***************************************************************** 08/16/07 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 15.192 ***************************************************************** 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 The Hindu Australia links uranium sale to India's commitment to aban NUCLEAR REACTORS 2 The Hindu: Coastal states set to get nuclear power 3 Guardian Unlimited: Nuclear outages hurt British Energy profits 4 US: Times-News: Nuke plant partners with dairymen 5 The Hindu: Uproar in Parliament over nuclear deal 6 US: MiamiHerald: FPL pursues new nuclear units at Turkey Point - 7 TheStar.com: Bruce nuclear reactor taken down unexpectedly 8 The Hindu: India not bound by Hyde Act, says Govt. 9 BBC NEWS: Outages hit British Energy profit 10 US: PBP: FPL plans to boost nuclear power profile 11 US: Burlington Free Press: Strike looming at Vermont Yankee nuke pla 12 US: Heartland Institute: California Assemblyman Taking Nuclear Power 13 US: toledoblade.com: FirstEnergy ordered to improve communications i 14 US: toledoblade.com: NRC lets utility off lightly in data case 15 US: NRC: Consolidated Decommissioning Guidance; Notice of Revision t 16 US: NRC: NRC to Discuss Process for Review of License Renewal Applic 17 US: NRC: Exelon Generation Company, LLC; Notice of Withdrawal of 18 Reuters: Indian parliament disrupted by nuclear deal critics 19 US: Reuters: FP&L bets on nuclear power for Florida 20 The Local: Chernobyl 'set back Swedish children's development' 21 UPI: Outside View: CANDU can't do 22 Prague Daily Monitor: Temelin staff start fuel replacement in first 23 US: NRC: NRC Meeting August 28, 30 in South Carolina to Discuss Revi 24 Scotsman.com: Doubts over future of nuclear power plants hit BE's sh 25 AFP: Indian PM accused of misleading parliament over US nuke deal - 26 US: Hemscott: TVA raises fuel charge, blames drought 27 US: MySA.com: Metro: S. Texas towns vying to be site of possible $4 28 UK: Chernobyl Effects 'Worse Than Feared' - 29 ANI: Parliament adjourned over Indo-US nuclear deal 30 US: NRC: Contributions of Structural Mechanics to the Science of Nuc 31 Prague Post: Spurred by incentives, solar farms bloom 32 Whitehaven News: Best view of demolition is on TV 33 Whitehaven News: Preparing for Thorp to restart 34 Whitehaven News: Calder Hall clean-up on hold in ÂŁ35m cash crisis NUCLEAR SECURITY 35 US: UPI: Outside View: Nuclear terror's false logic NUCLEAR SAFETY 36 Poison DUst Educators' Packet: Let's reach our youth before they're 37 RIA Novosti: Georgia discovers radioactive substance at former Russi 38 US: Cincinnati Post: UC shares Fernald radiation data 39 US: Chillicothe Gazette: A-plant cleanup meeting Tues. at Piketon 40 London Times: Four new sites named in Litvinenko trail - 41 Kommersant Moscow: Russians Leave Cesium and Landmines Behind in Geo 42 US: PNT: Researchers seek breast-feeding mothers to participate in s 43 AFP: Russian radar site doesn't fit US missile shield needs - genera 44 US: Rocky Mountain News: Hearings on tap for ill Flats workers 45 US: Columbus Dispatch: Medical study of Fernald-area residents to en NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 46 Guardian Unlimited: US-led consortium poised for Ł500m nuclear waste 47 US: Casper Star Tribune: Crews expand cleanup of nuclear waste 48 US: Environment News Service (ENS): Hearings Set for First U.S. MOX 49 Aiken Today: Congressmen Wilson discusses immigration, Yucca Mountai 50 Las Vegas SUN: Letter: Better use for Yucca's storage capacity 51 US: RIA Novosti: Russia, Australia to sign uranium deal in September 52 ReviewJournal.com: Judge questions sudden rush on Yucca drilling 53 US: Daily News Journal: Experts testifying about landfill’s safety i 54 US: CNN: Canada's Cameco looks to cash in on nuclear power's future 55 China Post: Proposed list of nuclear dumps to go public in '07 56 Las Vegas Now: Judge Urges Compromise on Water Use for Yucca Mountai 57 barrow in furness: Thorp ready for restart after shutdown 58 PerthNow: Reactor placement 'not up to Government' | 59 US: Guardian Unlimited: Uranium Boosts Mining Claims Increase PEACE US DEPT. OF ENERGY 60 Chattanoogan.com: Wamp Emphasizes Technology That Leads To Energy In 61 Knoxville News Sentinel: Proposed workweek changes divide union memb 62 Knoxville News Sentinel: Security officers ratify deal 63 lamonitor.com: LANL tests soil at intersection 64 lamonitor.com: Little support for new waste at LANL ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 The Hindu Australia links uranium sale to India's commitment to abandon N-test Thursday, August 16, 2007 : 2055 Hrs Melbourne, Aug. 16 (PTI): A day after deciding to sell uranium to India, Australia has linked it to New Delhi giving a legal commitment to abandon nuclear testing in future. The Australian Government's chief nuclear adviser Ziggy Switkowski said yesterday India will have to play by acceptable international rules if it wants uranium from his country. Amid Opposition criticism of the government's decision to sell uranium, the Chairman of Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation said he expected a ban on nuclear testing by India to be part of any deal with Australia. "To be allowed access in one case to American technology for new generation reactors and to our high quality uranium you've got to be prepared to accommodate the rules that govern reasonable international behaviour," Australian newspaper 'Herald Sun' quoted him as saying. "I think continuing weapons testing would compromise that kind of a situation," Switkowski said. Asked if India doesn't agree, he said "I think at that stage we have to reverse out of the agreement in terms of supplying Australian uranium." His comments came as Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer made it clear that the decision to supply uranium to India cannot be implemented till the Indo-US civil nuclear agreement is fully in place. Downer said Australia would "first of all" have to await the signing of a US-India pact to transfer civilian nuclear fuel and technology before Australian uranium went to India, 'The Australian' newspaper reported today. On Tuesday, the National Security Committee of Cabinet decided in principle to export uranium to India, conditional to agreed safeguards. Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the ***************************************************************** 2 The Hindu: Coastal states set to get nuclear power Friday, August 17, 2007 : 0345 Hrs Mumbai, Aug. 17 (PTI): Almost all coastal states will have atomic power plants once the Indo-US civil nuclear deal is signed and the Nuclear Power Corporation is identifying sites for setting up projects in Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Gujarat and West Bengal that will generate over 30,000 MW. Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu already has two 1,000 MW Russian plants and four more plants with the same capacity are expected to be added once the Indo-US deal is inked. Jaitapur in Maharashtra has been cleared for the setting up of six 1,650 MW plants using European Power Reactors from the French company Areva, Nuclear Power Corporation Chairman S K Jain said. No coastal site has been identified in Karnataka as the state government is satisfied with the inland site at Kaiga, where four indigenous 220 MW plants have been set up. Kerala is perhaps the only coastal state where there may not be any nuclear plant, Jain said. Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. ***************************************************************** 3 Guardian Unlimited: Nuclear outages hurt British Energy profits Graeme Wearden Thursday August 16, 2007 Outages at two UK nuclear power stations have sent profits slumping at British Energy. It announced this morning that it made an operating profit of Ł168m between April and June this year, a 22% drop compared with the same quarter in 2006. The company blamed "boiler issues" at Hinkley Point B in Somerset, and Hunterston B in Ayrshire. Both nuclear power stations were closed last autumn after the discovery of cracks in boiler tubes within their reactors. The two reactors were restarted earlier this year, but are both now running at just 60% capacity. Chief executive Bill Coley said the company was "working hard to deliver reliable output from both plants", but cautioned that it would not attempt to raise capacity above 70% until a decision is made next year about extending their operating lives. British Energy's total output for the three months fell to 13.8TWh, from 17TWh in 2006. Shares in the company had fallen by nearly 8% at close today, down 36.25p at 417.75p, amid widespread losses in London. The discovery of cracks in the nuclear reactors last year sparked concern over the long-term safety and reliability of British Energy's fleet of 13 gas-cooled nuclear power stations. The government is currently consulting on whether to commission a new generation of nuclear power stations for the UK. Mr Coley said British Energy was keen to play a major role in the building of new nuclear power stations. "We have skills, experience and sites that are good candidates for any new construction," he said. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 ***************************************************************** 4 Times-News: Nuke plant partners with dairymen Magicvalley.com, Twin Falls, ID Thursday, August 16, 2007 Facility would use dairy waste to produce natural gas By Matt Christensen Times-News writer BRUNEAU - A company with plans to build the state's first commercial nuclear power plant has become an unusual bedfellow of Idaho's most influential industry. Alternate Energy Holdings, which plans to build a $3.5 billion nuclear power plant in Owyhee County, says it's working on an agreement with dairymen to buy their manure for methane gas production. If the plant is built - and the dairy deal goes through - the project could reduce dairy waste, produce the main component for lucrative natural gas and lessen the amount of water needed to cool the reactor. It's a deal even the company's harshest critic supports. "It's a good idea," said Ester Ceja, of Snake River Alliance, an Idaho-based nuclear watchdog group. Using dairy waste to produce natural gas is good for the environment, she said, though her group is still skeptical about the plant in general. Here's how the dairy project would work: Dairy manure would be fed into an anaerobic digester - a machine that essentially ferments waste into methane, the main component of natural gas. The gas would be sold on the energy market, and dairymen would share in the profits. Heat from the nuke plant would power the digester, lessening the amount of water needed to cool the reactor. "It'd be a pioneering project," said Martin Johncox, a spokesman for AEH. He's not aware of any other energy plant that pairs nuclear power and methane production. Neither is Harold McFarland, deputy associate lab director for nuclear programs at the Idaho National Laboratory. "No," he said, "it's certainly not a common practice." McFarland said INL used excess heat from a reactor between 1964 and 1994 to heat the facility's work space during winters, but he's not ever heard of a reactor powering a digester. But before AEH turns waste into profits, it must complete a rigorous application process through the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which takes several years. In the meantime, the company will continue to solicit dairymen for the methane project, the company said. Times-News staff writer Matt Christensen welcomes comments at 735-3243 and at matt.christensen@lee.net. Peter Rickards (id:PeterRickards) wrote on Aug 16, 2007 11:19 AM: " This nuclear plant is a disaster waiting to happen. Converting manure to power is a good idea, but it is done easily without nuclear power. This carpetbagging nuke merchant is at least smart enough to make bedfellows with the pimps that are overproducing manure, and already have the politicians in their pocket. The lure of money may make you forget that one nuclear accident or terrorist strike will devastate Idaho families, and force permanent evacuation, like at Chernobyl. Wake up Idaho families! " Copyright © 2006, Lee Publications Inc. Magicvalley.com is an on-line division of The Times-News, published daily at 132 W. Fairfield St., Twin Falls, Idaho 83301 by Lee Publications, Inc., a subsidiary of Lee Enterprises. ***************************************************************** 5 The Hindu: Uproar in Parliament over nuclear deal Friday, Aug 17, 2007 Opposition demands “apology” from Manmohan for “misleading” House In the Lok Sabha, Left joins Opposition protests I am ashamed of you, Somnath tells members NEW DELHI: Parliament witnessed frequent adjournments and a walkout on Thursday over the India-U.S. nuclear deal. Both the Houses were adjourned twice in the pre-lunch session after members of the Opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA) disrupted the proceedings. They were demanding an “apology” from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for “misleading” the House on the deal in the wake of the reported observations of a U.S. State Department spokesman in Washington on Wednesday that suggested that the agreement would be scrapped if India were to conduct a nuclear test. The Prime Minister sat through the pandemonium in the Rajya Sabha till the House was adjourned within 10 minutes of its commencement. Walk-out In the Lok Sabha, the Left parties joined the Opposition protests and staged a walk-out in the post-lunch session as soon as External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee sought to explain the Government’s position. Much of what he said was lost in the din. While the Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day a few minutes after noon, the Lok Sabha was adjourned at 2.10 p.m. after Speaker Somnath Chatterjee refused to allow the Opposition members to question Mr. Mukherjee on his statement. His promise to allow the members to raise the matter on Friday fell on deaf ears. He ran through the listed business but was forced to adjourn the House for the day after the Opposition members refused to continue with the discussion on the flood situation. Earlier, as soon as the House convened, members from the Opposition and the Left parties were on their feet accusing Dr. Singh of “misleading” Parliament by asserting that India had a sovereign right to conduct a nuclear test. Repeated requests by Mr. Chatterjee to allow the House to function were disregarded. “You are behaving in the most irresponsible manner. I am ashamed of you,” he told the members. In the Rajya Sabha, the NDA and UNPA members wanted the Question Hour suspended to take up the issue. Samajwadi Party members Banwarilal Kanchal and Ramnarayan Sahu trooped into the well of the House and raised slogans against the Prime Minister. They were joined by some of their colleagues and BJP members. Members of the Left parties remained silent through the uproar. After trying to restore order for about 10 minutes, a visibly agitated Chairman Hamid Ansari observed that the behaviour of the Opposition members was “disgraceful” and adjourned the House till noon. When the House reassembled, the situation remained much the same. After the tabling of papers, Mr. Ansari adjourned the House for the day. Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the ***************************************************************** 6 MiamiHerald: FPL pursues new nuclear units at Turkey Point - 08/16/2007 - FPL is among a handful of U.S. utilities moving forward on plans to add new nuclear power facilities. BY JOHN DORSCHNER jdorschner@MiamiHerald.com Florida Power & Light moved another step closer to adding two new nuclear units at Turkey Point by announcing it plans to make a formal application to state regulators stating it has a need for expanded capacity at that site in South Miami-Dade County. ''We are taking the next official step,'' said FPL President Armando Olivera during a visit to The Miami Herald Wednesday. The utility plans to file the necessary papers by the end of September, Olivera said. FPL is one of a half-dozen utilities nationwide starting to take concrete steps for new nuclear power, which would have to clear many state and federal regulatory hurdles. Even with smooth sailing through the regulatory system, the South Dade nuclear units wouldn't be generating power before 2018 or 2020. The new nuclear units could add up to 3,000 megawatts of power. The present units at Turkey Point have 1,400 megawatts. Meanwhile, FPL hopes to meet the state's ever-growing power needs by using new technology to expand power production at its existing nuclear units, in St. Lucie County and at Turkey Point. The expansion would not involve changing existing reactors but instead using new methods to increase power production at the facilities by 400 megawatts -- about half the capacity of a normal natural-gas plant. FPL officials, meeting with The Miami Herald editorial board, said they seek to expand renewable sources -- notably wind and solar -- but that these could not come close to providing Florida's growing power demands for the next 20 years. ''We happen to be big fans of nuclear,'' said Lewis Hay III, CEO of FPL Group, parent of the utility. ``They produce large quantities of power around the clock. There are no carbon dioxide emissions, and they are not dependent on foreign oil.'' Olivera said he didn't know of any organized opposition yet in South Dade to the proposed nuclear expansion but wouldn't be surprised if some developed. Note: The Miami Herald has a business relationship with Florida Power & Light to recruit new subscribers. * Copyright 1996-2007 The Miami Herald Media Company| ***************************************************************** 7 TheStar.com: Bruce nuclear reactor taken down unexpectedly Toronto Star | Star P.M. Aug 16, 2007 06:21 PM TIVERTON, Ont. – A unit at the Bruce nuclear power plant that was only recently returned to service after an unplanned two-week outage was abruptly taken down again Thursday and will likely stay that way for about 10 days. Engineers were still trying to find out exactly what the issue was with the system that carries hot water at Unit 6, a 822-megawatt reactor, but there were no environmental or safety issues, a spokesman said. "It's early right now; they're still looking into it," said spokesman Steve Cannon. "It looks like the heat-transport system. It's just unfortunate timing in the sense that a valve needed to have some work and needed to be replaced." The affected system moves water heated by the nuclear reactor and transfers it to boilers where it is converted into steam. The steam then drives the generating turbines that produce electricity. Cannon said there were no safety concerns. "It's more just a generation issue where we're going to have 800 megawatts offline for a few days, but thankfully it looks like it's going to be a cooler few days." The reactor at Bruce B was taken off line Thursday afternoon for an unplanned outage that is expected to last for less than two weeks. On June 8, the unit was taken down suddenly and kept out of service until June 20 while maintenance was performed on the same system. "These things happen every now and then," Cannon said. "We've been really lucky – we've had all of our units running very reliably all through the summer. We've had pretty much good production from all of our units during the heat of the summer." Bruce Power, one of the province's key electricity producers, operates the nuclear power plant on the shores of Lake Huron. It is currently in the process of restarting Units 1 and 2, two mothballed reactors that are due to go on line in 2009. Bruce Power LP is owned by uranium miner Cameco Corp. (TSX: CCO), TransCanada Corp. (TSX: TRP) and BPC Generation Infrastructure Trust, an investment entity owned by Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, the Power Workers Union and the Society of Energy Professionals. Toronto Star | | | | | | © Copyright Toronto Star 1996-2007 | ***************************************************************** 8 The Hindu: India not bound by Hyde Act, says Govt. Thursday, August 16, 2007 : 2055 Hrs New Delhi, Aug. 16 (PTI): The Government today sought to allay Left concerns on the Indo-US nuclear deal, saying India was not bound by the Hyde Act, which is unacceptable as it contains certain "extraneous and prescriptive" provisions. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee also said the Left has assured the government of a meeting after the CPI(M)'s two-day polit bureau beginning tomorrow. "Whatever stated in Hyde Act is not binding on us. How they (US) deal with it is their problem," Mukherjee told reporters in Parliament minutes after he made a statement in Lok Sabha. India has the sovereign right to test and would do so if it is necessary in the national interest, he said in the statement. Replying to a query, he said there are many "extraneous and prescriptive" provisions in Hyde Act which are "not acceptable" to India. Section 103 of the Act contains provisions of India's cooperation in containing Iran's nuclear programme and New Delhi halting fissile material production. It also suggests that the US would oppose development of a capability to produce nuclear weapons by any non-nuclear weapon state within or outside the NPT regime. When told that the Left parties were insisting that the 123 agreement needed to be read in conjunction with the Hyde Act, he merely said "everybody has his own right to say..." Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the ***************************************************************** 9 BBC NEWS: Outages hit British Energy profit Last Updated: Thursday, 16 August 2007, 07:34 GMT 08:34 UK British Energy saw outages at its Hunterston station British Energy saw its profits fall for the first quarter of 2007, following stoppages at its Hinkley Point and Hunterston stations. The nuclear energy firm saw net profits drop to Ł91m in the three months to July 1, down from Ł146m in the same period last year. Unplanned losses of nuclear energy hit nearly 20% up from 13%. 'Well placed' "We continue to work hard to deliver reliable output from Hinkley point B and Hunterston B, while seeking to maintain the performance seen across the fleet for the rest of the year," said Bill Coley, chief executive of British Energy. While both stations are in service after outages earlier this year, they are running below full capacity. By March 2008, the firm will decide whether to extend the life of the two stations. The government is running a consultation on the future of nuclear power, and whether firms can invest in new nuclear energy plants. British Energy said it was "well placed to play an important role in any new build as we have skills, experience and sites that are good candidates for any new construction". The firm is in talks with several parties about developing such plans and has started looking at the suitability of existing sites for new projects. * BBC Copyright Notice ***************************************************************** 10 PBP: FPL plans to boost nuclear power profile By KRISTI E. SWARTZ Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Thursday, August 16, 2007 Florida Power & Light Co. on Wednesday announced a nuclear power plan that could see customers of the state's largest utility getting 30 percent of their electricity from fission by 2020. FPL, owned by FPL Group Inc. (NYSE: FPL, $58.97), also reiterated that it wants to build two more reactors at Turkey Point by 2018 and 2020 and wants to choose from one of five reactor designs by early next year. "We need to take concrete steps now to investigate the ability for new nuclear power," Steve Scroggs, FPL's senior director for nuclear project development, told the Florida Public Service Commission on Wednesday. FPL's executives have been bullish on nuclear power, but right now it occupies only 20 percent of the utility's fuel mix. Meanwhile, it gets 50 percent of its fuel from natural gas and needs to figure out another way to diversify that and add additional power. Earlier this year, regulators denied FPL's plans for a 1,960-megawatt "clean coal" plant in Glades County. "Part of the uprate (upgrade) will be to find capacity that is needed for a time period between 2011 to 2015, which, without having the coal plant, we'll have to generate by other means," FPL spokesman Mayco Villafańa said. Nuclear power is cheaper and subject to fewer price spikes than natural gas, giving FPL's 4.4 million residential and business consumers a break on their monthly electric bills. And if FPL can run its nuclear plants all the time, it can save the natural gas and coal plants for times when the grid needs additional power, such as during the summer. "Increasing the contribution of nuclear power in the portfolio will increase energy independence in the state," Scroggs said. FPL plans to file its plans with the PSC by the third quarter, which ends Sept. 30, Villafańa said. For the reactor upgrades, FPL needs approval from state and federal agencies. Scroggs said FPL will probably will spend $40 million a year over the next two years to prepare what's known as a combined-operating license to file with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which it hopes to do in 2009. At first blush, regulators welcomed FPL's plans, with Commissioner Nathan Skop asking whether FPL would be able to get the proposed reactors at Turkey Point running earlier than 2018. Scroggs said that wasn't possible because of regulatory red tape, particularly at the federal level. The decision to deny FPL's coal plant has cast a pall over future high-risk projects such as nuclear. "We certainly hope there is a review and expedited oversight of this particular (nuclear) technology," Villafańa said. "There needs to be a uniform discipline." FPL isn't the only Florida utility sending that message. Alex Glenn, chief attorney for St. Petersburg-based Progress Energy Florida, said the company was still evaluating the financial, technical and reputational risks that go along with its proposal to build two nuclear reactors in Levy County by June 2016, and won't make a decision until the end of the year. Copyright 2007 The Palm Beach Post. