***************************************************************** 09/11/07 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 15.213 ***************************************************************** 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 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Faulty nuclear claims NUCLEAR REACTORS 2 US: NRC: NRC Staff Approves Transfer of Comanche Peak Operating Lice 3 London Times: Sarkozy angers Germany with nuclear privatisation sche 4 US: Burlington Free Press: Vermont doesn't need Vermont Yankee 5 US: JOURNAL NEWS: Feds suspend inspection at Indian Point 3 6 The Hindu: Government blamed for scuttling session 7 US: NRC: Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant, Unit 1; Notice of Withd 8 US: NRC: GE FONSI 9 Reuters: France confirms studying future of nuclear industry 10 Reuters: France reviews options for Areva 11 US: Reuters: U.S. nuclear industry inches toward new construction 12 US: Reuters: TXU Corp buyout gets approval from nuclear regulatory b 13 UPI: Outside View: Nuke plants for China 14 UPI: Hungary mulls referendum on nuclear plant 15 UPI: EDF, Areva unveil U.K. nuclear plans 16 US: OrlandoSentinel.com: Coal, nuclear hailed as way to safe power - 17 US: Idaho Statesman: Newsmaker: Interest in nuclear power returns 18 US: TheDay.com: Water-discharge Permit On Hold 19 IAEA: Nuclear Safeguards: Staying Ahead of the Game 20 AFP: Russia, Vietnam seal energy cooperation deal - 21 US: AFP: Record US buyout of TXU wins approval amid credit pinch - 22 ScienceAlert: Who's watching the nuclear watchdog? 23 Platts: Areva and EDF invite UK public comment on EPR design NUCLEAR SECURITY NUCLEAR SAFETY NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 24 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Nation's nuclear waste storage industry in a 25 US: Daily News Journal: County: Put pledge against radioactive waste 26 Knoxville News Sentinel: Nuke fuel producer warned of problems 27 barrow in furness: Training at Sellafield 28 barrow in furness: Nuclear waste container contract worth ÂŁ70m 29 ReviewJournal.com: YUCCA MOUNTAIN: State presses DOE on use of water 30 ReviewJournal.com: Nevada considered for new type of nuke waste PEACE 31 Reuters: Russia tests superstrength bomb - military 32 Guardian Unlimited: Russia Tests Powerful 'Dad of All Bombs' US DEPT. OF ENERGY 33 Knoxville News Sentinel: New ideas sought on nuclear contracts 34 Knoxville News Sentinel: Budget nips at Y-12's heels 35 Oak Ridger: Y-12 workers warned of layoffs, federal budget uncertain 36 NewsBlaze: Remarks as Prepared for Delivery for Energy Secretary Sam ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 Salt Lake Tribune: Faulty nuclear claims Public Forum Letter Article Last Updated: 09/10/2007 07:04:07 PM MDT An op-ed article by Joseph Mangano (Opinion, Aug. 25) asserted that siting nuclear power plants in Utah would pose significant public health risks. Mangano is the director and fundraiser for the Radiation and Public Health Project. This organization blankets the U.S, with newspaper columns opposing nuclear development by claiming cancer risks will increase. Health departments in seven states have all investigated Mangano's claims and refused to validate them. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy have reviewed Mangano's claims and find no basis or evidence to link radiation-related illness and proximity to nuclear power plants. RPHP claims are based on counties with elevated health effects that also have nuclear facilities. Those counties with nuclear facilities and below-average health effects are ignored. Such selective, biased data-parsing can also be used to associate increased health effects with county political organizations, television viewing and even religious affiliation. The only valid causal relationship evidenced by RPHP is the number of articles they publish and contributions they receive. Gary Sandquist Salt Lake City ***************************************************************** 2 NRC: NRC Staff Approves Transfer of Comanche Peak Operating License News Release - 2007-117 - 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 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has approved the transfer of the operating license for the Comanche Peak Steam Electric Station from owner TXU Generation Company LP to new owner Luminant Generation Company LLC. As provided by NRC regulations, the staff's approval of the transfer was effective September 10. TXU Generation Company submitted an application April 18 requesting approval of the license transfer. As part of Texas Energy LP’s purchase of TXU Corp., which owns TXU Generation Company, the transfer will create an intermediate parent company, Luminant Holdco, between TXU Corp. and TXU Generation, which will become Luminant Generation. Major issues considered by the NRC included financial and technical qualifications, as well as the transfer and maintenance of accumulated decommissioning funds. A copy of the NRC's approval order and accompanying non-proprietary safety evaluation report will be placed in the NRC's Public Document Room, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Room O-1 F23, Rockville, MD 20852 (telephone 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737). The non-proprietary safety evaluation will also be available on the NRC’s Agency-wide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS), by entering ML072220130 at this address: http://adamswebsearch.nrc.gov/dologin.htm NRC news releases are available through a free listserv 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. September 11, 2007 ***************************************************************** 3 London Times: Sarkozy angers Germany with nuclear privatisation scheme - September 12, 2007 Adam Sage in Paris President Sarkozy has put in motion the privatisation of Areva, the world’s biggest builder of nuclear power stations, as he asked officials yesterday to assess plans for a merger with Alstom, the French engineering group. The tie-up would create a Gallic giant valued at €40billion (Ł27.2 billion), with a global reach in sectors ranging from energy to trains. The move has set Paris on a collision course with Berlin, which is keen for Siemens, the German engineering group, to maintain a 34 per cent stake in Areva Nuclear Power, the nuclear reactors subsidiary. HSBC bank and McKinsey, the con-sultants, were reported to have been appointed to advise the French authorities on options for the nuclear group. © Copyright 2007 Times Newspapers Ltd. the News International Group. News International Limited, 1 Virginia St, London E98 1XY, is the holding company for the News International group and is registered in England No 81701. VAT number GB 243 8054 69. ***************************************************************** 4 Burlington Free Press: Vermont doesn't need Vermont Yankee burlingtonfreepress.com | Burlington, Vermont Tuesday, September 11, 2007 Published: Tuesday, September 11, 2007 About 5 years ago, Washington Electric Coop (WEC) chose to totally eliminate nuclear power from its electric generation sources because nuclear power is a dangerously polluting form of energy and WEC could do without it. Today WEC has more energy than we need, and other Vermont electric companies could do without Vermont Yankee power as well. TIMOTHY S. GUILES Williamstown Copyright ©2007 Burlingtonfreepress.com All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your agreement to the Terms of Service ***************************************************************** 5 JOURNAL NEWS: Feds suspend inspection at Indian Point 3 Tuesday, September 11, 2007 By GREG CLARY BUCHANAN - The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has suspended an inspection at Indian Point 3 after federal experts found plant officials unprepared to answer questions about a series of unplanned shutdowns that led the agency to lower the reactor's safety rating in April. "They just didn't have the documentation we needed," said NRC regional spokesman Neil Sheehan, noting that such suspensions are rare. "But also, the types of questions we are asking, they did not have answers for at this point." Entergy Nuclear Northeast, which owns and operates Indian Point, sent a letter Friday to the NRC requesting a delay, two days after the NRC pulled its special inspectors out of a review that normally takes weeks to complete. The letter, obtained by The Journal News, didn't mention that the NRC had suspended the inspection on Wednesday, noting instead the arguments for a delay and the company's regret for "any inconvenience we may have caused the NRC Staff." Kathy McMullin, an Indian Point spokeswoman, said the matter was "really much ado about nothing" and wouldn't have reached the level of public notification without the current regulatory climate surrounding the plant. "In this particular environment, the NRC erred on the abundance-of-caution side, as we have done on issues that on their face might not seem all that significant," she said. "It's not necessarily routine that an inspection would be postponed, but it's not that unusual either." Indian Point has applied to extend its operating licenses for its two working reactors to 2033 and 2035 respectively and has been wrestling with increased opposition from elected officials and the community because of radiation leaks and a system of warning sirens that has missed three deployment deadlines. Sheehan said the agency required the supplemental inspection as part of its decision to lower Indian Point 3's safety rating to white, one level down from the top rating of green, because the unplanned shutdowns happened more frequently than regulations allow. On April 6, an explosion and fire forced the company to unexpectedly shut down the atomic reactor for the second time in four days and the fourth time in less than a year. Plant workers quickly controlled the fire, and NRC officials at the time said there was no radiation threat, but the agency announced the safety rating downgrade later that day. One of the people notified Friday of the suspension was Rockland County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef, who said this was just the latest in the company's seeming continual series of problems. "The fact that they didn't know they weren't ready is more of a concern than simply a scheduling conflict," Vanderhoef said. "It raises the question of their competence in running the plant." Westchester County officials were none too happy either. "We're concerned about why they weren't ready when they said they would be," said David Novich, a spokesman for Emergency Services Commissioner Anthony Sutton. Reach Greg Clary at gclary@lohud.com or 914-696-8566. ***************************************************************** 6 The Hindu: Government blamed for scuttling session Wednesday, Sep 12, 2007 Special Correspondent NEW DELHI: The Communist Party of India on Tuesday slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party for holding up the monsoon session of Parliament over its demand for setting up a joint parliamentary committee on the India-U.S. civilian nuclear deal. The party demanded that the Constitution be amended to incorporate the provision of “Right to recall” an MP and that punitive action be taken against members who indulged in hooliganism in the House. Addressing a press conference here, Gurudas Dasgupta, Sudhakar Reddy and D. Raja, MPs, also deplored the government action “scuttling” the session by four days, surrendering to BJP “blackmail.” They alleged that “collusion” between the government and the BJP was amply reflected in the former’s readiness to wind up the session. Mr. Dasgupta said 29 important Bills, many on social welfare, were pending before Parliament. The BJP, during the current term of the 14th Lok Sabha, had caused disruption for a duration of 333 hours. To a query why the CPI, if it was so annoyed with the UPA government, was still supporting it, Mr. Dasgupta said: “We are at the end of journey. We do not trust this government.” Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. ***************************************************************** 7 NRC: Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant, Unit 1; Notice of Withdrawal of Application for Amendment to Facility Operating License FR Doc E7-17869 [Federal Register: September 11, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 175)] [Notices] [Page 51849] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr11se07-106] NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION [Docket No. 50-400] The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or Commission) has granted the request of Carolina Power & Light Company (the licensee) to withdraw its April 30, 2007, application for proposed amendment to Facility Operating License No. NPF-63 for the Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant, Unit No. 1, located in Wake and Chatham Counties, North Carolina. The proposed amendment would have revised the technical specifications pertaining to the narrow range containment sump water level instruments to allow different water level measurement instruments to be used. The Commission had previously issued a Notice of Consideration of Issuance of Amendment published in the Federal Register on May 22, 2007 (72 FR 28720). However, by letter dated July 19, 2007, the licensee withdrew the proposed change. For further details with respect to this action, see the application for amendment dated April 30, 2007, and the licensee's letter dated July 19, 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 30th day of August, 2007. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Marlayna Vaaler, Project Manager, Plant Licensing Branch II-2, Division of Operating Reactor Licensing, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. [FR Doc. E7-17869 Filed 9-10-07; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 8 NRC: GE FONSI FR Doc E7-17878 [Federal Register: September 11, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 175)] [Notices] [Page 51849-51852] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr11se07-107] NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact for Amendment To Exempt Distribution License No. 20-23904-01E for GE Homeland Protection, Inc., and Request for Exemption From 10 CFC 32.26 Requirements I. Introduction The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering the issuance of an amendment to Exempt Distribution License No. 20-23904- 01E held by GE Homeland Protection, Inc. [[Page 51850]] (hereafter GE). GE currently possesses Sealed Source and Device (SSD) Certificate No. NR-0399-D-101-E and Exempt Distribution License No. 20- 23904-01E that authorizes, under Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), Section 32.26, ``Gas and aerosol detectors containing byproduct material'' to distribute intact Entryscan explosives/ narcotics walk-through detection devices to persons exempt from licensing under 10 CFR 30.20. Issuance of the amendment would allow GE to service the Entryscan devices at customer sites, and to allow GE to ship the Entryscan devices in parts for final assembly at customer sites. Issuance of the amendment would allow GE to be exempt from the requirements of 10 CFR 32.26. GE requested this action by letters dated November 29, 2006 and May 13, 2007. The NRC has prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA) in support of this proposed action in accordance with the requirements of Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations Part 51 (10 CFR Part 51). Based on the EA, the NRC has concluded that a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) is appropriate with respect to the proposed action. The amendment will be issued to the Licensee following the publication of this FONSI and EA in the Federal Register. II. Environmental Assessment 1.0 Background The NRC staff has evaluated the environmental impacts of an exemption from the provisions of 10 CFR 32.26 and the amendment to allow GE to service Entryscan explosives/narcotics walk-through detection devices at customer sites, and to allow GE to ship the Entryscan devices in parts for final assembly at customer sites. The Entryscan devices are walk-through units designed to detect explosives and narcotics. These units are used in-doors at high- security locations, such as airports, seaports, military facilities, and U.S. Customs sites. Each unit has a length of 40.00-56.00 in. (1016.00-1422.40 mm), a width of 57.43-64.00 in. (1458.72-1625.60 mm), and a height of 92.50-102.00 in (2349.50-2590.80 mm). Each unit contains a solid 10 mCi, Ni-63 encapsulated source mounted in a ceramic cell having a wall thickness of 0.39 in. (10 mm). The ceramic cell (detector cell) is mounted inside an aluminum rectangular box (detector housing) having dimensions 7.09 x 2.87 x 2.64 in. (180 x 73 x 67 mm) and a wall thickness of 0.062 in. (1.6 mm); the detector cell and housing together comprise the detector head. The detector head is mounted in the upper cabinet assembly of the unit. GE currently possesses Sealed Source and Device (SSD) Certificate No. NR-0399-D-101- E and Exempt Distribution License No. 20-23904-01E that authorize, under Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), Section 32.26, ``Gas and aerosol detectors containing byproduct material'', GE to distribute intact Entryscan devices to persons exempt from licensing under 10 CFR 30.20. By letters dated November 29, 2006 and May 13, 2007, GE requested an amendment and exemption to allow GE Field Service Engineers to remove and exchange failed detector heads inside Entryscan units at customer sites, and to allow GE to distribute the Entryscan units in parts for final assembly at the customer sites. 2.0 Proposed Action The proposed action is to issue an amendment to License No. 20- 23904-01E and an exemption from 10 CFR 32.26 to allow GE Field Service Engineers to service Entryscan explosives/narcotics walk-through detection devices at customer sites, and to allow GE to ship the Entryscan devices in parts for final assembly at customer sites. Specifically, the proposed action regarding servicing is to permit GE Field Service Engineers to remove and replace a failed detector head at a customer site, rather than requiring the entire Entryscan unit be returned to a GE distribution facility for repair. The proposed action regarding shipping is to permit GE to ship an Entryscan unit in parts from the GE distribution facility, with the upper cabinet assembly containing the mounted detector head shipped in a separate crate, rather than requiring that the entire Entryscan unit be shipped from the licensed distribution facility as one fully assembled unit. There are over 300 Entryscan units that are currently deployed, or have the potential to be deployed, throughout all Agreement and Non- Agreement States. GE currently estimates that to replace a failed detector head at the customer site would take approximately one (1) hour in accordance with this exemption. GE would ship a new detector head to the customer site, where a GE Field Service Engineer would perform the replacement. The detector head would not be opened during the servicing; the radioactive sealed source would not be accessed, handled directly, or manipulated in any manner at the customer site. The failed detector head would then be returned to a licensed GE facility for disassembly and repair. GE would ship the Entryscan units that have been crated in parts. It would take five to seven business days to deliver and install an Entryscan unit in the United States that has been crated in parts for shipment. The detector head would remain mounted and not be removed from the upper cabinet assembly at any time during the shipping and final assembly at the customer site. GE Field Service Engineers would perform the proposed installation and final assembly. 2.1 Need for Proposed Action Regarding servicing, on occasion, the detector head may fail due to an electrical or mechanical malfunction. The Entryscan unit is not operational when this happens and the impacted security lane at the customer site must be taken out of service until the repairs can be made. This causes interruption to the explosives and narcotics detection capabilities at these locations. In the event of a failed detector head requiring replacement, this exemption would allow GE to ship a replacement sealed detector head directly to the customer site, replace the non-functioning detector head at the customer site, then physically ship the non-functioning detector head back to the GE distribution facility for repair. This would also minimize the Entryscan unit's downtime and the loss of security service at the customer site by allowing GE to return the inoperative unit to service within a few days, as opposed to within ten to fourteen days, which is the case if the entire unit is returned to the manufacturing facility for repair. Regarding shipment in parts, a fully assembled and crated Entryscan unit weighs up to 875 pounds. A fully assembled Entryscan unit is too large to deliver into most buildings. Its height impacts its ability to fit through a standard loading dock and its width impacts its ability to be moved to a point of use within a building. Additionally, a fully assembled Entryscan unit would pose a significant risk of injury to personnel handling the unit. This exemption would allow delivery of the unassembled unit to the location of use at the customer site. 2.2 Environmental Impacts of Proposed Action 10 CFR 32.26 establishes the requirements for the distribution of gas and aerosol detectors containing byproduct material to persons exempt from licensing under 10 CFR 30.20. Products licensed under 10 CFR 32.26 are required to meet the safety criteria defined under 10 CFR 32.27 to ensure the protection of public health and [[Page 51851]] safety and the environment under normal and severe use, handling, storage, and disposal of the products. The intact Entryscan unit has been evaluated and licensed under SSD Certificate No. NR-0399-D-101-E and Exempt Distribution License No. 20-23904-01E to meet such criteria. The affected environments would be the immediate vicinity of the Entryscan units and the GE distribution facilities. Each Entryscan unit contains a solid 10 mCi, Ni-63 encapsulated source mounted into the ceramic detector cell having a wall thickness of 0.39 in. (10 mm). The detector cell is mounted inside the detector housing that has a wall thickness of 0.062 in. (1.6 mm). After assembly during manufacturing, GE leak tests each detector cell for removable contamination. The detector head, comprised of the detector cell and housing, is mounted in the upper cabinet assembly of the unit and is not removable nor accessible to the user. Due to the shielding of the beta-radiation components of the detector cell with ceramic, and the aluminum housing, there is no possibility of contamination on any accessible surface of the detector housing or the external surface of the device. There is a very low probability of a beta particle from Ni- 63 penetrating the ceramic detector cell. Additionally, the detector housing passed impact, puncture, pressure, vibration, and temperature prototype testing in accordance with International Standard ISO 2919, ``Radiation protection--sealed radioactive sources--General requirements and classification'' for normal use and likely accident conditions. However, accidents during servicing are not likely. GE Field Service Engineers have been trained to safely and properly handle, install, and secure detector heads during servicing. Through the licensing and SSD evaluation process, GE demonstrated that the Entryscan units meet the safety criteria for licensing under 10 CFR 32.26. The NRC therefore issued GE SSD Certificate No. NR-0399-D-101-E and Exempt Distribution License No. 20-23904-01E that authorizes GE to distribute the Entryscan devices to persons exempt from licensing under 10 CFR 30.20. The Entryscan units would be serviced and assembled at, or very near, the indoor security checkpoints at the customer sites. During the replacement of the detector head and assembly of a unit, GE would cordon off the unit and place the security checkpoint lane out of service to prevent access to the general public. GE would verify that the work area is secured via cones or barriers before beginning work. Additionally, security staff at customer sites would impose traffic controls to prevent access to the cordoned off area. GE would maintain control of the detector head during servicing and final assembly at the customer site. The detector head would not be opened during the servicing or assembly of the unit; the radioactive sealed source would not be accessed, handled directly, or manipulated in any manner at the customer site. The detector head would not be left unattended during the replacement or assembly of the unit. One non-radiological impact during the replacement of a detector head at the site may be an electrical hazard; the outer panels of the Entryscan unit may be taken off while the unit is electrically energized. This electrical hazard is minimized by proper use of Lockout-Tagout procedures. A second non-radiological impact during the shipment of the unit in parts and assembling at the customer site may be a risk for bodily injury to personnel assembling the unit at the point of use, although the risk would be lower than that posed if the unit were shipped in one piece. Contracted rigging crews would assist in the assembly of the unit at the customer site under the supervision of GE. A third non-radiological impact may be a risk of electrical shock during assembly. This electrical hazard is also minimized by proper use of Lockout-Tagout procedures. As discussed above, GE and security staff at the customer site would impose proper access restrictions, minimizing the risk to persons around the unit during replacement of a detector head and assembly of a unit. A fourth non- radiological impact may be the effects of security lane closure during servicing and assembly, which may cause delay in the security screening of people; a detector head would be replaced in approximately one hour. The NRC staff has determined that the proposed action will not impact the quality of water resources because the Entryscan units would be located indoors. The NRC staff has also determined that the proposed request will not impact geology, soils, air quality, demography, biota, and cultural and historic resources under normal and severe handling, storage, use, and disposal. The NRC has determined that the benefits of this exemption exceed the radiological risks and risks of non- radiological impacts. 3.0 Alternatives to Proposed Action 3.1 Alternative 1: License Units Under General License Regulations The first alternative would be to license the distribution of the Entryscan units under the equivalent Agreement State regulation of 10 CFR 32.51 for Generally Licensed Items, which would allow GE to service the units at customer sites and ship the units in parts. 3.2 Alternative 2: Dispose of Defective Units A second alternative would be to dispose defective Entryscan units as normal waste as allowed for products distributed under 10 CFR 32.26, rather than repair the units for further use, and to ship the units in one piece. 3.3 Alternative 3: No-Action Alternative The No-Action Alternative would be the denial of the proposed action. Under this alternative, GE would not be able to replace defective detector heads at customer sites, and would not be able to ship the units under their Exempt Distribution License. GE would therefore need to license the units under General License regulations. 4.0 Environmental Impacts of Alternatives 4.1 Alternative 1: License Units Under General License Regulations The environmental impacts for the first alternative would be the same as for the proposed action. However, this alternative would increase the administrative and regulatory burden on the licensee, customers, and regulatory authorities. The additional burden would be requiring more frequent reporting by the licensee, requiring the end- users to appoint a person knowledgeable of pertinent regulations, requiring the end-users to leak test the units, and requiring the regulator to track the units. 4.2 Alternative 2: Dispose of Defective Units The environmental impacts for the second alternative would be an increased level of contamination in the normal waste stream at customer sites, since the Entryscan units would be allowed to be disposed of as regular waste as allowed with exempt household smoke detectors licensed for distribution under 10 CFR 32.26. 