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BBC NEWS | UK | England | Cumbria | Nuclear waste plan put to public
People in west Cumbria have the chance to find out more about government plans to store nuclear waste underground.
The West Cumbria Managing Radioactive Waste Safely (MRWS) Partnership is sending leaflets to all homes in the Allerdale and Copeland council areas.
There will also be a series of public meetings over the next three months.
Pills available for people downwind from Diablo - Local - SanLuisObispo.com
County public health officials are offering free doses of the radiation-blocking drug potassium iodide to people who live and work downwind of Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant.
The pills, also known by their chemical name KI, are available at six locations. They are only to be taken at the direction of public health officials in the event of a radiation leak at Diablo Canyon.
The county has enough doses to cover hundreds of thousands of people, said Michelle Shoresman, spokeswoman for the county public health department. They will be available as long as supplies last, which should be a year or so.
Nuclear waste moved off the agenda (environmentalresearchweb blog) - environmentalresearchweb
The governments new draft National Policy Statement on nuclear power, indicating which issues the new Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) should take on board, and which it can ignore, contains this remarkable statement:
“The Government is satisfied that effective arrangements will exist to manage and dispose of the waste that will be produced from new nuclear power stations. As a result the IPC need not consider this question.” The draft Statement goes on to say that ‘Geological disposal will be preceded by safe and secure interim storage’.
So it seems, the waste issue is all in hand and we needn’t bother too much about it, or any problems with the much more active spent fuel that the new reactors’ high fuel ‘burn up’ approach will create. Despite the fact that the highly active spent fuel is to be kept on site at the plant for perhaps several decades, that is evidently not something IPC will have to consider in its assessment of whether the proposed plants can go ahead. Instead the IPC will just focus on any conventional local planning and environmental impact issues that may emerge in relation to the 10 new nuclear plants that the government has now backed.
Nuclear disposal put in doubt by recovered Swedish galleon | Environment | guardian.co.uk
The plan to use copper for sealing nuclear waste underground has being thrown into disarray by corrosion in artefacts from the Vasa
Plans for nuclear waste disposal could be thrown into confusion tomorrow at a summit because of new evidence of corrosion in materials traditionally used for burial procedures.
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) says it will keep careful watch on a meeting organised by the Swedish National Council for Nuclear Waste, which will look at potential problems with copper, designated for an important role in sealing radioactive waste underground.
Nuke plant may be cited for violations | The Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, PA
PPL Corp.’s Susquehanna nuclear station in Salem Township failed to ensure two staff members met medical requirements, an inspection of the power plant found. The company could be cited for the “apparent violations” and receive additional future scrutiny, the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced on Friday.
The NRC, which performed the inspection, found that two senior reactor operators failed to meet the medical prerequisites for their individual licenses. One operator worked after failing an eye examination, PPL spokesman Joe Scopelliti said. The other worked for about three months after the deadline for a biennial medical exam had expired.
Green groups slime Duke on MOX fuel
A rapid-fire exchange of press releases this week Friday, Nov 13 made short order of a claim [press release] by Friends of the Earth (FOE) and the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) that the end of testing of MOX fuel in a Duke Power reactor is a “huge setback” to the program.
Identical letters sent Nov 10 by Tom Clements representing both two green organizations to Energy Sec. Steven Chu and NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko claimed that a decision by Duke not to reload test bundles of MOX fuel at the Catawba reactor represents a “failure to demonstrate” the safety of the fuel in a conventional light water reactor.
The letter called the situation “an aborted test” and claimed that as a result the MOX fuel is unsafe for use in civilian nuclear reactors. The remainder of the letter is incendiary with claims that the MOX fuel program should not proceed as a result of the “decision” by Duke Energy.
Low French nuclear supply to cost EDF 1 bln euros | Industries | Industrials, Materials & Utilities | Reuters
The drop in French nuclear availability will cost EDF (EDF.PA) one billion euros ($1.49 billion) and availability in 2009 should fall by one percentage point on the previous year to 78 percent, EDF said on Friday.
France, which relies on nuclear power for 80 percent of its electricity, has seen its nuclear availability at record lows in the past few months because of strikes in the spring which delayed maintenance and a high number of unplanned outages.
Land trouble may trip N-power in Gujarat
Vashram Patel, a farmer in the Jasapara village in Gujarat, says it is better to “fight and die” on his land rather than move to another place.
“Most of us are illiterate and we have done nothing except farming for generations now. Where will we go?” Patel asks, signalling the beginning of yet another land acquisition problem in India.
Patel’s angst may spell trouble for Nuclear Power Corporation (NPC) which is planning to set up a 6,000 Mw nuclear power project in the area.