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 11 Burlington Free Press: Strike looming at Vermont Yankee nuke plant burlingtonfreepress.com | Burlington, Vermont Published: Thursday, August 16, 2007 Associated Press VERNON — About 230 workers at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant could go on strike if a new contract with the plant’s owners can’t be reached by midnight Sunday. Representatives from plant owner Entergy Nuclear and negotiators for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers are trying to reach an agreement on wages, health benefits and pension plans. If a strike is called, Entergy will run the plant using supervisors or employees from other plants, said Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Sheehan said strikes at nuclear plants were rare. “Most of these contract negotiations are settled before it comes to a walkout,” said Sheehan. “Typically, what happens is both sides converge not long before the contract expires.” But Entergy is required to have a strike contingency plan in place, Sheehan said. Ed Anthes, of Nuclear Free Vermont, said area residents should be concerned about who will run the plant if a strike does occur. “These will be replacement workers who are working long hours at unfamiliar jobs at an unfamiliar reactor,” Anthes said. “The crisp thinking and decision-making needed in an emergency might be lacking.” Copyright ©2007 Burlingtonfreepress.com All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 12 Heartland Institute: California Assemblyman Taking Nuclear Power to the People - by James Hoare - HEARTLAND INSTITUTE 19 South LaSalle Street Suite 903 Chicago, IL 60603 312.377.4000 think@heartland.org Web Site Manager Latonya Harris lharris@heartland.org "California Assemblyman Chuck DeVore ... has begun gathering signatures necessary for placing a nuclear power ballot initiative before voters next June." Frustrated by obstructionism in the California Assembly, Assemblyman Chuck DeVore (R-Irvine) is taking the issue of nuclear power directly to the people. DeVore in July announced he has begun gathering signatures necessary for placing a nuclear power ballot initiative before voters next June. A state law passed in 1976 prohibits the construction of new nuclear power plants in California until the national government begins accepting spent fuel at a central depository. With the proposed Yucca Mountain facility unlikely to begin accepting spent fuel for at least another decade, the 1976 law effectively serves as a moratorium against new nuclear power plant construction in the state. Assembly Leaders Say No Viewing nuclear power as a more cost-effective means than solar or wind power to meet California's stringent greenhouse gas reduction laws, DeVore has tried in vain during the past year to have the California Assembly readdress the 1976 law. Although the Public Policy Institute of California reports the state's voters are evenly split on the construction of new nuclear power plants, Assembly leadership has thwarted any serious consideration of revising the moratorium. "I came to the conclusion that the Legislature doesn't want an honest discussion about nuclear power," said DeVore in the July 17 San Luis Obispo Tribune. DeVore added, "I'm confident we can embark on a vigorous debate about this." Taking it to the People DeVore has begun taking his case straight to the people. California law requires approximately 500,000 signatures to put the initiative on the ballot. DeVore vows to meet the requirement and let voters decide the future of the state's energy choices. "We have a myriad of legislation and mandates in this state," DeVore said in an interview for this article. "We have renewable energy mandates that are not close to being met right now. The same applies for greenhouse gas mandates. "If you look at the mandates for renewable energy, greenhouse gas emissions, and the mandate to eliminate coal-based power by 2027, you find that the only way to meet these requirements without shutting off the power for California citizens and bankrupting them in the process is to allow for the construction of nuclear power plants," DeVore continued. Lower Cost, Emissions DeVore is quick to answer arguments that nuclear power plants are prohibitively expensive. While real-world data show nuclear power is more expensive than coal-fired power, the current energy mix in California is more expensive than both coal and nuclear. "Nuclear power is slightly cost-positive relative to California's current energy mix. If we went all nuclear, we would actually reduce energy costs for California citizens. Even now, California's energy costs are increasing due to expensive natural gas and solar power comprising more and more of the state's energy portfolio," DeVore said. Tom Tanton, vice president of the Institute for Energy Research, agrees nuclear energy would lower the price of California power. "Nuclear technology is cost-competitive even compared to new coal plants, especially with California's greenhouse gas statutes," Tanton said. "While solar is nice, it remains the single highest cost [source] and cannot supply enough to meet California's growing demand. Natural gas is also expensive, with potential continued price increases. Nuclear has known costs once the plants are built, adding further to the economically rational choice of nuclear," Tanton added. "The great irony in this debate is that had America continued to build nuclear power plants over the past 30 years instead of switching to coal-fired plants, we'd be meeting our Kyoto Treaty limits for carbon dioxide emissions," Tanton noted. "Thankfully, California voters are now evenly divided on the question of more nuclear power." Optimistic About Success DeVore realizes he faces an arduous task, but he is eager directly to take his case to the people of California. "You may see this become the most high-profile fight in the country in the mid-year political battles next year," DeVore said. "We are getting support from organized labor. I am encouraged by some of the public comments from Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Dianne Feinstein, and Nancy Pelosi regarding nuclear power. That has not yet translated into support at the local California level, but I am expecting that you will see some legislators from working-class districts come around and support this when they see that support is more widespread and less partisan than people may think," DeVore added. James Hoare (ljahoare@aol.com) is an attorney practicing in Rochester, New York. ***************************************************************** 13 toledoblade.com: FirstEnergy ordered to improve communications in wake of contradictory Davis-Besse reports Article published Wednesday, August 15, 2007 NRC imposes no fines against the utility BLADE STAFF ROCKVILLE, MD. — The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has decided not to come down hard on FirstEnergy Corp. for holding back on contradictory information the utility had gathered about the near-rupture of Davis-Besse's old reactor head in 2002, letting the utility off with what is effectively a warning. The federal agency's headquarters in this Washington suburb today issued an order requiring FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co. to improve employee training in communications by Nov. 30, and to hire outside consultants to analyze the utility's progress in that area in 2008 and 2009. It also ordered the company to develop a formal review procedure for technical reports created for non-regulatory purposes to better recognize what should be instantly shared with the NRC. The NRC made it clear since issuing a "Demand for Information" in May that it was irked by FirstEnergy Corp.'s three-month delay in releasing the two documents, prepared by outside consultants to help bolster the utility's arbitration case over a $200 million insurance claim. The agency said it had the authority to impose hefty fines or sanctions up to and including license suspension under that process. One of the documents in particular, a 661-page report, had potential nationwide ramifications for safety operations at other nuclear plants because of how it attempts to portray the Davis-Besse incident as a fluke. Its conclusions contradicted earlier research by both FirstEnergy and the federal government, which had agreed years ago that safety was compromised at Davis-Besse because of neglected maintenance. The report prompted the NRC to verify no other plants were on the verge of what happened at Davis-Besse in 2002, the closest the United States had come to having radioactive steam formed in containment since the half-core meltdown of the Three Mile Island Unit 2 nuclear plant in Pennsylvania in 1979. FirstEnergy is using the two new reports to seek $200 million in insurance payments for the damaged head. Read more in later editions of The Blade and toledoblade.com. © 2007 The Blade. By using this service, you accept the terms of ***************************************************************** 14 toledoblade.com: NRC lets utility off lightly in data case Article published Thursday, August 16, 2007 DAVIS-BESSE FirstEnergy told to alter training By TOM HENRY BLADE STAFF WRITER The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has effectively let FirstEnergy Corp. off with a warning for waiting three months before producing contradictory information the utility had gathered about the near-rupture of Davis-Besse’s reactor head in 2002. The utility could have lost its operating licenses for Davis-Besse, Perry nuclear plant east of Cleveland, and its twin-reactor nuclear complex in western Pennsylvania over the ordeal, because the regulatory agency saw potential for national safety implications in suppressed data that two FirstEnergy consultants had compiled. Ultimately, the agency’s concerns were resolved with no evidence of a national problem brewing. Although no fine was imposed against FirstEnergy for its delay in sharing the information, NRC spokesman Viktoria Mitlyng said yesterday the agency has left open the door for monetary penalties if the utility’s nuclear division, FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co., violates the new order. The order requires the nuclear division to improve employee training in communications by Nov. 30 and to hire outside consultants to analyze the utility’s progress in 2008 and 2009. It also requires the company to revamp several internal procedures for deciding what types of information need to be shared instantly with the agency as well as to document its actions from the last several months in a root cause report for NRC inspectors. “They didn’t violate any regulations. But we’re taking a look at the bigger picture, if you will, because of the company’s history,” Ms. Mitlyng said. The NRC made it clear since issuing a “Demand for Information” in May that it was irked by FirstEnergy’s delay in releasing two documents that outside consultants prepared to help bolster the utility’s $200 million insurance claim for damage to Davis-Besse’s reactor head. One of the reports suggested the incident was a fluke: that most of the reactor head’s deterioration had occurred in the final three weeks before the plant’s historic two-year outage began on Feb. 16, 2002. The information contradicted earlier research by both FirstEnergy and the federal government, which had agreed in 2002 that Davis-Besse’s safety was compromised by several years of neglected maintenance. One of the reports was a 661-page document prepared by Exponent Failure Analysis Association, of Menlo Park, Calif., and Altran Solutions Corp., of Boston. It was completed for FirstEnergy on Dec. 15. Soon after learning of the contradictory reports on March 20, the NRC ordered an assessment of the nation’s 68 other nuclear plants with pressurized-water reactors like Davis-Besse’s. The agency wanted to find out if any were on the verge of having similar problems. None were. The near-rupture of Davis-Besse’s old reactor head is the closest the United States has come to having radioactive steam form in containment since the half-core meltdown of the Three Mile Island, Unit 2, nuclear plant in Pennsylvania in 1979. Davis-Besse’s lid had deteriorated so much in one spot that nothing was left except a thin stainless steel liner that was cracking and starting to bulge. Todd Schneider, FirstEnergy spokesman, said the NRC’s order “puts this issue behind us.” “The measures we are putting into place will ensure such issues do not arise again,” he said. FirstEnergy was fined a record $33.5 million for lying to the government about Davis-Besse’s operating status during the fall of 2001, including a record $28 million after a two-year criminal probe. A federal grand jury that heard evidence between 2003 and 2005 concluded that FirstEnergy had misled the NRC about the plant as the agency was contemplating whether to execute the government’s first safety-related shutdown order for a nuclear plant since 1987. FirstEnergy paid the fines without admitting or denying the accusations. NRC officials drafted the 2001 shutdown order after learning about design similarities between Davis-Besse and a South Carolina nuclear plant where excessive leakage and unexpected reactor-nozzle cracks had been found. A U.S. Department of Justice prosecutor said last year he thought that FirstEnergy had showed “brazen arrogance” for the manner in which it withheld information about Davis-Besse that fall. That issue is now the focus of a case in U.S. District Court in Toledo that involves two former Davis-Besse engineers and an outside contractor charged with lying to the NRC. If convicted, they face up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines. While the impact of yesterday’s announcement on that case was not immediately known, a hearing is scheduled for Tuesday about expert witnesses. The first trial, involving engineer Andrew Siemaszko, is tentatively scheduled to begin in mid-September, although Judge David Katz has said he is reluctant to proceed until the government tells him whether the Exponent report is “junk science” or not. Neither the Justice Department nor the NRC has done that. The other two who were indicted, engineer David Geisen and contractor Rodney N. Cook, are to be tried together after Mr. Siemaszko. Billie Pirner Garde, one of Mr. Siemaszko’s attorneys, characterized yesterday’s NRC order as a “slap on the wrist” for FirstEnergy. Activists David Lochbaum, of the Union of Concerned Scientists, and Jim Riccio, of Greenpeace agreed. “I was hoping for more. Basically saying, ‘You haven’t trained your staff improperly,’ doesn’t get to the root of the problem,” Mr. Riccio said. “The NRC obviously missed an opportunity to send a message to FENOC management. It looks like they just took a pass.” Contact Tom Henry at:thenry@theblade.comor 419-724-6079. © 2007 The Blade. By using this service, you accept the terms of our privacy statement and our visitor agreement. Please read them. The Toledo Blade Company, 541 N. Superior St., Toledo, OH 43660 , (419) 724-6000 To contact a specific department or an ***************************************************************** 15 NRC: Consolidated Decommissioning Guidance; Notice of Revision to, Withdrawal of Portions of, and Process for Updating FR Doc E7-16131 [Federal Register: August 16, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 158)] [Notices] [Page 46102-46103] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr16au07-117] NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Notice of revision to, withdrawal of portions of, and process for updating NUREG-1757. SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff is revising, withdrawing portions of, and describing the process for updating guidance in ``Consolidated Decommissioning Guidance: Characterization, Survey, and Determination of Radiological Criteria'' (NUREG-1757, Vol. 2, Rev. 1), Appendix N, ``ALARA Analyses.'' This notice also describes the staff's process for developing interim guidance and future revisions to the three volumes of its ``Consolidated Decommissioning Guidance'' (NUREG-1757). ADDRESSES: NUREG-1757 is available for inspection and copying for a fee at the Commission's Public Document Room, NRC's Headquarters Building, 11555 Rockville Pike (First Floor), Rockville, Maryland. The Public Document Room is open from 7:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m., Monday through Friday, except on Federal holidays. NUREG-1757 is also available electronically on the NRC Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr1757/ , and from the ADAMS Electronic Reading Room on the NRC Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html . The NRC's decommissioning Web page is at: http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/regulatory/decommissioning.html . FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Duane W. Schmidt, Division of Waste Management and Environmental Protection, Office of Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management Programs, Mail Stop T-8F5, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. Telephone: (301) 415-6919; e-mail: dws2@nrc.gov. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In September 2006, the NRC staff published Revision 1 of Volume 2 of NUREG-1757, entitled, ``Consolidated Decommissioning Guidance: Characterization, Survey, and Determination of Radiological Criteria,'' which provides technical guidance on compliance with the radiological criteria for license termination in the NRC's License Termination Rule (LTR) (Code of Federal Regulations, Title 10, Part 20, Subpart E). Volume 2 is applicable to all licensees subject to the LTR. Volume 2 is one of three volumes of the NUREG-1757 series, which, combined, provide consolidated guidance on decommissioning. The NRC staff considers the development of its guidance as an iterative process. Formal revisions to of NUREG-1757 (i.e., publishing new revised volumes of NUREG-1757) are anticipated in the future. When these revised volumes are developed, the NRC staff intends to publish them as drafts for public comment. Between formal revisions of the NUREG-1757 volumes, errors needing correction or other revisions may be identified and the NRC staff may develop interim guidance and post it on the NRC's decommissioning web page, to make it available for use by licensees and other stakeholders. During the review of a recently submitted decommissioning plan, proposing decommissioning in accordance with the restricted use provision of the LTR, the NRC staff determined that there are certain errors in Vol. 2 of NUREG-1757, Appendix N. The specific errors concern compliance with the ``as low as is reasonably achievable'' (ALARA) provisions of the LTR. The guidance being corrected or withdrawn is described below. Error 1. On page N-1 of Appendix N, the first paragraph provides a general introductory discussion of ALARA. In this paragraph, the word ``feasible'' is used twice when referring to ALARA. The correct word is ``reasonable.'' [[Page 46103]] Error 2. On page N-4 of Appendix N, The last paragraph discusses the monetary value for collective dose averted and discount rates that may be used in ALARA calculations. In particular, the paragraph includes the following two sentences: ``For doses averted within the first 100 years, a discount rate of 7% should be used. For doses averted beyond 100 years, a 3% discount rate should be used. `` The discussion of discount rate in these two sentences is incorrect. Therefore, these two quoted sentences are withdrawn from the guidance of NUREG-1757, Vol. 2 and should not be used. Error 3. On page N-10 of Appendix N, Table N.2 summarizes acceptable parameter values for use in decommissioning ALARA analyses. This table includes a row describing the monetary discount rate, r. Consistent with Error 2, above, the description for the second column (the ``value'' description) of the row on monetary discount rate, r, is withdrawn from the guidance of NUREG-1757, Vol. 2. Error 4. On page N-12 of Appendix N, Example 3 is an ALARA calculation for removing surface soil contaminated with a long-lived radionuclide. Use of the single discount rate in the example may be misleading, because the guidance in NUREG/BR-0058 recommends multiple analyses be performed. Therefore, Example 3 is withdrawn from Appendix N of NUREG-1757, Vol. 2, and should not be used. Error 5. On page N-18 of Appendix N, the last paragraph again discusses acceptable values for the discount rate, r. In particular, this paragraph includes the sentence: ``Values for r are given in NUREG/BR-0058, Revision 2, and OMB policy (OMB 1996).'' The referenced guidance is out-of-date, and this quoted sentence is withdrawn from the guidance of NUREG-1757, Vol. 2. The staff intends to develop interim guidance to address the withdrawn portions of guidance discussed above and will post the interim guidance on the NRC's decommissioning Web page, to make it available for use by licensees and other stakeholders. The guidance in NUREG-1757 and any corrections to NUREG-1757 are intended for use by NRC staff and licensees. The NUREG and any corrections are not substitutes for NRC regulations, and compliance with them is not required. The NUREG and corrections describe approaches that are generally acceptable to NRC staff. However, methods and solutions different than those in the NUREG and corrections will be acceptable, if they provide a basis for concluding that the decommissioning actions are in compliance with NRC regulations. Dated at Rockville, MD, this 10th day of August, 2007. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Keith I. McConnell, Deputy Director, Decommissioning & Uranium Recovery, Licensing Directorate, Division of Waste Management and Environmental Protection, Office of Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management Programs. [FR Doc. E7-16131 Filed 8-15-07; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 16 NRC: NRC to Discuss Process for Review of License Renewal Application for Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant August 21 News Release - 2007-103 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-0001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov www.nrc.gov Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will conduct a public meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 21, to discuss the agency’s review process for the license renewal application for the Vogtle nuclear power plant. The application, submitted June 29, seeks an additional 20 years of service for the Waynesboro, Ga., plant, which has two operating reactors. The meeting will take place at the Waynesboro Auditorium of the Augusta Technical College, Waynesboro/Burke Campus, 216 Highway 24 South, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. NRC staff will conduct an informal open house from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. to meet with members of the public. The formal meeting will begin with NRC staff presentations on how the overall license renewal review process works. Following the presentations, attendees will be able to ask questions and offer their comments. “This meeting will give interested citizens the chance to learn how we review license renewal applications,” said Pao-Tsin Kuo, director of the NRC’s Division of License Renewal. “We should also note that this is just the first of what will be multiple opportunities for the public to engage the NRC with regard to the Vogtle application.” Under NRC regulations, the original operating license for a nuclear power plant has a term of 40 years. The license may be renewed for up to 20 additional years if NRC requirements are met. The license renewal process proceeds along two tracks, one for safety issues and one for environmental issues. An applicant must provide NRC an evaluation that addresses the technical aspects of plant aging and describes the ways those effects will be managed. It must also prepare an evaluation of the potential impact on the environment if the plant operates for an additional 20 years. The NRC reviews the application and verifies the safety evaluations through inspections. Public meetings are held by the NRC during the review of the renewal application, and NRC evaluations, findings and recommendations are published when completed. The current operating license for the Vogtle Unit 1 reactor is due to expire Jan. 16, 2027, and Vogtle Unit 2's on Feb. 9, 2020. Both units are owned and operated by Southern Nuclear Operating Co. A copy of the Vogtle license renewal application is available via the NRC’s Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applications/v ogtle.html NRC news releases are available through a free list server subscription at the following Web address: http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/listserver.html. The NRC Home Page at www.nrc.gov also offers a Subscribe to News link in the News & Information menu. E-mail notifications are sent to subscribers when news releases are posted to NRC's Web Site. August 16, 2007 ***************************************************************** 17 NRC: Exelon Generation Company, LLC; Notice of Withdrawal of Application for Amendment to Facility Operating Licenses NPF-37 and NPF-66 FR Doc E7-16148 [Federal Register: August 16, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 158)] [Notices] [Page 46102] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr16au07-116] ======================================================================= ----------------------------------------------------------------------- NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION [Docket Nos. STN 50-454 and STN 50-455] The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission) has granted the request of Exelon Generation Company, LLC (the licensee) to withdraw its June 16, 2006, application for proposed amendment to Facility Operating License Nos. NPF-37 and NPF-66 for the Byron Station, Unit Nos. 1 and 2, located in Ogle County, Illinois. The proposed amendment would have revised the Updated Final Safety Analysis Report pertaining to tornado generated missile protection for certain systems and components. The Commission had previously issued a Notice of Consideration of Issuance of Amendment published in the Federal Register on November 21, 2006 (17 FR 67393). However, by letter dated July 24, 2007, the licensee withdrew the proposed change. For further details with respect to this action, see the application for amendment dated June 16, 2006, and the licensee's letter dated July 24, 2007, which withdrew the application for license amendment. Documents may be examined, and/or copied for a fee, at the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint North, Public File Area O1 F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland. Publicly available records will be accessible electronically from the Agencywide Documents Access and Management Systems (ADAMS) Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at the NRC Web site, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm.html. Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS should contact the NRC PDR Reference staff by telephone at 1-800- 397-4209, or 301-415-4737 or by e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov. Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 6th day of August 2007. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Robert F. Kuntz, Project Manager, Plant Licensing Branch III-2, Division of Operating Reactor Licensing, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. [FR Doc. E7-16148 Filed 8-15-07; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 18 Reuters: Indian parliament disrupted by nuclear deal critics Thu Aug 16, 2007 6:04AM EDT NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Opponents of a historic nuclear energy deal between India and the United States disrupted the Indian parliament on Thursday, saying the government had misled the chambers on the details of the agreement. Unruly MPs shouted slogans against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and some sought his resignation for "misleading" parliament, forcing both the upper and lower houses to be adjourned for the day. The lawmakers cited media reports that quoted the U.S. State Department spokesman as saying in Washington on Tuesday that the landmark deal would be terminated if India conducted fresh nuclear tests. This, the MPs said, violated India's sovereignty and nuclear security. "Prime minister quit your job", "Stop lying, Stop selling the country", about two dozen opposition lawmakers shouted after they gathered in the centre of both houses. The nuclear deal aims to give India access to U.S. nuclear fuel and equipment for the first time in 30 years to help meet its soaring energy needs, even though it has stayed out of non-proliferation pacts and tested nuclear weapons. First agreed in principle two years ago, the framework deal was approved by the U.S. Congress last December and the pact that governs nuclear trade between the two, called the 123 agreement, was finalized last month. The 123 agreement has to get the backing of the U.S. Congress after India secures other international approvals. Critics in both countries say their governments are making too many compromises in their eagerness to seal it. On Monday, Prime Minister Singh told parliament that the deal was crucial for the country's energy security and did not take away its right to conduct nuclear tests. Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee reaffirmed that India had "sovereign right to test and would do so if it is necessary in the national interest". "The only restraint is our voluntary unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing," he told parliament. But that did not convince the slogan-shouting MPs, some of whom walked out of the house in protest. The fresh trouble came a day before communist allies of the government, whose support is crucial for the survival of the coalition and who have rejected the deal, begin a two-day meeting to decide on their political strategy. Some analysts say the left parties could pull out of a political coordination panel with the government and even make their support to the coalition conditional. "The cooperation will not be the same as today," D. Raja, a senior communist leader and MP, told Reuters. "This is a major issue that has strained relations and caused a major confrontation." "We want to redefine our approach on policies of the government including the nuclear deal," he said. (Additional reporting by Kamil Zaheer) ***************************************************************** 19 Reuters: FP&L bets on nuclear power for Florida Thu Aug 16, 2007 3:55PM EDT By Bernie Woodall LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Florida Power & Light said it plans to build two more nuclear reactors and expand two existing nuclear power plants in Florida. The subsidiary of FPL Group Inc. is betting on nuclear power because it emits no greenhouse gases and will further diversify Florida's biggest utility's generation mix, FP&L President Armando Olivera said in a statement. FP&L told the Florida Public Service Commission on Wednesday that it wants to build two new reactors -- with 3,000 megawatts power production capacity -- at its Turkey Point nuclear plant near Miami by 2018 and 2020. The company also told the Florida PSC it would choose one of five reactor designs by early 2008. The Florida PSC rejected earlier this year the utility's plans for a for a 1,960-megawatt "clean" coal plant. FP&L also wants to expand by 2012 by 400 megawatts existing units at Turkey Point and its St. Lucie nuclear plant, about 120 miles north of Miami and near Fort Pierce, Florida. Together, the new and expanded reactors would be able to serve about 1 million average Florida homes. FP&L now has about 3,200 megawatts nuclear power of its Florida total of 21,000 megawatts of generation. The largest utility in the Sunshine State, FP&L serves 8 million Floridians, roughly half the population. "Additional nuclear energy will be a major contributor to meeting Gov. (Charlie) Crist's aggressive goals for reducing greenhouse gases while cost effectively supporting the needs of a growing population in Florida," Olivera said. He said new nuclear reactors would also "cushion the price swings associated with oil and natural gas." Crist in July signed executive orders that put Florida on a growing list of U.S. states following California's lead to set strict emissions goals while the federal government's emissions restrictions lag. The Florida targets call for state utilities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 2000 levels by 2017, to 1990 levels by 2025 and by 80 percent of 1990 levels by 2050. Progress Energy Florida, a subsidiary of Progress Energy Corp. that serves north Florida, also has plans to build two reactors in Levy County on a greenfield site -- one without an existing reactor. It now has a 838-megawatt reactor, Crystal River, in Citrus County, which borders Levy. Unlike California, there is no prohibition in Florida to building nuclear plants. California in the mid-1970s outlawed new nuclear reactors until a nuclear waste repository opens. Industry analysts say it's unknown when the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste site in Nevada will open, if ever. FP&L noted that no concrete will be poured on new reactors for years and there is no certainty to approval by a myriad of local, state, and federal regulators. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission expects over the next two years to get licenses to build 32,000 to 33,000 megawatts of new nuclear power generation. Current U.S. nuclear power generation is 100,156 megawatts, or about 20 percent of U.S. power production. FP&L wants to spend $80 million over the next two years in preparing its NRC license, which it hopes to do in 2009. Nuclear power, unlike solar and wind power that also do not emit global warming carbon dioxide, is a baseload source, meaning it generates power around-the-clock most days. ***************************************************************** 20 The Local: Chernobyl 'set back Swedish children's development' Published: 16th August 2007 12:36 CET Online: http://www.thelocal.se/8206/ Swedish children born in the months following the Chernobyl disaster had their mental development impaired by radioactive fallout from the nuclear accident, according to a new study. In a paper focusing on 'Chernobyl's subclinical legacy', economists Mĺrten Palme from Stockholm University and Lena Edlund and Douglas Almond from New York's Columbia University explore the effects of increased radiation levels in Sweden in the wake of the April 1986 disaster. A statistical analysis of the academic performance of 562,637 Swedes born between 1983 and 1988 indicated to the authors that "the cohort in utero during the Chernobyl accident had worse school outcomes than adjacent birth cohorts, and this deterioration was largest for those exposed approximately 8-25 weeks post conception." Students born in the eight municipalities experiencing the highest levels of radiation "were 3.6 percentage points less likely to qualify to high school as a result of the fallout." The authors came to the conclusion that pre-natal exposure to radiation levels previously considered safe is in fact damaging to cognitive ability. Speaking to The Local, Professor Mĺrten Palme said that he would "prefer not to comment on the findings because the paper hasn't been published yet". Chemistry World reports that the authors expect their paper to be published later this month as a US National Bureau of Economic Research working paper. Paul O'Mahony (paul.omahony@thelocal.se ***************************************************************** 21 UPI: Outside View: CANDU can't do United Press International - International Security - Industry - Published: Aug. 16, 2007 at 1:22 PM By TATYANA SINITSYNA UPI Outside View Commentator MOSCOW, Aug. 16 (UPI) -- Politicians in Kiev are busy looking for an alternative to Russia as a builder of nuclear power plants. At any rate, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk hastened to announce after a meeting last week with his Canadian counterpart, Peter Gordon MacKay, that Ukraine was resuming talks with Canadian companies on the construction of CANDU -- Canada Deuterium Uranium -- nuclear reactors in Ukraine. One of the main aims, he said, was to ensure Ukraine's "uranium independence." Ukraine has its own uranium raw materials, but it is forced to enrich them abroad. CANDU reactors use natural uranium. The politicians, however, are not telling the whole story: The uranium problem is not quite so straightforward. What is surprising, though, is that the CANDU reactor, developed at the dawn of the nuclear energy era, is a "cousin" of the Chernobyl RBMK reactor that exploded 20 years ago. One would think Ukraine would have developed a distaste for anything associated with that past tragedy. Scientists did not hesitate to describe the construction of nuclear plants with obsolete heavy-water CANDU units as "unwise." Speaking at a news conference in Kiev, Andrei Derkach, the general director of Ukraine's nuclear energy agency, said, "Experimenting with the choice of a unit is costly and unnecessary" and argued that "no one in Europe is willing to use CANDU technology." That is not entirely true: Canadian units are used in Romania. In the 1980s its former leader, President Nicolae Ceausescu, after a quarrel with Moscow, chose a Canadian, rather than a Soviet, project for building Romania's first nuclear plant in Cernavoda. The ambition to swap partners for political considerations (no other explanation makes sense) seems to have gained the upper hand in Ukraine as well. But a switchover to a different type of reactor in a country that is successfully using a more advanced technology -- VVER water-cooled reactors -- is a costly business that is unlikely to meet Ukraine's budget. Too many problems arise when the general course is changed -- the need to overhaul infrastructure and engineering policy, to retrain specialists, etc. Nobody in the world has ever taken such a foolish step. But how far will a person go to get rid of an irritating partner? Especially since CANDU has an unquestionable advantage: It allows the country using it to produce plutonium, a military raw material. "The world community has opted for light-water reactors, which are free of the flaws of Chernobyl," said Professor Alexander Borovoi of Russia's Kurchatov Institute. He spent 20 years doing research at Chernobyl. "Reactors of the VVER type have a long history. Hundreds of them have been built in different countries and have collectively logged many thousand years of safe operation. They are backed by extensive experience and tremendous intellectual and material contributions to their safety. Little research, on the other hand, has been done on CANDU units," Borovoi said. Today Ukraine operates 15 Russian-built VVER reactors and has had no trouble with them. But they were not built yesterday, and their dwindling capacity is prompting thoughts about the future. But what point is there in swapping modern, reliable reactors for yesterday's souvenirs? Is this an obsession with vintage machines, or "a desire to chew the old cud," as one Russian physicist put it? Advocates of changing Ukraine's nuclear policy argue that CANDU has fixed all the Chernobyl bugs. Andrei Gagarinsky of the Kurchatov Institute has said that "the Canadians seem to have dealt with the design flaw that plagued the CANDU project from the beginning." Russian nuclear specialists, however, have also fixed the RBMK reactor's engineering defects. But, in eliminating one shortcoming, the Canadian project has acquired a new one: "In order to improve the CANDU, they had to abandon the use of natural uranium, which was cheap and convenient, in favor of lightly enriched uranium (by more than 1 percent), which is more expensive," Gagarinsky said. Ukraine has no nuclear fuel cycle facilities and will be forced to seek the services of those few countries, including Russia, that have a radio-chemical industry to enrich natural uranium. Ukraine's "uranium independence" remains a figment of the national imagination. -- (Tatyana Sinitsyna is a commentator for RIA Novosti. This article is reprinted by permission of RIA Novosti. The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.) -- (United Press International's "Outside View" commentaries are written by outside contributors who specialize in a variety of important issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of United Press International. In the interests of creating an open forum, original submissions are invited.) © Copyright 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 22 Prague Daily Monitor: Temelin staff start fuel replacement in first unit - By CTK / Published 16 August 2007 Temelin, Aug 15 (CTK) - Staff at Czech nuclear power station Temelin started replacing part of fuel in the plant's shut down first unit on Tuesday afternoon, Temelin spokesman Marek Svitak told CTK Wednesday. Technicians will take out and check all the unit's 163 fuel assemblies in the days to come. Then they will place 49 cartridges with new and improved fuel in the reactor that will supplement assemblies from previous campaigns. Temelin's first unit will be disconnected from the grid till October. Temelin operator CEZ decided to replace the original fuel assemblies because they became more deformed than expected. Early in 2007, technicians placed a quarter of upgraded cartridges in the first unit's reactor. In June, they replaced the same amount of fuel also in the second unit. "The first unit's reactor will have 91 modernised fuel assemblies after the shutdown ends," Svitak said. One unit in Temelin has 163 fuel cartridges containing 92 tonnes of fuel in total. The plant uses uranium dioxide as fuel with an average 4.25 percent of enriched uranium. Temelin buys fuel from US company Westinghouse. The contract on fuel supplies will be valid till 2010 when Westinghouse will be replaced by Russia's TVEL. The contract with TVEL worth several billion crowns secures fuel supplies for ten years. TVEL should supply around 400 tonnes of fuel to Temelin during that period. TVEL supplies fuel also to the second Czech nuclear plant Dukovany. Technicians want to replace also part of the first unit's turbine rotor because of problems with turbine vibration. They already made the same replacement in the plant's second unit this year. Temelin's output should grow by at least 26 megawatt hours to 1,020 megawatt hours after the rotor replacements which will cost around Kc700m. This story is from the Czech News Agency (CTK). The Prague Daily Monitor and Monitor CE are not responsible for its content. Copyright 2007 by the Czech News Agency (CTK). All rights reserved. copyright 2007 monitor ce media services s.r.o. | all rights reserved ***************************************************************** 23 NRC: NRC Meeting August 28, 30 in South Carolina to Discuss Review Process for Expected New Reactor Applications News Release - 2007-104 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-0001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov www.nrc.gov Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will conduct public meetings in Winnsboro, S.C., on Tuesday, Aug. 28, and in Gaffney, S.C., on Thursday, Aug. 30, to discuss how the agency will review expected Combined License (COL) applications for new reactors in the state. The meeting in Winnsboro concerns an expected application from South Carolina Electric & Gas to build and operate two AP1000 reactors at the Summer site, located northwest of Columbia. The meeting in Gaffney concerns an expected application from Duke Energy to build and operate two AP1000 reactors at a site in Cherokee County. “We’re expecting these applications and several others by the end of this year, and we’ll be ready to review them when they come in,” said William Borchardt, Director of the NRC’s Office of New Reactors. “These meetings will help the communities near the sites understand how we’ll go through this process and how they can participate and stay informed.” The Winnsboro meeting will be held at Fairfield Central High School, 836 U.S. Highway 321 Bypass S, from 7 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. on Aug. 28. The Gaffney meeting will be held at the Restoration Church of Gaffney, 1905 N. Limestone St., from 7 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. on Aug. 30. NRC staff presentations will describe the overall Combined License review process, which includes safety and environmental assessments, as well as how the public can participate in the process. The NRC will host an open house for two hours prior to each meeting so members of the public have the opportunity to talk informally with agency staff. A COL, if issued, is authorization from the NRC to construct and, with conditions, operate a nuclear power plant at a specific site and in accordance with laws and regulations. More information on the NRC’s new reactor licensing process is available on the agency’s Web site here: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactor-licensing.html. NRC news releases are available through a free list server subscription at the following Web address: http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/listserver.html. The NRC Home Page at www.nrc.gov also offers a Subscribe to News link in the News & Information menu. E-mail notifications are sent to subscribers when news releases are posted to NRC's Web Site. August 16, 2007 ***************************************************************** 24 Scotsman.com: Doubts over future of nuclear power plants hit BE's share price Friday, 17th August 2007 HAMISH RUTHERFORD CITY CORRESPONDENT () BRITISH Energy shares suffered again after production fell and it revealed two of its nuclear plants may never again reach full capacity. The Livingston-based company reported its adjusted net profit for the first quarter had fallen to ÂŁ91 million, down from ÂŁ146m in the first quarter last year. A 14 per cent rise in realised prices to ÂŁ40.80 per megawatt hour at Britain's largest electricity producer was more than offset by a fall in the amount of electricity it generated. Production fell to 13.8 Terawatt hours (TWh) in the first quarter, down from 17TWh for the same period last year. Most of the fall was caused by lost production from Hunterston B in Ayrshire and Hinkley Point B in Somerset. British Energy has been hurt by lower production since last autumn when it found cracks in boiler pipes at both Hinkley Point and Hunterston, forcing lengthy closures. The advanced gas-cooled reactor stations, which both opened in 1976, have been undergoing extensive repairs. Back up and running, the plants are operating at around 60 per cent load, which British Energy said would be increased to 70 per cent during the course of the year. However, the company warned that Hunterston B and Hinkley Point B would not be returned to full power until a decision is made over whether to extend their usable life. Both are currently due to be decommissioned in 2011 and a decision on an extension will be made by the end of March 2008. Chief executive Bill Coley gave no certainty as to whether he expected the stations' usable life to be extended, or even whether it intended to take part in the next round of nuclear plant construction. "Any significant investment we might make in new nuclear assets will be taken only when we are comfortable with the prospect of creating value for shareholders," he said. Coley said performance from the rest of the fleet, including Torness in East Lothian, was "encouraging", with losses excluding the two troubled stations falling from 11 per cent to 6 per cent. Unusually, British Energy did not name a production target for the year. Analysts had expected the company to produce around 54TWh for the full year, although some warned this could be cut by around 5 per cent after yesterday's results. Coupled with a day of heavy losses across the markets, the FTSE 100 company fell 36.25p, or 8 per cent, to 417.25p. Despite resuming dividend payments earlier this year, shares have fallen 29 per cent in three months. Citigroup analyst Peter Atherton said that, while the bad news on plant performance was only incremental, it came on the back of already poor share performance. "Another disappointment regarding Hinkley and Hunterston will once again call into question British Energy's credibility in achieving its output goals", he said. Related topic * Nuclear energy http://business.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=1343 This article: http://business.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1300782007 Last updated: 16-Aug-07 00:09 BST ©2007 Scotsman.com | contact | terms & conditions ***************************************************************** 25 AFP: Indian PM accused of misleading parliament over US nuke deal - Thu Aug 16, 7:17 AM ET NEW DELHI (AFP) - Lawmakers accused Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of misleading parliament about a controversial civilian nuclear deal with the United States. MPs from four Communist parties, who prop up Singh's government in parliament, joined opposition lawmakers in alleging that he gave false information about the deal on Monday. "Stop speaking lies. Stop selling the country and save India," shouted MPs from the upper house as they demanded Singh's resignation. Uproar in both the upper and lower houses of parliament forced its adjournment for the day. The MPs focused on Singh's statement on Monday in which he said the civil nuclear energy deal concluded with Washington last month would not curb India's right to test nuclear weapons. Singh's statement seemed to contradict remarks by a US State Department spokesman on Tuesday who said the accord had provisions allowing Washington to terminate the agreement if India tested atomic weapons. Hindu nationalists and the Communists piled pressure on Singh for going ahead with the accord, which permits India to buy atomic fuel, technology and plants even though it is not party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee tried to allay MPs' concerns, saying "there is nothing in the bilateral agreement that the government has entered with the US that will tie the hands of a future government to undertake a nuclear test." But his promise that India retained the "sovereign right to test and would do so if it is necessary in the national interest" found few takers, with the Communists walking out and the opposition trooping to the well of the house to protest. Earlier, Communist lawmaker D. Raja warned the government not to take the support of the Left bloc for granted. "The Left is a serious political force and reflects the concerns of the people. The government should understand this," he said. "Despite this, if they go ahead with the deal, then we will decide what we can do." The Communists are to debate the agreement at a two-day meeting in New Delhi starting Friday. Tensions between the government and its allies mounted last week after Singh told the Communists the deal would not be renegotiated and dared them to withdraw support for the ruling Congress coalition. The deal also requires the approval of the US Congress before it becomes operational. Copyright © 2007 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The ***************************************************************** 26 Hemscott: TVA raises fuel charge, blames drought KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - With the drought drying up its cheapest source of electricity -- hydroelectric power -- the Tennessee Valley Authority on Thursday announced another quarterly charge to offset rising fuel costs. TVA said it will assess a fuel adjustment fee of four-tenths of a cent per kilowatt hour effective Oct. 1. Residential customers can expect an increase of $3 to $6 in their monthly bills. The country's largest public utility supplies electricity to about 8.7 million consumers across an 80,000-square-mile territory that includes most of Tennessee and parts of Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia. 'Extreme dry conditions across the Tennessee Valley this year have reduced our hydro generation by more than 40 percent, driving our fuel and purchased power costs higher than we planned,' TVA President and CEO Tom Kilgore said in a statement. 'We are working hard to manage our resources and costs during these extraordinary conditions, but there is no way for us to avoid buying more power to offset the significant loss of hydro production.' TVA gets about 60 percent of its electricity from coal-fired power plants, 30 percent from nuclear plants and 10 percent from its 29 hydroelectric dams. Renewable energy sources such as wind and solar account for less than 1 percent. January through July was among the driest on record in 118 years in the valley, TVA said. Although the utility has been able to maintain near normal levels in the main channel of the Tennessee River, upstream tributaries mostly in eastern Tennessee average 19 feet below normal, leaving little water for hydroelectric plants. Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Hemscott PLC - Serious Investment Research Copyright 2007 Hemscott Group Limited. ***************************************************************** 27 MySA.com: Metro: S. Texas towns vying to be site of possible $4 billion nuke plant Web Posted: 08/15/2007 11:51 PM CDT Roger Croteau Express-News SEGUIN — The nation's largest operator of nuclear power plants is considering building a massive $4 billion plant in South Texas, bringing hundreds of jobs and a major economic boost to the region. Exelon Corp. has identified two possible sites close to the Gulf Coast. The primary site is in Matagorda County, near Collegeport, while a second site is about 20 miles south of Victoria. "We have not made a decision to build," said Craig Nesbit, communications manager for Exelon Nuclear. "We are gathering geologic and environmental data that we need to put in an application for a license with the NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission.) If we get the license we will decide whether to go forward." He said the license application should be ready by the end of next year and, if everything goes smoothly, the plant could be built and operating in 2017. Exelon foresees two reactors, each generating 1,400 to 1,500 megawatts of electricity. The two reactors, together, could generate enough electricity to power up to 3 million homes. The plants would create about 2,000 jobs during construction and perhaps 900 permanent jobs, Nesbit said. He said the primary reason the Matagorda County location is preferred to the McFaddin area south of Victoria is that Gulf of Mexico water is readily available in Matagorda. The company would have to build a lake in Victoria County. Huge quantities of water are needed to cool the facility and create steam for the generators. Water is available for the lake, though. The Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority board of directors voted Wednesday to reserve 90,000 acre-feet of water a year for the project, enough to provide water to about 180,000 households. "This is a reservation agreement, not a contract," Executive Director Bill West said. "It means we won't sell that water to anyone else through June 2009. This is just the tip of the iceberg. All it does is start the dance. "This project is that area's Toyota," West said, referring to the giant truck plant that recently opened on San Antonio's South Side. "You are talking about hundreds of jobs and they are high skill jobs." GBRA board member Steve Wilson said that, while the nuclear project is "very exciting," he and other board members would have many questions, and have to balance the health of the Guadalupe River and the estuary it feeds, and other factors, before approving a contract to sell the water to Exelon. Victoria Mayor Will Armstrong said the impact would be even greater than San Antonio's Toyota plant because Victoria is so much smaller than San Antonio. "We want to see what we can do to move up to their first choice," he said, noting that a firm water supply should help his cause. "These jobs would be so important for Victoria. I have no reservations about nuclear power. This company is a top-of-the-line company." Matagorda County officials are similarly enthusiastic. Commissioner George Deshotels said the existing South Texas Nuclear Project in Bay City, which is considering doubling its size, has been a "good neighbor," providing needed jobs and tax base. San Antonio, Austin and NRG Energy run the South Texas facility jointly. "We've met with the folks from Exelon and they seem rather positive on it," he said of the prospects the plant will be built. "Of course, they are still in the exploratory stage." Nesbit said the final decision on whether to build would depend on a number of factors, including the outlook for the supply and demand for electricity in Texas. The Federal Department of Energy predicts the demand for electricity will increase by 48 percent by 2030. If the plant is built, it will be the first new one in the United States in 30 years, the Associated Press reported. "The spent fuel issue must be resolved," Nesbit said. "We can't build any new nuclear plants until the federal government resolves the spent fuel issue." Plans call for a permanent underground repository for spent fuel rods to open at Yucca Mountain, Nev., in 2010. However, that project is very controversial. Exelon, based in Chicago, has with 17 reactors nationwide, generating about 20 percent of the nation's nuclear energy. rcroteau@express-news.net About Us: MySanAntonio.com | Express-News | KENS 5 Portions © 2007 KENS 5 and the San Antonio Express-News. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 28 UK: Chernobyl Effects 'Worse Than Feared' - UK News Headlines Web www.lse.co.uk Wednesday, 15th August 2007, 00:03 The ecological effects of the Chernobyl disaster on animals are considerably greater than feared, a study suggests. Recent conclusions from the UN Chernobyl Forum and media reports concerning the effects of radiation from the nuclear power plant has left the impression that the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone is a thriving ecosystem filled with an increasing number of rare species. But surveys of breeding birds at forests around the site found the abundance of species decreased with rising level of radiation. Professor Anders Moller and colleagues at the University of South Carolina recorded 1,570 birds representing 57 species and found their numbers were reduced by more than half when comparing areas with the highest amount of radiation with those that had the normal background level. They suggest radiation could directly reduce survival rates and fecundity causing extinction or reducing population sizes as shown previously for the barn swallow Hirundo rustica. Secondly birds may avoid radioactively contaminated areas because such areas are not good habitats for birds. Otherwise birds could be fewer in contaminated areas owing to less insects that constitute the most common food source. Prof Moller said: "We have previously demonstrated significant negative impacts of Chernobyl-related fallout on barn swallow mutation rates, survival and reproduction. "Here we extend our observations to document extensive reductions in the species richness, abundance and population density of birds in general with increasing levels of radiation around Chernobyl. "These effects are likely to have important implications for other parts of the ecosystem and for overall ecosystem functioning." The study, published online by the Royal Society in Biology Letters, said the effects of low-level radiation on the abundance of animals are poorly known - as are the effects on ecosystems and their functioning. Prof Moller said: "Surprisingly there are no standardized censuses of common animals in relation to radiation leaving the question about the ecological effects of radiation unresolved. "These results imply that the ecological effects of Chernobyl on animals are considerably greater than previously assumed." A UN report estimated about 9,000 people exposed to radiation in the Chernobyl incident in 1986 would die from cancer. But Greenpeace has said has said the number of deaths linked to the incident could be closer to 90,000 Copyright © 2006 National News +44(0)207 684 3000 ***************************************************************** 29 ANI: Parliament adjourned over Indo-US nuclear deal From our ANI Correspondent New Delhi, Aug 16: The Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha were adjourned today over the Indo-US civil nuclear cooperation deal soon after they met for the day's proceedings. While Lok Sabha was adjourned till 3.00 p.m., Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the entire day. The US statement that the nuclear deal with India would be scrapped if New Delhi conducted nuclear test created a furore in Parliament. In the Lok Sabha, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA) and the Left alliance raised their voices against the deal. The BJP also moved a privilege motion against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the nuclear deal issue. TDP leader K Yerrannaidu said the Prime Minister should explain the situation in the House. Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee complained about the members not allowing the House to run. He did not allow the suspension of Question Hour and said that the matter could be taken up during Zero Hour. In the Rajya Sabha, BJP members raised slogans and stormed into the Well of the House. Chairman Hamid Ansari pleaded with them to go back to their seats, terming their behaviour as disgraceful. The NDA members demanded an apology from Prime Minister Singh, saying he has "misled" the House. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was also present in the House. Left party members were silent all through. Copyright Dailyindia.com/ANI Copyright © 2004-2007 DailyIndia.com ***************************************************************** 30 NRC: Contributions of Structural Mechanics to the Science of Nuclear Regulation, NRC Commissioner Peter B. Lyons Speech - 07-039 - OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-0001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov Web Site: Public Affairs Web Site Contributions of Structural Mechanics to the Science of Nuclear Regulation Dr. Peter B. Lyons, Commissioner U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission at the 19th International Conference on Structural Mechanics in Reactor Technology August 13, 2007 It is an honor to speak to you during the 19th International Conference on Structural Mechanics in Reactor Technology (SMiRT-19). I am extremely pleased to share my perspectives on the role of this conference in the renewed global interest in nuclear energy and to discuss some of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) future challenges. I especially want to recognize the efforts of Vernon Matzen, conference chairman, and his committee in the planning and execution of this conference. SMiRT-19 is taking place at a time of significant change in the global outlook of the industry. The technical issues related to design, manufacturing, and construction are becoming more important, similar to the situation in the early 1970s. These conferences, which bring together the world’s experts from the structural mechanics community who are involved in the design, construction, and operational phases of nuclear power, have a significant role to play in readiness of this industry and its regulators. The need for global cooperation on nuclear safety is an urgent matter, because nuclear energy can no longer be regarded as a strictly domestic matter for any individual country. Nuclear power is now a truly international industry, from the mining of the uranium ore, through nearly all the following steps of the fuel cycle. Furthermore, the regulatory and industrial infrastructures are now very different from those of the early 1970s, including the use of new materials, new construction and fabrication methods, and the associated new structural mechanics challenges. Based on lessons from our past licensing and regulatory experiences, we have a new, improved, licensing process. The combination of the standardized design certification, early site permit, and combined construction and operating license has contributed significantly to the interest in and feasibility of new nuclear projects in the United States. The NRC is continuing to improve our licensing regulations. Recent changes to our Part 52 regulations will further enhance our effectiveness and efficiency. The new regulatory scheme has undergone its first tests, with the review of early site permits at four locations. We have issued early site permits for Clinton and Grand Gulf, and are working on an early site permit for North Anna. Four reactor designs are certified, with three more in various stages of consideration. Later this year and for the first time in 30 years, the NRC expects to receive up to seven license applications to build and operate new nuclear plants. Eleven additional applications are expected in 2008. To date, we have received letters of interest from several potential applicants, which indicate that NRC may expect that first plant completion to be followed by as many as 30 others. We have even received part of the first combined operating license to be filed. These numbers change frequently, so stay tuned for further developments. The U.S. manufacturing and industrial capacity to support new construction has been significantly diminished since the 1970s and 1980s. The number of U.S. companies certified by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) to produce N-stamped parts has dropped by almost a factor of five since 1980. We also face a challenge in ensuring the quality of the thousands of smaller parts and materials that are manufactured in other parts of the world. The construction of a commercial nuclear plant today involves pumps, valves, motors, fans, pipes… and even bolts… that may be produced by any number of companies—both private and state-owned—around the world. The close scrutiny that regulatory agencies can enforce on major manufacturers to assure that quality components are produced is challenging to achieve for a vastly greater number of sub-vendors that supply parts and materials to the manufacturers. The International Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code 2007 version was just released and establishes rules of safety governing the design, fabrication, and inspection of boilers, pressure vessels, and nuclear power plant components during construction. A section also provides requirements for (1) containment systems and transport packagings for spent fuel and high-level radioactive waste; and (2) concrete reactor vessels and containment. Some of you attending this conference probably participated in that recent and very important work. The issue of constructing an advanced reactor around the world raises the importance of international communication and collaboration to a new height. This communication is necessary at regulatory, operational, and supply chain levels. A good example of international regulatory cooperation is the Multinational Design Evaluation Program, or MDEP. The MDEP is an initiative to enhance regulatory cooperation and, where feasible and desirable, to converge on common regulatory requirements and review practices associated with the design reviews of new reactors. Conferences like SMiRT enhance a common understanding of technical issues and facilitate communication and resolution, such that a design can be safely constructed at many locations under different regulatory requirements. In this regard, a common understanding of regulatory practices in different countries is important. The issue of aircraft impact has obviously taken on new visibility in the post-9/11 world. While aircraft impact was considered in earlier designs in the context of accidental accidents, the explicit consideration of sabotage in designs raises a significant challenge for us all. Sharing of technical knowledge is vital to guard against such threats; however, it is also important that the security of sensitive information is maintained. In April 2007, in support of this issue, the NRC unveiled the third in a series of major steps to enhance the post-9/11 security of nuclear power plants. The agency proposed a rule that would require each applicant for a new reactor design to assess how the design, to the extent practicable, has greater built-in protections to avoid or mitigate the effects of a large commercial aircraft impact, making them less reliant on operator actions than existing plants. That approach allows designers to evaluate potential competing technical factors, such as the response to earthquakes and passive safety systems, while at the same time addressing aircraft impacts. These assessments should look at areas such as core cooling capability, containment integrity, and spent-fuel-pool integrity. The Commission emphasized that seeking security assessments and examining how designs can be improved is consistent with the traditional approach the NRC has taken to so-called “beyond-design-basis-events,” which are considered to have such low probability of occurrence that design features to address them can meet realistic analysis criteria. These are events with conditions exceeding the stresses imposed by the “design-basis-event” conditions for which plants are required to be analyzed according to strict and prescriptive rules. Design-basis-event conditions include large pipe breaks, fires, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados, and floods. Assessing a new reactor in the early design stages can enable modifications to reduce the need for operator mitigation actions in the event of an airplane crash. In an August 1985, NRC Policy Statement, “Severe Reactor Accidents Regarding Future Designs and Existing Plants,” the NRC said it expected future reactor designers to build in more safety features to cope with so-called severe accidents that went beyond the design basis. However, it did not require specific features, leaving that to plant designers. In the subsequent decades, reactor designs submitted to and approved by the Commission have achieved substantial safety improvements to address such beyond-design-basis-accidents. To quote NRC Chairman Dale Klein’s comment on issuing the proposed rule for public comment, “This is the most recent step in a broad, proactive effort to improve the security of reactors initiated by the NRC after Sept. 11, 2001. We need more technical analysis to understand how to address this.” In my view, this proposed rule will give us the opportunity to assess and make changes to new reactor designs early in the design process. I should note that many of the challenges that will be reviewed in these assessments fall within the scope of the structural mechanics issues explored in this conference. Along with the challenges associated with anticipated construction of new reactors of advanced designs, the prospect of the next generation of nuclear power plants involving technologies such as high-temperature and liquid-metal reactors, derived from the Next Generation Nuclear Plant and the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership initiatives, raises a different set of challenges to this community. The designs will involve new materials and different operational and accident conditions. In recognition of strong programs in other countries related to these technologies, codes and standards will have to be developed with an international perspective. Despite the nuclear renaissance, the most important issue is still the safety of operating reactors. This conference will help us maintain this focus. Our experiences have shown that the understanding of aging and degradation mechanisms, timely detection through inspection technologies, and implementation of effective remedial measures are vital to maintain safety throughout the operating life. Operation beyond the current 60-year, license-renewal periods may also be sought and would challenge our knowledge of aging phenomena. Other initiatives also use structural mechanics, such as modification to 10 CFR 50.46a, regarding improved safety through a more risk-informed approach for addressing double guillotine breaks of the largest reactor coolant pipes, which can allow better utilization of water supplies and optimization of safety systems to better cope with more likely events than the large loss of cooling accident. If a new version of 50.46a is approved, it will depend heavily on our ability to maintain very low likelihood of breaks in pipes greater in diameter than the so-called transition break size and on our understanding of and ability to detect flaws and degradation in large pipes. The incorporation of risk perspectives also raises challenges in realistically characterizing the performance of structures, systems, and components when subjected to beyond-design-basis environments. It is particularly difficult to characterize failure modes of passive components that can experience beyond-design-basis conditions for which the failure data can not be realistically obtained. This community will plan a significant role in establishing realistic assessments of passive component performance to enhance our progress toward risk-informed regulation. The recent NRC experiences, related to risk-informing the pressurized thermal shock rule to assure reactor pressure vessel integrity, highlight the benefit of risk-informed considerations and probabilistic methods. Natural hazards are another area in which knowledge continues to evolve, and we continue to learn from each significant event worldwide. The December 2005 tsunami is a case in point. It is leading to rapid development in the state-of-the-art of prediction, propagation, and early warning systems. The implementation of performance-based seismic siting approaches in a recent early site permit also reflects a substantial change from the deterministic perspective of early years. The recent earthquake in Japan will provide important data to the entire nuclear community. SMiRT is a forum for both understanding and analyzing external hazards and developing safe designs to resist these hazards. Let me now switch to the subject of human capital. Both the NRC and the industry are facing critical shortages of experienced staff. No nuclear reactor can operate without trained and dedicated people who have made safety a priority. Regulatory bodies must also have trained and knowledgeable staff. The global growth in nuclear power compels all of us to focus on training the next generation of construction workers, electricians, welders, engineers, operators, managers and regulators. You may be aware that the NRC is engaged in strenuous efforts to increase our staff by a net of 600 people to handle the increased workload of new plant applications and other nuclear regulatory business. Obviously, we cannot simply hire people off the street and send them out to be nuclear power plant regulators the next day. Even when hiring people with substantial experience in industry, we have found that it takes 6 months to a year of training before they begin thinking and acting like regulators. For recent university graduates, it takes one to two years. Perhaps one of the most important roles that conferences like SMiRT can play is in the area of knowledge management. The SMiRT conference planners may even consider accepting this as one of their challenges. These conferences, which began at the time of the design and construction of the current generation of plants, can provide historical perspectives on technical issues and lessons learned. Knowledge management is viewed as critical in the United States, and both the NRC and U.S. industry are exploring and implementing strategies for effective knowledge management programs. Your conference also affords opportunities for this professional growth and networking that are vital components of knowledge management. This is particularly important to the NRC, as we assimilate many engineers who are new to the nuclear field and strive to create a new generation of regulatory experts. As I’ve indicated, the NRC considers participation in conferences such as SMiRT to be vital for many reasons. Among these reasons, it is consistent with agency policy to have effective outreach efforts with our diverse stakeholders. It is also important that we share information related to our research and regulatory initiatives, get feedback on them, and receive new perspectives from research conducted around the world. Our interest is evident from the diverse NRC staff presentations at this conference. The topics presented cover issues related to operating reactors, licensing of new reactors, and waste disposal facilities. One common thread in these presentations is consideration of risk-informed and performance-based approaches. I challenge all participants of this conference to move beyond knowledge sharing and to promote common understanding of issues among stakeholders with diverse perspectives, researchers, regulators, operators, and designers. This will facilitate development of universal implementation strategies, which could encourage the use of standardized designs worldwide and help to enable consensus and improved approaches to address safety issues. NRC speeches are available through a free list serve subscription at the following Web address: http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/listserver.html. The NRC homepage at www.nrc.gov also offers a SUBSCRIBE link. E-mail notifications are sent to subscribers when speeches are posted to NRC's Web site. Thursday, August 16, 2007 ***************************************************************** 31 Prague Post: Spurred by incentives, solar farms bloom Entrepreneurs race to claim title of largest power plant August 15th, 2007 COURTESY PHOTO When construction on Energy 21's new solar power facility in Jaroslavice, south Moravia, is complete, the plant will be "the country's largest," the company said. enlarge By Viktor Velek Staff Writer Czechs, who for a long-time have been inert to the energy potential of the sun, are suddenly turning into solar energy enthusiasts. Although the country is covered by an oft-clouded sky that allows in relatively modest sunlight, more and more companies are seeking to harness the sun, leading to a boom of solar powe plant construction. Sun farms are mushrooming as the use of renewable energy sources has become a matter of state concern — and state funding. Companies have been leapfrogging one another in a race for what each invariably calls “the biggest Czech solar power plant.” “Our solar power plant will be the country’s largest,” said Roman Skalický, strategy manager of Energy 21, a recent solar entrepreneur. The firm’s first plant is currently being built in Jaroslavice, south Moravia. With a capacity of 0.9 megawatts, it will produce 1,080 megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity a year after coming online this September, an amount sufficient to supply energy for some 300 households. Skalický’s statement comes only a few weeks after HiTechSolar, another player on the country’s incipient market, announced completion of its own “largest solar power station in Central Europe,” located in east Moravia. And, several months ago, Korowatt, another new entrant, made the same boast about its plant. Last year, the country as a whole generated only 540 MWh of solar energy. Korowatt’s solar plant, which began operating in January, is expected to outdo this total on its own, with 628 MWh expected this year. Even with these new plants, however, solar power will meet only a small fraction of the country’s energy demands, which totaled 57,664 gigawatt-hours in 2005. An estimated 4.2 percent of the country’s electricity came from renewable sources last year, almost entirely generated by hydroelectricity and biomass; solar power had a negligible share. The main cause of this year’s solar rush is a 2005 renewable energy law that promises fixed prices for “green” energy producers, while obliging distributors to buy all renewable energy generated in the country. Green prices are higher than the market rate for “dirty energy” and are guaranteed for 15 years after a plant is launched. Although the law has been in effect for more than two years, its impact on the solar energy market has only now become visible, said Lubomír Bureš, the head of HiTechSolar. “It took some time because investors were cautious,” he said. “Now they know it’s a safe venture.” Partly sunny forecast The race for the largest domestic solar farm won’t stop with the plant in Jaroslavice. By the end of 2007, Energy 21 plans to complete two other solar plants in south Moravia, both with higher output capacity than Jaroslavice. “In 2008, we’ll invest about 3 billion Kc [$147 million] into renewable energy projects,” Skalický said. About a half or two-thirds of this investment will go into solar energy and the rest into biomass. HiTechSolar will do its best to keep up. According to Bureš, the company’s solar plant in Ostrožská Lhota, east Moravia, will more than double its output capacity to 1.5 MWh by next summer. Incentives for green energy producers don’t stop at the state level. As the European Union has decided to generate 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020, investment into the field has started to receive large-scale support. Of the 26.7 billion euros ($37 billion/750 billion) budgeted for the Czech Republic from the EU’s structural funds for 2007–13, approximately 3 percent — some 22.5 billion Kc — will be directed toward renewable energy. The battle for this EU money is going to be intense. For example, the country’s Eko-Energie program, one of several financial pools for renewable energy projects, has been overwhelmed with applications, 38 percent of which were reportedly targeted at constructing solar farms. While Czech solar businesses welcome EU subsidies, the country’s own legislation — modeled after Germany — has provided enough incentive to develop the sector either way, companies say. “As long as the support prices are upheld, it’s a feasible business even without EU funding,” Bureš said. Thanks to Germany’s robust incentives, the installed output of solar power plants there exceeded 1,500 MW back in 2005, making it the largest solar power generator not only in the EU but also worldwide. However, that total wattage is roughly equivalent to the power capacity of the Dukovany nuclear power plant only. This limited production capacity is only one cloud in solar power’s future. Photovoltaic panels are expensive and their energy production varies throughout the day and year, said Jan Motlík, head of the Association for the Use of Renewable Energy Sources. However, he hopes that future technologies will make solar panels cheaper and more effective. “It’s like with cell phones and computers,” he said. Despite these drawbacks, solar entrepreneurs think they have a sunny future ahead. “This isn’t a fashion that will be gone in the next year or so,” Skalický said. “The rise of photovoltaic industry in the Czech Republic is a sustainable trend.” Viktor Velek can be reached at vvelek@praguepost.com The Prague Post Online contains a selection of articles that have ***************************************************************** 32 Whitehaven News: Best view of demolition is on TV Published on 16/08/2007 Going down: Calder Hall’s cooling towers which are expected to be demolished within the next few weeks The fall of Calder Hall’s four 88-metre high cooling towers will be best seen indoors, not outdoors. Sellafield’s operators will not be able to organise designated vantage points to watch the dramatic event which will change the local skyline forever. Copeland Council’s leader Elaine Woodburn told a meeting of the council’s nuclear working group that it was regrettable. “I think this is a real opportunity missed, ” she declared. Earlier in the year an estimated 15,000 people turned out to see the demolition of the Chapelcross cooling towers at Sellafield’s sister nuclear power station in Annan. Coun Woodburn said she was disappointed that thousands of people in Copeland wouldn't get the same opportunity. But Gill Marsden, stakeholder manager for Sellafield’s decommissioning group, said: “Our infrastructure around Sellafield is totally different to Chapelcross, they had a four and a half mile long stretch of road which gave a perfect view. We don’t have anything like that. “We can’t magic a spectator place where we could direct so many people to. “We have done a positive review with the Health and Safety Executive, Cumbria Constabulary, along with legal experts and it’s just not strategically possible. “Everybody will know when it’s happening, how it’s happening and also the traffic management plans.” “The demolition will be covered on television and we have also made arrangements for it to be shown live on the sellafieldsites.com website. “Our priority is public safety.” View this story and the latest newspaper in full digital reproduction, just like the printed copy at www.whitehaven-news.co.uk/digitalcopy ***************************************************************** 33 Whitehaven News: Preparing for Thorp to restart Published on 16/08/2007 THORP is almost there after the three-year shutdown caused by a massive leak of radioactive liquor for which Sellafield operators BNG were fined ÂŁ500,000 for safety breaches. But now its NDA owners and Sellafield Ltd, the new site licence company, are confident the flagship reprocessing plant will soon get the final consent for a full-restart after several weeks of testing. Site union official Peter Clements told The Whitehaven News: “The trial run has worked, Thorp has been running to everyone’s expectations.” Sellafield Ltd share the confidence now that fuel has been sheared, ready for the final stage of reprocessing. The bid to get Thorp back in full production has become more acute with the NDA’s disclosure that the plant lost ÂŁ112 million in revenue last year alone. This is on top of the massive cost of repairs and clean up after the spillage on top of the Crown Court penalties. But as Thorp nears the green light a cloud hangs over its sister Mox fuel plant (SMP) which recycles plutonium for new energy. Warns the NDA’s annual operational review: “Performance continues to be poor and is being closely scrutinised.” The plant is still being commissioned even though it was built in 1996 at a cost of ÂŁ300 million, but delays in starting up due to fierce anti-nuclear opposition added at least another ÂŁ20 million. Sellafield Ltd said : “The performance of the plant is the subject of a detailed improvement plan which is monitored on a regular basis by both NDA and our overseas customers. SMP will continue to ramp up production during 2007-8 as improvements to throughput are secured.” The NDA is looking to income from Thorp and SMP to boost Sellafield’s commercial viability as well as offsetting the huge decommissioning bills. View this story and the latest newspaper in full digital reproduction, just like the printed copy at www.whitehaven-news.co.uk/digitalcopy ***************************************************************** 34 Whitehaven News: Calder Hall clean-up on hold in ÂŁ35m cash crisis Published on 16/08/2007 By Alan Irving CALDER Hall is to be put in “mothballs” for seven years and workers redeployed because of Sellafield’s money problems. It is estimated that the decision by Sellafield Ltd to delay decommissioning will save ÂŁ35 million a year, but some 180 permanent Calder operators and agency staff will have to be found work on other parts of the cash-strapped site. The site owners, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, said yesterday: “The Government has provided increased levels of funding to the NDA for this financial year, the majority of which has gone to Sellafield with some funds redirected from other NDA sites. “The NDA expects all Site Licence Companies to manage their spending within allocated budgets and prioritise work accordingly. No additions to those budgets can be made. “In 2005/6 the site spent ÂŁ1,051million