4.3 Alternative 3: No-Action Alternative The environmental impacts for the No-Action Alternative would be the [[Page 51852]] same as for the first alternative and the proposed action. The burden, however, on the licensee, end-users, and regulators would be greater than that of the proposed action by requiring more frequent reporting by the licensee, requiring the end-users to appoint a person knowledgeable of pertinent regulations, requiring the end-users to leak test the units, and requiring the regulator to track the units. 5.0 Agencies and Persons Contacted GE has distribution facilities located in Wilmington, MA, Newark, CA, and Lincolnton, NC. NRC contacted the radiation control programs of the States of Massachusetts, California, and North Carolina. These states had no objection to the proposed action in this EA. NRC staff has determined that the proposed action will not affect listed species or critical habitat. Therefore, no further consultation is required under Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act. Likewise, NRC staff have determined that the proposed action is not the type of activity that has potential to cause effects on historic properties. Therefore, no further consultation is required under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. 6.0 Conclusion The action that NRC is considering is to issue an amendment to License No. 20-23904-01E and an exemption from 10 CFR 32.26 to allow GE Field Service Engineers to service Entryscan explosives/narcotics walk- through detection devices at customer sites, and to allow GE to ship the Entryscan devices in parts for final assembly at customer sites. The NRC staff considered the environmental consequences of approving the license amendment and exemption, and has determined that the approval will have no adverse effect on public health and safety or the environment. Therefore, the NRC staff concludes that the proposed action is the preferred alternative, the environmental impacts associated with the proposed action do not warrant denial of the license amendment and exemption request. 7.0 Finding of No Significant Impact The Commission has prepared this EA related to GE's exemption request. On the basis of this EA, the NRC finds that there are no significant environmental impacts from the proposed action, and that preparation of an environmental impact statement is not warranted. Accordingly, the NRC has determined that a Finding of No Significant Impact is appropriate. 8.0 References 1. SSD Certificate No. NR-0399-D-101-E. 2. NRC License No. 20-23904-01E. 3. GE letters dated November 29, 2006 and May 13, 2007, with enclosures thereto. IV. Further Information Questions regarding this action may be directed to Duncan White at (301) 415-2598 or by e-mail at ADW@nrc.gov. Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 17th day of August, 2007. For The Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Janet Schlueter, Director, Division of Materials Safety and State Agreements, Office of Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management Programs. [FR Doc. E7-17878 Filed 9-10-07; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 9 Reuters: France confirms studying future of nuclear industry Tue Sep 11, 2007 11:09AM BST RENNES, Sept 11 (Reuters) - President Nicolas Sarkozy is studying the future of the French nuclear industry, his office said on Tuesday, insisting though that there was no urgency. "I confirm that the President is thinking about the future of the French energy sector. It is normal to think about this issue but there is no urgency," Sarkozy's spokesman David Martinon told reporters when asked about a report on state controlled nuclear group Areva. French daily newspaper Les Echos reported on Tuesday that the government had hired British bank HSBC (HSBA.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and consultancy firm McKinsey to review options for Areva (CEPFi.PA: Quote, Profile, Research). Les Echos said the French government favoured a tie-up between Areva and French industrial power plant and high-speed train firm Alstom (ALSO.PA: Quote, Profile, Research), without citing sources. © Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 10 Reuters: France reviews options for Areva Tue Sep 11, 2007 7:21AM EDT By Marie Maitre PARIS (Reuters) - The French government is reviewing options for state-controlled nuclear group Areva (CEPFi.PA: Quote, Profile, Research), a source close to the situation said on Tuesday, adding that the process was at a preliminary stage. "We are at the very early stages of reflection and there is no favored scenario," the source told Reuters after daily newspaper Les Echos said France had hired HSBC (HSBA.L: Quote, Profile, Research) bank and consultancy firm McKinsey to explore options for Areva. Les Echos said, citing no sources, the French government favored a tie-up between Areva and industrial power plant and high-speed train firm Alstom (ALSO.PA: Quote, Profile, Research), a merger that would create a group with a market capitalization of 40 billion euros. This contributed to push shares of Alstom 4.8 percent higher at 133.97 euros by 6:30 a.m. EDT, while Areva certificates traded 2.3 percent higher at 699.71 euros. Asked to comment on the Les Echos report, a spokesman for President Nicolas Sarkozy confirmed France's new head of state was "studying the future of the French energy sector" but said the government was not under pressure to take decisions quickly. The French state owns 5.2 percent of Areva directly, while other public entities hold 88.2 percent. The future of Areva, whose activities cover the full nuclear energy cycle from mining to waste recycling, has been the subject of speculation for years, and a revival of nuclear power projects in several countries has further raised the group's profile. Sarkozy had in the past indicated he could open up Areva's capital. His election in May rekindled speculation of a possible link-up between Areva, Alstom and construction-to-telecoms conglomerate Bouygues (BOUY.PA: Quote, Profile, Research). SEVERAL OPTIONS Continued... ***************************************************************** 11 Reuters: U.S. nuclear industry inches toward new construction Tue Sep 11, 2007 8:29AM EDT By Chris Baltimore SPRING CITY, Tennessee (Reuters) - When the Watts Bar Unit One here switched on in 1996 after a 23-year construction ordeal, it was the last of a generation of U.S. commercial nuclear power plants to emerge from a building cycle marred by massive cost over-runs and canceled plant orders. Now, the U.S. nuclear industry is hoping that its troubled building history will not repeat itself as it takes baby steps toward ending a 30-year nuclear construction hiatus. There are signs that things will be different this time around, and many industry observers are talking openly about an approaching "nuclear renaissance." "It's going to be significantly different from how it was in the 1970s," said Bill Borchardt, who will oversee the lengthy licensing process to build new nuclear plants at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. U.S. companies in coming weeks are expected to file the first of about 30 anticipated new reactor license applications at the NRC to serve soaring U.S. electricity demand with greenhouse gas-free nuclear energy. Most of the building interest is centered in Southeast states like Georgia, Virginia, Alabama and Florida, where land is plentiful and a population shift from northern states is driving electricity demand through the roof. REAL MONEY Dominion Resources, Duke Energy and Southern Co are among the utilities in the process of seeking plant licenses, according to a list provided by the NRC. The NRC is expected to take about 3 years to process applications, and construction could take 4 years, putting the first new U.S. reactors online sometime around 2015. Continued... ***************************************************************** 12 Reuters: TXU Corp buyout gets approval from nuclear regulatory body Tue Sep 11, 2007 9:41AM EDT Sept 11 (Reuters) - Texas power company TXU Corp (TXU.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said the Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved the acquisition of the company by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co [KKR.UL] and TPG Capital LP [TPG.UL]. Dallas-based TXU agreed earlier this year to be bought by Kohlberg and TPG Capital for $69.25 a share in the second-largest leveraged buyout ever. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter, the company said in a statement. (Reporting by Dilipp S. Nag in Bangalore) © Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 13 UPI: Outside View: Nuke plants for China United Press International - International Security - Industry - Analysis Published: Sept. 11, 2007 at 1:10 PM By TATYANA SINITSYNA UPI Outside View Commentator MOSCOW, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- On Aug. 16, the No. 2 generating unit of China's Tianwan nuclear power plant, which was built with Russian assistance on the Yellow Sea coast, attained design capacity and currently produces 1.05 million kilowatts of electricity an hour. However, Beijing is still reluctant to commission it. This week, representatives of Atomstroiexport, the Russian nuclear power equipment and service export monopoly that is implementing the Tianwan project, met with the Chinese partners at the nuclear power plant to discuss routine construction issues and the commissioning of the No. 2 unit. It took almost 10 years to complete the Tianwan NPP, whose first generating unit features twin reactors with a joint infrastructure. It was completed in June and was used to streamline various engineering solutions. The reactor has been operating for almost a month now. Although both reactors provide a $2 million daily economic effect, the Chinese side is reluctant to sign the relevant acceptance statement because it has some misgivings about nuclear-safety issues. Before leaving for Beijing, Alexander Nechayev, director of Atomstroiexport's department in charge of building the Chinese NPP, told RIA Novosti that his company would try to persuade China to sign the acceptance statement. Bilateral cooperation faced some problems because Beijing, a fault-finding partner, is closely monitoring the Tianwan project. "Nevertheless, the positive results of our cooperation prove that both partners have profited from it. We believe that Moscow has built the best NPP in the world," Nechayev told RIA Novosti. An upgraded version of the VVER-1000/428 water-cooled and water-moderated reactor, which was developed especially for the Tianwan NPP, features better neutron-physics specifications, multi-channel safety systems and other technological marvels. More than 150 Russian companies were involved in the unique Tianwan project. The Atomenergoproject R&D Institute in St. Petersburg designed the NPP and the world-famous Kurchatov Institute acted as academic supervisor. The Gidropress design bureau in Orenburg in the Volga Region developed the reactor, and engineering giants Izhorskiye Zavody -- Izhora Plants -- and Silovye Mashiny -- Power Machines -- in St. Petersburg manufactured all other equipment. Silovye Mashiny contributed the turbines, which are 150 percent "faster" than similar units with the same capacity. The double-walled reactor building features an airtight compartment ruling out radiation leaks and ensures adequate protecting against external factors. The Tianwan NPP has a special trap featuring unique engineering solutions that can cool down the reactor core in case of an accident. The trap has been certified by Russian and Chinese watchdog agencies and approved by the International Atomic Energy Agency. Russian experts said major accidents could happen only once in every 100,000 years. According to Nechayev, the reactor, which has a service life of 40 years, can operate even longer. He said Finland had recently extended the service life of the Soviet-made Lovisa NPP, which was built 30 years ago, to 50 years, and that the Tianwan NPP could operate as long. China, an emerging global powerhouse, has received a major source of energy. The Tianwan NPP is the first ambitious nuclear project to be implemented by Moscow in the past 20 years. The Russian nuclear industry, which can effectively cooperate with foreign partners and successfully compete on the global market, will now be able to offer new standard reactors to other partners. Moscow eventually fulfilled all Chinese requirements and heeded the specifics of national management and mentality, and hopes to build four more reactors in Tianwan, provided that Beijing agrees to level several mountains hindering the project's implementation. -- (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 ***************************************************************** 14 UPI: Hungary mulls referendum on nuclear plant United Press International - NewsTrack - Top News - Published: 11, 2007 at 3:22 PM BUDAPEST, , 11 (UPI) -- A Hungarian government minister Tuesday said a public referendum should be called before a decision is taken on building a second nuclear power plant. Addressing an energy conference in Budapest, Hungarian Environment Minister Gabor Fodor said it was an important decision justifying a referendum, the Hungarian news agency MTI reported. Balazs Feldmann, deputy economy minister, said a new nuclear plant could help diminishing greenhouse gas emissions, although he didn't support the attitude that nuclear power is fully eco-friendly. Feldmann said Hungary should make plans to lessen dependency on the country’s only Paks nuclear power plant, which produces 38 percent of electricity consumption. Ada Amon, head of the Energia Klub green lobby group, condemned the government for not having a plan for reducing energy consumption, MTI said. © Copyright United Press International. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 15 UPI: EDF, Areva unveil U.K. nuclear plans United Press International - International Security - Energy - Briefing Published: Sept. 11, 2007 at 4:31 PM LONDON, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- Energy giants EDF and Areva unveiled plans for new nuclear plants in Britain. The two companies launched a Web site detailing their EPR reactor as part of the approval process for new nuclear facilities. The Web site is open to public comments -- expected to be harsh -- before a final decision by the Health and Safety Executive and the Environment Agency. The EPR is a pressurized water reactor, and similar designs are being built in Finland and France. The plant has a lifespan of 60 years, and its design is considered environmentally friendly. Nuclear power is highly controversial, and opposition to it in Britain is high. Nuclear accounts for 20 percent of Britain’s power sector, but many of those plants are to go offline in the next 20 years. The approval process for the EDF-Areva plant can take up to three years. © Copyright United Press International. