up "a statistically significant excess of cases of kidney cancer in females who reside in ZIP code 78211," which is adjacent to Kelly's highly contaminated southeast corner. A brief and somewhat cryptic reference in one federal report mentioned that in 1986, Kelly groundwater contained high levels of dichloroethane, dichlorobenzene and chlorobenzene, which have been shown to cause kidney damage. (Dichlorobenzene has produced kidney tumors in animal studies.) Finally ... Last fall, in a summary of Kelly findings, federal researchers noted: 1. During 1990-1994, liver, kidney and lung cancer incidence rates in neighborhoods around Kelly were higher than incidence rates found in demographically similar neighborhoods in Texas. 2. Those cancers "could have been the result of past exposures" to Kelly contaminants. It seems reasonable to conclude that the same might be said about the cancers of longtime Kelly workers. To contact Roddy Stinson, call 250-3155 or e-mail rstinson@express-news.net. About Us: MySanAntonio.com | Express-News | KENS 5 Portions 2007 KENS 5 and the San Antonio Express-News. ***************************************************************** 30 Whitehaven News: New studies show radiation doses increase workers’ risk of cancer Published on 07/06/2007 NEW STUDIES by experts in 15 different countries have confirmed that workers suffering radiation doses do have an increased risk of developing cancers. Prof Steve Jones, from Westlakes research institute was one of the speakers at the West Cumbria Site Stakeholders meeting in Cleator Moor. He said that the original calculations on the levels of cancer risk associated with radiation doses had been derived from the effects on the survivors of Hiroshima. Last week professor Jones said that the study in 15 countries had been published in the British Medical Journal. He said the data showed the Hiroshima derived safety rates were largely confirmed by the newer study. In the BMJ study he said: “All showed a positive, but not significant gradient of risk.” He added: “It detected a significant link between radiation exposure and cancer rates.” He said the studies implied no need to change the existing safety dose limits. The meeting heard that the International ICRP recommendations on radiation protection would be published “quite soon.” Chairman of the stakeholder meeting, Professor John Haywood commented: “When evidence emerges, the ICRP revises its recommendations, then Euratom considers. We eventually get a new directive and after national governments give their final decisions it can be ten years later.” *Meanwhile Copeland planning panel heard last week that it was no longer the principal authority for deciding new planning applications for Sellafield. The issue arose after BNG asked for planning consent for an extension to the dry pack plant that deals with intermediate level nuclear waste. Copeland planning panel was only asked for their comments, the final decision being made by Cumbria County Council. The new plant will deal with the dangerous sludge left from magnox storage ponds. The meeting heard that the plant would generate an increase in aerial discharges of radioactivity, but “the increase will be within the total aerial radiological limits for the Sellafield site authorisation.” Head of planning, Tony Pomfret, explained that Copeland had taken legal advice and the opinion was that now the NDA ran Sellafield and the site fell within the definition of waste handling then “It was clearly right that waste is the county council’s remit.” Hence Copeland can only pass comments on application. They raised no concerns about the latest planning application. View this story and the latest newspaper in full digital reproduction, just like the printed copy at www.whitehaven-news.co.uk/digitalcopy ***************************************************************** 31 Whitehaven News: Body parts probe: ‘Dad’s funeral halted while mourners waited’ Published on 07/06/2007 The letter from Tim Knowles, then BNFL works secretary By Karl Connor A SHOCKING new case study has come to light in the Sellafield body parts inquiry. Des Grears says the plant was responsible for halting his father’s funeral so that they had more time to study removed organs. Mr Grears’s father, Gerard, died in 1984 at the age of 56. Mr Grears said: “There were loads of people in the church and we were all waiting for the hearse, but it just never came. The flowers arrived and everyone waited, but then it was all postponed. The funeral director at the time said that it was because BNFL had stopped the hospital from releasing the body, because they were removing organs. “We were told that a second post mortem had been carried out at the request of the family – that simply isn’t true, nobody requested that. “My dad lived with a new wife then – I was grown up – and she dealt with the funeral director at the time but she didn’t request a second autopsy and neither did any of his kids.” Documents relating to Mr Grears’ family’s claim against the plant are just some of a large number being held by Cumbrian’s Opposed to a Radioactive Environment (Core). Contained within the file is a letter from then BNFL works secretary, Tim Knowles, saying: “It is my understanding that the request for a further post-mortem examination... came from a family representative to the coroner’s office and it was only as a matter of courtesy that the coroner informed our company chief medical officer. The company had no role whatever in delaying the funeral.” He also offered to pay for the wasted funeral tea caused by the delayed burial. There are also solicitors’ letters sent shortly after Mr Grears’ death advising his family that they could only make a claim against Sellafield if they can prove that body parts were taken and that proving so might be difficult. However a letter sent in 1989 by current West Cumbria coroner John Taylor, who was deputy coroner at the time, confirms that the liver, lung, sternum and prostate gland were taken for testing. The letter says tests were carried out at the coroner’s request and that Sellafield is “the only establishment in this area” which was able to do so. Mr Grears died of prostrate cancer aged 56. He had worked at the plant for a number of years for various contractors, but for his last three years as a steel erector for BNFL. BNFL claimed at the time that there was no link between his cancer and him working at at the plant. Mr Grears junior, who now lives in Bradford, said: “When my dad died they seem to have got out of paying any compensation because they said that his cancer wasn’t linked to Sellafield. But if that was the case why did they need to remove so many of his organs? “There was clearly no consent given by the family – you can see that from reading the paperwork – so what gave them the right to do that?” The paperwork states that Mr Grears, who was a keen rugby player and who kept hound dogs, died on a Sunday and that his stepdaughter called Sellafield to inform them of his death on the Tuesday, the day his post mortem took place. He had been due to be buried on the Wednesday. A letter from his wife, Mary Anne Grears, states that she was told that there would be one post mortem and that it would take place on the Tuesday morning. She says that no permission to remove anything was ever sought from her as next of kin or any other family member. Advice from barrister, Matthias Kelly, sent to solicitor Martyn Day in 1987, stated: “Dr Schofield (BNFL medical officer) had been to the hospital to remove internal organs. They were not authorised to interfere with the body in any way. “This seems a remarkable course of action for BNFL to adopt.” Now Mr Grears junior wants more answers. “It seems like there has been one almighty great cover-up here, and it goes wider then my dad’s case. I hope that the inquiry will be able to establish what went on, but I suspect that there are things that we will never know.” View this story and the latest newspaper in full digital reproduction, just like the printed copy at www.whitehaven-news.co.uk/digitalcopy nw evening mail | cumberland news | times and star | news and star ***************************************************************** 32 Deseret news: EnergySolutions to acquire Brit firm Thursday, June 7, 2007 By Rebecca Palmer Deseret Morning News EnergySolutions said Wednesday that it has reached an agreement to acquire a British company that holds contracts to operate and decommission 10 nuclear sites with 22 reactors in the United Kingdom. Utah-based EnergySolutions will acquire Reactor Sites Management Co. Ltd. from British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL), the holding company for British Nuclear Group and Nexia Solutions, according to EnergySolutions officials. EnergySolutions declined to disclose the financial terms of the deal. Reactor Sites Management, through its subsidiary Magnox Electric Ltd., holds the contracts and licenses to operate and decommission the nuclear sites and reactors on behalf of the British government's Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, which is responsible for the cleanup of the sites. No nuclear waste will be transported to Utah because of the acquisition, said EnergySolutions spokesman Mark Walker. The agreement will have no impact on Clive Operations, a nuclear-waste facility 80 miles west of Salt Lake City, he added. EnergySolutions International Group President Philip Strawbridge said in a phone interview that some EnergySolutions workers from the United States will help with technology in the United Kingdom, but none will be from Utah. The acquisition came after a competitive process, and EnergySolutions prevailed in part because of its demonstrated ability to "safely