and in 2006/7 ÂŁ1,207million. For the current financial year the site has been allocated ÂŁ1,250million.” Sellafield Ltd moved swiftly yesterday to counter concerns by Copeland Council leader Elaine Woodburn that agency and contract staff would lose their jobs. Nearly 100 contractors will carry on removing potentially dangerous asbestos from the reactors, after which there is no more scheduled work in the pipeline for them. But Coun Woodburn and David Moore, chairman of the Sellafield stakeholders community watchdog group, told The Whitehaven News they were worried about the impact of Sellafield’s funding shortfall and a temporary brake to recruitment in “non-essential” areas. Coun Woodburn said: “On top of the redeployment of the permanent Calder workforce, I am concerned about the knock-on effects for agency staff and contractors, a lot of whom are local. “The NDA owns Sellafield and they have always told us that Sellafield is their No1 priority. They have to show us that this is not in name only by giving Sellafield the funding it needs in the interests of the site, the workforce and our community. “People who work there are only doing their job. It’s the NDA which decides what has to be done and what has to go, but I have every confidence in Sellafield’s workers to do whatever is needed to ensure that safety is the top priority. “Sellafield has to know each year how much money it’s going to get to plan the work programme. This area can’t afford a fluctuation in jobs with peaks and drops – what kind of message does that send out? We expected to see Calder cleaned up and the site re-used, not put in mothballs for goodness knows how long.” Coun Moore said: “From the community’s point of view, we are disappointed that Sellafield is going down this route. If Calder Hall is mothballed until about 2014, as I’ve been told, we must make sure that this ÂŁ35 million a year saving stays at Sellafield on higher-hazard clean-up work and that the community sees some benefit from efficiency savings. “Whatever is said, it is clear to me that there is no recruitment going on at the moment and hopefully the Calder staff being re-deployed will help make sure there is sufficient manning resource.” Another worry is that a lot of the workers who know the place inside out and have all the skills will be retired by the time someone decides it can be fully decommissioned. Work will be concentrated instead on cleaning up areas and projects where there are higher hazard risks until more funding comes through. For the next few months at least no new staff will be taken on other than in parts of the site where the available money is being targeted on top priority projects. Despite a recent assurance that there was no jobs freeze, operators Sellafield Ltd say it will have to put a temporary hold on recruitment of people who are not seen as essential to the priority work. A spokesman said this was not an across- the-board new jobs freeze. This is expected to last for around three months when Sellafield Ltd hope more money will flow from the government’s civil service spending review. Sellafield’s head of site, Barry Snelson, told a meeting of Copeland Council’s nuclear working group: “After our own full review in July we had a good understanding where finance lies and we decided it was prudent not to freeze recruitment but to close down on non-essentials.” A spokesman said Mr Snelson’s remarks referred “to prioritisation of effort and resources towards what needs to be delivered in the current baseline.” But in the meantime he has given a categorical assurance that the site will not be put at risk through any shortfall in funding or lack of manpower. Copeland Executive councillor Allan Holliday told the nuclear group: “There is a deficit and the easiest way to cut back is on personnel. The last thing we want is to read that something has gone wrong because the workforce has been cut back.” Mr Snelson replied: “I am personally responsible for safety on the Sellafield site. I will fight tooth and nail to make sure we keep safety as our No1 priority.” The mothballing of Calder Hall will not stop the demolition of four giant cooling towers or asbestos removal but the fuel will stay in the reactors along with radioactive material. View this story and the latest newspaper in full digital reproduction, just like the printed copy at www.whitehaven-news.co.uk/digitalcopy ***************************************************************** 35 UPI: Outside View: Nuclear terror's false logic United Press International - International Security - Emerging Threats - Analysis Published: Aug. 16, 2007 at 2:25 PM By CHARLES V. PENA UPI Outside View Commentator WASHINGTON, Aug. 16 (UPI) -- Even as the International Atomic Energy Agency is meeting with Iranian officials to discuss increasing the openness of Iran's nuclear program, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad remains defiant about Tehran’s right to pursue such a program -- including uranium enrichment, which would give Iran de facto nuclear weapon capability. This raises the specter of one of the greatest fears in the post-Sept. 11 world: nuclear terrorism. Indeed, this was the prospect brandished by President Bush to help gain public support for invading Iraq and deposing Saddam Hussein. "If the Iraqi regime is able to produce, buy, or steal an amount of highly enriched uranium a little larger than a single softball, it could have a nuclear weapon in less than a year,” he said. “And Saddam Hussein would be in a position to pass nuclear technology to terrorists." But how likely is it that a regime with ties to terrorist groups would give them a nuclear weapon? The conventional wisdom is that if a regime such as Iran acquired a nuclear weapon it could give that weapon to a terrorist group it supports (such as Hezbollah) and that the group would use the weapon against a common foe of the group and the regime (presumably the United States.) This is the logic of the enemy of my friend is my enemy, which is emotionally appealing and based on the assumption that regimes and terrorist groups hate us for who we are. But it is deeply flawed. First and foremost, there is no history of hostile regimes supplying terrorist groups with chemical or biological weapons they have access to, let alone a nuclear weapon. Saddam was known to support anti-Israeli Palestinian terrorist groups (including Hamas) for years, but he never gave chemical or biological weapons to those groups to use against Israel, a country he hated as much as he hated the United States. The same is true for the mullahs in Tehran. It is also important to understand that terrorist groups aided by hostile regimes are not completely controlled by those regimes. There is an assumption that a terrorist group would use a nuclear weapon to attack the United States -- and that this is the only plausible scenario. But a nuclear weapon would also give the terrorist group the ability to topple the regime that supplied it, and the regime would have no way to prevent that from happening once the weapon was out of its control. Moreover, it would be logistically easier for the terrorists to attack the regime that supplied it -- rather than trying to clandestinely transfer the weapon to a foreign target like the United States. Two other factors would affect a regime's decision to transfer a nuclear weapon to terrorists. First, the cost to develop such weapons is significant -- several billions of dollars. One has to question whether any regime would make that kind of investment simply to give a weapon away. Second, once a weapon is in the hands of terrorists, they could use it against any target of their choosing. If that target is not the one approved by the regime, nuclear forensics could be used to trace the weapon back to its source (even without nuclear forensics, the list of suspects will be relatively short). As a result, the regime would have to worry that a terrorist group would commit an act that would endanger its own survival -- especially if U.S. policy is to reserve the right to retaliate against the suspect regime using its vastly superior nuclear arsenal. Indeed, if deterring U.S.-imposed regime change is one of the primary incentives for certain countries to pursue nuclear weapons, giving them away to terrorists would be counter-productive and more likely to invite the very action the regime seeks to avert. Overall, a regime would have to have suicidal tendencies to engage in such risky behavior -- yet while individual fanatics may sometimes be willing to commit suicide for a cause, prominent political leaders rarely display that characteristic. So while the logic of the enemy of my friend is my enemy has popular appeal, the reality is that there are clear and significant disincentives for any regime to simply give away a nuclear weapon to a terrorist group. Thus, although we must be concerned about the prospect of nuclear terrorism, we should also not be mesmerized by rhetoric of smoking guns in the form of mushroom clouds and live in dire fear of it. -- (Charles Pena is an adviser to the Straus Military Reform Project at the Center for Defense Information, a senior fellow with George Washington University's Homeland Security Policy Institute and author of Potomac Books’ “Winning the Un-War: A New Strategy for the War on Terrorism.”) -- (United Press International's "Outside View" commentaries are written by outside contributors who specialize in a variety of important issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of United Press International. In the interests of creating an open forum, original submissions are invited.) © Copyright 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 36 Poison DUst Educators' Packet: Let's reach our youth before they're contaminated Troops Out Now Coalition Thu, 16 Aug 2007 00:46:28 -0400 action.news.1@organizerweb.com Let’s reach our youth BEFORE they’re contaminated! Join us at the Encampment to Stop the War, September 22-29, and the National March on Washington on September 29. We will have a Poison Dust tent at the Encampment all week to provide information about Depleted Uranium and help organize to get the word out. For more information, see www.TroopsOutNow.org Don’t let our kids be guinea pigs! POISON DUst EDUCATORS' PACKET **Order the Poison DUst Educator's Packet at http://www.iacenter.org/DUeducatorpackets.html Packet contains 2 different length film versions of Poison DUst, lesson plans, photos, bibliography, class projects, reprints and more. Three years ago, The Daily News ran a story about reservists returning from Iraq in2004 from the same unit who were suffering from what euphemistically has been called “Gulf War Syndrome.” It turned out that they all had been exposed to radioactive dust during their tour of duty in Iraq. The short term and long term effects of this exposure are slowly emerging into public consciousness.* The military has yet to acknowledge the severity and the extent of the damage to our young men and women and to their offspring. Today, half of the 697,000 U.S. Gulf War troops from the 1991 war have reported serious medical problems and a significant increase in birth defects among their newborn children. The effects on the Iraqi population are far greater.** Many other countries and U.S. communities near DU weapons plants, testing facilities, bases and arsenals have also been exposed to this radioactive material which has a half-life of 4.4 billions years. This issue is of particular importance to high school students who are considering joining the military after they graduate. In addition to all the obvious dangers, entering the military today puts them at risk for cancer and all the symptoms associated with radiation and heavy metal poisoning—fatigue, muscle weakness, headaches, to name a few. There is now also ample documentation that exposure to the dust can cause birth defects in their children, the same birth defects that are showing up in Iraqi childr en.**** What’s in the dust? Depleted Uranium The military says depleted uranium emits low-level-radiation, and is therefore harmless, but for decades scientists have demonstrated the lethal effects of low level radiation on human beings and their offspring.*** DU is a central component of the U.S. military arsenal. It is in the tanks, the shells, the bombs. It is used in training as well as in battle. It is almost everywhere the U.S. military stations its troops. Our youth and their loved ones need to know what they face when they go into the military. Poison DUst is a film that pulls together the crucial information about DU. It includes interviews with veterans contaminated by DU; simple, scientific explanations about the nature of DU and radiation by noted authorities such as nuclear physicist Dr. Michio Kaku, epidemiologist Dr., Sr. Rosalie Bertell and Dr. Helen Caldicott, supplemented by clear, uncomplicated graphics; a visual history of military use of toxic substances affecting troops and target populations; and information about the proliferation of DU. It also discusses what we can do about this crisis. The full length dvd, released by Lightyear Entertainment in 2006, is available commercially through, Netflix, Amazon.com, Border Books and Leftbooks.com. Now the producers have compiled a comprehensive Educators Packet of Poison DUst for teachers, parents, veterans, community and anti-war groups, and for use by the youth themselves. “Students should watch this video because it’s good people know so they can tell their families and let it spread.” -Shuhana, NYC 12th grader Order the Poison DUst Educator's Packet at http://www.iacenter.org/DUeducatorpackets.html The Poison DUst Educators Packet includes: • A 30 minute educators' version of the DVD Poison DUst suitable for classroom viewing • An 84 minute, full-length Version of Poison DUst, with additional interviews and information. • Short “primers” and articles with background information and resources • An online bibliography, with links to a multitude of resources for class projects and research papers through the Poison DUst website, http://www.poisondust.com. Also on the website is a link to the Depleted Uranium Education Project (http://www.iacenter.org/depleted/du.htm ), and full chapters from the book, Metal of Dishonor (http://www.iacenter.org/depleted/mettoc.htm ). • A set of detailed lesson plans for use with a range of audiences and presentation lengths. Some of the lesson plans were developed by NYC teachers and 12th grade students. Not only were the lessons integrated into their high school curriculum, the students themselves then enthusiastically and creatively brought their new knowledge into their communities. • The students’ DU Outreach Project is also documented in the packet. • A Photo Gallery of pictures for mounting on chart paper on walls around a room. Students can look at the pictures and captions and write their reactions as part of an introduction before viewing Poison DUst. • Brainstorming ideas by students and teachers for other possible uses of Poison DUst, as well as student questions and comments. Order the Poison DUst Educator's Packet at http://www.iacenter.org/DUeducatorpackets.html Footnotes: * Vet's Ills Mounting Fast, by Juan Gonzales, Published on Tuesday, February 7, 2006 by the New York Daily News - "Nearly 120,000 veterans - more than one of every four who served in Iraq and Afghanistan - have already sought treatment at Veterans Health Administration hospitals for a wide range of illnesses, according to an internal study the VHA completed late last year." http://www.democracynow.org/static/Vets.shtml **Flounders, Sara, "Another War Crime? Iraqi Cities 'Hot' with Depleted Uranium", 2003 http//www.PoisonDUst.org *** Nichols, Bob, ‘Depleted, it ain’t! So-called depleted uranium, that is!’, 5/31/2005, Project Censored Award Winner & Online Journal Contributing Writer http//www.onlinejournal.com/Commentary/053105Nichols/ 053105nichols.html ****Iraqi cancers, birth defects blamed on U.S. depleted uranium. By LARRY JOHNSON SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER FOREIGN DESK EDITOR ... seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/95178_du12.shtml - 44k - May 26, 2007 - -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. _______________________________________________ You are subscribed as abalone@energy-net.org Anyone can subscribe. Send an email request to Action.News.1-subscribe@organizerweb.com To unsubscribe Action.News.1-unsubscribe@organizerweb.com Subscribing and unsubscribing can also be done on the Web at http://www.organizerweb.com/mailman/listinfo/action.news.1 Part 1.2 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Encoding: 7bit ***************************************************************** 37 RIA Novosti: Georgia discovers radioactive substance at former Russian base 18:45 | 16/ 08/ 2007 TBILISI, August 16 (RIA Novosti) - The Georgian military has removed two capsules containing radioactive cesium-137 from a former military base in the south of the country, the Defense Ministry said Thursday. Russia completed its pullout from a military garrison in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, and handed control of its headquarters over to Georgia's Defense Ministry last December. It also formally handed over its military base at Akhalkalaki in southern Georgia to Tbilisi in June, ahead of the October 2007 deadline. The cesium capsules were discovered by specialists from the military-scientific center Delta in one of the base's warehouses in Akhalkalaki. "The sources of radiation were removed from the base and placed in temporary storage until we can build a bunker to hold radioactive waste," Temur Akhalaya, Delta's technical director, said. "We will take there [to the bunker] all radioactive substances that we discover at sites vacated by the Russian Army," he said. Under an agreement between the former Soviet allies, Russia must also complete the evacuation of its base in Batumi by the end of 2008. Russia's continued military presence in the South Caucasus nation has been a major source of controversy in bilateral relations with Georgia. The country's leadership has repeatedly accused Russian authorities of providing support to separatists in the breakaway Georgian provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which Tbilisi is determined to bring back under its control. RIA Novosti ***************************************************************** 38 Cincinnati Post: UC shares Fernald radiation data Research conducted over 17 years By Terry Kinney Associated Press AL BEHRMAN/Associated Press file photo In 2006, Lisa Crawford talked about the $4.4 billion cleanup of the former Fernald uranium processing plant in Cincinnati. Crawford helped form FRESH -- Fernald Residents for Environmental Safety and Health. Nearly two decades of observations of thousands of people who lived near a Cold War uranium-refining plant will be shared by the University of Cincinnati with other researchers in an effort to further understand the health effects of low-level radiation. In one of the nation's longest such studies, the Fernald Medical Monitoring Program is drawing to an end after 17 years of collecting data from more than 9,500 people who lived near the Feed Materials Production Center at Fernald in Crosby Township. "Our greatest hope is that by studying this, this will help another community. I don't want to see it just put on a shelf," said Lisa Crawford, who lives near the site and helped form FRESH - Fernald Residents for Environmental Safety and Health. A federal judge created the monitoring program in 1989 as part of a class-action lawsuit filed by Crawford and her husband and others who lived within five miles of the production center. The government plant, which was part of the nation's nuclear weapons program during the Cold War, was closed in 1989. Researchers collected blood and urine specimens and kidney and liver function tests, and participants completed exhaustive questionnaires - a 27-page initial survey followed by annual surveys of about 14 pages each - that asked for details of new medical problems and hospitalizations. "That's valuable because sometimes there is what we call 'recall bias' when people who get a disease misremember what led up to it," said Susan Pinney, a professor of environmental health at UC who has served as epidemiologist on the project. Researchers could find several uses for the data, according to Dr. John Fiveash, a radiation oncologist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham who studies the effects of long-term radiation treatment. It might be useful in studying the effects of diagnostic X-rays, for example, and could even have applications in terrorist situations, such as exposure to a dirty bomb. "This might be used to determine which groups of people might need treatment down the road, and which groups might need immediate care," Fiveash said. The Fernald plant opened in 1951 and was so secret that workers were told not to tell friends and family what they did. But after 30 years, government documents revealed that almost 300 pounds of enriched uranium oxide dust had been released into the air from a faulty dust collection system. The Energy Department also disclosed that radon gas had been leaking from storage silos for years. The government settled the residents' suit in 1989 for $78 million, including funding for monitoring and medical testing through 2008 for nearby residents. Fernald workers also sued and reached a $20 million settlement with the government in 1994 that included lifetime medical monitoring. Publication date: 08-16-2007 Copyright © 2007 The Enquirer. All rights reserved ***************************************************************** 39 Chillicothe Gazette: A-plant cleanup meeting Tues. at Piketon www.chillicothegazette.com - Chillicothe, OH Thursday, August 16, 2007 Officials from the Department of Energy and its contractors will conduct a meeting and poster session from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday to update the public on cleanup progress at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant. The meeting, set for Room 160 of the Ohio State University Endeavor Center on Shyville Road in Piketon, will provide updates on groundwater treatment and waste removal, the depleted uranium hexafluoride conversion plant under construction, completed demolitions of several inactive facilities and discussion on future planning regarding the plant. Prior to the meeting, DOE will conduct an open house at the Environmental Information Center in Room 220 of the Endeavor Center from 4 to 6 p.m. The Information Center was relocated earlier this year from the plant to the Endeavor Center to improve public accessibility. Copyright ©2007 Chillicothe Gazette All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 40 London Times: Four new sites named in Litvinenko trail - August 17, 2007 Jill Sherman, Whitehall Editor A lapdancing club was one of four undisclosed sites contaminated with radioactive polonium210 before or after the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko sparked a Ł3 million investigation, The Times has learnt. Westminster City Council has disclosed that 47 venues were checked for contamination, including five buses, eight aircraft, eight hotels and seven restaurants as police followed the polonium trail. Westminster spent Ł250,000 on environmental health staff to close and clear sites, and the Metropolitan Police spent nearly Ł1 million on the investigation, The Timeshas been told. The Health Protection Agency (HPA), which checked more than 1,000 people and all 47 sites, spent Ł2 million on the investigation, which started on November 26 last year, three days after Mr Litvinenko, a former KGB spy, died. Moscow revives history of silencing enemies Russian exiles have always feared that the Kremlin would try to silence them, wherever they were living and the fears are growing * New death plot chills relations with Putin * Reasons to stand firm against the thug Putin * The face: Boris Berezovsky Multimedia * Full video of interview with Marina Litvinenko Background * Lies and the spies: I must have justice * Shadowy ex-KGB major takes cover * Of course the Russians did it. They’re the experts * The Litvinenko File * Litvinenko was told that he was marked for death The other new sites were Dar Marra-kesh, a Moroccan restaurant; Mr Litvinenko’s Mercedes car and a grey Mercedes taxi from Lambeth, South London. In the “gentlemen’s nightclub” Hey Jo, traces of polonium were found on seating, cushions and cubicle doors. These were then cleaned to reduce the levels of the substance. Two items in the Moroccan restaurant that displayed high levels of contamination - a fabric shisha pipe handle and a cushion cover - were removed. Mr Litvinenko’s car had high levels of contamination and a large bag of waste was removed from the Lambeth taxi to reduce polonium traces to safe levels. A spokesman for the HPA admitted that some of the sites, including the aircraft, took a long time to to investigate because seats were frequently changed round. John Barradell, the deputy chief executive of Westminster City Council, said that the council had to take responsibility for a massive clear-up exercise with no proper national protocol. The council is sending out guidance this week to government departments, including the Home Office and the Department of Health, showing the steps taken and the lessons to be learnt from the operation. As the scale of Operation Whimbrel began taking shape, officers from the council, the Home Office, the police, the HPA, the Environment Agency and others convened to set up the Gold Recovery Group, to coordinate the response. Lessons had been learnt from the London bombings in July 2005 and a clear media strategy was developed, with the HPA leading on the health implications. At the same time the council was sending environmental health officers in to the possibly contaminated sites as soon as they were named by the police. They were accompanied by scientists and medical staff from the HPA who speedily assessed levels of contamination and decided if premises had to be closed. “The number of sites came in thick and fast from the police,” Mr Barradell said. “On one night we had to send staff to investigate ten premises. We had to prepare a protocol for each venue as the information came in from the Met.” The protocol covered cleaning or decontaminating the venues, closing them down, taking away contaminated items and calling in contractors to remove plaster. Michael Clark, science spokesman for the HPA, said that where possible surfaces were wiped down to remove or reduce traces of polonium. But where radioactive levels were high, contractors had to be brought in to hack away at plaster or remove walls or parts of ceiling and floors. He confirmed that 17 people had been found with traces of polonium and had needed to be followed up, but none had to be treated and there was no risk of further contamination. Several premises were closed for months, including the Pine Bar in the Millennium Hotel, which closed on November 26 and did not reopen until April 18, and the Itsu restaurant, which closed on November 24 and reopened on February 22. The delay was to ensure that the polonium had reached negligible levels. But Mr Barradell said that one of the features of the substance is that its radioactive properties halved every year, so in some cases the substance was left in walls to reduce naturally. “This was an incredibly complex investigation, which involved teamwork by multiple agencies and in which the council played a lead role heading up the Gold Recovery Group,” a spokesman for Westminster council said. © Copyright 2007 Times Newspapers Ltd. ***************************************************************** 41 Kommersant Moscow: Russians Leave Cesium and Landmines Behind in Georgia - Today is Aug. 17, 2007 09:02 AM (GMT +0400) Moscow Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili (left) listens to the national anthem during a visit to a pro-government youth camp in the Upper Abkhazia Gorge. Photo: Reuters Georgian authorities reported yesterday that a source of radiation and abandoned mines were found at the former Russian military base in Akhalkalaki. Representative of the Georgian Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Avtandil Meskhi stated that Georgian specialists discovered capsules of Cesium-137 in lead containers. Meskhi acknowledged that the capsules did not present a danger to the public, but nonetheless criticized the Russian military. “When they left the base several weeks ago, they said that the territory was completely free of radioactive material, but they didn't keep their promise,” he