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 16 OrlandoSentinel.com: Coal, nuclear hailed as way to safe power -- Kevin Spear | Sentinel Staff Writer September 11, 2007 Orlando's utility broke ground Monday to build one of the world's most sophisticated coal-powered generators, a step toward ensuring the region has enough electricity in coming years. At nearly the same time, the Florida Energy Commission meeting a few miles away opted for a different path to the state's energy future by backing nuclear power as a key answer to global warming. The two actions just hours apart showed how Florida's energy picture has been shaken by the twin worries over how to keep lights on while reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. Tommy Boroughs, chairman of the energy commission and board member of the Orlando Utilities Commission, said coal and nuclear are part of a crucial solution when so much about energy is unresolved. "They're not going in different directions," Boroughs said. "Every utility is looking for diversity. No one wants to get too dependent on one direction." Recommendations by the energy commission -- initially developed by advisory groups during the past several months -- will be sent to the state Legislature for the 2008 session, which promises to be pivotal for Florida's energy prospects. Legislators also must grapple with Gov. Charlie Crist's push for increased energy efficiency, reductions in carbon pollution by power plants and cars and more diverse ways of producing electricity. 'Practical applications' "I think you're going to see a lot of dovetailing of proposals," said state Sen. Lee Constantine, R-Altamonte Springs, a commission member. "They will be practical applications that we can do now, that will save the state money and will benefit the environment." Mike Sole, secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and chairman of Crist's new energy-action team, said much of what Florida does in coming years boils down to a key issue. "We've got to deal with carbon dioxide," Sole said. The energy commission also rejected for this year at least a proposed recommendation to study offshore drilling near the state's coast. "I have a real problem with this," Boroughs said. "Why would we want to bring this back up again?" Coal vs. gas Because it burns more cleanly than coal, natural gas already is Florida's most relied-on fuel for generating electricity. Yet Florida is expected to become even more dependent on natural gas despite predictions the fuel will become more costly and harder to get. The coal-fired plant being built in southeast Orange County will have some of the clean-burning qualities of natural gas and the affordability of the more-plentiful coal. The Orlando Utilities Commission and Southern Co. expect to have their plant running in three years at a cost of $569 million, with $235 million in financing from the Department of Energy. The coal "gasification" plant essentially will cook coal at high temperatures and in a sealed chamber to extract the flammable gases hydrogen and carbon monoxide. Those gases will be used the same way natural gas is used -- first to turn a kind of jet turbine and then to power a steam turbine. That approach is more efficient than burning coal directly and provides a more affordable way of preventing mercury, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from going up a smokestack. However, it reduces only a small portion of coal's high carbon emissions. "With the ground that we break today, we enter a new age of energy and environmental security for America as well as for the world," Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman said. The Florida Energy Commission will soon consider preliminary recommendations from advisory groups on ways to conserve energy and to develop alternative sources of energy. Those include harnessing ocean currents, increasing performance of wind and solar generators, and making ethanol and other fuels from plants. "There is no one silver-bullet answer to our energy needs," said Susan Glickman, an activist for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. "You can look at coal gasification as a bridge technology while we work on a breakthrough in other technologies." Kevin Spear can be reached at kspear@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5062. Copyright © 2007, Orlando Sentinel ***************************************************************** 17 Idaho Statesman: Newsmaker: Interest in nuclear power returns (with audio) | Business By Ken Dey - kdey@idahostatesman.com Edition Date: 09/11/07 More than 400 experts in the nuclear power field converged on Boise this week for a conference titled Global 2007: Advanced Nuclear Fuel Cycles and Systems. The conference started Monday and continues through Thursday. Among the speakers Monday was Dale Klein, chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Klein spoke about the challenges the United States will face in rebuilding its nuclear industry. Afterward, he talked to the Idaho Statesman. Q: What is driving the new interest in nuclear power? A: What I see from the United States perspective is that there is a major resurgence in nuclear for a variety of reasons. One is the high cost of fossil fuels. The other is global warming. And I think another one is, I believe, the changed regulatory structure. More people now have confidence that the NRC can make timely decisions. Q: How far away are we from the next new reactor? A: We will get, probably within the next month, the first new combined operating license (application). We expect this year to get three to five, and more than 10 in the 2008 calendar year. One of issues I try to tell people is that electrons are not going to be flowing next year. It will take the NRC about 30 months to do a tech review of a license application. We do not expect electricity flowing from a new nuclear unit until the 2014 time frame. Q: We have one nuclear plant proposed by Alternate Energy Holdings (a Virginia company that has never built a nuclear power plant but says it wants to build a 1,600-megawatt one in Owyhee County). Do you have any thoughts on that plant, which would be new and not built on an existing site? A: There are very few green-field (new) sites that have been discussed. We have had very little conversation with this particular activity. There's only been, I think, two letters sent. Our staff is not engaged. It's not on our radar screens very brightly lit. We're aware of it, but there's not much really happening. Q: Do you think the public still views nuclear power as dangerous? A: I think the biggest difference we're going to have with this renaissance is that most of the plants will be built at existing sites. The communities where we've had reactors have now been running 20-30 years, so they're comfortable with them and the scare tactics that came out early on didn't materialize. What's fascinating is that when you ask general audiences, ‘What are the two nuclear accidents that occurred in the world?' they'll name them — Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. But if you ask how many people we kill in coal mines a year, they have no clue. For the United States, Three Mile Island injured no one and it was contained. It was an expensive accident for the utility, and we're better off today because of that, but Three Mile Island clearly caused a lack of confidence in industry. Q: You mentioned in your presentation that if the proposed Yucca Mountain disposal site is approved it would be full almost as soon as it's open. What is the solution to nuclear waste? A: If you look at most countries with large nuclear programs, they recycle the spent fuel. That significantly reduces the volume of materials to be disposed of. But all countries that have a nuclear program that are looking at disposal are looking at geological disposal. The whole world agrees that ultimately you'll need to find a very stable formation that has been stable for millions of years and therefore will likely be stable in the future and then put the (waste) emplacement in. The NRC is the licensee of Yucca. We're not for or against it, but will make a technical decision once Department of Energy submits the application. They are indicating they intend to submit in June '08. Q: Can the United States get back on track to again take the leadership role in nuclear power? A: We were the world leader initially. Most of the world's technology was developed in the United States and a lot of it developed here in Idaho. But other countries have surpassed us. We still have the most reactors per country, 104 running today. But if you look at a country like France, which got the technology from Westinghouse originally, they get about 80 percent of their electricity from nuclear. I'm hoping from the technical perspective that we will become the world's leader. There's no reason we can't, but the heavy manufacturing I think will not be done in the U.S., but done in countries like Korea, China and Japan. One issue we're concerned about as a regulator is that we don't get counterfeit components in the nuclear system. We have a fairly robust inspection program. Q: What impact does the political climate and the effect of a change of power (from Republican to Democrat) have on the nuclear industry? A: Whether global warming is technically real is personally not my area, but I can tell you it's politically real. There is a big concern about global warming and a lot of the Democratic leadership has expressed significant concerns about global warming. But at the end of the day, if you're concerned about global warming, one has to look at nuclear. If you look at a 1000-megawatt nuclear plant, it takes about 500 acres. If you look at a 1,000 megawatt solar plant, it takes about 40,000 acres. If you have a 1,000 megawatt wind farm, it's about 150,000 acres. For baseline generation, it's going to come down to coal and nuclear, and we need them both. It's not one or the other. No matter who is in the presidency or in Congress, we need a sound energy program, and it will likely involve nuclear. Ken Dey: 672-6757 IdahoStatesman.com ***************************************************************** 18 TheDay.com: Water-discharge Permit On Hold DEP review of court case could affect Millstone nuclear complex By Patricia Daddona Published on 9/11/2007 Just reducing the amount of water the Millstone nuclear complex in Waterford is allowed to discharge into Long Island Sound might not be enough to satisfy the state agency charged with renewing the company's permit. The state Department of Environmental Protection has obtained its third extension, this time until Sept. 24, in an effort to review a landmark court case that is likely to change the way reactors owned by Dominion and power plants around the country are cooled. A year ago, the DEP tentatively authorized a draft permit that would have required Dominion to reduce the amount of water its reactors may discharge by 20 percent per day. The proposal also called for a 40-percent reduction in water intake during the optimal spawning season for winter flounder, which typically runs from early April until mid-May. But this past January, in Riverkeeper v. the Environmental Protection Agency, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the EPA to clarify or change its laws involving whether electric power plants must stop fish kills by using “the best technology available.” The step, depending on how it is implemented, could require an expensive technological overhaul at many plants, including Millstone. It could include reducing the flow of water used from Long Island Sound or deploying costly, large cooling towers that use significantly less water by recycling what they do use, thereby putting much less strain on the aquatic environment. Since June, the DEP has been reviewing the federal case before reissuing its draft permit and calling for public hearings. The draft permit scheduled to go to public hearing this year was due Monday. Monday, DEP Spokesman Dennis Schain said a hearing officer in DEP's Office of Adjudication has granted the DEP two more weeks to finish its review and revise the draft permit. Millstone has been operating under emergency authorization from a previous DEP commissioner since its permit expired 10 years ago. “It's a complex issue and involves a court decision with a lot of nuances we need to consider,” Schain said. “It's likely analysis of the case will result in imposing some changes to the proposed permit.” Schain would not say what those changes might be, but said they would be made “to be in compliance with what we believe are the mandates of that court decision.” Like most nuclear power plants, Millstone currently draws in water from Long Island Sound to cool the steam that has passed through turbines that generate electricity in its two operating reactors. The reactors also use grates to strain and attempt to save fish larvae from being killed in the process. The DEP is responsible for issuing a permit that governs how Millstone owner Dominion accomplishes that task. EPA Spokeswoman Enesta Jones said the federal agency has no timetable for making its changes to federal law, although it is “going to do them.” Nonetheless, in July, the EPA suspended its rules governing the intake-cooling water structures at power plants. What that means, Jones and Schain said, is that until the EPA comes up with new rules, the states have the authority to rely on old federal rules and oversee the permitting program using their “best professional judgment.” According to the DEP, 30 years of ecological monitoring by Northeast Utilities, the previous owner of Millstone, and Dominion show that the discharge of water from Millstone has not adversely affected the Sound. When Millstone takes in water from the Sound, that water flows into the plant through a