manage and operate large nuclear facilities," according to an EnergySolutions news release. EnergySolutions, formerly Envirocare, will gain 3,500 employees through the acquisition. EnergySolutions chief executive officer Steve Creamer lauded the deal and said it will greatly expand EnergySolutions' influence in the United Kingdom. Strawbridge said that before the acquisition, the company had a variety of small operations in the United Kingdom. The company was responsible for nuclear source removal in places such as schools and hospitals. EnergySolutions also has operations in Mexico and Canada that include the design of nuclear-waste cannisters, Strawbridge said. E-mail: rpalmer@desnews.com 2007 Deseret News Publishing Company ***************************************************************** 33 Houston Chronicle: NM: Lawmaker's Trip to Uranium Plant OKd | Chron.com - June 7, 2007, 3:33PM By BARRY MASSEY Associated Press Writer SANTA FE — A new state law limiting gifts from lobbyists will allow legislators to accept an expense-paid trip to the Netherlands to tour a uranium enrichment plant similar to one planned in New Mexico. Attorney General Gary King released an advisory letter Wednesday that said the trip was permissible under terms of the law, which takes effect next week, as long as only "reasonable expenses" were paid for the lawmakers. Two legislators from southeastern New Mexico, William Gray of Artesia and Shirley Tyler of Lovington, had asked King's advice on the trip offered by Louisiana Energy Services. The company is seeking to build an enrichment plant near Eunice to make fuel for commercial nuclear power plants. Currently there is no limit on gifts to most public officials or state employees. LES has organized similar trips to Almelo, Netherlands for several years, inviting legislators as well as members of Gov. Bill Richardson's staff. The plant in the Netherlands is owned by Urenco, a European company that is part of LES, a consortium proposing the facility in New Mexico. The new law will limit the value of individual gifts to $250 from lobbyists as well as individuals and companies with some matter _ such as a sale, lease or licensing decision _ before a state agency or board. The gift restrictions covers items including food, transportation, lodging and tickets to sporting events or entertainment. The law also will impose a $1,000 yearly cap on the combined value of gifts that can be given to an individual government official from certain donors: a lobbyist or their employer and government contractors. However, the law has several exceptions and one of those allows government officials and state employees to accept an expense-paid trip if it was for a "bona fide educational program" directly related to their official duties. King said the legislators' trip was covered by that provision. "The statutory exception should not be read to give carte blanche to all expenses and for all trips that have only an incidental educational component to them," King cautioned. He said the law's limitations on expenses "should be interpreted to permit: (a) coach class travel; (b) reasonably priced hotel expenses; (c) reasonably priced meals; (d) attendance at a bona fide educational visit or program; (e) a site or program that is directly related to the officer or employee's official duties; (g) meetings for a limited number of days directly related to the educational purposes of the trip; and (h) a return to New Mexico." King said the $250 limit would apply to gifts not directly related to a conference or trip, such as tickets to a concert the night after the event or golf greens fees the next day. If such gifts are worth more than $250, King advised, state officials or legislators should not accept them or should pay the expense with their own money. King and several of his legal staff conducted a briefing on the gift law Wednesday for lawmakers, lobbyists and others. Legislators peppered him with questions how the law would apply to certain events, such as dinners and receptions hosted by lobbyists during legislative sessions. ***************************************************************** 34 SanLuisObispo.com: EPA finds 'hotter' radioactive waste at old Oxnard recycling site 06/07/2007 | The Associated Press * http://venturacountystar.com OXNARD, Calif. -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found another "hot spot" of radioactive waste buried beneath a massive concrete pad at the old Halaco metals recycling plant on Ormond Beach. "We had a confidential informant, a former employee, come in and tell us that they'd buried things in this area," EPA onsite chief Rob Wise said Wednesday. The EPA, which is considering adding the 28-acre property to a list of Superfund cleanup sites, has been working to contain the waste pile so it doesn't pollute adjacent wetlands. The now-bankrupt Halaco firm built up about 710,000 cubic feet of waste during four decades of recycling mostly magnesium and aluminum at the site. It was the second major radioactive hot spot found outside Halaco's massive waste pile. In February, a portion of the wetlands was closed after radioactive waste was found along a nearby berm. The EPA removed about 5,000 cubic yards of material from the berm and buried it in the waste pile. The latest hot spot under the concrete pad is "hotter" than what was found in the wetlands or anything found in the waste pile so far and it easily exceeds 10,000 cubic yards of material, Wise said. Initial tests indicate the material includes thorium, which has been found along with heavy metals, arsenic, barium and beryllium in the waste pile. Information from: Ventura County Star, http://venturacountystar.com ***************************************************************** 35 VCS: EPA investigates informant's tip on Halaco plant - Port Hueneme Ventura County Star Former employee reveals area where material buried By Scott Hadly (Contact) Thursday, June 7, 2007 The Halaco Files Visit our Halaco Web site for more information including videos that cover the history, cleanup and the reactions of those who live near and worked at Halaco; an interactive graphic that details site hot spots; an interactive timeline; an interactive graphic showing the dangerous elements found at the site and their possible effects on the body; documents from inspections, complaints, legal actions and more; a slide show of past and present images; an archive of Halaco-related stories; and links to numerous resources. Radioactive material found at Halaco Video from site. Watch now >> Photos by Jason Redmond / Star staff Roger Shura of the Environmental Protection Agency, second from left, checks subsurface radioactive exposure rates as Nicole Testa, second from right, an EPA contractor, assists Wednesday at the former Halaco site in Oxnard. Robert Wise, EPA on-site coordinator, said the waste found Wednesday was "hotter" than that found earlier. Acting on a tip from a former employee, workers with the Environmental Protection Agency found radioactive waste buried under a football-field-size concrete pad at the old Halaco metals recycling plant in south Oxnard. "We had a confidential informant, a former employee, come in and tell us that they'd buried things in this area," said Rob Wise, the on-site administrator for the EPA's emergency response team. It's unclear whether the dumping violated any laws, and Wise would not comment on whether the find has triggered a criminal investigation. But according to both state and federal law, dumping of low-level radiation is considered a misdemeanor. The plant's former owners could not be reached for comment, and their attorney did not return repeated phone calls Wednesday. The EPA said the company's former general manager and an attorney representing the founder of the company, Clarence Haack, would be on site today. While the EPA considers including the Halaco property on a list of Superfund hazardous waste cleanup sites, Wise and his team have been working to ensure the massive pile of waste that covers almost 28 acres doesn't pollute the adjacent wetlands. The company, which is now in bankruptcy, built up about 710,000 cubic feet of waste during four decades of recycling mostly magnesium and aluminum at the site. A bankruptcy trustee is liquidating the company's assets, having sold the 28 acres to a company called Chickadee Remediation, which in turn sold it to Alpha Omega. Those two companies also assumed the lease for the remaining 11-acre site where the plant stands and where the recent buried waste was found. Radiation detected Along with the tip, EPA crews had detected radiation while scanning scrap metal piled in that area of the plant. Last week, crews broke up the concrete on the southwest side of the plant that borders the Oxnard Industrial Drain and Ormond Beach lagoon. Under the concrete, the crews detected spots where radiation spiked from two to 100 times background levels, said Roger Shura, a specialist with the EPA's Office of Radiation and Indoor Air Pollution. This is the second major radioactive hot spot that crews have found outside of Halaco's massive waste pile, which is laced with trace levels of radioactive isotopes. In February, a portion of the Ormond Beach wetlands was closed after radioactive waste was found along a nearby berm. Ultimately, the EPA removed about 5,000 cubic yards of material from the berm and buried it in the waste pile. The waste found under the concrete pad is "hotter" than what was found in the wetlands or anything found in the waste pile so far, Wise said. It's also easily exceeds 10,000 cubic yards of material. Initial tests indicate the material includes thorium, which has been found along with heavy metals, arsenic, barium and beryllium in