noted. The capsules were taken to a special Defense Ministry burial ground yesterday. Meskhi said that, in the mid-1990s, after the withdrawal of Russian forces from Georgia, more than 100 sources of radiation were found in their former facilities. The Georgian Defense Ministry reported yesterday that mines had been abandoned at Akhalkalaki as well. A ministry spokesman said that specialists had been called in to defuse them. The ministry spokesman recalled that that was the second instance when abandoned mines and weapons had been found on the base. “More than a month ago, ammunition was found buried, along with antitank mines, antipersonnel mines and cartridge shells,” he said. Pavel Belov All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 17, 2007 © 1991-2007 ZAO "Kommersant. Publishing House". All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 42 PNT: Researchers seek breast-feeding mothers to participate in study | kirk, study, perchlorate : Portales News-Tribune By Casey Peacock: PNT Staff Writer August 15 2007 9:33 PM PNT Photo: Casey Peacock Breast milk study participants are provided with all supplies prior to the beginning of their participation. Representatives from the University of Texas at Arlington and Texas Tech University are conducting research in the area to determine the effects of perchlorate exposure to infants through ingestion of breast milk. Research has shown that Roosevelt and Curry counties have tested positive for high levels of perchlorate in water, according to Andrea Kirk, UTA postdoctoral research fellow. “Perchlorate is a highly water-soluble anion (particle with a negative charge) that is formed naturally in the environment and also synthesized for use in explosives, rocket fuel, fireworks and industrial applications,” Kirk said The studies will compare women who live in areas having high levels of environmental perchlorate compared with those who live in areas with low levels, Kirk said. Too much perchlorate can lead to insufficient iodide in the system, causing a person to develop hypothyroidism, Kirk said. An adult who develops hypothyroidism can be treated, but the condition for an infant is more serious, Kirk said. A baby who was severely iodide deficient during fetal development could suffer from severe mental retardation or learning disabilities, hearing impairment and attention deficits, Kirk said. “The degree of severity will depend on how long the baby was hypothyroid and on how much or little thyroid hormone was available,” Kirk said. The problem with too much perchlorate is the body thinks it is iodide, which is an essential nutrient, Kirk said. The thyroid gland uses iodide to make thyroid hormones but prefers to use the perchlorate. Portales resident Julia Woodruff recently completed participation in the study with her 1-year-old son Jeremiah. Woodruff, who holds a degree in chemistry and worked as a breast-feeding peer counselor for the WIC Office in Belen, was intrigued by the study. Woodruff said she is conscious about what goes into her system that can be transferred through her breast milk. “I’ll be interested to know how much perchlorate is in the water,” Woodruff said. Two studies are being conducted: One that lasts 24 hours and a three-month study. Kirk said she is looking for breast-feeding mothers to participate. Participants in each study will be required to collect breast milk, urine and water samples, Kirk said. All supplies will be provided by Kirk for the participants in the studies. Participants will receive $50 for the 24-hour study and $150 for the longer one, Kirk said. Kirk also stressed that residents should not panic about the findings but only to be cautious. At a glance: Fifteen to 20 volunteers are being sought from both the Portales and Clovis area to participate in the Breast Milk Study. For more information on the study, contact Andrea Kirk at (817) 272-0442 or at akirk@uta.edu. Newton Hilliard, associate professor of chemistry at Eastern New Mexico University, has agreed to be a local point of contact and authority for the study. Consent forms and sample kits may be obtained by contacting Hilliard at: 562-2463 or 562-2174. Copyright © 2007 Freedom Newspapers of New Mexico - RSS Feeds | Site ***************************************************************** 43 AFP: Russian radar site doesn't fit US missile shield needs - general - by Jim Mannion Thu Aug 16, 6:15 PM ET HUNTSVILLE, United States (AFP) - A Russian radar site in Azerbaijan is too close to Iran to serve as a replacement for a planned US missile defense site in eastern Europe, the chief of the US missile defense agency said Thursday. Lieutenant General Henry Obering said the Russian proposal was worth pursuing but only as a complement to the radar and interceptor missiles the United States wants to put in the Czech Republic and Poland. "It would be too close to serve as a mid-course radar," Obering told reporters, referring to the Gabala early warning radar in Azerbaijan. Russian President Vladimir Putin unexpectedly proposed swapping the European site for the site in Azerbaijan at a summit in June, and then followed up with a proposal for greater Russian-NATO cooperation on European missile defense. Details of the Russian proposal have been sketchy but they have been seen variously as a bid to scuttle US missile defense plans in Europe or as an important opportunity for closer military cooperation. "I can't judge whether they are serious or not," said Obering. "I can tell you they are engaged with us. We've had at least two sets of meetings. We have others planned leading up to the fall. "All I can say is we are in discussions. We are trying to get into technical details about our proposals and our capabilities, but I can't judge the sincerity of it, frankly." Obering said the Russian early warning radar in Azerbaijan could be used to acquire and track a missile out of Iran early in its trajectory. But once a missile moved out of range of the radar, it would become increasingly difficult to pick it up again and intercept it without a more powerful targeting radar in the Czech Republic, he said. "It's like having a car coming at you on the (highway). By the time you see it, you wouldn't be able to react to it," he said. But he said having a combination of a US radar and a Russian radar "would be very useful in terms of how we could cooperate." "I believe that the Russian proposals are things we certainly should pursue. And we are doing that." "The ideal future for us would be that we have US capabilities, we have NATO capabilities that marry up to that, and we have Russian capabilities that can marry up to as well. So that we can build effective missile defenses against these countries," he said. US intelligence believes the Iran will have ballistic missiles capable of striking the United States by 2015. US officials believe it is working on a longer range version of its medium range Shahab-3 missile that could strike southeastern Europe. Obering spoke to reporters at the end of a military-sponsored conference here in which various speakers emphasized that the United States needs allies and partners to expand US missile defenses into a global system. In that light, missile defense cooperation with Russia would be a major breakthrough. Writing in the Washington Post last week, former secretary of State Henry Kissinger called Putin's idea of linking Russia and NATO's early warning systems "an intriguing proposal of potentially profound, long-range significance." "It is one of those schemes easy to disparage on technical grounds but, perhaps like Reagans Star Wars vision, a harbinger of a future posing new creative opportunities," he said. On the other hand, Robert Joseph, a former assistant secretary of state for arms control, said here Tuesday that his contacts with Russian officials gave him little reason to believe they will change their view that US missile defenses in Europe is a threat Russia's nuclear forces. "On missile defense, especially a third site in Europe, I don't believe we do share the same mutual interest as Russia," said Joseph, who stepped down last week as a special envoy for counter-proliferation. "We need the site to protect the United States and our allies from Iranian missiles, a threat Russia continues to deny," he said. Copyright © 2007 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The ***************************************************************** 44 Rocky Mountain News: Hearings on tap for ill Flats workers By Laura Frank, Rocky Mountain News August 16, 2007 Congressional hearings are on the horizon to figure out why ill nuclear weapons workers from Rocky Flats and elsewhere are still waiting for the medical and financial aid Congress promised them six years ago. An aide for presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., on Wednesday told a Colorado- based national organization of ill workers that the hearings aren't scheduled but are in the works. That aide and about a dozen others - including those working for U.S. Reps. Mark Udall, D-Eldorado Springs, and Ed Perlmutter, D-Golden - also pledged to help find legislative fixes for the troubled compensation program. Obama aide Robert Stephan said that more than a dozen senators have attended a series of three working-group meetings. The meetings are to prepare for hearings in which the U.S. Department of Labor will be asked to account for the high denial rates and lengthy delays ill weapons workers face in getting aid. The Rocky Mountain News reported this year that one in 10 ill Flats workers who qualified for aid died before getting it. The Rocky also reported that federal documents showed officials had made plans to limit payouts for sick and dying workers. The officials in charge of the program went behind the backs of their bosses, called on White House officials for help and tried to hide their efforts, according to e-mails and memos obtained by a congressional committee. Labor Department officials say the plans were never carried out, and they deny trying to hide them. A bipartisan group of senators has asked the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, led by Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., to hold the hearings. "It's just an issue of getting ready and scheduling it," Stephan said. The news thrilled Terrie Barrie, of Craig, who helped found the Alliance of Nuclear Worker Advocacy Groups after her husband fell ill. George Barrie had machined plutonium at the now-demolished Rocky Flats site northwest of Denver. "I can't wait for the hearings," Barrie said after a teleconference with about a dozen congressional aides and an equal number of ill workers and their advocates. frankl@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5091 ***************************************************************** 45 Columbus Dispatch: Medical study of Fernald-area residents to end Scientists to share uranium-plant data Thursday, August 16, 2007 3:52 AM By Terry Kinney ASSOCIATED PRESS CINCINNATI -- Nearly two decades of observations of thousands of people who lived near a Cold War uranium-refining plant will be shared by the University of Cincinnati with other researchers in an effort to better understand the health effects of low-level radiation. In one of the nation's longest such studies, the Fernald Medical Monitoring Program is ending after 17 years of collecting data from more than 9,500 people who lived near the Feed Materials Production Center at Fernald in southwestern Ohio. "Our greatest hope is that by studying this, this will help another community. I don't want to see it just put on a shelf," said Lisa Crawford, who lives near the site and helped form FRESH -- Fernald Residents for Environmental Safety and Health. A federal judge created the monitoring program in 1989 as part of a class-action lawsuit filed by Crawford and her husband and others who lived within 5 miles of the production center. The government plant, which was 18 miles northwest of Cincinnati, was part of the nation's nuclear-weapons program during the Cold War and was closed in 1989. Researchers collected blood and urine specimens and kidney and liver function tests. Participants completed a 27-page initial survey followed by annual surveys of about 14 pages each, which asked for details of new medical problems and hospitalizations. "That's valuable because sometimes there is what we call 'recall bias,' when people who get a disease misremember what led up to it," said Susan Pinney, a professor of environmental health at the University of Cincinnati who has served as epidemiologist on the project. Researchers could find several uses for the data, according to Dr. John Fiveash, a radiation oncologist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham who studies the effects of long-term radiation treatment. It might be useful in studying the effects of diagnostic X-rays, for example, and could even have applications in terrorist situations, such as exposure to a dirty bomb. "This might be used to determine which groups of people might need treatment down the road, and which groups might need immediate care," Fiveash said. The Fernald plant opened in 1951 and was so secret that workers were told not to tell friends and family what they did. But after 30 years, government documents revealed that almost 300 pounds of enriched uranium oxide dust had been released into the air from a faulty dust collection system. The Energy Department also disclosed that radon gas had been leaking from storage silos for years. The government settled the residents' suit in 1989 for $78 million, including funding for monitoring and medical testing through 2008 for nearby residents. Fernald workers also sued and reached a $20 million settlement with the government in 1994 that included lifetime medical monitoring. Cleanup of the 1,050-acre site, which included removal of 1.5 million tons of waste at a cost of $4.4 billion, was completed in October 2006. The database and about 100,000 biospecimens are under the control of a court-appointed trustee. Any researcher with appropriate credentials can apply for access. Fernald history Key events at Fernald uranium-processing plant in southwestern Ohio: • 1951: Feed Materials Production Center at Fernald is built by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission to refine uranium on a 1,050-acre site 18 miles northwest of Cincinnati. • 1989: Production ends. Government settles lawsuit with area residents and the Fernald Medical Monitoring Program is created. • 2006: Cleanup of the site is completed and certified by the Energy Department after removal of about 1.5 million tons of waste at a cost of $4.4 billion. • 2008: Medical Monitoring Program scheduled to end. Source: Associated Press ©2007, The Columbus Dispatch, Reproduction prohibited ***************************************************************** 46 Guardian Unlimited: US-led consortium poised for Ł500m nuclear waste deal Terry Macalister Thursday August 16, 2007 British Nuclear Group, the main operating arm of state-owned BNFL, is unlikely to have any role in a Ł500m contract to manage Britain's low-level atomic waste dump at Drigg in west Cumbria. A consortium of private firms led by America's Washington Group International has been made preferred bidder to take over the facility from BNG and devise a strategy with any future waste coming from a possible new generation of plants. Washington - with its partners including Serco of Britain and French nuclear plant builder and operator Areva - said they were "delighted" to have beaten off competition from rival consortiums -one containing BNG and the other led by Babcock of the UK - after negotiations with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. The success could help Washington to the biggest prize in the forthcoming privatisation of the UK's nuclear industry: a potential Ł15bn deal to clean-up the Sellafield complex which Washington is bidding for. A Drigg deal would also represent a good foothold for Areva which would like to be involved in the construction of any new nuclear plants in Britain, something which the government is considering. The NDA said yesterday it hoped to award a firm contract to manage the waste dump in October. "The NDA will now embark on detailed contract negotiations with the preferred bidder to agree terms and conditions. Subject to a satisfactory conclusion, there is potential to award a contract which could have a value of between Ł200m - Ł500m," it added. The Drigg licence will run for five years with the potential for extensions, subject to performance and NDA management approval, up to a total of 17 years. Washington and its partners will take over at Drigg next April if it wins final selection. Last night the NDA's backing for Washington, which operates a deep waste dump in New Mexico, was warmly endorsed by Prospect, the UK's largest union in the nuclear industry representing 15,000 scientists, engineers and professional staff. Its national secretary, Mike Graham, said: "This is welcome news. Prospect has experience of working with some of the partners in the consortium and believes the combined talents will bring a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the industry." Useful links British Energy Department of Trade and Industry British Nuclear Fuels Ltd Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament Greenpeace Come Clean WMD awareness programme UK atomic energy authority National Radiological Protection Board Friends of the Earth World Nuclear Association World Nuclear Transport Institute Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 ***************************************************************** 47 Casper Star Tribune: Crews expand cleanup of nuclear waste Thursday, August 16, 2007 IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (AP) -- Crews have begun excavating Cold War-era weapons waste from a second burial site at the U.S. Department of Energy's Radioactive Waste Management Complex in the eastern Idaho desert. Cleanup work at the facility, located within the 890-square mile Idaho National Laboratory, began in 2005. So far, the recovery project has focused on excavating radioactive and hazardous wastes, repackaging the materials, then shipping them in trucks for permanent disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. The majority of the waste material came from the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant near Denver. From the 1950s through 1970, the waste materials were shipped in drums to Idaho and buried in a 97-acre section of the INL facility, said Amy Lientz, spokeswoman for the Idaho Cleanup Project. For the last two years, workers have concentrated on wastes buried in a single pit about 20-feet below the desert surface. Earlier this month, crews expanded the recovery to a second pit nearby, she said. The materials in both pits contain some of the highest accumulation of plutonium and other volatile organic compounds, which pose the greatest threat to the underlying Snake River Plain Aquifer, a Lake Erie-sized reservoir nearly 600-feet beneath the burial sites. "We're not quite finished with the first burial pit, but we have enough resources and plans in place to begin doing retrievals from both areas right now," Lientz told The Associated Press this week. "It'll at least be another year before we can say we're close to being finished." The materials are a mix of plutonium-contaminated filters, graphite molds used to form weapons, contaminated sludges and oxidized uranium. So far, more than 7,500 cubic yards of material have been exhumed, classified and repackaged into more than 2,800 55-gallon drums and shipped to New Mexico, Lientz said. All excavations are taking place within soft-sided buildings designed to contain airborne contaminants with the use of high-efficiency particulate air filters, she said. The work is part of the seven-year, $2.9 billion Idaho Cleanup Project to decontaminate facilities and reactors no longer in use at the INL, a federal nuclear research lab. Casperstartribune.net encourages readers to engage in civil Copyright © 1995–2007 Lee Enterprises    a subsidiary of Lee Enterprises Incorporated CONTACT US ***************************************************************** 48 Environment News Service (ENS): Hearings Set for First U.S. MOX Nuclear Fuel Factory AmeriScan: August 15, 2007 Hearings Set for First U.S. MOX Nuclear Fuel Factory WASHINGTON, DC The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board will hear oral arguments August 22 in Augusta, Georgia, concerning the license application of Shaw Areva MOX Services, Inc., to operate a mixed-oxide, MOX, nuclear fuel fabrication facility near Aiken, South Carolina. Mixed oxide, or MOX fuel, is a blend of oxides of plutonium and natural uranium, reprocessed uranium, or depleted uranium. It is viewed as a way of disposing of surplus weapons-grade plutonium, which otherwise would be disposed as nuclear waste. MOX fuel fabrication facilities exist in the UK and in France. The Shaw Areva facility would the first in the United States. Three organizations - the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, Nuclear Watch South, and the Nuclear Information and Resource Service - have petitioned to intervene in the license review. The August 22 oral arguments will address the standing of these organizations to intervene, and the admissibility of their five proposed contentions. Those contentions include the failure to limit emissions of hazardous air pollutants, the accidental release of radionuclides, the extended onsite storage of radioactive waste not addressed in the facility's EIS or License Application, and the failure to address impact of terrorist attacks on plutonium fuel facility and transport. The groups contend that, "The plutonium fuel factory proposed by MOX Services does not comply with national emission standards for radionuclides to the atmosphere." The groups cite many failures in the application of Shaw Areva MOX Services, including, "failure to submit an Emergency Plan." To read the formal outline of concerns expressed by the three petitioning organizations, click here. In advance of the oral argument, the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board will hold an public hearing August 21 in North Augusta, South Carolina. This session will allow members of the public who are not participating in the oral argument an opportunity to express their views about the proposed license to the three-judge panel. The judges typically do not respond to these statements at the session, but the statements will be transcribed and will be considered part of the record of the hearing. Statements at the August 21 session will be limited to three minutes. Members of the public who make a written request by noon on Friday, August 17, will have priority over those who sign up at the session. Requests should be faxed to the Office of the Secretary at 301-415-1101 and to the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board at 301-415-5599; or e-mailed to hearingdocket@nrc.gov and pah@nrc.gov. The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel is the independent trial-level adjudicatory body of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ***************************************************************** 49 Aiken Today: Congressmen Wilson discusses immigration, Yucca Mountain and more AikenStandard.com Thu, Aug 16, 2007 Congressman Joe Wilson speaks to a group gathered at the Greater Aiken Chamber of Commerce Wednesday. By HALEY HUGHES Staff writer Congressman Joe Wilson, R-S.C., spoke to a group of Aiken business leaders Wednesday on issues circulating in Washington, D.C., placing particular emphasis on immigration, Yucca Mountain and Social Security. Wilson said he strongly supports the recently introduced Immigration Enforcement Bill sponsored by U.S. Sens. John Kyl (R-Ariz.), Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), John McCain (R-Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas). The bill contains 72 provisions, some of which are the construction of a 700-mile fence at the U.S./Mexico border, the hiring of 14,000 Border Patrol Agents, four unmanned aerial vehicles and a "Catch and Return" provision requiring the Department of Homeland Security to detain those who cross the border illegally. Now, Wilson said, when immigrants are caught trying to cross the border illegally, they are "caught and released" instead. "We're still waiting on the first person to come back," Wilson added, eliciting a few chuckles from around the room. "That (bill) will now go to conference. I am really hopeful that it will be implemented." Rick Osbon, of Obson's Laundry and Cleaners, inquired if there was any component of assimilation in the bill. Wilson said he supports any bill that would mandate English as the country's official language. Wilson also said he is supportive of moving forward with Yucca Mountain, despite the political agendas of other people in Congress and the state Senate. Yucca Mountain is a proposed nuclear waste repository, slated for a location 90 miles outside of Las Vegas, Nev. Savannah River Site officials are eyeing it as a possibility for holding the site's waste. "Hope springs eternal, but it is so political," Wilson said. "I am still hopeful Yucca Mountain will proceed. I am working with a team to address this. But there are people who don't want it to work. I am hopeful we can keep pushing it." The U.S. Government Accountability Office, the investigative branch of Congress, reported earlier this month that it wasn't sure if the Department of Energy could submit the required "high quality" license application for Yucca Mountain by its self-imposed mid-2008 deadline. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission must decide whether to approve construction of the nuclear waste dump within four years of receiving the application. At City of Aiken Mayor Fred Cavanaugh's suggestion, Wilson also touched on the dismal future of Social Security. He cited statistics that in the year 2017, the government will pay out more in Social Security benefits than it collects in payroll taxes. In the year 2027, it will take an extra $200 billion a year to keep the system alive. "That's just got to be addressed," Wilson said. "There are people who don't see the problem or who don't want to see the problem." He added that he supported the attempts of President George W. Bush to implement private Social Security accounts, an idea which never gained traction. Wilson also discussed briefly the War on Terror, the economy, tax breaks for small business owners and port security. The Associated Press contributed to this article. © 2005 The AikenStandard. All Rights Reserved ***************************************************************** 50 Las Vegas SUN: Letter: Better use for Yucca's storage capacity August 11, 2007 President Bush has banned the use of federal funds for stem cell research. He and some other conservatives believe an embryo is human life and to destroy it for any purpose would be immoral. Those who favor stem cell research point to the potential for treating and possibly curing many human ailments and disabilities. Both sides appear firm in their convictions. A complication is that there are thought to be hundreds of thousands of frozen embryos stored at individual fertility clinics across the country. Some embryos will be used to induce pregnancies, but the vast majority ultimately will be destroyed. If Bush knew about this massive destruction of human life , he would be appalled. While the debate over frozen embryos continues, let's do what we can. These scattered embryos should be collected into one federally supervised location for safekeeping. Here's where Yucca Mountain enters the picture. Forget about storing nuclear waste there. Instead, make Yucca Mountain the site of a Federal Embryo Registry and a Federal Embryo Storage Center. What could be more important than saving human life? Edward Howatt, Las Vegas All contents copyright 2005 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 51 RIA Novosti: Russia, Australia to sign uranium deal in September 20:31 | 16/ 08/ 2007 MOSCOW, August 16 (RIA Novosti) - Russia and Australia intend to sign a bilateral agreement on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy during the Russian president's upcoming visit to the "green continent," the Australian ambassador to Moscow said Thursday. Bob Tyson said under the agreement, Australian uranium will be exported to Russia to be used in Russian nuclear reactors. Vladimir Putin will visit Australia to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Sydney in early September. The previous agreement, which was signed in 1990, permitted Australian uranium to be processed in Russia in the interest of third countries only. Australia holds about one-half of the world's uranium reserves. RIA Novosti ***************************************************************** 52 ReviewJournal.com: Judge questions sudden rush on Yucca drilling Aug. 16, 2007 By KEITH ROGERS REVIEW-JOURNAL State Engineer Tracy Taylor answers questions outside the courthouse after Wednesday's Yucca Mountain hearing. Photo by Clint Karlsen. Justice Department attorneys Keith Saxe, left, and Stephen Bartell leave the Lloyd George U.S. Courthouse on Wednesday while Energy Department attorney George Hellstrom carries a box behind Scott Wade, acting director of the Yucca Mountain site office. Photo by Clint Karlsen. U.S. District Judge Roger Hunt pressed a Justice Department attorney Wednesday to explain why the Department of Energy after 20 years is suddenly rushing to drill bore holes to collect rock samples at the planned Yucca Mountain nuclear waste site. Nevertheless, he urged the state and federal attorneys to try to reach a compromise while he weighs arguments on the Justice Department's motion to allow DOE to continue using the state's water for the project. During the hearing, Hunt noted that the federal energy agency had ignored State Engineer Tracy Taylor's order to stop using Nevada's water without involving the court or attorneys for the parties, "which I find quite frankly is a little disingenuous." Hunt's comment came midway through the four-hour hearing on the Justice Department's emergency motion to block Taylor's June 1 cease-and-desist order that Taylor had lifted temporarily on June 12. Marta Adams, Nevada's senior deputy attorney general representing Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects chief Bob Loux, said outside the courtroom that the state's attorneys would speak Tuesday with Justice Department trial attorney Stephen Bartell about a possible compromise. In the courtroom, however, Adams' colleague, Senior Deputy Attorney General Michael Wolz told Hunt his client, the state engineer, already had allowed DOE 30 days to complete drilling work. "That was as far as we could go." "I don't think it would be beneficial," Wolz said about a compromise discussion. "I don't want to waste anybody's time in what would be a futile exercise." Taylor reinstated his cease-and-desist order on July 20 after deciding that DOE's need for some 4 million gallons of water to complete another phase of the drilling program is not a beneficial use in the state's interest. Subcontractors for the Yucca Mountain Project are using the water to drill some 80 bore holes. That is up from DOE's original estimate that only 15 bore holes would be needed for "geotechnical" work to ensure that surface facilities where spent nuclear fuel assemblies would be handled and stored before entombing them in the mountain will be safe from earthquakes and floods. The water is used to cool and lubricate drill bits and to make mud for collecting rock samples. Taylor offered to let DOE use the water for 30 more days, but DOE officials rejected the time-limit condition on July 20 and proceeded to use the water without permission while Justice Department attorneys filed their emergency motion for a preliminary injunction. Adams said, "We find that extremely egregious." After the hearing, Taylor said he was pleased with the state's position in light of the judge's comments. "I think our case went well," he said. Loux, a longtime critic of the Yucca Mountain Project, said whether a compromise can be worked out "remains to be seen." "If they continue to drill, they have no incentive," Loux said. "I think it's pretty clear. He's not going to grant them a preliminary injunction. The cease-and-desist is in effect. Whether they honor that remains to be seen." Hunt wondered why DOE needs 4 million gallons of non-potable water from two wells near Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, after the state agreed with the court's approval to let DOE use only 300,000 gallons. Instead, he said, DOE acted on its own in the void of negotiations to help itself to the state's water in defiance of the state engineer's order. Bartell tried to explain that if the water had been claimed by someone else "the United States could take the water if it offered just compensation." Hunt said, "It seems to me that what you're arguing runs counter to what you did." Hunt also wondered why bore holes are being drilled hundreds of feet deeper than previously planned and why DOE decided late in the game to add more surface facilities to the design. "Was that known that you needed this information at the time of site characterization?" Hunt asked Bartell. Bartell responded, saying, "There was no way the Department of Energy could have known where bore holes would be needed." He acknowledged, though, that without the geotechnical data, DOE would be unable to meet the requirements of a license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for constructing a repository at Yucca Mountain. Hunt told Bartell he was "trying to find out if this was a surprise." "It doesn't seem to me that anybody anticipated that that license application was going to require all that bore hole drilling," Hunt said. "While there was nothing done for several years, now there seems to be not only this rush, but multiplication of what needs to be done." Hunter later asked, "Is the Department of Energy trying to stay busy? I'm trying to find out why the Department of Energy didn't make this determination a lot earlier instead of just springing it on me." Bartell's answer: "It's not that the Department of Energy is rushing for no reason. The Department of Energy is on a strict deadline." Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2007 Stephens Media, LLC Privacy Statement ***************************************************************** 53 Daily News Journal: Experts testifying about landfill’s safety in Nashville Murfreesboro and Rutherford County, Tennessee By TURNER HUTCHENS trhutchens@dnj.com Testimony before the state’s Solid Waste Advisory Committee from a series of experts, consultants and operators of the Middle Point Landfill continues. Jimmy Fleming of Allied Waste, which operates the landfill, told the committee at its meeting in Nashville this morning that to his knowledge there have been no violations of the BSFR protocol at the landfill. The BSFR, of Bulk Survey for Release, program allows low-level radioactive materials to be dumped at the local landfill. The state placed a moratorium on the program until after Labor Day after safety and health concerns were raised. Fleming said BSFR waste is mixed with municipal waste and covered daily. Bob Bachus of Geosyntech Consultants testified to the overall soundness of the liner at the bottom of the landfill. The Middle Point landfill uses a 7-foot clay liner in addition to a polymer liner, while other landfills across the country that receive radioactive waste with much higher rating than BSFR waste do not have polymer lining, he said. He spoke of a puncture to the polymer lining a few years ago during drilling that did not go through the clay lining. He said the puncture was patched with more than 10 feet of a special concrete mix. Mark McHugh, who helped design the protocol for the BSFR program, said the waste being accepted is less radioactive than the dirt they are covering it with by a factor of 100. Testimony still to come today includes statements from Joe Kirchner, director of the Murfreesboro Water Department, and Rutherford County Mayor Ernest Burgess. The meeting is being held in the 17th floor conference room of the L&C Building in downtown Nashville. Check back to www.dnj.com later today for additional news from the meeting and in Friday’s print edition of The DNJ for full coverage. ====================================================================== How did Thorium (poison) get transported from Univ of CA to Tenn with no restrictions? Over 10 million pounds of radioactive wastes were dumped into Middle Point in 2005. Why was the public in Ruth County not informed until now (2007)? Who kept the secret? A cancer study needs to be conducted for all residents within 20 miles of the dump site. A 32 year old woman made contact with DNJ stating she had been diagnosed with breast cancer this summer...lives across the street from Middle Point. No family history of cancer. Radioactive leeched into soil and groundwater causes a HIGHER incidence of birth defects and deadly carcinogens. Jim Tracy just sponsored a bill in legislature to END radioactive dumping. Can he go one step further and suggest the contract be revoked and end taking Nashville's trash? Murfreesboro is a huge dump for Middle Tenn. Are there any other comments from politicians? Negative or positive, they need to make a STAND. Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 5:55 pm Copyright ©2007 The Daily News Journal. All rights reserved. Users ***************************************************************** 54 CNN: Canada's Cameco looks to cash in on nuclear power's future - Aug. 16, 2007 Crown prince of nuclear power The revival of a once-reviled technology is turning Canada's Cameco, the No. 1 producer of uranium, into a blue-chip energy giant, writes Business 2.0's Michael Copeland. By Michael V. Copeland, Business 2.0 Magazine senior writer (Business 2.0 Magazine) -- Joel Rheault ducks beneath the steel door of the elevator cage and steps into a freezing rainstorm -- 1,600 feet below ground, at the mouth of a cavernous concrete tunnel. Wind whips the water dripping from his hard hat as Rheault switches on his headlamp, climbs into a Toyota Land Cruiser that's been parked underground, and drives off into the darkness. CONVERT: As a law student, Jerry Grandey worked to shut down the nuclear power plants that today are his biggest customers. TUNNEL VISION: Cameco's Cigar Lake mine in northern Saskatchewan contains the richest untapped uranium reserves on the planet. Rheault turns down a steep ramp, then right into a side tunnel, finally stopping in front of a 20-foot-tall wall of dark, jagged sandstone where the underground rain has let up. A series of round pipes jut out from the wall in equidistant spots, each encased by wavy bulbs of ice. The pipes, which extend some 300 feet into the rock, are filled with supercooled brine that acts as a giant ice pack. Kept at a constant-40 degrees, the brine freezes the water that saturates the bedrock, effectively floodproofing the area so miners can start drilling for the prize inside: high-quality, mildly radioactive uranium. McArthur River holds 367 million pounds of it, making it the single richest uranium deposit on the planet. "We call it a freeze wall," explains Rheault, McArthur River's top manager, who is currently trying to cool two new zones to bring them into production. The more sandstone Rheault and his engineers can deep-freeze, the more the $1.7 billion company he works for -- Saskatoon-based Cameco, the world's leading producer of uranium -- can sell in a white-hot market. Six years ago the spot price of a pound of processed uranium ore, or yellowcake, was less than $10 a pound. Today it has soared to more than $130, and some analysts see it going even higher. Which puts little-known Cameco (Charts) and its CEO, Jerry Grandey, in position not just to scoop up easy profit but to grow into a blue-chip energy company on par with giants like Entergy (Charts, Fortune 500) and PG&E (Charts, Fortune 500 The nuclear revival, in pictures Uranium's sudden status as the world's hottest commodity -- surpassing the spectacular runs on steel, gold, and silver -- is fueling even more speculation about the global market it serves: nuclear power. Most of the world's 434 nuclear power plants already get their fuel from companies like Cameco, but the demand curve is due for a radical shift. Worldwide, more than 30 new nuclear plants are already under construction. And 200 others are in various stages of planning, including 49 in the United States, where the last new plant was approved in 1979. As energy demand rises and costs escalate, and as pressure mounts for developed countries to rein in CO2 emissions, many see nukes as the only scalable means of churning out cheap electricity and putting a dent in global warming at the same time. That's one reason hedge funds and other investment firms, which wouldn't touch uranium as recently as two years ago, have snapped up more than $1 billion worth of the radioactive stuff during the past year. Cameco already accounts for 20 percent of worldwide production, owns the world's biggest uranium refinery, operates a handful of conversion factories, and sells the finished fuel rods. Its customers include more than 20 utilities around the globe. Beyond those assets is a veritable gold mine of untapped reserves. Sixty miles north of McArthur River, several hundred Cameco workers are busy prepping another site, called Cigar Lake, to open in 2010. Part of a $500 million joint venture with French nuclear power giant Areva, Cigar Lake holds the most highly concentrated uranium reserves in the world -- and at 226 million pounds, its size ensures that Cameco's 20 percent market share is only headed north. Silver-haired Grandey is the unlikely wizard behind this next-gen energy company. He got his start in the 1970s as a long-haired public interest attorney working to shut down some of the nuclear power plants that now make up his biggest customers. His conversion into a nuclear power player, he says, evolved out of a long-held belief that the promise of the technology is sound and that the safety issues he took on as a young lawyer have been addressed. Special report: Our nuclear future A black bear trundles across McArthur River's lone airstrip and off into the trees as a chartered turboprop carrying a fresh load of Cameco miners and engineers noses in for a landing. About 20 flights per week bring workers from a handful of pickup spots between here and company headquarters in Saskatoon, 385 miles south. Each plane carries as many as 44 people, who live in dorms during weeklong shifts before returning to their homes in small aboriginal villages and medium-size towns with names like Uranium City, Fond du Lac, Stony Rapids, and Buffalo Narrows. Geologic happenstance filled this part of Saskatchewan, known as the Athabasca Basin, with the world's highest-grade uranium ore -- rock that's 21 percent uranium, compared with an industry average of 0.15 percent. The region in which the majority of Cameco's reserves lie has been called the Saudi Arabia of nuclear power, and Grandey is its crown prince. As Fadi Shadid, an analyst for Virginia-based investment bank Friedman Billings & Ramsey, puts it, "Of the publicly traded uranium companies, nobody is anywhere near the scale of Cameco. They are by far the biggest and baddest." Grandey, naturally, occupies the big corner office at Cameco's brick-faced headquarters in Saskatoon, but the views don't exactly scream Fortune 500. In the distance are several large petrochemical tanks. Down the street is a big meat-packing plant; around the corner is the Arrowhead Taxidermy shop. Raised in Long Beach, Calif., Grandey, now 60, studied mining at the Colorado School of Mines. He thought he might like geology, but a flair for math led him to geophysics. This was during the late 1960s, however, and Grandey was more interested in politics and changing the world than in digging for rocks. "I didn't want to sit around looking at seismic records the rest of my life," he says. After a two-year stint in the Army, he grew out his hair, sported a beard, and started law school at Northwestern University in Chicago. During his first year, Grandey worked part-time for a public interest law firm, helping one set of plaintiffs with a lawsuit against U.S. Steel over pollution from coke ovens and working with another set who opposed the licensing of nuclear plants around the Great Lakes. The high cost of going nuclear Grandey returned to Colorado after passing the bar in 1973, eventually taking a job as general counsel for Denver-based Energy Fuels, a mining company with interests in coal and uranium. At the time, the uranium market looked as promising as it does today: Prices had zoomed from $6 per pound to $40 as new plants around the country came online. As Energy Fuels's top attorney, Grandey was fast learning the art of the deal, since uranium was a handshake business, as it still is now. Grandey wound up brokering deals with Swiss, German, and U.S. utilities to acquire more mines and mills. Disaster struck in 1979, with the partial meltdown of a reactor at Three Mile Island. The bottom fell out of the market, and the price of uranium slid from $40 a pound to $24. After Energy Fuels's founder, Bob Evans, died suddenly in 1982, Grandey was tapped as the new president of the company -- a company that was $80 million in debt, with no cash flow, in a market that seemed politically and financially untouchable. Undaunted, Grandey began moving assets around and squeezing money from joint ventures with utilities in Europe and Japan, where nuclear was still flourishing. On Christmas Eve in 1983, in order to make payroll, Grandey showed up in the lobby of a Union Carbide subsidiary, hoping to sell a 40 percent share of a uranium mill for $20 million. Grandey swore he wouldn't go home until he had the cash; by midnight he had a deal. "I felt like I had died and gone to heaven," he says. Energy Fuels survived the next year -- and by 1985 had become the top U.S. uranium producer, turning out 5 million pounds per year. Despite the accidents at Three Mile Island and, in 1986, Chernobyl, nuclear remained the world's fastest-growing mode of electrical generation throughout the 1980s. Far more disastrous, ironically, for players like Energy Fuels was the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, after which hidden inventories of weapons-grade uranium began flooding the energy market, pushing prices below $10 a pound. California says no to nukes But three years later he was back in, this time hired to help steer Cameco out of crisis. Created in 1988 by the merger of two government-owned uranium producers, Cameco had gone public in 1991. It sat on some valuable reserves but was top-heavy with bureaucrats and ill-equipped to react quickly to either big opportunities or problems. Reeling from the onslaught of Cold War-era uranium, CEO Bernard Michel asked Grandey to help put the company back on a growth track. Once again the dealmaker went to work: Before he had unpacked, Grandey was in Moscow with a delegation of industry officials, helping to broker an agreement whereby the Russian government would parcel out its weapons-grade uranium in small quantities -- and allow Cameco and a handful of other companies to broker the sales. During this period, Michel and Grandey saw a chance to channel their inner Warren Buffett. With prices tanking, and politics dampening the market even further, the pair convinced board members and shareholders that it was the perfect time to buy low. If they started buying mines and refineries now, they would be sitting pretty when the long-awaited nuclear "renaissance" began in earnest. So, while other top uranium producers like Power Resources and Uranerz sold or folded altogether during the 1990s, and with prices stalled out around $10 a pound, Michel and Grandey poured every dollar they could raise or borrow into an $800 million buying spree. "When nobody wanted uranium assets, we acquired every decent property in Canada, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kazakhstan, and Australia," Grandey says. During a five-year stretch, Cameco worked to lock down assets at McArthur River and Cigar Lake, purchased the company's first stake in a power plant, and watched as sales began to take off with European and Asian utilities. By 2003, Cameco's revenue had hit $778 million and Grandey was appointed CEO. Richard Branson's butanol bet Since then, Grandey's down-market bets have paid off in every way: Cameco's stock has jumped from $4 a share to $54. Profit has gone from $196 million to $353 million on revenue growing from $778 million to $1.7 billion. By late 2006, the moment for nuclear that Grandey had awaited throughout his entire career seemed to have arrived. Then, again, disaster struck. One day last October, workers blasting away at the Cigar Lake mine triggered a slide in another section of rock, allowing water sitting above the sandstone to leak through. After 11 days, the leak had turned into an underground river. Mine managers ordered shut a set of bulkhead doors, weighing 10,000 pounds each. But when they failed to seal properly, miners were left to try to fend off the flood with burlap sacks and grout. As 43-degree water rose to chest level, several miners formed a human chain to pull themselves to a ladder where a hoist cage was dangling to take them and 21 others to safety. Grandey had no choice but to seal the mine and let it flood. All the tunnels, the equipment, the plumbing and electrical work are still underwater. So great is the future potential of Cigar Lake that within a few days of the accident, uranium spot prices had jumped $6 and Cameco stock had fallen 10 percent. Plans to start mining, which had been scheduled for 2008, were pushed back to 2010. Grandey was forced to spend more than $200 million to drain the mine and make it safe for future operations. Shareholders demanded answers, and some analysts questioned whether a "lax" corporate culture was to blame. For Grandey, a potentially fatal accident on his watch was both heartbreaking and humbling, given his roots as a public interest defender and his longstanding reputation as a stickler for safety. Updates on the progress at Cigar Lake come in daily, and Grandey sets aside time every day to review them. It's clear to everyone that the mine and Grandey's future are inextricably tied. "We made mistakes," he says, adding that the company has since revamped safety procedures and the internal chain of command to make sure history doesn't repeat itself. Cameco today has a full-time crew of 285 at Cigar Lake working on new ventilation systems and tunnel designs so the site can be reopened by late 2010. World's first carbon-free city Despite the recent setbacks -- and mounting pressure to bring Cigar Lake online -- Grandey is, as always, looking ahead. He's still scouting more plants to buy and looking to expand his mills so they can process and refine the uranium that Cameco and its rivals continue to discover. He also has a full-time team of 80 geologic rock hounds constantly on the lookout for new sites. His plan is to expand Cameco's presence in every part of the nuclear-power supply chain so that when the commodity boom ends, the company will be sufficiently diversified to ride it out. And it will end. As Grandey points out, $135 per pound is not sustainable. "At that price more uranium will be discovered," he says. "Just like any other commodity, we will produce more than there is demand, and the price will fall." When that happens, Grandey wants Cameco to be ready with its long-term contracts, superrich mines, mills, and power-generating capacity to provide the cash flow to do what he did in the 1990s -- gobble up more assets to exploit later on. "When the cycle turns, we will be in position to buy," Grandey says. "And this time, I won't need to ask a bank for permission." Michael V. Copeland is a senior writer at Business 2.0. Rethinking Three Mile Island Why oil is rising but gas gets cheaper Sugar cane ethanol's not-so-sweet future © 2007 Cable News Network LP, LLLP. A Time Warner Company ALL RIGHTS ***************************************************************** 55 China Post: Proposed list of nuclear dumps to go public in '07 Thursday, August 16, 2007 - TAIPEI, CNA The government has decided to make public a list of proposed sites for storage of nuclear waste by the end of this year, a senior economic planner said Tuesday in Taitung, southeastern Taiwan. Ho Mei-yueh, minister of the Council for Economic Planning and Development, made the remarks in a regular biannual meeting held with representatives of Orchid Island residents as well as relevant scholars and experts to discuss relocation of the radioactive waste storage site on the Orchid Island, operated by the state-run Taiwan Power Co. Ho said that since the storage site on the island has been used for more than two decades, the government will launch a comprehensive safety check of the current nuclear waste stock, which amounts to around 90,000 barrels. Each barrel will be checked to make sure that the outer metal clothing has not rusted and that the inner concrete seal has not loosened or degraded, Ho said, noting that the safety check process is scheduled to be completed by 2010. In response to Orchid Island residents' demand for relocation of the nuclear waste site away from their island, the minister underlined that the government will make public a list of suggested sites by the end of the year. Local referendums will then be organized in each of the cities and counties where the proposed sites are located, adding that none of the proposed sites will be chosen without the approval of the local residents in such a vote. Copyright © 1999 ˇV 2007 The China Post. Breaking News, World News, and News from Taiwan. ˇ@ ***************************************************************** 56 Las Vegas Now: Judge Urges Compromise on Water Use for Yucca Mountain Drilling Streaming Video, Classifieds, Blogs - A federal judge has urged the U.S. government and the state of Nevada to compromise on the use of water for drilling bore holes at the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump. Lawyers are at loggerheads over the Energy Department's use of groundwater in defiance of an order issued by the Nevada state engineer last month. The Energy Department says millions of gallons of water are needed to cool and lubricate drill bits used in collecting data about potential earthquakes and floods in the area. The state says that use of the water is not in the public interest. U.S. District Judge Roger Hunt told lawyers to find a compromise. (Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) ***************************************************************** 57 barrow in furness: Thorp ready for restart after shutdown Published on 16/08/2007 Undated general view of the BNFL Sellafield Nuclear power plant in Cumbria. A recent leak at Sellafield nuclear engineering plant could close part of the site for months, it was reported Sunday June 12 2005. Production stopped at the site's Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant (Thorp) in April after the discovery of a leak from a pipe, which went undetected for up to eight months. Sellafield's managing director, Barry Snelson, told the BBC the plant may remain closed for months. See PA story INDUSTRY Sellafield. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Photo credit should read: Phil Noble/PA A NUCLEAR site is almost ready to start up again after a three-year shutdown caused by a massive leak of radioactive liquid. Sellafield operators BNG were fined ÂŁ500,000 for safety breaches at the Thorp plant. But now its NDA owners and Sellafield Ltd, the new site licence company, is confident the flagship reprocessing plant will soon get the final consent for a full restart after several weeks of testing. Site union official Peter Clements said: “The trial run has worked, Thorp has been running to everyone’s expectations.” Sellafield Ltd share the confidence now that fuel has been sheared, ready for the final stage of reprocessing. The bid to get Thorp back in full production has become more acute with the NDA’s disclosure that the plant lost ÂŁ112m in revenue last year alone. This is on top of the massive cost of repairs and clean up after the spillage and the crown court penalties. But as Thorp nears the green light a cloud hangs over its sister Mox fuel plant which recycles plutonium for new energy. The NDA’s annual operational review warns: “Performance continues to be poor and is being closely scrutinised.” The plant is still being commissioned even though it was built in 1996 at a cost of ÂŁ300m, but delays in starting up due to fierce anti-nuclear opposition added at least another ÂŁ20m. The NDA is looking to income from Thorp and SMP to boost Sellafield’s commercial viability as well as offsetting the huge decommissioning bills. View this story and the latest newspaper in full digital reproduction, just like the printed copy at www.nwemail.co.uk/digitalcopy ***************************************************************** 58 PerthNow: Reactor placement 'not up to Government' | NEWS.com.au | By Maria Hawthorne August 16, 2007 06:09pm PRIME Minister John Howard has attempted to distance his Government from decisions on where any nuclear reactors may be built, saying it will be up to commercial investors. Mr Howard also ruled out federal funding for local government referendums on whether people want a nuclear reactor in their area. And he defended a Liberal backbencher who has two petitions running on her website – one supporting a nuclear reactor in her seat and the other opposing one. With a Government report suggesting that up to 25 nuclear reactors would be needed around the country, Labor called on Mr Howard to let voters know which sites were being planned before the federal election. But Mr Howard said the decision was not up to the Government. "We are not as a government going to indicate that a nuclear power station goes there or there or there," Mr Howard told parliament. "Decisions as to where nuclear power plants might be located in the future will not be decisions of the Government. It will be decisions of commercial investors. "And therefore whether they're in the magnificent municipality of Randwick or the shire of the Shoalhaven or indeed anywhere else, the municipality of Waverley, the city of Ryde, wherever you might go, that will be a matter of commercial decision-making and it won't be a decision of the Government." Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese said Mr Howard's comments showed the Government's contempt for the public in the lead-up to the election. "It is quite extraordinary that the Prime Minister has said that the siting of nuclear reactors is simply a commercial decision and not a decision of government," Mr Albanese said. Mr Howard today announced plans to override a Queensland Government ban on local councils holding referendums on Premier Peter Beattie's plan to force them to amalgamate. Mr Howard also said that the Commonwealth would pick up the tab for any referendums, instead of the councils having to pay the Australian Electoral Commission to carry out the vote. But when asked by Labor's environment spokesman Peter Garrett whether he would extend the same funding to communities concerned about a nuclear reactor in their area, Mr Howard said there was no need. "Unlike the council amalgamations in Queensland, where a law has gone through proposing specific council amalgamations, no specific proposals for nuclear power plants exist anywhere in Australia," Mr Howard told Parliament. "It is perfectly open to the municipality of Waverley, the municipality of Randwick ... if they so wish on a fee-for-service basis to approach the Australian Electoral Commission." He defended Government backbencher Joanna Gash over the competing petitions on her website, calling her a magnificent representative who "lets her people speak". Copyright 2007 The Sunday Times. All times AWST (GMT + 8). ***************************************************************** 59 Guardian Unlimited: Uranium Boosts Mining Claims Increase From the Associated Press Thursday August 16, 2007 7:46 PM By JOHN HEILPRIN Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Metals mining claims on Western federal lands jumped by 80 percent in the past 4 years, some popping up near popular national parks. Overall metals mining claims rose from 207,540 in January 2003 to 376,493 in July of this year, two advocacy and research organizations said Thursday, based on their review of the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management records. Higher prices for gold and copper and renewed interest in uranium exploration, mainly due to global demand for nuclear power, helped fuel the jump. ``Claims have been on the rise,'' BLM spokesman Matt Spangler said. ``That's mainly due to rising copper, gold and uranium prices. Those have been going up pretty significantly the past two and a half years.'' During just two years between 2004 and 2006, four states - Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming - saw uranium mining claims rise from 4,300 to 32,000, the Environmental Working Group and the Pew Campaign for Responsible Mining reported. As nuclear power has rebounded, uranium prices have risen. Nuclear power proponents tout it as a relatively cheap, reliable and emissions-free source of energy, and many new nuclear power plants are planned around the world. Luke Popovich, a spokesman for the National Mining Association, said it's absurd to think mining is encroaching on parks and other remote areas. ``They can't point to a single mining activity that's going to damage the integrity of a park,'' he said. But rock and ice climbers, mountaineers and other outdoors enthusiasts are upset by the activity. ``In many cases, our climbing areas are literally being mined,'' said Jason Keith, policy director for the Access Fund, a climbing advocacy organization based in Boulder, Colo. ``No one really wants to climb in a toxic mining zone.'' More than 1 percent of the metals mining claims were within five miles of 11 national parks and monuments analyzed by the two groups. That included 1,053 uranium claims near five parks: Grand Canyon in Arizona; Arches, Canyonlands and Capitol Reef, all in Utah; and Yellowstone, in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. Among states, Nevada had nearly half the mining claims. Wyoming was second, with 10 percent, followed by Utah, with 8 percent. But Colorado and Utah added mining claims at the fastest rates, each with at least 200 percent more than at the start of 2003. Wyoming and South Dakota were next, each with more than a 100 percent increase. The environmental groups said their review covered gold, silver, copper and uranium claims. They said uranium mining interests are some of the largest claimholders in seven states - Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming. Releasing the statistics also was intended to bring attention to the nation's antiquated mining laws, as metals mining companies pay no royalties for extraction on public lands, unlike the oil and gas industries. The groups are advocating legislation to require metals mining companies to pay royalties and create funds for abandoned mines cleanup. ``What we've seen is a modern-day land rush,'' said Dusty Horwitt, a public lands analyst who wrote the report. ``The big cause for concern is the 1872 mining law provides very poor protection for our public lands. ... There's little that land managers feel they can do to stop mining.'' --- On the Net: Environmental Working Group: http://www.ewg.org National Mining Association: http://www.nma.org Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 ***************************************************************** 60 Chattanoogan.com: Wamp Emphasizes Technology That Leads To Energy Independence - 8/15/2007 - by Dana Wilbourn Photo by Dana Wilbourn Congressman Zach Wamp and Mayor Ron Littlefield discuss energy independence at the Chattanooga Technology Council. Click to enlarge. Congressman Zach Wamp, speaking to the Chattanooga Technology Council on Wednesday, said that with new technology, energy independence is attainable in the United States. “We don’t have to eliminate oil to be energy independent, just reduce it,” he said. Congressman Wamp said the National Biofuels Initiative is distributing $375 million over the next three years to establish three centers for bio-fuel research. One of those centers, he said, is going to be at the Oak Ridge National Laboratories (ORNL). ORNL will receive $125 million and will lead one-third of the nation in bio-fuel research. The National Biofuels Initiative marks the first time in over 30 years that the U.S. had gotten serious about energy independence. The oil embargo of the 1970s was the last time, he said. The future for Chattanooga and the Tennessee Valley Corridor is bright, the congressman said. Chattanooga is halfway between Oak Ridge and Huntsville on the Tennessee Valley Corridor. “I can foresee mass production of fuel cells at Enterprise South,” he said. “This is our future and we must claim it.” The Tennessee Valley Corridor, said Congressman Wamp, will lead this country in the coming years in stationary solid oxide fuel cell system design and production. Rep. Wamp told the group that later in the day he, along with K.R. Sridhar from Bloom Energy Corporation and David Rayburn from Modine Manufacturing Company, would announce the coming of a 100kW Stationary Solid Oxide Fuel Cell demonstration system to the campus of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. A 5kW solid oxide fuel cell already located at the UTC SimCenter on M. L. King Boulevard has been in operation for 18 months and the energy from it is already being sold back to TVA, Congressman Wamp said. A 5kW solid oxide fuel cell can produce enough electricity to heat or cool a 5,000 square foot house. A 100kW fuel cell could heat or cool a 30,000 square foot office building or supermarket. The beauty of a stationary solid oxide fuel cell, said Congressman Wamp, is that it is not connected to any transmission lines. It runs off one feedstock source such as natural gas or ethanol. Speaking of ethanol, Congressman Wamp said, corn-based fuel could ruin our agriculture system and drive the price of corn too high as a food source. An alternative, he said, is switchgrass. As an experiment, 40 acres of switchgrass is growing in west Tennessee near the city of Milan. Congressman Wamp said that switchgrass can become the feedstock for ethanol fuel production in the southeast. The grass in Milan is currently 9-feet tall and grows as much as 13-feet tall. It can be harvested twice a year and only has to be replanted every ten years. Commercial plants to convert switchgrass to ethanol could be built in the Tennessee Valley area. The Congressman told the council that Brazil currently uses sugarcane as feedstock for ethanol production, and Ethanol-85 (85% ethanol, 15% gasoline) is available at almost every gas station in Brazil. For about $150 each, he said, our cars in the U.S. can be converted to burn Ethanol-85. Congressman Wamp said that he is an advocate for more nuclear-powered energy production in America. France, he said, leads the world with 80% of their energy produced from nuclear plants. “You can’t find a better nuclear program in America than right here at TVA,” he said. “TVA has six operating nuclear plants and they run them safely and economically.” “I applaud TVA for announcing the planned completion of a second reactor at Watts Bar,” he said. According to the Congressman, the problem we have in America with nuclear energy is with storing the nuclear waste. France, he said, uses a nuclear fuel recycle system that takes the spent fuel and turns it usable fuel or plutonium. That process partially closes the loop in the nuclear fuel cycle. Whereas France has 56 nuclear reactors, the U.S. has 106, Rep. Wamp said. France has one nuclear recycle center; the U.S. would need two. Our current nuclear waste disposal system, he said, is to store it onsite for eventual shipment to the Department of Energy Yucca Mountain Repository in Nevada. Congressman Wamp said that within the next 10 years he expects a closed nuclear fuel cycle plant to be demonstrated in Tennessee. Another need in America is a second form of mass transportation, Congressman Wamp said. “Our air transportation is just one incident away from being grounded,” he said. “The MagLev (magnetic levitation) high-speed rail proposal between Chattanooga and Atlanta is a long-shot, but we (as a nation) will be paralyzed if we do not develop a ground-based mass transit system.” If MagLev is started in the U.S., the first line would be built between Las Vegas and Los Angeles, he said. The Atlanta to Chattanooga route would be built second. MagLev is an exciting possibility, just not a probability, he said. “People in America are beginning to realize that change is needed,” Congressman Wamp said. “It’s up to Congress make it happen.” Congressman Wamp told of meeting a group of Battle Academy 5th graders at the Challenger Center at UTC earlier in the day. He said the students were wearing t-shirts that had ‘Battle Geek’ printed on the front. Upon inquiring, he learned that these students have expressed an interest in math and science at their school. He said that he told them he was proud of them for tackling the tough subjects like math and science because our country will be relying upon them for future technology and scientific advancements. Paul Weidlich, president of the Chattanooga Technology Council, made the introduction of Congressman Wamp to the council. After citing all of Rep. Wamp’s appointments and chairmanships of various committees and caucuses related to energy and technology he said, “Zach Wamp is a Tech Council kind of Congressman.” news@chattanoogan.com (423) 266-2325 © 2004 Site designed and copyrighted by HD ***************************************************************** 61 Knoxville News Sentinel: Proposed workweek changes divide union members at Y-12 By Frank Munger (Contact) Wednesday, August 15, 2007 The workweek for blue-collar workers at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant is coming up for a vote, and there probably couldn’t be a more contentious issue. A proposal by BWXT, the government’s managing contractor at the Oak Ridge plant, would introduce 4/10s — four days a week, 10 hours a day — to the hourly work force. Some folks are upset that the issue is even coming to a vote by the approximately 1,200 union members at Y-12. The vote is scheduled for Aug. 24 after the executive board of the Atomic Trades and Labor Council (by a 8-7 vote) and the ATLC delegate body (by a 21-13 vote) recently approved a motion to let the full membership decide the issue. Similar proposals have been put forward over the past couple of years, but the ATLC leadership rejected them without putting the issue before the rank and file. The 4/10 workweek already has been introduced among salaried workers at Y-12. “This is the most passionate issue I have seen in the 25 years I’ve been involved,” said Garry Whitley, president of the ATLC, an umbrella labor organization that represents the multiple unions. “Some people really want it bad. Some really do not want it.” For many union members, the eight-hour work day is more than a tradition. It’s the essence of organized labor. “Anybody with any labor sense at all can tell you it’s going to benefit the company,” said Thomas “Gary” Norman, a machinist at Y-12 for 27 years. “They’re doing all of the taking and none of the giving . We don’t get nothing.” A number of callers in recent days have suggested that union leaders have let them down by letting the proposal go before the full membership. Some people believe the proposal, with the prospect of dozens of additional days off each year, will be particularly appealing to younger workers who haven’t earned as much vacation time, etc. It’s expected to be a very close vote, according to union members on both sides of the issue. “We should represent the majority,” Whitley said. “I do not know if the majority of people want it or not,” he said. “The only way I know is to have a referendum, and I will do whatever 51 percent of the people want.” Whitley said Y-12’s hourly workers may actually have two votes on the 4/10 issue. If the proposal for a new workweek is approved by the members, there would be a trial period until Jan. 13, the ATLC leader said. A second vote would be taken Dec. 14 to decide whether to keep it or not, he said. The union leader said he would post the vote for all to see. “I’m not going to hide it,” he said. n Ralph Hutchison, coordinator of the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance, was none too pleased about the way protesters were treated this year at the Y-12 National Security Complex. He felt that federal officials were deceptive about the arrangements, especially the limited space made available to peace activists at the plant’s entrance. Considerable efforts were made to keep the visitors off the grounds at the New Hope Center, the plant’s new visitors center and multipurpose facility near the entrance on Scarboro Road. A temporary fence, similar to one that was used during construction of the new facility, was erected to make sure everybody got the message. BWXT, the government’s managing contractor, used every excuse available to limit access to New Hope — including the fact that the building is privately owned (although the property around it remains federal). Whatever, the case, I expect there will be changes made next year. It will be difficult to have that facility and the adjoining property open to public events throughout the year and then close things down when unwanted visitors arrive for their August pilgrimage to remember the A-bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. Senior writer Frank Munger covers the Department of Energy for the News Sentinel. He may be reached at 865-342-6329 or at munger@knews.com. This column is also available in the opinion section of knoxnews.com. © 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co. ***************************************************************** 62 Knoxville News Sentinel: Security officers ratify deal Oak Ridge guards agree to contract, avert possible strike By Frank Munger (Contact) Wednesday, August 15, 2007 OAK RIDGE — Oak Ridge security police officers ratified a new five-year contract Tuesday, averting a possible strike at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant and other federal facilities here. Randy Lawson, president of Local No. 3, International Guards Union of America, confirmed that the contract was approved after voting concluded at 8 p.m., but he did not have the voting tally available or the margin of approval. The union leadership did not endorse the final contract offer because Wackenhut Services, the security contractor in Oak Ridge, and the Department of Energy were unwilling to address a number of benefits the guards felt they should have received, Lawson said. He called it an extraordinarily difficult negotiation, adding, “I’m excited it’s over.” The union represents more than 500 security police officers in Oak Ridge, including highly trained paramilitary forces charged with protecting Y-12, which houses the nation’s supply of bomb-grade uranium, from terrorists and other threats. The new five-year contract contains 4 percent wage increases in each of the first two years, with additional raises that scale down to 3 percent in the final three years, Lawson said. Under the existing contract, which was to expire at 4 p.m. today, security police officers earned up to $21.38 per hour at the top of the wage scale, he said. Last week the union agreed to a 14-day buffer period in case a strike was called. So, if the contract proposal had been rejected, the actual strike wouldn’t have begun until Aug. 29. Although the union didn’t get everything it wanted in the new contract, Lawson said, “No one wants a strike. No one wins.” There has not been a strike by Oak Ridge security guards since 1982. However, there was strike talk in the air in recent days — especially after the guards union decided not to recommend the final contract offer to the membership. “We’re telling the membership to vote their conscience on this one,” Lawson said earlier this week. Federal officials said a contingency plan was in place to quickly bring security police officers from other U.S. sites to Oak Ridge in case of a strike. Steven Wyatt, a spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration, said that is standard procedure in the nuclear weapons complex. Two shifts of Wackenhut supervisors in Oak Ridge were dispatched to the Pantex warhead-assembly plant in Texas earlier this year when security guards went on strike there. Lawson said the union will continue to make its case in Washington, D.C., for improvements to the benefits package for security police at federal sites, especially to help guards with their retirement planning. One of the main concerns, he said, is the multiplier that’s used to determine retirement eligibility. Lawson said the current multiplier is 1.2, which is used in connection with years of service and age to determine benefits. He said the Oak Ridge multiplier is significantly lower than that at other sites, such as Pantex. Security police officers face stiff physical-fitness requirements to stay certified to carry weapons and fill assignments at the nuclear facilities, and Lawson said that can often limit their careers. Senior writer Frank Munger may be reached at 865-342-6329. © 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co. ***************************************************************** 63 lamonitor.com: LANL tests soil at intersection The Online News Source for Los Alamos CAROL A. CLARK Monitor County Editor Traffic was diverted early Wednesday evening as emergency personnel from Los Alamos National Laboratory lifted dirt samples from the ground at the intersection of DP Road and Trinity Drive. The samples, which turned out negative, were taken to determine if elevated radioactive levels were present from spillage discovered Tuesday during transport of contaminated soil removed from TA-21 on DP Road. LANL spokesman James Rickman explained the situation during an interview this morning. "The lab moved a roll-off transportainer, (container placed on truck bed), containing borehole cuttings from TA-21 to the waste disposal area at TA-54 on Pajarito Road," Rickman said. "The borehole cuttings resulted from work required under the NMED (New Mexico Environment Department), consent order." The cuttings inside the transportainer are wrapped in a plastic fabric, he said, adding that rainwater had apparently collected inside this transportainer. When the shipment arrived inside TA-54, personnel there noticed liquid leaking from inside the back of the transportainer, Rickman said. As is standard procedure, personnel from TA-54 built a dyke around the liquid to prevent it from spreading. LANL took samples of the leaked material and found no radiation levels above background - anything above naturally occurring levels, he said. LANL personnel then retraced the route taken by the truck carrying the transportainer and found two areas on lab roadways where spills had occurred. One area was at the guard station at the bottom of Pajarito Road and the other was at the corner of Pajarito Road near the entrance to TA-54. "We took samples and found no radiation above background," Rickman said. As part of standard procedures, a radiological technician followed the truck to the intersection of DP Road and Trinity Drive when it left TA-21 on Tuesday. "The technician did not see anything leaking from the truck during transport," Rickman said. "Even with the technician's observation, because the other areas of spills on lab property occurred when the truck had stopped, as a precaution the laboratory tested the DP Road, Trinity Drive intersection." Rickman continued, "The samples from DP Road and Trinity Drive found no levels above background." Rickman said LANL coordinated with Los Alamos County officials prior to sampling and has kept them apprised of their activities since then. County Administrator Max Baker said this morning that the lab has been in contact with his office. "We received notification on this late yesterday and I've talked to the lab today as well," Baker said. The borehole cuttings inside the transportainer contained trace amounts of radioactive materials from historic laboratory operations, Rickman said, adding that those cuttings were disposed of as planned in the TA-54 disposal area. The lab is investigating this incident, he said, and examining transport procedures to ensure that an incident of this type does not happen again. © 2003 Los Alamos Monitor All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 64 lamonitor.com: Little support for new waste at LANL The Online News Source for Los Alamos ROGER SNODGRASS Monitor Assistant Editor At a public meeting Tuesday evening, one person spoke in favor of burying an orphaned class of nuclear waste in New Mexico. At the first-stage environmental planning session sponsored by the Department of Energy, Mike Dempsey was outnumbered 10-to-one by the opponents of nuclear-waste disposal at Los Alamos. Another speaker urged that the decision be made on the basis of science, rather than politics. At issue is where the nation should put about 2,600 cubic meters of "Greater Than Class C (GTCC) low-level radioactive waste" regulated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission as well as an additional 3,000 cubic meters of similar, "GTCC-like" wastes that are owned or generated by DOE. Under current regulations, GTCC waste is supposed to be buried in a geological repository such as WIPP or Yucca Mountain, but the DOE project is also considering various "near surface" and "intermediate depth borehole" options. These alternatives are being considered for LANL, WIPP and five other national laboratories. DOE officials began their visit on Monday, taking public comments about the Waste Isolation Pilot Project in southern New Mexico as a possible disposal site. At the forum Tuesday Christine Gelles, DOE's disposal operations director, provided the overview for a proposed environmental impact statement. She noted that Congress had called on DOE to conduct the environmental evaluation and then report to Congress on the disposal alternatives before issuing a final decision. The chief characteristic of GTCC waste is that it is not transuranic waste and not high-level waste, which are mostly spent fuel rods from nuclear reactors and by-products of processing. Although it is called a low-level waste, GTCC may be packaged in highly radioactive concentrations. Specifically, GTCC includes activated metals from decommissioned nuclear reactors, sealed sources (usually small, encapsulated, highly radioactive materials used for medical and industrial purposes and laboratory research) and a miscellaneous, catchall category. Dempsey said he wanted to "lobby to have the dump in Los Alamos County, because ... we're part of the situation and we should be part of the solution." He said he had spent more than two decades at Waste Isolation Pilot Project in Carlsbad and then at Los Alamos as a nuclear waste professional. "WIPP's my number one choice now, having worked there," he said. "WIPP will be there another 100 million years." James Bearzi, chief of the state's Hazardous Waste Bureau, followed up on comments by Gov. Bill Richardson on the subject, emphasizing that the state was determined that WIPP remain focused on its core military mission. Bearzi called near-surface or intermediate-depth disposal, as proposed for LANL, "a horrible idea." He said that in the midst of a comprehensive cleanup operation in which every effort is being made to move TRU and other defense-related waste off the Hill, that the DOE's proposal for LANL was "cleanup" in reverse. John Tauxe, a resident of Los Alamos and an environmental engineer, said he was not an advocate for any particular site or technology. "If the analyses are based on science, then that will direct us to the best sort of site," Tauxe said. Critics from nuclear watchdog groups in Santa Fe and Albuquerque pushed for a storage solution that is not being considered in DOE's evaluation. Scott Kovac of Nuclear Watch New Mexico called for analysis of hardened on-site-storage (HOSS), a concept for storing wastes as close to where it was generated as possible. While admitting it was not a permanent solution, he discussed security, surveillance, public funding and governance safeguards for the system. He also called for other alternatives, including vitrification and compaction for lowering disposal volume, as well as an analysis of transportation impacts to be included in the statement. Marian Naranjo of Santa Clara Pueblo and a newly formed group, Honor Our Pueblo Existence (HOPE), told the federal officials that earlier that day she had been on a tour of Area G, the waste disposal area where the waste was most likely to be stored. It is a location with a number of places considered sacred to the pueblo people. "The things we believe in happened in this place," she said, adding that she was not allowed to conduct a traditional cornmeal offering, as she is supposed to do whenever she passes near a sacred site. She reminded the federal officials that they were free to come and go, but that Native Americans have no other place to go. "This is it," she said. "It's a very bad idea to bring more radiation things to this area." © 2003 Los Alamos Monitor All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 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: *****************************************************************