large grate, which traps fish and other sea life and returns it to the Sound by way of a vertical conveyor belt. A Nuclear Regulatory Commission study has found that winter flounder larvae were too small to be trapped by the system and died from heat inside the plant. The water never touches Millstone's nuclear reactors, which are cooled with water in a “once-through” closed-loop system. Water from the Sound passes through the system in long tubes, which cool steam created by the reactor, condensing it back into water. The water discharged from the Millstone units is warmer than the water in the Sound. According to Neil Sheehan, a spokesman with the NRC, cooling towers are considered “closed cooling” systems and generally come in two types. Natural draft towers, which can be as tall as 10 stories and parabolic-shaped, are common to nuclear power plants, he said. Some nuclear power plants, like Vermont Yankee, use a second type, called mechanical draft towers, which are much smaller and use fans to draw in air and cool water in a large basin at the bottom of a bank of towers, Sheehan said. Forty-four of the more than 100 nuclear power plants around the country use cooling towers, Sheehan said. Dominion is still working closely with the DEP on the revised permit, spokesman Pete Hyde said. Schain could not provide a timetable for the public hearing process that would follow notice of a revised permit for Millstone, but said the DEP plans to “expedite” it once it is under way. Regional Privacy Policy | Contact Us at 1 (860) 442-2200 | New London, CT | © 1998-2007 The Day Publishing Co. ***************************************************************** 19 IAEA: Nuclear Safeguards: Staying Ahead of the Game New Booklet Issued on IAEA Safeguards System Staff Report 10 September 2007 What are nuclear safeguards and why are they important? Answers are provided in a new booklet that describes and explains the fundamentals of the IAEA safeguards system and its role as a key element of international security. The 32-page illustrated booklet addresses the system´s implementation, costs, requirements, resources and historical development, with an emphasis on trends and strengthening measures over the past 10-15 years. "IAEA safeguards are a central element of the nuclear non-proliferation regime," notes IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei in the Foreword. "This, in turn, is an essential component of the international security system." He emphasizes, among other things, that the IAEA and its Member States are working together "to ensure that the safeguards system is continuously appraised and updated as necessary." See Story Resources for more information. Copyright ©, International Atomic Energy Agency, P.O. Box 100, Wagramer Strasse 5, A-1400 Vienna, Austria Telephone (+431) 2600-0; Facsimilie (+431) 2600-7; E-mail: ***************************************************************** 20 AFP: Russia, Vietnam seal energy cooperation deal - AFP - Wednesday, September 12 MOSCOW (AFP) - - Russia and Vietnam agreed to revive a Soviet-era energy cooperation deal on Tuesday as Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung prepared to meet President Vladimir Putin. Nguyen Tan Dung and Russian counterpart Mikhail Fradkov agreed to extend an agreement dating back to the final months of the Soviet Union in 1991 on cooperation through a joint venture called Vietsovpetro. The original agreement covers joint exploration and extraction of oil and gas on Vietnam's continental shelf and was set to run out in 2010. The deal has been extended and will include joint work in third countries, officials said. "This joint venture will not be closed, but will continue working on a new legal basis in Vietnam, in Russia and in third countries," Nguyen Tan Dung was quoted by RIA-Novosti news agency as saying. Russian and Vietnamese officials did not add further details on the deal. Nguyen Tan Dung was set to meet Putin later on Tuesday at the Russian president's official residence outside Moscow. Russian influence is growing in Vietnam. The two countries have vowed increased energy cooperation and Russia is also among the contenders to help Vietnam develop nuclear power and exploit its rich mineral resources. But Russia's clout is still a shadow of Soviet-era levels. Bilateral trade worth 1.2 billion dollars (868 million euros) is dwarfed by Vietnam's 10-billion-dollar annual turnover with the United States. Copyright © 2007 Yahoo! Singapore Pte. Ltd. (Co. Reg. No. ***************************************************************** 21 AFP: Record US buyout of TXU wins approval amid credit pinch - Tue Sep 11, 1:08 PM ET WASHINGTON (AFP) - Texas energy group TXU Corp. said Tuesday that US regulators had given final approval to two private equity groups and other investors to proceed with their record 45-billion-dollar buyout. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's approval of a TXU buyout marks a triumph for Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Texas Pacific Group, but the private equity titans may face a tough fight stitching together the deal's hefty financing. A housing market slump and rising foreclosures have ravaged the US credit markets in recent months forcing banks to tighten their lending standards and the private equity firms plan to use large amounts of debt to finance their buyout. TXU said in a statement that it aims to close the deal between October and December. The Dallas-based utility's shareholders approved the buyout overwhelmingly on Friday. The NRC's green light ratchets up pressure on big banks, including Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, that agreed to stump up billions of dollars in financing for the deal. The credit crunch has already taken a toll on other private equity buyouts. Home products retailer Home Depot was forced back to the negotiating table with three private equity firms in late August over a deal to sell its wholesale supply division. Home Depot eventually agreed to sell the supply unit for 1.8 billion dollars less than it had hoped after banks providing credit to support the deal balked at its original 10.3 billion dollar price tag. Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Texas Pacific Group publicly launched their buyout bid for TXU in February. The 45-billion-dollar deal, including TXU debt, is the biggest buyout ever attempted. Few such deals have been inked since early August when credit jitters jolted global financial markets. Private equity firms usually buyout public firms by taking on hefty amounts of debt financing. They then seek to take a targeted company public again within five years after restructuring its operations, hoping to sell it on for a profit while paying off accrued debt. The deal entitles TXU shareholders to 69.25 dollars in cash for each share of company stock. TXU is one of America's largest power firms and Texas' biggest electricity producer. AFP/File Photo: Texas energy group TXU Corp. said Tuesday that US Copyright © 2007 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The ***************************************************************** 22 ScienceAlert: Who's watching the nuclear watchdog? Australia & NZ Wednesday, 12 September 2007 By Richard Broinowski and Tilman Ruff Australia has been poorly served by the Australian Safeguards and Non-Proliferation Office, the Commonwealth agency tasked with preventing nuclear proliferation dangers associated with Australia's uranium exports. Its failures are so numerous and significant that, along with other members of the EnergyScience Coalition, we have written a comprehensive critique of the Office and call on the federal government to establish an independent public inquiry. The Safeguards Office makes the absurd claim that Australia only sells uranium to countries with "impeccable" non-proliferation credentials. In fact, Australia has uranium export agreements with nuclear weapon states (all of which are failing to fulfill their disarmament obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty) as well as with states with a history of covert nuclear weapons research based on their "civil" nuclear programs (such as South Korea and Taiwan). The government also permits - and the Safeguards Office supports - uranium sales to countries (including the United States) which are blocking progress on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and the proposed Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty.  Now the government proposes allowing uranium sales to India, not even a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty. This is a serious blow to the international non-proliferation regime yet has been met with silence from the Safeguards Office. Last year's debate on uranium sales to China showed the Safeguards Office at its worst. In testimony to the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties, the Office did not know the number of nuclear facilities in China, nor how many or which of these would process uranium and its by-products. Nor did it know how the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) selected nuclear facilities for inspection. The Safeguards Office was dismissive of China having the worst record of exports of proliferation-sensitive materials and know-how of any of the nuclear weapon states. The Safeguards Office routinely misleads us when it asserts that nuclear safeguards "ensure" or "provide assurances" that Australian uranium will not contribute to weapons proliferation. These assurances contrast with the frankness of Dr Mohamed El Baradei, head of the IAEA, who acknowledges that the international safeguards system suffers from "vulnerabilities", not least because it runs on a "shoe string budget", and that efforts to improve the system have been "half-hearted". The Safeguards Office claims that all nuclear materials derived from Australia's uranium exports are "fully accounted for". That claim is false. There are frequent accounting discrepancies involving Australia's nuclear exports. What the Safeguards Office means when it says that nuclear material is "fully accounted for" is that it has accepted all the explanations provided by uranium customer countries for accounting discrepancies, however fanciful those explanations may be. Secrecy is another feature of the Safeguards Office - it refuses to provide specific or even aggregate data on nuclear accounting discrepancies. Perhaps the most misleading of the claims made by the Safeguards Office is its repeated assertion that nuclear power does not present a weapons proliferation risk. In fact, power reactors have been used directly in weapons programs. Some examples include India, which is reserving eight out of 22 power reactors for weapons production; the use of a power reactor in the United States to produce tritium, used to boost the yield of nuclear weapons; and North Korea's use of an "Experimental Power Reactor" to produce plutonium for weapons. Nuclear power programs also indirectly facilitate weapons programs by providing a rationale for acquiring proliferative technologies such as research reactors, uranium enrichment plants and reprocessing plants. The IAEA, the US Department of Energy and other authorities consider almost all plutonium to be weapons-usable, yet the Safeguards Office continues to claim that plutonium derived from power reactors is not suitable for weapons. This is not only wrong; it is dangerous. The inevitable conclusion arising from our detailed critique of the Safeguards Office (posted at http://www.energyscience.org.au/) is that, at best, it is ineffectual, providing an illusion that an independent agency is protecting the interests of the Australian people when it comes to the vital matter of preventing nuclear proliferation. At worst, the Safeguards Office serves the commercial interests of the nuclear industry and the political interests of those who promote it, and contributes more to the problem of nuclear weapons proliferation than to the solutions. We call on the federal government to establish an independent public inquiry to review all aspects of the Safeguards Office - its performance; scientific and technical expertise; whether its current management, organisation and relationships best serve its mandate; any conflicts of interest; whether it has sufficient independence; and options for reform. The inquiry should be adequately resourced, and should have powers similar to those of a Royal Commission to access witnesses, documents and other evidence. A writer and Adjunct Professor at the University of Sydney, Richard Broinowski is a former Australian diplomat. He was Ambassador to Vietnam (1984-87), the Republic of Korea (1987-89) and Mexico, the Central American Republics and Cuba (1994-97). He was General Manager of Radio Australia from 1990-91. Richard's latest book is Fact or Fission - the Truth about Australia's Nuclear Ambitions, which was published by Scribe in 2003. Tilman Ruff is Associate Professor in the Nossal Institute for Global Health, University of Melbourne; President, Medical Association for Prevention of War; and an author of the Illusion of Protection report. Copyright © 2004-2007 ScienceAlert.com.au - About Us | Contact Us | ***************************************************************** 23 Platts: Areva and EDF invite UK public comment on EPR design 2007-09-10 Paris (Platts)--10Sep2007 Areva and Electricite de France opened their EPR design to UK public scrutiny September 10, announcing jointly the launch of a web site presenting the details of the advanced PWR and inviting public comment. Areva and EDF earlier this year submitted the design to the Health and Safety Executive and Environment Agency, seeking a Generic Design Assessment. They are working with several other utilities towards possible construction of one or more EPRs in the UK, most likely at existing nuclear sites in England. Approval to build depends on the outcome of the UK public consultation on new nuclear power plant construction. The design information is posed at http://www.epr-reactor.co.uk/. EDF and Areva said the design submitted for the UK is "based on the EPR plant being built at Flamanville-3" in France "and benefits from the expertise developed during the project." Flamanville-3, for which EDF is owner, project manager and main architect-engineer, is scheduled to be in service in 2012. Copyright © 2007 - Platts, All Rights Reserved ***************************************************************** 24 Salt Lake Tribune: Nation's nuclear waste storage industry in a jam - and Utah in the spotlight Article Last Updated: 09/11/2007 07:05:17 AM MDT Workers unload a container in the mixed waste operations area of the EnergySolutions disposal site. LAS VEGAS - The nuclear waste industry is preoccupied with one big question these days: What to do with trainloads of low-level nuclear waste that soon won't have anywhere to go. "This is a national problem, requiring a national solution," said Alan Pasternak, technical director for utilities, academic institutions and other low-level waste generators in California. And it was a problem that got lots of attention last week at a conference of regulators and contractors in the business of arranging for disposal of radioactive rubbish from reactors, medical tests and procedures and research - not the highly contaminated spent fuel rods. Utah finds itself at the center of the discussion. One reason is Salt Lake City-based EnergySolutions, the country's biggest nuclear waste company and operator of a South Carolina nuclear waste site that is being phased out. Another reason is that EnergySolutions operates the busiest of the nation's three commercial landfills for radioactive waste, in Tooele County, about 80 miles west of Salt Lake City. EnergySolutions dropped plans to take hotter Class B and C waste in Utah four years ago. Two years after that, the Legislature outlawed the stuff altogether and dashed the hopes of a solution for the storage of low-level radioactive waste from nuclear plants, hospitals, universities and other users of hazardous radioactive material in 36 states. Those waste generators need new options to dispose of Class B waste, which is composed of leftovers from medical tests and nuclear operations that is gauged to be largely harmless after about 300 years, under the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's classification program. They also want an alternative for Class C waste, which loses its hazard potential after about 500 years. Under a national system that has been in place nearly two decades, radiologically hazardous Class B and C materials can't go to ordinary landfills but only certified ones - and access to those landfills is tightly limited. No new ones have been constructed since the Tooele County facility, back in 1988. But the EnergySolutions landfill is not eligible to take the B and C waste. Following a public outcry, the Legislature two years ago outlawed radioactive waste that hazardous, although less dangerous Class A waste is allowed. (Its risk is negligible after 100 years, according to the NRC.) A disposal site at the old Hanford atomic weapons complex in Washington state also is off-limits to B and C waste from the 36 states because of a federal law that requires waste to be managed within regions. It sets up a kind of fence that provides disposal for radioactive waste generated within region boundaries and serves as a barrier to block waste generated outside the regional fence from coming in. South Carolina raised hundreds of millions of dollars for its schools by opening its gates to radioactive waste from outside its region. However, with the landfill filling up fast, the state decided several years ago to close it to all but three states in its regional group by June 30. EnergySolutions petitioned South Carolina lawmakers last spring to keep Barnwell open to outside states but failed. "We will not be seeking to extend the deadline in South Carolina for accepting out-of-compact waste at the Barnwell facility," said company spokesman Greg Hopkins. This year, about 35,000 cubic feet of A, B and C waste is headed to Barnwell. Universities, government cleanups, hospitals and reactors are scrambling to find a place for their waste beginning next summer. The organizations that serve, regulate and represent them swapped ideas here last week for dealing with the disposal crunch in presentations at the RadWaste Summit hosted by Exchange Monitor Publications, which publishes newsletters for the nuclear cleanup industry. Hopkins said it's important for the nuclear industry to solve the problem in the long run. "It is an issue that the industry is going to have to work together on to resolve," he said. Some of the options discussed last week in Las Vegas include: * Storing B and C waste where it is until a disposal alternative is found. A new facility is expected to open in Texas in a few years, and a change in that state's law could make disposal available to the stranded 36 states. * Minimizing waste by processing it at treatment plants. * Blending Class B and C waste with less contaminated material to lower its hazard rating to A, so it can go to the Tooele County site. * Allowing states with federally operated sites to accept some B and C waste from sites with federal ties. Thomas Laetz, a senior policy analyst with the General Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, told the group the nation could end the gridlock caused by the current multistate, multiagency approach with a comprehensive program for dealing with low-level waste. About one dozen countries rely on them to track volumes and disposal needs, among other management factors, he said. But Christine Gelles, director of disposal operations for the U.S. Energy Department's environmental management office, questioned if there would be support for changing the current management scheme. She noted that Washington had not taken any actions on the GAO's suggestions about improving radioactive waste management. She concluded, "It's gonna take the will of Congress." fahys@sltrib.com ***************************************************************** 25 Daily News Journal: County: Put pledge against radioactive waste in writing Murfreesboro and Rutherford County, Tennessee The Rutherford County Commission will consider a resolution Thursday asking Allied Waste to make permanent and legally binding its discontinuation of the Bulk Survey for Release Program, under which low-level radioactive materials have been deposited in Middle Point Landfill. On Aug. 20 Allied Waste, owners of the landfill on East Jefferson Pike, announced it would voluntarily discontinue the BSFR program because of public concern over the program. That was after several public hearings and meetings by the Tennessee Solid Waste Advisory Committee, which ultimately concluded the BSFR program was safe and should continue with only minor modifications. The commission will meet at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Rutherford County Courthouse. If you would like to comment on this story for tomorrow’s Daily News Journal, please contact Turner Hutchens at (615) 278-5161 or trhutchens@dnj.com. Please include your name and a number where you can be reached. Originally published September 11, 2007 Print this article Email Copyright ©2007 The Daily News Journal. All rights reserved. Users ***************************************************************** 26 Knoxville News Sentinel: Nuke fuel producer warned of problems Recently released performance review out before Erwin spill By Andrew Eder (Contact) Tuesday, September 11, 2007 Federal regulators had warned an East Tennessee nuclear fuel producer about safety problems in a fuel facility before a potentially deadly uranium spill occurred there, according to a newly released document. A performance review of Nuclear Fuel Services of Erwin, Tenn., detailed numerous problems in the plant’s operations from January 2005 to February 2006. The spill — in which about 9 gallons of highly enriched uranium had two chances to reach “criticality,” an uncontrolled release of radiation — happened in March 2006. No one was hurt in the incident, but the Nuclear Regulatory Commission considered it significant enough to include in a report to Congress earlier this year of “abnormal occurrences.” The performance review was made public last week after the NRC changed a policy that had kept information on Nuclear Fuel Services and other fuel facilities from the public. Many of the problems noted in the report occurred in the plant’s blended low enriched uranium (BLEU) processing operations, where the company “downblends” weapons-grade uranium into low enriched uranium for use in commercial nuclear reactors, including TVA’s Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant. The March 2006 spill happened in the BLEU processing facility, and the report states that Nuclear Fuel Services’ efforts to improve safety in the facility “have either not been implemented or were not effective.” The report makes an indirect reference to the spill, which occurred after the reporting period, noting that the “continuing problems appear to confirm the findings of this (report).” An NRC critic said the report was an example of the agency’s “disconnect” in finding problems at the facility but taking no meaningful enforcement actions against Nuclear Fuel Services. “The NRC has with one hand wagged its finger at the company, and told the company how it needed to correct its operationsand then nothing happened,” said Linda Modica, a Jonesborough, Tenn., resident who chairs the Sierra Club’s national radiation committee. Roger Hannah, an NRC spokesman in Atlanta, disagreed with the characterization of the agency as negligent and said it has been actively involved in trying to improve safety at the Erwin facility in recent years. “We take safety at NFS seriously just as we do at all NRC-licensed facilities,” Hannah said. The NRC added a second resident inspector to the facility in response to safety problems in recent years. The agency issued an order in February detailing actions for Nuclear Fuel Services to improve its “deficient safety culture,” although it levied no fines against the private company. The company has touted operational improvements made in recent months, and a more recent performance review found fewer problems at the Erwin plant than in the past. “It was obvious to both the NRC and to senior NFS management that a significant effort would be necessary to address the safety issues identified in the March 2006 Licensee Performance Review,” company spokesman Tony Treadway said in a statement. “The most recent LPR covering the period of October 2006 through July of 2007 clearly proves that improvements have been made.” But the performance review also notes that during the review period, the plant did not start up or expand new process lines. “As a result, there were fewer operational challenges and opportunities for NRC to adequately evaluate the effectiveness of your efforts to improve performance,” NRC Regional Administrator William Travers wrote. The NRC has scheduled public meetings on Monday in Erwin to discuss Nuclear Fuel Services’ performance, the first open meetings on the facility since April 2004. The first meeting will begin at 2:30 p.m. at the Nuclear Fuel Services Training Center in Erwin. The second meeting will be at 6 p.m. at Erwin City Hall. NRC officials will be on hand to answer questions. Separately, the NRC has received six requests for a public hearing on a change to Nuclear Fuel Services’ license that resulted from the March 2006 spill. A panel of three administrative judges is considering those requests. Business writer Andrew Eder may be reached at 865-342-6318. © 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co. ***************************************************************** 27 barrow in furness: Training at Sellafield Published on 11/09/2007 A NEW training scheme has been launched at Sellafield. It will help 10 trainees gain a foundation degree while working in the nuclear industry in a paid role. They will be employed by GENII for 16 weeks and offered a Sellafield contract for the remainder of their traineeship. Course sponsor and Mox technical head, Rebecca Weston, said: “This scheme demonstrates Sellafield’s commitment to investing in the local community and future workforce. “It is an exciting scheme, being a great opportunity for the trainees, while, if successful, actively providing the business with candidates with a high level of technical competence to meet its future challenges and work demands.” The trainees will complete a BTEC in Applied Science in the months leading up to Christmas. Based at the Westlakes Research Institute, students will spend some of their time between Sellafield’s Training and Development Centre and the British Technology Centre. At the start of 2008, the first cohort of trainees will be placed across Mox, Thorp and the High Level Waste Plants and will follow a foundation degree programme. View this story and the latest newspaper in full digital reproduction, just like the printed copy at www.nwemail.co.uk/digitalcopy ***************************************************************** 28 barrow in furness: Nuclear waste container contract worth ÂŁ70m Published on 11/09/2007 A ÂŁ700M contract to make nuclear waste containers is up for grabs. Sellafield says it needs more than 20,000 three-metre cubed stainless steel containers from 2011. The one-and-a-half ton boxes will be used to hold intermediate level radioactive waste from Sellafield's legacy ponds, silos and other decommissioned plants and facilities, when it is placed into storage prior to final disposal. Stephen Armstrong, Sellafield contracting specialist, said: "The aspirational life of each box is 500 years. Currently, we are issuing a final design for a prototype, its testing and manufacture — a process that will take us through to 2011. We are still developing our contract strategy and the main tender to manufacture the boxes will not be published until next year. "However, we want to raise awareness among all our potential suppliers of this huge opportunity, the largest issued so far, to support our decommissioning portfolio." The West Cumbria Development Agency and West Lakes Renaissance hope local companies will bid for the contract. John Knox, of West Lakes Renaissance, said: "We have the engineering capability in West Cumbria to bid for the contract, but companies need to think about how they can compete successfully in this global market, because there will be intense international interest." Mark Watters, a nuclear director of technology company Doosan Babcock, said: "This is an excellent opportunity for companies to join together to ensure the