the 28-acre waste pile next to the plant. While those levels are considered low, the material presents a possible inhalation hazard, Wise said. The material will likely have to be dug up and transported out of state to a facility that accepts radioactive waste, adding to the cost of the EPA's work this year, which now tops $5 million. Trespassers a concern While still considered low-level radiation, the inhalation of dust from the area could pose a public health hazard. According to EPA documentation, studies show that inhaling thorium dust can increase the risk of developing lung, pancreas and bone cancers. "To be honest, I'm more worried about illegal trespassing," Wise said. A contractor working with the EPA recently stopped two boys riding dirt bikes on the waste pile, which is covered with a massive blanket of jute. There is evidence of taggers breaking into the property and spray-painting graffiti. There's also evidence of homeless people making camp on the property, and two weeks ago, someone cut and stole copper pipe on a water line into the plant, Wise said. On Monday, an attorney with the EPA warned current owner Alpha Omega that it is liable to provide security for the property. The large foundry building, a metal "bag house" where smoke from the smelters went through filters, has been condemned by the city of Oxnard. The former owners and Alpha Omega have been warned that the buildings must come down by July 17. Comments Posted by sicnhappy on June 7, 2007 at 6:23 a.m. (Suggest removal) I remember as teen riding ATV out there. I am wondering who in right mind would buy those homes Hueneme is building right by there. Posted by Are_u_nuts on June 7, 2007 at 7:06 a.m. (Suggest removal) What a mess. Hang the s.o.b.'s Posted by Ventura22 on June 7, 2007 at 7:18 a.m. (Suggest removal) Sad case. Years of lies and excuses have led to this. There needs to be accountability of the former owners/operators. Posted by lmartinez on June 7, 2007 at 10:54 a.m. (This comment was removed by the site staff.) Posted by LABritGirl on June 7, 2007 at 10:55 a.m. (Suggest removal) That's why the owners filed bankruptcy - it's hard to get to them now. Unfortunately, many dumps from the 60's and 70's and later are coming to light now and the EPA gets to deal with it. Ultimately it's the tax payers who get stuck. With regards to who would live in the new buildings - you've only to look at the area around Marina Del Rey to see that alot of people will overlook a lot in order to buy a home. In the Marina Del Rey case it was the destruction of the wetlands and living with the constant threat of dangerous gases seeping into the homes - all the homes have detectors. Sad times .... Posted by SocietyDweller on June 7, 2007 at 10:55 a.m. (Suggest removal) This explains why the surf perch I have been catching out there glow in the dark. Posted by AnnaWhaat on June 7, 2007 at 2:37 p.m. (Suggest removal) Dello? What happened to our lunch plans????? Posted by lmartinez on June 7, 2007 at 3:38 p.m. (Suggest removal) A W , LOL! Wasn't that agreement under your former name? Besides you said "No Top Hat"...bummer! Dello 2007 Ventura County Star ***************************************************************** 36 Sun Chronicle: Too much stop, too little go at Shpack site Opinion Wednesday, June 6, 2007 8:01 PM EDT Promises, promises, promises. Norton has heard them. Now the community needs action, action, action to finally erase the festering heap known as Shpack landfill. We trust those "very few interruptions" mean days not years so the town in good faith can plan a celebration for September 2009, the anticipated deadline. This abomination has saddled Norton for far too long since its designation as a hazard. The landfill - notorious enough to merit extensive coverage on the Web site of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - covers 9.4 acres, most of which are within Norton, with a couple of acres in Attleboro. The landfill was operated from 1946 until the 1970s. It received domestic and industrial waste, including inorganic and organic chemicals, as well as radioactive waste. The area near the site includes a wooded swamp. Some 40,000 people live within a three-mile radius of the site. Municipal water supplies for both communities do not extend to the area around the site. Residents in this area use private drinking water wells, most of which withdraw water from the bedrock aquifer. The distance from Shpack landfill to the nearest residential well, reports the EPA, is about 150 feet. Shpack has a long, wearying history peppered with numerous public hearings. Excavation and contaminant removal began, then was halted by the Army Corps of Engineers last July when funding ran out, partially because officials had underestimated the amount of radiological material at the site. "I think this town needs reassurance and I think you can do it for us," said Heather Graff, head of the Citizens' Advisory Shpack Team said this week. "We expect that from now on. This is going to be ongoing." There will be hundreds of "sidewalk supervisors" - including this newspaper - riding herd on what must be the final wrap-up of this debacle. Copyright 2007 The Sun Chronicle, Attleboro-North Attleboro, MA. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 37 PRN: BNFL Announces Agreement to Sell the Reactor Sites Thursday 7 June 2007, 9:32 GMT British Nuclear Fuels plc (BNFL) LONDON, June 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Following the announcement on 21 December 2006 of the commencement of the sale process for the Reactor Sites Management Company Limited (RSMC), BNFL is delighted to announce that it has today reached agreement to sell the entire share capital of RSMC to EnergySolutions. The sale includes Magnox Electric Limited (MEL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of RSMC, which holds the contracts and licences to operate 10 nuclear reactor sites in the UK on behalf of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. RSMC currently employs 70 staff and has, through MEL, responsibility for a further 3,500 employees across the UK sites under its management. In commenting on the agreement reached with EnergySolutions, BNFL Group Chief Executive Michael Parker said: "We believe that this business and its people will have a strong future as part of an ambitious organisation capable of injecting complementary skills to further increase value for the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. Crucially a sale to EnergySolutions will also provide a good home and much broader career opportunities for our people and first rate value for our shareholder." Rothschild acted as financial adviser on this transaction. Legal advice has been provided by Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. Notes to Editors: 1. NDA's Magnox reactor sites are Dungeness A, Sizewell A, Bradwell, Berkeley, Hinkley Point A, Oldbury, Trawsfynydd, Wylfa, Chapelcross, Hunterston A. 2. Oldbury is scheduled to cease generation in 2008; Wylfa is scheduled to cease generation in 2010. 3. Ownership and financial responsibility for the 10 Magnox Reactor sites transferred to the NDA on 1 April 2005. 4. EnergySolutions is an international company, headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah USA. Distributed by PR Newswire on behalf of British Nuclear Fuels plc (BNFL) PR Newswire Europe Ltd. 209 - 215 Blackfriars Road, London, SE1 8NL Tel : +44 (0)20 7490 8111 Fax : +44 (0)20 7490 1255 E-mail : info@prnewswire.co.uk Copyright PR Newswire Europe Limited. All rights reserved. A United Business Media Company. Terms and conditions of use apply. ***************************************************************** 38 Whitehaven News: Lords draw up rules for N-dump approval Published on 07/06/2007 A HOUSE of Lords committee has criticised the government’s “unseemly haste” to push ahead with a UK nuclear dump. And the Lords said they did not favour making an area’s willingness to ‘volunteer’ to host such a dump the guiding factor in choosing a future site. Many West Cumbrian politicians have already indicated a willingness to ‘volunteer’ the area for a dump. The House of Lords science and technology committee said it had “serious concerns” about how the removal of waste will be overseen. Chairman Lord Broers attacked Whitehall plans for an advisory body instead of a statutory commission. He said people “don’t have enough confidence in politicians or the government” to trust them on the issue. The committee insisted the government should set up an independent group answerable to parliament to oversee the disposal of radioactive waste. And it attacked ministers for moving with “unseemly haste” towards selecting potential sites. The government accepted most of the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM) recommendations for phased deep repository of radioactive material in July 2006. But it rejected proposals for a statutory Nuclear Waste Management Commission with direct accountability to MPs to oversee the process and implement the programme. Instead it went for a “new CoRWM” with advisory powers. The peers’ report – entitled Radioactive Waste Management: An Update – said any oversight body needed “clearer lines of accountability and independent, expert scrutiny". The Lords committee insisted it was vital to begin by screening out areas which are inappropriate for deep repositories for geological reasons, before looking at socio-economic criteria and the willingness of communities to host them. View this story and the latest newspaper in full digital reproduction, just like the printed copy at www.whitehaven-news.co.uk/digitalcopy ***************************************************************** 39 Whitehaven News: Sellafield