NPC is facing protests from farmers who are refusing to make way for the Rs 50,000 crore project, the first major initiative after the civilian nuclear agreement between India and the US.
Government's Farewell to Nuclear Power - Bianet
Following the State Counil's decision, there are 12 days left to amend the government's regulations and have the nuclear power station tender approved by the Council of Ministers. Göltaş from the Electrical Engineers Chamber said this was practically impossible. The tender's dead line is 24 November.
İlkbal Polat
Istanbul - BİA News Center
13 November 2009, Friday
Electrical Engineers Chamber (EMO) Energy Group member Cengiz Göltaş talked to bianet and summarized the State Council's decision concerning the regulations of the tender for a nuclear power plant: The dead line of the tender is 24 November. So there are 12 days in case the government wants to alter its decision or seek approval of the Council of Ministers for new regulations. This practically means a cancellation of the tender.
Department of Energy - Statement of U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu on Meetings With Indian Leaders
oday I have had the opportunity to meet with Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia and other distinguished Indian leaders. We had productive discussions about the opportunities for partnerships between our two countries on clean energy technologies.
Meeting the climate and clean energy challenge is a top priority for President Obama. In the past ten months, the United States has demonstrated its renewed commitment to these goals both by supporting domestic policies that advance clean energy, climate security, and economic recovery; and by vigorously vigorously re-engaging the international community through bi-lateral relationships, the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate, the G20, and the UN negotiations.
The U.S. will continue to work hard toward combating climate change and reaching a strong international agreement that puts the world on a pathway to a clean energy future. Working together, we can meet the clean energy and climate challenge in a way that will drive sustainable, low-carbon economic growth in the 21st century.
Charlotte Business Journal: Report: NRC, Westinghouse meet on AP1000
Westinghouse and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will meet next week to discuss issues over the design of the safety building for the proposed AP1000 nuclear reactor, Bloomberg reports.
Last month, the NRC rejected the design of the building that houses the reactor. The regulator says it is not clear the building can stand up to natural disasters such as tornadoes and earthquakes.
It asked Westinghouse to make additional changes or demonstrate that the building meets the required standard.
Bloomberg quotes NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko as saying that plans to build the structure in parts instead of a solid, single piece has raised regulatory concerns.
Westinghouse and its principal parent Toshiba Corp. have growing nuclear operations in Charlotte. The Shaw Power Group, also based in Charlotte, is the preferred contractor for AP1000 projects. Its parent, The Shaw Group, owns a 20 percent stake in Westinghouse.
Groups fight TVA plan to discharge water from Kingston plant into Clinch River | tennessean.com | The Tennessean
Three environmental groups want the state to throw out a permit it just issued that would allow TVA to dump water tainted with mercury, selenium, arsenic, and other chemicals from the Kingston coal-fired power plant into the Clinch River.
The Clinch, which lies below the power plant, has already received ash moving down the Emory River from the massive ash spill last December.
Earthjustice, Environmental Integrity Project, and the Sierra Club on Thursday filed an appeal of a water discharge permit that the Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation issued four weeks ago.
They say letting TVA pipe one million gallons of wastewater a day from a pond with gypsum into the river isn't wise. The material will be a byproduct of the plant's new air pollution system.
Depleted uranium - Salt Lake Tribune
DU: Depleted uranium, a unique waste that will become more and more radioactive until, roughly, the year 1002009. The acronym also gives sound guidance for where depleted uranium should be buried: deep underground.
But a lack of deep, underground storage space and a growing need to find permanent storage for 1.4 million tons of DU is "clearly driving" federal regulators to erroneously steer the materials to shallow burial sites like EnergySolutions' low-level radioactive waste disposal facility in Utah.
That's the contention of Kansas State University Geologist Charles G. Oviatt and a pair of Brigham Young University scientists, geologist Steve Nelson and climatologist Summer Rupper. In a letter to the NRC, which is gathering input in the early stages of a three-year review of DU disposal issues, they cite a "programmatic failure" by the agency to properly plan for deep disposal of depleted uranium.
NRC to Meet With Toshiba on Nuclear-Reactor Design (Correct) - Bloomberg.com
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet with Toshiba Corp. next week to discuss the safety of its proposed AP1000 nuclear-reactor design.
Toshiba’s Westinghouse unit will address the commission’s concern about the structural integrity of the silo-shaped shield building that would contain the reactor and trap radioactivity in an accident, NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko said today in an interview at Bloomberg’s New York bureau.
Containment buildings at existing reactors were poured at the site as a solid piece of steel-reinforced concrete, Jaczko said. Toshiba wants to piece the building together from sections, he said.