work remains in this area as far as possible. There are potential benefits for large and small companies to start negotiations now to from teams to tender for this work." Companies will be invited to submit bids for the contract after a notice is issued in the Official Journal of the European Union next year. View this story and the latest newspaper in full digital reproduction, just like the printed copy at www.nwemail.co.uk/digitalcopy ***************************************************************** 29 ReviewJournal.com: YUCCA MOUNTAIN: State presses DOE on use of water Sep. 11, 2007 Motions seek immediate end of drilling By KEITH ROGERS REVIEW-JOURNAL Nevada attorneys filed a pair of motions Monday in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas asking a judge to compel the Department of Energy to stop using the state's water for drilling bore holes at the planned Yucca Mountain nuclear waste site. " and in the meantime reach a three-way agreement on appropriate water use at the site, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. U.S. District Judge Roger Hunt on Aug. 31 denied an emergency motion by lawyers for DOE who wanted him to block State Engineer Tracy Taylor's June 1 order for DOE to stop using Nevada's water for the second phase of its bore hole drilling project. The DOE sent a letter to Taylor on Thursday saying it had stopped using water for the second phase but would continue using it for the first phase until that phase is completed by the end of this month. "It should be noted that DOE's letter seems to suggest that it is still within DOE's prerogatives to use water ... even though this court unequivocally determined that DOE's use of water for bore hole activity is not authorized by law and has not been agreed to by the parties," Adams wrote. She said the DOE's use of water to drill bore holes was never agreed to by the parties regardless of which phase. The drilling is under way to collect rock samples for data needed for a license application that DOE must submit to federal regulators to construct a nuclear waste repository and above-ground handling and storage facilities. On Friday, Deputy State Engineer Bob Coache went to Yucca Mountain and observed the DOE using water from nearby wells for the first phase of drilling but not the second phase, a spokesman for the state engineer's office said Monday. The second motion, filed Monday by Senior Deputy Attorney General Michael Wolz on behalf of the state engineer, asks the court to "direct DOE to cease the use of water for all bore hole drilling." "There is no legal justification for treating either phase of the drilling program differently from the other" under Hunt's Aug. 31 decision, Wolz wrote. Links powered by inform.com Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2007 Stephens Media, LLC Privacy Statement ***************************************************************** 30 ReviewJournal.com: Nevada considered for new type of nuke waste Sep. 11, 2007 DOE seeks site for decommissioned reactor parts, other materials By STEVE TETREAULT STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- Already at odds with Nevada over a proposed site to store spent nuclear fuel at Yucca Mountain, the Department of Energy is eyeing the state as a possible destination for another new stream of nuclear waste. The DOE is proposing to evaluate the Yucca site and the Nevada Test Site for the disposal of decommissioned nuclear reactor parts, encapsulated sources used in medicine and industry, and contaminated debris from laboratory research. The material is categorized as the most potent type of low-level contamination, potentially as risky as high-level nuclear waste, although their radioactive elements would not take as long to decay and become less dangerous. Besides the two Nevada sites, the department proposes environmental studies of six other locations and could recommend one or more for disposal of what is called "greater than Class C" waste. Other sites to be studied are the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, the Hanford site in Washington state, the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, the Savannah River site in South Carolina, the Idaho National Laboratory and the Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee. Depending on the disposal strategy and the sites that are selected, the waste could be put in a deep underground repository, in deep bore holes or in near-surface trenches or vaults. A draft recommendation is expected by spring or summer 2008, project document manager Jamie Joyce said. Once studies are completed, the Energy Department will report to Congress, but it cannot act further until directed, said Christine Gelles, director of the DOE Office of Disposal Operations. Besides the proposed Yucca Mountain repository, the Energy Department operates a disposal pit for low-level radioactive waste at Yucca Flat in the northeastern part of the sprawling Nevada Test Site. Nevada officials already trying to kill the Yucca Mountain repository for high-level nuclear waste have signaled that they also would oppose efforts to ship additional forms of radioactive waste into the state. "From a policy perspective, we don't want to see any additional waste stream brought into Nevada or the test site of any kind," said Bob Loux, director of the state's Agency for Nuclear Projects. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., "is closely watching DOE's low-level waste management plans and will do everything in his power to protect the health and safety of all Nevadans," spokesman Jon Summers said. The Energy Department has held scoping meetings near the potential sites. The proposal got negative reviews at meetings in the Pacific Northwest, while residents of Carlsbad, N.M., the site of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, were most welcoming, according to officials. A Sept. 4 hearing in Las Vegas drew about 20 people, including a half-dozen speakers, officials said. At a final scoping meeting Monday in Washington, representatives of nuclear activist groups urged the DOE to perform wide-ranging and deep environmental studies. Some recommended that the material be kept with tight security at current sites. The material "in many regards is comparable to high-level nuclear waste," said Kevin Kamps of Beyond Nuclear, an activist group. DOE officials said the amount of radioactive material they are seeking to dispose is relatively small, less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the low-level waste generated. DOE expects that 5,600 cubic meters will require disposal by 2062, roughly enough to cover half a football field to a one-yard depth. But Gelles said the radioactivity generated by the materials is seven times greater than that of other low-level waste. Yucca Mountain should be removed from the study list, said Diane D'Arrigo, radioactive waste project director at the Nuclear Information and Resource Service. "Yucca Mountain isn't close to being licensed, and if it is licensed, it has a capacity problem," D'Arrigo said. "Yucca Mountain should not be on the table. It is a waste of taxpayer money for it to be considered for this." Because much of the waste would come from nuclear plants, D'Arrigo said, government disposal was "an additional subsidy to the nuclear industry." Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2007 Stephens Media, LLC Privacy Statement ***************************************************************** 31 Reuters: Russia tests superstrength bomb - military Tue Sep 11, 2007 5:09PM EDT By Dmitry Solovyov MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia has tested the world's most powerful vacuum bomb, which unleashes a destructive shockwave with the power of a nuclear blast, the military said on Tuesday, dubbing it the "father of all bombs". The bomb is the latest in a series of new Russian weapons and policy moves as President Vladimir Putin tries to reassert Moscow's role on the international stage. "Test results of the new airborne weapon have shown that its efficiency and power is commensurate with a nuclear weapon," Alexander Rukshin, Russian deputy armed forces chief of staff, told Russia's state ORT First Channel television. The same report was later shown on the state-sponsored Vesti channel. "You will now see it in action, the bomb which has no match in the world is being tested at a military site." It showed a Tupolev Tu-160 strategic bomber dropping the bomb over a testing ground. A large explosion followed. Pictures showed what looked like a flattened multi-storey block of flats surrounded by scorched soil and boulders. "The soil looks like a lunar landscape," the report said. "The defense ministry stresses this military invention does not contradict a single international treaty. Russia is not unleashing a new arms race." Such devices generally detonate in two stages. First a small blast disperses a main load of explosive material into a cloud, which then either spontaneously ignites in air or is set off by a second charge. This explosion generates a pressure wave that reaches much further than that from a conventional explosive. The consumption of gases in the blast also generates a partial vacuum that can compound damage and injuries caused by the explosion itself. Continued... ***************************************************************** 32 Guardian Unlimited: Russia Tests Powerful 'Dad of All Bombs' Tuesday September 11, 2007 8:46 PM By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press Writer MOSCOW (AP) - The Russian military has successfully tested what it described as the world's most powerful non-nuclear air-delivered bomb, Russia's state television reported Tuesday. It was the latest show of Russia's military muscle amid chilly relations with the United States. Channel One television said the new weapon, nicknamed the ``dad of all bombs'' is four times more powerful than the U.S. ``mother of all bombs.'' ``The tests have shown that the new air-delivered ordnance is comparable to a nuclear weapon in its efficiency and capability,'' said Col.-Gen. Alexander Rukshin, a deputy chief of the Russian military's General Staff, said in televised remarks. Unlike a nuclear weapon, the bomb doesn't hurt the environment, he added. The statement reflected the Kremlin's efforts to restore Russia's global clout and rebuild the nation's military might while the ties with Washington have been strained over U.S. criticism of Russia's backsliding on democracy, Moscow's vociferous protests of U.S. missile defense plans, and rifts over global crises. The U.S. Massive Ordnance Air Blast, nicknamed the Mother Of All Bombs, is a large-yield satellite-guided, air-delivered bomb described as the most powerful non-nuclear weapon in history. Channel One said that while the Russian bomb contains 7.8 tons of high explosives compared to more than 8 tons of explosives in the U.S. bomb, it's four times more powerful because it uses a new, highly efficient type of explosives that the report didn't identify. While the U.S. bomb is equivalent to 11 tons of TNT, the Russian one is equivalent to 44 tons of regular explosives. The Russian weapon's blast radius is 990 feet, twice as big as that of the U.S. design, the report said. Like its U.S. predecessor, first tested in 2003, the Russian bomb is a ``thermobaric'' weapon that explodes in an intense fireball combined with a devastating blast. It explodes in a terrifying nuclear bomb-like mushroom cloud and wreaks destruction through a massive shock wave created by the air burst and high temperature. Thermobaric weapons work on the same principle that causes blasts in grain elevators and other dusty places - clouds of fine particles are highly explosive. Such explosions produce shock waves that can be directed and amplified in enclosed spaces such as buildings, caves or tunnels. Channel One said that the temperature in the epicenter of the Russian bomb's explosion is twice as high as that of the U.S. bomb. The report showed the bomb dropped by parachute from a Tu-160 strategic bomber and exploding in a massive fireball. It featured the debris of apartment buildings and armored vehicles at a test range, as well as the scorched ground from a massive blast. It didn't give the bomb's military name or say when it was tested. Rukshin said the new bomb would allow the military to ``protect the nation's security and confront international terrorism in any situation and any region.'' ``We have got a relatively cheap ordnance with a high strike power,'' Yuri Balyko, head of the Defense Ministry's institute in charge of weapons design, told Channel One. Booming oil prices have allowed Russia to steadily increase military spending in recent years, and the Kremlin has taken a more assertive posture in global affairs. Last month, President Vladimir Putin said he ordered the resumption of regular patrols of strategic bombers, which were suspended after the 1991 Soviet breakup. (This version CORRECTS spelling of military official's surname to Rukshin, not Rukhsin.) Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 ***************************************************************** 33 Knoxville News Sentinel: New ideas sought on nuclear contracts By Frank Munger (Contact) Tuesday, September 11, 2007 The federal government is soliciting ideas for improving contracts at its nuclear weapons facilities, including the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. The National Nuclear Security Administration, a part of the U.S. Department of Energy, issued a “request for information” Monday and said it is looking at alternatives to the current contracting strategy. The NNSA said it was particularly focusing on contracts at the weapons production facilities — Y-12, the Pantex Plant in Texas, and the Kansas City Plant. The management contracts at those three facilities all expire in 2010. BWXT Y-12, a partnership of BWX Technologies and Bechtel National, manages Y-12 for the government. The Oak Ridge plant manufactures warhead components and houses the nation’s stockpile of bomb-grade uranium. BWXT has about 4,500 workers in Oak Ridge. The announcement said the federal agency is looking at ways to improve performance, reduce costs and “stimulate interest and competition” within the contracting community. The NNSA has set up a special Web site for contractors and other “interested parties” to get more information: www.doeal.gov/mocontracts. Among the possible changes would be to consolidate contracts for operating plants or transfer work to other existing contracts, the announcement said. The NNSA said the contract improvements are part of an overall effort to meet national security needs and make the future weapons complex smaller, safer, and less expensive to operate. Senior writer Frank Munger may be reached at 865-342-6329. © 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co. ***************************************************************** 34 Knoxville News Sentinel: Budget nips at Y-12's heels If Congress doesn't act by Oct. 1, nuke-plant workers might face unemployment By Frank Munger (Contact) Tuesday, September 11, 2007 OAK RIDGE — Workers at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant could face layoffs if the fiscal 2008 budget remains unsettled. George Dials, general manager and president of BWXT Y-12, the government’s managing contractor, said a number of “unknowns” could have an impact on Y-12 operations. He addressed the concerns in a message posted Friday on the plant’s internal Web site. If Congress doesn’t pass a budget in time for the start of fiscal 2008, which begins Oct. 1, Y-12 and other federal facilities likely will operate under the spending guidelines of a continuing budget resolution. According to a message from Tom D’Agostino, who heads the National Nuclear Security Administration, that probably means spending at a reduced level until the budget issues are resolved. “Since we have no ability to estimate how long we may have to operate under these conditions, we have to anticipate that it will be for an extended period of time,” D’Agostino said in the message distributed to field sites, including Y-12. “This situation unfortunately will cause some significant impacts to our sites’ operating budgets and could affect our work force.” BWXT employs about 4,500 workers at the Oak Ridge plant, which manufactures parts for nuclear weapons and houses the nation’s stockpile of bomb-grade uranium. Dials said he did not have details on budget impacts to share at this time. However, he said Y-12’s senior management team would try to “quickly and accurately address the potential impacts” of budget decisions and make that information available to workers and other “stakeholders” as soon as possible. Steven Wyatt, a federal spokesman at Y-12, said, “This is not limited to Y-12, as similar communications have been made to employees at other sites in the nuclear weapons complex. We know we are potentially affecting people’s livelihoods, and it is essential that we provide this information as soon as possible.” Wyatt said he didn’t know how many workers might be affected. “This is for planning purposes only,” he said. “Again, we want to stress that this is merely a precautionary action.” John Shewairy, a spokesman for the Department of Energy, said he didn’t expect the budget uncertainties to have a near-term impact on other DOE operations in Oak Ridge. “We should be in good shape,” Shewairy said. It’s possible that some jobs could be reduced in the cleanup programs, but that would be because work is being completed — not because of the budget situation, he said. Senior writer Frank Munger may be reached at 865-342-6329. © 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co. ***************************************************************** 35 Oak Ridger: Y-12 workers warned of layoffs, federal budget uncertainties - Story last updated at 12:22 am on 9/11/2007 (AP) — The manager of the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant has warned his 4,500-member work force of possible layoffs if Congress fails to approve a new federal budget on time. George Dials, general manager and president of BWXT Y-12, the government’s managing contractor, told employees in an internal memo Friday that managers were trying to “quickly and accurately address the potential impacts.” The Y-12 plant makes components for every warhead in the U.S. nuclear weapons arsenal and is the nation’s primary storehouse for bomb-grade uranium. Congress has until Oct. 1, the start of the new fiscal year, to pass a new budget or Y-12 and other Department of Energy nuclear weapons facilities will likely have to operate under spending guidelines of a continuing budget resolution. Tom D’Agostino, who heads the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration that oversees the nuclear weapons program, informed Y-12 and other sites that they will probably face spending cuts until the budget is resolved. “Since we have no ability to estimate how long we may have to operate under these conditions, we have to anticipate that it will be for an extended period of time,” he wrote. “This situation unfortunately will cause some significant impacts to our sites’ operating budgets and could affect our workforce,” D’Agostino wrote. Steven Wyatt, a federal spokesman at Y-12, told The Knoxville News Sentinel that he had no information on the number of workers at Y-12 that might be affected. “This is for planning purposes only,” he said of notifying workers. “We want to stress that this is merely a precautionary action.” | © 2004 The Oak Ridger | Conditions of Use ***************************************************************** 36 NewsBlaze: Remarks as Prepared for Delivery for Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman Thank you very much. It's a pleasure to be here today to honor the tremendous contributions of the nation's Historically Black Colleges and Universities. On this day of remembrance, I also want to take a brief moment to recognize the contributions of our men and women in uniform serving our country so courageously across the world. Many of these men and women have put on hold plans to attend colleges and universities, like those represented here today, to defend this great country. Today we pay tribute to those we have lost, and gratitude to the many who serve. National security is certainly on the minds of many Americans these days. And protecting that security is a key priority of the Department of Energy. There is no question that without a secure and stable energy supply, we are vulnerable to numerous external threats. Ensuring the availability of clean, affordable, and secure energy is, in my view, one of the most significant challenges and opportunities of our time. At the Department of Energy, we are committed to taking important steps now to ensure a more secure energy future for all Americans. Among other things, we are exploring and developing renewable and alternative energy sources through the President's Advanced Energy Initiative. We are promoting energy efficiency leading by example throughout the DOE complex and exploring incentives for industry to do the same. We are dedicating substantial funding to research in the physical sciences through the President's American Competitiveness Initiative. I'm pleased to say that our country's Historically Black Colleges and Universities all of you here today are playing a vital role in this national effort. To meet the pervasive set of challenges we face on the energy front, we must capitalize on the great talent and promise of all Americans. We need every person's unique set of skills, knowledge and viewpoints. I believe that the diversity of the American people of gender, race and religion, of background, of culture, and of ideas, among others has been, and will continue to be, one of our greatest strengths. And, it is not only our differences that push us forward as a nation. It is our appreciation of those differences and our shared commitment to recognizing them, learning from them, and building together what we could never achieve alone. To that end, I hope that we will all continue to work together to bring more minority students into scientific disciplines at all levels of education. I can tell you that we at the Energy Department are committed to doing our part and that I am personally dedicated to facilitating and strengthening our partnerships with the fine institutions that you represent. As President Bush stated in his proclamation designating this week as national Historically Black Colleges and Universities week, education is a fundamental component of the American dream. We in the Administration are committed to helping all students access this dream many through your distinguished institutions. The President has emphasized the importance of providing assistance to minority educational institutions as part of the American Competitiveness Initiative. This ambitious strategy aims to significantly increase Federal investment in critical research, ensure that the United States continues to lead the world in opportunity and innovation, and provide American children with a strong foundation in math and science. President Bush has also issued several Executive Orders directing Federal agencies to establish clear goals for encouraging Historically Black Colleges and Universities in particular to participate in Federal programs and to compete for grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements. The Department of Energy has a long history of support for minority educational institutions. This support has allowed minorities to enhance their skills in the critical areas of science and technology through partnerships, outreach initiatives, and undergraduate and graduate level programs. The Department is committed to continuing this support. Last year, it became apparent to me that Department wide support to minority educational institutions was not where it could be. We took this matter very seriously at the highest levels of the Department. I directed each Under Secretary to appoint within one week a point of contact in their office responsible for increasing opportunities for minority educational institutions, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities, to compete for higher education funding. These individuals were further directed to work closely with the Department's Office of Economic Impact and Diversity and to report quarterly on the results that they achieved in implementing this Directive. I am proud to say we are seeing results across virtually every program in the Department. I'd like to share just a few examples with you today. The grants cover research related to the NNSA's nuclear security and nonproliferation mission requirements, curriculum development in science and technology programs and infrastructure improvements. Just two weeks ago, the Nuclear Energy Research Initiative a Department of Energy initiative focused on developing nuclear science and technology announced the selection of 11 U.S. university-led grant recipient teams to receive up to $30.7 million for cooperative research projects. Two of the projects selected are HBCUs, Alabama A&M University and South Carolina State University. Also, we recently awarded a total of $3.8 million to 38 universities to enhance nuclear research and development under President Bush's Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP). Livingstone College and South Carolina State University, both HBCUs, were among the recipients. These GNEP University Readiness awards will be used to upgrade facilities, purchase state of the art equipment, provide increased faculty support, and further enhance nuclear related curricula. Through the Office of Economic Impact and Diversity, the Department of Energy facilitates numerous mentor-protégé relationships. Just this past summer, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Morehouse College signed the first such agreement between an HBCU and a DOE Office of Science lab. The new joint initiative will assist students in the college's science programs and promote research collaboration at both institutions. In addition, many of students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities have participated in the Department's internship programs. This past summer, I met with more than 50 students from HBCUs who were assigned to our offices in Washington, DC and Germantown, Maryland. These students worked on projects in nuclear energy, computer technology, radioactive waste, energy efficiency, scientific research, and environmental management. An additional 40 students were assigned to our national laboratories and field facilities. The Department also sponsors an annual "Day of Science" at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. Next month, there will be more than 600 students from HBCUs across the country participating in scientific presentations, innovative technology demonstrations, and one on one interaction with laboratory researchers. I'd like to recognize Dr. Thom Mason, Director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Wil Minter, who developed the partnership, both of whom are here today. Lastly, I wanted to highlight a notable Department of Energy funded program that I'm sure many of you are familiar with. The Dr. Samuel P. Massie Chairs of Excellence Program is named after an African American chemist of national reputation who was a leader in championing the cause of minority education in the United States. It now comprises nine Historically Black Colleges and Universities that graduate more than 30% of the minority engineers in the United States. I hope this provides you with at least a snapshot of our commitment to the success of the institutions you represent. I encourage you to continue working closely with the Department of Energy to advance our common goals. I am committed to facilitating that partnership every step of the way and I do not make this commitment lightly. These days, the word diversity is so ubiquitous that it has almost become trite and we hear it so often that we don't stop to think about what it truly means. But, from where I sit, the term has never been so relevant or so important. Having spent much of my academic and professional life working in scientific and technical disciplines, I consider the need for true diversity particularly in these fields to be as vital as ever. As such, I am very grateful for the opportunity to speak to all of you today. Source: U.S. Department of Energy judythpiazza@newsblaze.com Copyright © 2007, NewsBlaze, Daily News ***************************************************************** 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: *****************************************************************