waste worries Published on 07/06/2007 SAFETY inspectors for the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) have outlined growing problems at Sellafield’s high-level waste plants. The problems have brought reprocessing at Sellafield grinding to a halt. The latest news from the HSE's Nuclear Directorate describes a catalogue of evaporator failings and concerns over the cooling coils needed to keep highly radioactive liquids cooled. The NII recorded that “strategically significant concerns had been raised in relation to the integrity of evaporators and highly radioactive storage tanks (Hasts) and to staffing levels in that area. NII has continued to press for improvements.” The inspectors reported that: “There remain significant uncertainties as to the remnant life of the evaporators. NII has continued to engage BNGSL on its evaporator recovery programme and on the development of new evaporative capacity.” ” The inspectors have also voiced concerns over the cooling coils needed to prevent the tanks of highly radioactive liquor overheating. The inspectors reported: “The tanks cooling coil failure rates and, perhaps more significantly, the distribution of failed coils within the newer tanks leads to considerable uncertainty as to the capability of the new-side fleet to continue to deliver within the current stocks strategy.” The inspectors also laid blame at BNG’s door for not enough staffing levels. They state: “Events earlier in the financial year indicated that the staffing capability was not fully adequate for an ageing high hazard facility.” A BNG spokesman said: “The high level waste (HLW) streams from Thorp and Magnox Reprocessing are fed to storage tanks via evaporators that concentrate the waste liquid, reducing storage volumes and providing a feed stock to the Waste Vitrification Plant. “The highly active (HA) evaporative capacity and cooling capacity for the storage tanks are constantly under review and are not new issues. “We currently have three evaporators, one is fully operational and available to support Magnox reprocessing, one is being returned to service subject to regulatory approval and the third will be returned to service at an appropriate time subject to regulatory approval to support the resumption of Thorp reprocessing and provide additional capacity for Magnox reprocessing. “A new evaporator is planned in order to ensure our site licence and contractual obligations will be met in the future. Progressing new evaporative capacity is considered to be prudent, to ensure that the plant continues to meet the needs of the site. “Construction of this new evaporator is due to be completed in 2010 and is expected to provide flexibility for future needs including eventual clean up and decommissioning. “The HA waste tanks are within steel lined concrete cells. These Hasts are provided with several sets of cooling systems (coils and in some cases a segmented cooling jacket) to control the temperature. Only small numbers of these systems are required to maintain the tank at a safe temperature, compared to the actual capacity available to cool the tanks. “Over the lifetime of the tanks at Sellafield, radioactivity has been observed in a small number of individual cooling systems since 1974 through to today. “The company has always adopted the precautionary approach and taken these individual systems out of use, once they have been confirmed as failed. “Despite occasional isolation of failed cooling components there remain significant margins of excess capacity compared to actual capacity for cooling HA liquors. Protection of the environment and people remains our primary goal. “Recently the company has observed a slight increase in the number of cooling coil failures, which we are reviewing, however we still have a large margin in terms of safety systems to ensure that the waste is sufficiently cooled and hence maintained in a safe state. “Only a small number of these are needed to control the temperatures in the tank. At all times our priority has been to maintain excess cooling capacity and ensure the integrity of the tanks, therefore protecting the workforce, local community and wider environment.” View this story and the latest newspaper in full digital reproduction, just like the printed copy at www.whitehaven-news.co.uk/digitalcopy ***************************************************************** 40 Guardian Unlimited Environment: Salt Lake City firm takes over UK nuclear sites Terry Macalister Friday June 8, 2007 An American company with no experience as a nuclear power generator has been chosen by the government to take over several Magnox atomic plants from BNFL. The sale of the management contracts for the plants to EnergySolutions coincides with soaring wages in the nuclear industry with workers at BNFL's Sellafield plant being offered a 4.85% pay increase - more than double the 1.9% the Treasury is trying to impose on other civil servants. EnergySolutions beat competition from another US firm, Jacobs Engineering, to acquire Reactor Sites Management Limited (RSMC) which - through its subsidiary Magnox Electric - holds the contracts and licences to operate and decommission 10 nuclear sites and 22 reactors with a value of about 350m. Two of the facilities, Oldbury and Wylfa, are still producing electricity for the national grid but the rest are being dismantled. Oldbury in Gloucestershire is set to shut next year and Wylfa in Anglesey in 2010. The total workforce of 3,500 will be transferred to the control of EnergySolutions. EnergySolutions, based in Salt Lake City, Utah, is a leader in the field of nuclear decommissioning and has worked for the US government at sensitive nuclear military sites such as Los Alamos but admits that it has not had sole responsibility for sites that generate atomic energy. Steve Creamer, the chief executive, said: "We take on this responsibility with the same commitment to safety and the environment that has always characterised our company." A spokesman said the tough pre-qualification demands set by BNFL would ensure it had all the experience it needed to run Oldbury and Wylfa. BNFL said the deal offered "good value" for its shareholder, the government. The Prospect trade union said it was aware that EnergySolutions did not operate plants but believed the company's strong track record in safety and employee relations meant it was a welcome new owner for the business. Mike Graham, the union's national secretary, said the enormous amount of activity in the atomic sector meant that there was a "goldrush" going on for those working inside it. Prospect is recommending the 4.85% offer from British Nuclear Group Sellafield, which operates the facility for BNFL. "It is an exciting time for the sector with wages going up and a lot of opportunities around. All the big players are advertising for staff," said Mr Graham, who says senior nuclear engineers are now earning up to 60,000 a year in some Magnox stations. The main role of EnergySolutions will be to decommission the vast bulk of the nuclear plants coming under its control. But the contracts to run the different sites for the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority will be put out to tender when they come up for renewal in the next couple of years. The sites will come under two different contracts with Magnox South being put out to tender next year and Magnox North in 2009. Magnox was a design of power station developed in Britain and first used on the Calder Hall plant at Sellafield, the first commercial nuclear power station. Calder Hall began generating electricity in 1956 and closed in 2003 and the NDA is considering whether to retain it as a museum site. EnergySolutions, an amalgamation of three companies that recently announced plans to float on the New York Stock Exchange, is thought by some to be interested in becoming a partner in any new nuclear reactors built in Britain. The Utah company was recently forced to drop plans to double the size of its main US nuclear waste dump after opposition from environmental campaigners. The sale of the Magnox sites is the second major sale by BNFL. The first was the disposal of its Westinghouse design and engineering subsidiary to Toshiba of Japan. The sell-offs The sale of the 10 Magnox sites is the latest in the sell-off of the various sections of BNFL, formerly British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. Westinghouse has been sold to Toshiba while the British Nuclear Group America business went, like Magnox, to EnergySolutions of the US. The biggest remaining part of BNFL is British Nuclear Group Sellafield, which manages the reprocessing site in Cumbria. That management contract will go out to tender in the middle of next year, which is later than planned. BNFL is expected to be wound up alongside the Sellafield contract in 2008. Terry Macalister Useful links Energy Saving Trust Guardian Unlimited Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 ***************************************************************** 41 Whitehaven News: ...and the French acquire a key asset Published on 07/06/2007 THE FRENCH have acquired one of Sellafield’s key assets. In mid May NUKEM Limited (the UK arm of the international NUKEM Group) became the wholly owned subsidiary of Freyssinet SAS, itself a wholly owned subsidiary of the French construction giant, VINCI. Dr Michael Down, managing director of NUKEM Limited, said "We believe Freyssinet will provide the perfect environment for us to continue to grow both in the UK and overseas. They have an impressive international network and an enviable reputation in the French nuclear market. Added to this, the VINCI Group is one of the strongest in Europe and will give us tremendous backing, starting with