“Where the staff has some concerns is how those things are tied together,” Jaczko said. “When you’re dealing with the kinds of accident scenarios that we look at, or hurricanes or tornados or seismic events, will that structure maintain its integrity?”
Antinuclear group gets funding - Peterborough Examiner - Ontario, CA
A local anti-nuclear group, Safe and Green Energy Peterborough, will get $37,000 from a federal agency to review its study for the proposed Darlington nuclear plant expansion, the group announced yesterday.
"SAGE is extremely proud of this recognition and achievement, as it is a true community group that has been challenging the intent of the Ontario government to expand nuclear supply when the alternatives of renewable energy and conservation are safer, more community oriented and less costly," the group states in a release.
John Etches, with Safe and Green Energy, couldn't be reached for comment yesterday.
The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency participant funding program approved five applications worth a total of $155,927.
There were eight applications for a total of $314,242.
Markey: No Nuclear Loan Guarantees Without COLs :: POWER Magazine
Loan guarantees for new nuclear power plants in the U.S. should not be awarded until the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has fully reviewed plans for a proposed project and granted it a combined construction and operating license (COL), Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) told Energy Secretary Steven Chu last week.
“Otherwise valuable taxpayer support would be set aside for a project that may not pass regulatory review,” the chair of the House Energy and Environment Subcommittee said in a letter (PDF) to Chu.
The congressman’s concerns were raised by the NRC’s Oct. 16 notice to Westinghouse Electric Co. that it had not adequately demonstrated the structural strength of certain components of its AP1000 reactor design, specifically for the shield building. The shield building protects the reactor’s primary containment from severe weather and other events, but it also provides a radiation barrier during normal operation and supports an emergency cooling water tank.
Nuclear plant wall found to have flaw | HeraldTribune.com | Sarasota Florida | Southwest Florida's Information Leader
Utility officials and regulators next week will review an analysis of what caused a crack in the concrete wall of the Crystal River nuclear plant's containment building.
Progress Energy will also present repair plans for the crack, which was discovered Oct. 2 as the utility was cutting a hole in the containment building wall to replace two generators.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will also share its findings of what caused the concrete in the 42-inch-thick wall that surrounds the nuclear reactor to crack. The NRC sent its own team of inspectors to survey the plant.
NRC: TVA nuclear plant has fire response problem | BlueRidgeNow.com | Times-News Online | Hendersonville, NC
The Tennessee Valley Authority's Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in north Alabama has a fire response problem that could lead to a Nuclear Regulatory Commission civil penalty.
In a letter to TVA, the NRC said inspectors this year found that the plant near Athens, Ala., potentially violated four safety standards, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported Thursday.
TVA spokesman Craig Beasley said the plant is working with regulators to address their concerns. He said TVA will "do the work necessary to implement the National Fire Protection Association standards at Browns Ferry."
Security of nuclear power plants in the age of terrorism - Nov. 12, 2009
The government says nuclear power is safe, but others say an airplane hit or frontal assault would be big trouble.
BAY CITY, Texas (CNNMoney.com) -- At a nuclear power plant in Texas, two men dressed in combat gear are perched atop a steel-framed watchtower armed with assault rifles, firing on both moving and stationary targets some 300 yards away.
This is only a drill, but the threat they're preparing for is very real. It's one of the worst disaster scenarios imaginable: Terrorists infiltrate a nuclear power plant and cause a meltdown.
The Free Press - The reactor relapse takes 3 hits to the head
The much-hyped "Renaissance" of atomic power has taken three devastating hits with potentially fatal consequences.
The usually supine Nuclear Regulatory Commission has told Toshiba's Westinghouse Corporation that its "standardized" AP-1000 design might not withstand hurricanes, tornadoes or earthquakes.
Regulators in France, Finland and the UK have raised safety concerns about AREVA's flagship EPR reactor. The front group for France's national nuclear power industry, AREVA's vanguard project in Finland is at least three years behind schedule and at least $3 billion over budget.
And the Obama Administration indicates it will end efforts to license the proposed radioactive waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. After more than fifty years of trying, the nuclear industry has not a single prospective central dump site.
"If history repeats itself as farce, then the nuclear power industry represents the most incompetent jester of all time," says Michael Mariotte of the Nuclear Information & Resource Service. It "seems intent on repeating every possible mistake of its failed past—from promoting inadequate, ever-changing reactor designs to blowing through even the largest imaginable budgets. If the computer industry followed the practices of the nuclear industry, we’d still be waiting for the first digital device that could fit in a space smaller than a warehouse and cost less than a family’s annual income."
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