the commitment they have shown for this acquisition." Bruno Dupety, chairman and CEO of Freyssinet, said “We have been very impressed with the dedication and enthusiasm of NUKEM. We believe this acquisition will add strength and breadth to our already extensive nuclear capabilities.” Through the sale, NUKEM Ltd has relinquished its ties with its former parent company, NUKEM GmbH, but will continue to work with them. NUKEM Limited has approximately 1,000 staff based at major offices across the UK: Risley, Cheshire; Dounreay, Caithness; Harwell, Oxfordshire; Sellafield and Westlakes, and Winfrith, in Dorset. It has a target turnover in excess of £80 million in 2007 and provides an extensive range of nuclear services from consulting contracts to turnkey design and build. VINCI Construction, the market leader in France with a significant presence worldwide in construction and civil engineering. Freyssinet is a specialist in the pre-stressing construction of nuclear reactors and has been involved in excess of 100 projects in 13 countries over more than 30 years. View this story and the latest newspaper in full digital reproduction, just like the printed copy at www.whitehaven-news.co.uk/digitalcopy ***************************************************************** 42 Charlotte Observer: Storage dilemma nears critical mass 06/07/2007 | NUCLEAR WASTE THAT WON'T GO AWAY Storage dilemma nears critical mass Finding a site to hold spent fuel rods vexes Duke, nation CHRISTOPHER D. KIRKPATRICK ckirkpatrick@charlotteobserver.com Radioactive waste created by nuclear reactors in the Charlotte area is still at the plants. It's been waiting decades for a permanent home. At Duke Energy Corp.'s McGuire plant on Lake Norman, like at more than 100 nuclear plants nationwide, spent fuel rods are stored on site in pools of water and sometimes outside in concrete dry casks. Federal regulators and nuclear scientists believe it should all be permanently stored in one place. But no state wants to be the site. And, as Congress debates what to do, the nation's and Duke's nuclear waste grows. Two of Duke's three nuclear plants are within 30 miles of Charlotte. Duke keeps the amount of waste a secret. But about 20 plants across the country, including McGuire and Duke's Oconee plant, just north of Clemson, S.C., have run out of room for spent fuel rods in their pools and are using the dry casks for storage. The Catawba plant, just over the S.C. line, will start using the dry casks soon, the Charlotte company said. The cylinders sit outside behind security fences. Studies show the casks can withstand attacks from grenade launchers. A crashing plane would likely disperse most of the casks like bowling pins rather than break them apart, said Edward Davis, an independent consultant to the nuclear power industry in Washington. The renewed issue of where to permanently store spent fuel rods is threatening a so-called nuclear renaissance as 26 new nuclear plants, including a Duke proposal in Cherokee County, S.C., are in the planning stages. Fueling the new popularity is worry that coal-fired power plants, which produce half of the nation's electricity, are a cause of global warming. Many consider nuclear energy, which produces about one-fifth of the nation's electricity, to be a clean-air technology. But the waste question nags. The federal government plans to store highly radioactive waste for 10,000 years in Nevada's Yucca Mountain, but the project is mired in politics and cost overruns. Even if the facility is eventually operational, the country will still need more options. One is to recycle rods, which would require building regional reprocessing plants. Great Britain, France, Japan, Russia and other nations reprocess, which allows about 95 percent of the waste to be reused, Davis said. Duke Energy chief executive Jim Rogers and other utility executives say reprocessing is an option here. But the waste, largely uranium, contains a small amount of plutonium, which some people fear could be stolen and used for nuclear weapons, Davis said. Rogers, who says he wants to build the new $6 billion-plus S.C. plant to meet growing power needs, said leaving the waste question unanswered could scuttle his plans. Nuclear energy has a larger presence in the Carolinas than in most other states. About 31 percent of electricity in North Carolina is produced from the technology and 52 percent in South Carolina, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute, which represents the industry. Some environmentalists support nuclear power as a clean-air option, but many believe the renewed interest in nuclear power distracts utilities from their responsibility of focusing on renewable sources, such as wind, and energy efficiency to reduce demand. The critics say nuclear waste storage is a question not likely to be answered soon enough. The United States used to reprocess. But the facilities, including one in South Carolina, shut down during the Carter administration amid Cold War fears of nuclear weapons proliferation, Davis said. But like nuclear plants, there's renewed interest in reprocessing. It would allow a centralized dump like Yucca Mountain to operate much longer, because most of the waste would be reused, Davis said. "It's a key step in putting the United States on the same level as the rest of the industrialized world," he said. FULL POOLS | At the bottom of a pool of 23 feet of water that's been treated with boron, spent nuclear fuel rods at Duke Energy's McGuire nuclear plant are stored in metal casings, some dating to the early 1980s. ***************************************************************** 43 AU ABC: No foreign waste for Muckaty nuclear dump ABC Alice Springs | Local News Thursday, 7 June 2007. 16:18 (AEST)Thursday, 7 June 2007. 16:18 The Federal Science Minister, Julie Bishop, has restated that there are no plans to establish a dump for overseas nuclear waste at Muckaty Station, a remote site north of Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory. Ms Bishop says Australian law prevents the importation of nuclear waste from other countries and the government has no intention of changing the law. The Minister says Muckaty Station will serve a different purpose. "The proposed radioactive waste management facility for the Northern Territory will be designed and established purely to take the low-level and intermediate-level waste that already exists and is derived from for example the nuclear research reactor," she said. The Federal Science Minister Julie Bishop says she hasn't even received a formal application for Muckaty Station to be used as a nuclear waste dump. The Minister says she understands there was unanimous agreement to support the Northern Land Council's proposal to create a waste dump at Muckaty Station. Ms Bishop says she'll need to see the application before she can consider applying Commonwealth criteria for site selection. "I've not yet seen it and I've not signed anything." "Muckaty Station has only volunteered the land to be considered for a site, I've not yet accepted it as a nominated site." ***************************************************************** 44 Santa Fe New Mexican: Funding shifts could slice LANL budget By DIANA DEL MAURO | The New Mexican June 6, 2007 Udall, Domenici hope to curb proposed cuts Given its atomic-bomb heritage, no one is surprised that Los Alamos National Laboratory could bear the brunt of painful changes if Congress shifts funding from nuclear weapons programs to solutions for the threatening energy crisis. But two Congressmen representing New Mexico don’t think it needs to be that way. On Wednesday, the House Appropriations Committee elevated the priority of energy projects while approving a bill that calls for $600 million in cuts to the Department of Energy weapons program. It recommended deep budget reductions for LANL and Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico, but endorsed budget increases for Department of Energy laboratories in other states. A new member of the committee, U.S. Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M., applauded the bill’s intent to redirect funding toward energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. He even called it a “bold vision.” But during the voice vote Wednesday, he also expressed opposition. “I want to ensure that as we transition the role for our national labs, the outstanding scientists at LANL are not unfairly disadvantaged in the process,” Udall said in a statement. Udall said he got assurances from the committee’s chairman, Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Ind., that the men would work together to create a fair competitive process for this unprecedented level of energy research funding. But he also said in a statement that LANL must be willing to diversify its mission. “Failing to do so could risk New Mexico jobs and harm the local economy,” he said. U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., accused the committee of singling out LANL. “This bill would be devastating for Los Alamos, surrounding communities and New Mexico overall,” Domenici, a ranking member of the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee that funds national laboratories, said in a news release. Los Alamos lab would lose out on $131 million for production of plutonium pits, which are triggers for nuclear weapons, according to Domenici. It also would lose $95.5 million for the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement project, what Domenici says is the only facility able to support the pit mission. Another $50 million in security upgrades for key nuclear facilities would be slashed, too. Further, a $117.9 million cut to lab operations and salaries would severely undercut Sandia and LANL, Domenici said. “The House plan would cripple that defense mission and leave our nuclear deterrent vulnerable,’” Domenici said. “It is simply unacceptable.” Udall, in contrast, didn’t view the cuts as a threat to national security. “It comes at a time when our national weapons arsenal is reliable for decades to come, and our national security increasingly is dependent on increased energy innovation and research,” he said. Contact Diana Del Mauro at 986-3066 or dianadm@sfnewmexican.com. Copyright 2007 The New Mexican, Inc. Privacy Policy / Terms of Use | 2007, Santa Fe New Mexican ***************************************************************** 45 Tri-City Herald: House bill would hit Hanford vitrification plant Published Thursday, June 7th, 2007 By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer Both the vitrification plant and also a project to test bulk vitrification took a beating in the $1.8 billion Hanford budget in a 2008 appropriations bill to be considered by the U.S. House. However, funding for some other Hanford cleanup projects and for new Pacific Northwest National Laboratory space was increased in the budget bill passed Wednesday by the House Appropriations Committee. Any amounts approved by the House will later have to be reconciled with appropriations set by the Senate, which has yet to take up Hanford funding for 2008. The House bill reduces the budget for the massive vitrification plant under construction to $590 million, a cut of $100 million. There is no money for bulk vitrification, and language accompanying the bill questioned whether a test project is needed. But offsetting the budget reduction at the vitrification plant is an increase of $73 million for work elsewhere on the nuclear reservation. "Both this bill and the president's proposed budget for next year include an increase over the current year for ground water and soil remediation," Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., said in a statement. Vitrification plant However, at the vitrification plant, he's concerned about the long-term effects of cutting $100 million from the budget. Language accompanying the bill pointed out that construction slowdowns at the vitrification plant to address technical and management problems should leave $100 million unspent from previous budgets to bolster the 2008 budget. However, a plan that calls for building the plant for $12.3 billion and having it operating in late 2019 is based on a steady budget of $690 million annually to allow higher spending in later years. Less money annually could mean a higher final cost and a further delayed start. "I must caution that this bill's proposed reduction in 2008 would require a sharp funding increase as soon as 2010," Hastings said. Cost growth at the vitrification plant appears to be under control after estimates more than doubled in recent years, the bill language said. "However, the (Appropriations) Committee is concerned that the necessary management improvements on the project are not fully realized," it said. It pointed out that both Department of Energy top manager positions at Hanford are open after the retirements of Keith Klein and Roy Schepens. A management vacancy in 2000 at the plant may have led to "a shoddy contract transfer" as Bechtel National was picked as the new contractor then and may have contributed to the plant's escalating price since, the bill language said. "The federal coffers cannot afford another lapse in management oversight," it said. The committee also criticized a possible lack of DOE oversight on accounting and monitoring costs of Bechtel National on the project, based on the preliminary findings of a DOE internal review. Bulk vitrification No money to build a pilot plant to test bulk vitrification was expected in the 2008 budget. But the appropriation committee's comments questioning the value of the project were unexpected. "The original objectives DOE used to justify the project are no longer achievable," the bill language said. "As a result, it is no longer clear when, or if, a supplemental technology will be needed." The project is years behind schedule and the cost to test the technology has increased from a preliminary estimate of $45 million to $224 million. The main vitrification plant was not planned to be large enough to turn all the radioactive waste held in Hanford's underground tanks into a stable glass form by a legal deadline. DOE has been considering bulk vitrification as a supplemental technology to treat much of the low activity radioactive waste. The report pointed out that the vitrification plant might be able to operate for 20 to 55 years, reducing the need for supplemental technology. However, legal deadlines call for all the waste to be treated by 2028 to get radioactive waste out of underground tanks, including leak-prone vessels built for temporary storage as early as World War II. The bill language calls for DOE to reassess the need for bulk vitrification as well as provide an integrated strategy for treating low-activity waste. "It seems clear that this language is not a conclusion or a final judgment, but rather an expression of concern about the department's intentions and plans," Hastings said. In another section of the bill language, the committee calls for more money to be spent on technology development across the DOE weapons complex. Top priorities are evaluating alternative supplemental treatments for Hanford tank waste, increasing the amount of vitrified waste in glass produced during treatment and improving methods to remove waste from the bottom of tanks. Richland Operations Office The Hanford Richland Operations Office, which manages projects other than the vitrification plant and the tank farms, would see its budget boosted under the bill. The office would receive nearly $950 million, which is $73 million more than the administration's request for 2008 and $115 million over the 2007 budget. "The committee is very concerned that sufficient resources have not been requested to accommodate existing (legal deadlines)," according to bill language. The budget would provide an additional $23 million for soil and ground water cleanup near the Columbia River. Retrieving and treating waste temporarily buried until the nation had a repository for transuranic waste -- typically debris contaminated with plutonium -- also would get an additional $23 million. Soil cleanup in central Hanford and a study of cleaning up PUREX would receive $20 million in additional funds. In addition, the Volpentest HAMMER training center would receive $7.5 million. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory The Appropriations Committee is "exasperated by the continued failure" of DOE to make progress on replacement facilities for Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, according to the bill language. The national laboratory does a substantial portion of its research in aging Hanford buildings scheduled to be torn down as part of the cleanup of the nuclear reservation. The bill would commit $73 million in DOE funds to replacement facilities in 2008, which is more than the $60 million committed to in a funding plan worked out between DOE and the Office of Homeland Security. In addition, the committee would free up some money now being held in reserve until a financing package is approved by the Office of Management and Budget. © 2007 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press & Other Wire Services ***************************************************************** 46 Tri-City Herald: Hanford Patrol top gun in U.S. security (w/video) Hanford group wins SPOTC competition Published Thursday, June 7th, 2007 By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer The Hanford Patrol outran and outshot law enforcement and security teams from around the nation to win the top score in the 2007 Security Protection Officer Training Competition. "This award is a great indication of how seriously these officers take their training and their responsibilities here at Hanford," said Greg McDowell, Fluor Hanford chief of Hanford Patrol, in a statement. The annual competition, held in late May in New Mexico, puts officers from Department of Energy nuclear sites and military and police organizations through exercises meant to simulate emergencies on nuclear reservations such as Hanford. The Hanford Patrol officers worked for speed and accuracy as they cut through a metal fence, ducked through culverts, crawled across the dirt, donned gas masks and jumped through windows before shooting at targets during four days of competition. In one exercise, an officer stationed behind a Humvee shot a machine gun at a target as others moved in the other direction to recover a dummy, simulating an injured officer being rescued under the cover of gunfire. The toughest challenge required running uphill and breathing through a gas mask that further restricted oxygen at an altitude of 6,200 feet before shooting, said Lt. James Bernhardt, team captain. The team was fast, said team coach Capt. Sam Hernandez. But other teams also were fast. The Hanford Patrol's edge was in its accurate shooting, he said. The Hanford Patrol took home the Energy secretary's trophy for the top performance among the seven DOE teams in the competition. The trophy has a particular significance for the Hanford Patrol, since it is named in the memory of Andy Shrode, a Hanford Patrol range master who died in 1994 during competition in New Mexico. The Hanford Patrol also had the top score of 567 among all 15 teams competing, scoring at least 30 more points than the second-place team. Bernhardt and team members Mitchell Brownfield, Dodd Coutts, Ryan Richardson, Carlos Tapia and Tony Wooldridge were picked during two-week tryouts earlier this year. Tapia placed third among more than 90 officers in individual competition, and Bernhardt placed second in a separate competition for supervisors. The Hanford Patrol also won the secretary's trophy in 1987 and 1989. The training and competition help improve decision making, physical fitness, problem solving, shooting accuracy under stress and communication skills of the officers, said Bruce Cameron, Fluor Hanford commandant of the Hanford Patrol Training Academy. "With this victory, these officers have raised the bar for security nationwide, and they brought home more than just a trophy," he said. © 2007 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press & Other Wire Services ***************************************************************** 47 KnoxNews: ORNL gains $1 million biofuels grant By News Sentinel staff June 7, 2007 OAK RIDGE ? Oak Ridge National Laboratory will receive a three-year, $1.04 million grant for biofuels-related research, federal officials announced today. The U.S. Departments of Energy and Agriculture are jointly funding the work at ORNL and other research institutions. Eleven projects totaling $8.3 million were announced as part of the research program. The Oak Ridge research will look at ways to genetically alter poplar trees to maximize their ability to capture carbon and increase the production of biomass. The principal researcher at ORNL is Jerry Tuskan. Other scientists at ORNL, West Virginia University, and Oregon State University will participate in the project. More details as they develop online and in Friday?s News Sentinel. Copyright 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co. ***************************************************************** 48 Recordnet.com: Lab wants to triple blast size Thursday June 7, 2007 - Critics say that will complicate cleanup efforts By Jake Armstrong Record Staff Writer TRACY - The U.S. Department of Energy is accepting public opinion on a proposal to continue cleansing toxic and cancer-causing chemicals from a high-explosives test range southwest of Tracy. Meanwhile, the range's operator is pursuing permission to triple the size of blasts containing the very same radioactive compounds the plan targets for removal. Critics contend the bigger detonations will only complicate efforts to remove the contaminants. To learn more Lab and government representatives will discuss the proposed Site 300 cleanup plan and answer questions at 6 p.m. June 20 at the Tracy Community Center, 300 E. 10th St., Tracy. The public can review the plan at the Tracy Branch Library, 20 E. Eaton Ave., and comment on the plan through June 25. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which runs explosives tests on the Department of Energy-owned land known as Site 300, has applied with air quality regulators to more than triple to 350 pounds the amount of explosives used in detonations on the land. Those detonations will include depleted uranium and tritium, two radioactive compounds that the U.S. Department of Energy has paid roughly $100 million over 10 years to have the lab remove from the soil. "Any activity that could increase the contamination should not be undertaken," said Marylia Kelley, executive director of laboratory watchdog group Tri-Valley Communities Against a Radioactive Environment. Disposal of waste from bigger blasts will follow state and federal environmental laws, said Lauren Martinez, spokeswoman for the National Nuclear Security Administration, an arm of the Energy Department. "We know experiments are designed with a much better understanding of environmental protection and safety to ensure that any future harmful release does not occur," Martinez said. Experts have said existing natural radiation levels can cause cancer. Kelley said that doesn't justify adding to radiation levels. Martinez added particle emissions from the tests, some of it radioactive, will be well below standards established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. "There's no danger to the public from those tests," Martinez said. Site 300 doesn't present a health hazard to residents near the site, since the contaminants are contained to the site, the proposed plan states. Noting that the cleanup has made gains since it began in 1982, the plan leaves unchanged or reduces work at most areas polluted with solvents, high explosives, tritium and depleted uranium, nitrate and other toxins. Methods to treat perchlorate, a chemical used in high explosives and solid-fuel rockets and recently discovered in groundwater there, would be the subject of a study under the proposed plan. One formerly polluted area would be reopened to lab workers since chemical hazards to humans and animals have been removed, the plan purports. A final decision on the plan is not expected until 2008. Pollution at Site 300 dates back decades. The U.S. Department of Energy, which oversees the nation's nuclear weapons program, began experiments in 1955 at Site 300, a former cattle grazing area. Spills on the surface, disposal of waste in unlined pits and explosions released radioactive and potentially cancer-causing contaminants into the environment at site. The cleanup began in 1982, and eight years later, the test range was added to the Superfund list as one of the nation's most polluted sites. The cleanup has cost about $10 million per year since 1997, Martinez said. That cost is expected to fall to roughly $8 million around 2013, when some polluted areas reach environmental quality standards, she said. It is not yet known when the cleanup will be complete. Contact reporter Jake Armstrong at (209) 239-3368 or jarmstrong@recordnet.com. Copyright 1998 - 2007 ONI Stockton, Inc., All Rights Reserved. For more info contact webmaster@recordnet.com ***************************************************************** 49 Guardian Unlimited: DOE: Warhead Dismantlement on Fast Track From the Associated Press Thursday June 7, 2007 5:16 AM By H. JOSEF HEBERT Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Technicians have been dismantling nuclear warheads much faster than had been expected, taking apart 50 percent more warheads during the last eight months than in all of the previous year, the Energy Department says. ``It's good news from a global nuclear safety standpoint. There will be fewer nuclear weapons in the world,'' said Thomas D'Agostino, head of the department's nuclear weapons program. D'Agostino said the number of warheads is classified, but he said he had set a goal of increasing the number of dismantlements this fiscal year by 50 percent. ``We achieved that goal about four months early,'' he said in an interview Wednesday. By the end of this fiscal year in September D'Agostino expects to have doubled the number of dismantlements compared to the previous year. While the government won't provide any numbers, the DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration is believed to be dismantling thousands of excess warheads, beyond the nearly 6,000 warheads that are either deployed in weapons or are in an active reserve stockpile. Under a 2002 agreement with Russia, the United States is committed to reducing the number of deployed warheads to between 1,700 and 2,200 by 2012. ``As a result of the increased dismantlements and reductions, today's stockpile is one-quarter of its size than at the end of the Cold War,'' the nuclear security agency said in a draft of a statement to be issued Thursday. D'Agostino said that the government now expects to finish taking apart all of the excess Cold War-era weapons by 2023, nine years ahead of the previous schedule. The weapons' plutonium is physically separated from its conventional explosive at the DOE's Pantex plant, a 16,000-acre facility on the Texas high plains 17 miles northeast of Amarillo. The nuclear weapons labs at Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore and Sandia provide technical assistance. Some uranium components are worked on at the Y-12 complex near Oak Ridge, Tenn. Several years ago a government report said the dismantling program was hampered by staff shortages and aging facilities at Pantex. D'Agostino said since then the agency has hired more technicians, purchased better tools and equipment and improved safety and security procedures. The Pantex facility also has been the focus of controversy over the years ranging from a strike by security guards to an incident involving a former nuclear weapons courier with top-secret clearance who was accused of selling restricted items on the Internet. The process of dismantling a warhead can take anywhere from hours to several months, depending on the weapons, says D'Agostino. Many of the warheads date to the 1950s and have fewer safety measures, so dismantlement takes longer, he said. The most critical part is to physically separate the special nuclear material - plutonium or highly enriched uranium - from the conventional explosive. The warhead's plutonium pit - or core - is then put into storage. An Energy Department disposal plan calls for the plutonium eventually to be converted into a fuel that will be burned in a commercial power plant. Guardian Unlimited Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 ***************************************************************** 50 lamonitor.com: Lab budget sees cuts The Online News Source for Los Alamos House committee cuts nuclear weapons projects ROGER SNODGRASS Monitor Assistant Editor The House Appropriations Committee Wednesday zeroed out funding for the Reliable Replacement Warhead and a plutonium pit production center, marking an important milestone in the budget process, but not the final bill. Altogether, the DOE budget blueprint was raised by $1.3 billion over the current fiscal year and $900 million more than the president's request. The priorities for the energy department, according to a statement by Rep. Peter Vizclosky, D-Ind., the energy and water appropriations subcommittee chair, were given to addressing gas prices, reducing dependence on foreign oil, confronting the energy crisis and addressing climate change. In the nuclear weapons area, priorities were adjusted toward confronting a terrorist nuclear threat and reducing the size of the nuclear weapons complex. Members of the northern New Mexico Congressional delegation were disturbed in varying degrees by the budget numbers for Los Alamos National Laboratory and, to a lesser degree, for Sandia National Laboratories. Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M., newly appointed to the House Appropriations Committee, but not a member of the energy appropriations panel, said he would work to enable New Mexico's national laboratories to compete in those areas where the energy department funding was going up. "I strongly believe it is necessary to direct increased funding toward energy efficiency and renewable energy programs as included in the Energy and Water Appropriations Bill," he said in an announcement. "I support that vision but I voiced my opposition in the committee to the manner in which it is being proposed because I want to ensure that as we transition the role for our national labs, the outstanding scientists at LANL are not unfairly disadvantaged in the process." Sen. Jeff Bingaman, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee emphasized the provisional status of the House committee bill. "These proposed cuts are serious, particularly at Los Alamos National Laboratory," he said in an announcement after the vote. "But I will be working with Rep. Udall, Sen. Domenici and others in Congress to ensure that LANL and Sandia have the funding they need to protect our nation's stockpile and provide the best science in our nation's interest, while supporting the economic vitality of the communities that are home to the labs." Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., ranking member of the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee that will write the Senate version of the DOE funding bill, called the House plan "stunningly punitive," compared to increased funding for other DOE laboratories including Livermore, Idaho and Oak Ridge. "I am surprised by the extent to which the House Appropriations Committee has gone out of its way to single out Los Alamos, and to some extent Sandia," he said. "The House bill is stunningly punitive in its treatment of Los Alamos. This bill would be devastating for Los Alamos, surrounding communities and New Mexico overall," Domenici said. Domenici said the DOE weapons program would be cut by $600 million, eliminating all funding for the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement (CMMR) facility (-$95 million); recommends a nearly 50 percent cut for pit manufacturing (-$131.2 million), and cuts the Nuclear Material Safeguard and Security Upgrade-Phase II (-$50 million). Domenici also highlighted a $50 million cut in Advanced Scientific Computing, which would block funding needed to support the Roadrunner High Performance Computer acquisition for LANL. A Congressional staffer said a positive note in the LANL budget was an additional $60 million added to the cleanup budget, raising the total for that category to $200 million. 2003 Los Alamos Monitor All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 51 lamonitor.com: Missing nuclear waste prompts reforms The Online News Source for Los Alamos ROGER SNODGRASS Monitor Assistant Editor Los Alamos National Laboratory has taken several steps to avoid further discrepancies in its nuclear waste inventory. Lab spokesperson James Rickman said that last September laboratory personnel discovered duplicate labels in three separate incidents, which led to a wall-to-wall inventory of its transuranic waste holdings and processes. "That revealed incidences in which waste containers that were listed in the historical database could not be located and waste containers at the site were not listed in the database," he said. The discrepancies were reported in a field report by the site representative of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board in a memo dated May 4., which noted that LANL had reported "the results of a four-month inventory reconciliation in which 38 containers with a total of 169 plutonium-239 equivalent curies could not be accounted for." The memo puts those numbers in perspective, by comparing them to the current above-ground inventory at Area-G, which includes roughly 20,000 containers that hold approximately 130,000 pu-239-equivalent curies. Rickman said, the total amounted to one-tenth of the Transuranic waste at Area G. "Area G is an access-controlled site," he said. "Only employees or subcontractors with badges can enter. Pajarito Road is behind a police-staffed entry station." These factors led the lab investigators to conclude that it was "extremely unlikely" that any waste was inappropriately handled. More likely scenarios, he said, involve various record-keeping discrepancies, including repackaging waste from one container into one or more new containers without properly entering the data. Some waste containers may have been placed inside an "overpack" container without proper accounting and in other cases, technicians may have made errors in notation or data entry. Corrective actions to be performed In the future, Rickman said, include quarterly spot checks of containers and monthly inventories of the storage domes, as well as spot validation of the locations of individual drums selected at random from the database. New data entry will require validation by two people. Transuranic, or TRU waste refers to man-made radioactive wastes from elements with higher atomic numbers than uranium, of which plutonium is the most common element. The lab's waste containers are typically described as drums containing contaminated materials and equipment. The containers are awaiting shipment to the Waste Isolation Pilot Project in Carlsbad, N.M. The Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, a Washington, D.C. public interest organization has expressed concerns for over ten years about discrepancies in nuclear materials accounts at LANL Responding to the most recent reports, IEER noted that despite its reports and requests to the Department of Energy, the National Nuclear Security Administration, LANL, the Environmental Protection Agency and DNFSB to account fully for discrepancies, "None of these agencies has yet undertaken a serious investigation." 2003 Los Alamos Monitor All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 52 Pacific Publishing Company: Now that's a cleanup! Mark Bloome recognizedfor heroic role in Hanford oversight 06/06/2007 Mark Bloome, a resident of Magnolia, has received the first "lifetime achievement" award from Heart of America Northwest, a watchdog group keeping its eye and Geiger counter on the Hanford nuclear site. Bloome's anointing as "Hanford Clean-Up Hero" for 2007 is due for his dedication and strategic vision for riding herd on the radioactive and toxic wastes that make Hanford the most contaminated area in the Western Hemisphere. In fact, Heart of America Northwest was founded 20 years ago by Bloome, Gerald Pollet and Sharon Pollet in Bloome's living room. Its anniversary and Bloome's heroism were celebrated June 4 at a reception at the Mountaineers Building. The watchdog group now numbers 16,000 members across Washington and Oregon. In 1987, Hanford's wastes and contamination problems were shrouded in secrecy. Although the federal Department of Energy admitted that high-level nuclear waste tanks had leaked, the agency continually claimed that the "leaks pose no threat to human health or the environment" and was only willing to spend around $30 million a year on cleanup. Bloome guided the development of a strategy to unite the region's elected officials, business community leadership, editorial writers and environmental leaders in order to make cleanup and funding a top regional priority. "We have to protect our economic assets in the Northwest from the catastrophic risks of Hanford's contamination," said Mark Bloome. "Chief among those economic assets we have to protect is water, which is growing scarcer and more precious every year, while Hanford's contamination threat to the Columbia River and groundwater continues to grow. Our success has come from helping regional business leaders and elected officials understand this risk." Bloome's strategy has succeeded. Hanford Clean-Up is now funded by Congress at nearly $2 billion a year. In addition, Bloome has spent much of the past two decades attempting to get the Department of Energy and Congress to put reasonable business management systems in place to stop the waste of hundreds of millions of dollars yearly due to unnecessary contract costs, mismanagement and repeatedly attempting to build massive nuclear and chemical waste processing facilities without having completed or tested the designs. "Without Mark Bloome, quite simply, there would be no meaningful cleanup at Hanford," said Gerald Pollet, executive director of Heart of America Northwest. "Nor would there be cleanup at most of America's other contaminated nuclear weapons plants, the most dangerous facilities in the country, because Mark's vision and dedication for getting Hanford cleaned up has led the way nationally." Pacific Publishing Company 2007 ***************************************************************** NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: *****************************************************************