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NRC - NRC Seeks Comment, Plans Public Meetings on Blending of Low-Level Radioactive Waste
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is seeking public comment on issues associated with blending of low-level radioactive waste and is planning public meetings to discuss blending in Rockville, Md.
The issue of blending low-level radioactive waste has received increased attention from the nuclear industry since the 2008 closing of the Barnwell, S.C., low-level waste disposal site. This action left waste generators in 36 states with no disposal options for Class B and Class C wastes, the two classes of low-level waste with higher radioactivity. Blending in some cases can lower the classification of the wastes to the lower-radioactivity Class A, which has available disposal capacity, by reducing the concentration of radionuclides.
Blending refers to mixing low-level wastes of different concentrations, primarily Class B or C with Class A. It does not involve mixing radioactive waste with non-radioactive waste, a practice known as “dilution.” And it does not imply release of radioactive material to the general environment, either to municipal non-radioactive waste disposal sites or to consumer products. Blended wastes remain low-level waste and must be disposed in a licensed low-level waste disposal facility.
Crowd expected for hearing on Oyster Creek cooling tower bill | APP.com | Asbury Park Press
A huge, anticipated turnout of workers from the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in Lacey, fishermen, Barnegat Bay environmental activists and others has prompted moving the state Senate Environment Committee meeting Monday to 1 p.m. in a big first-floor hearing gallery at the State House Annex.
The committee will consider S-3041, which would require a new cooling system at Oyster Creek as a condition of any new state discharge permit.
Sponsored by committee Chairman Sen. Bob Smith, R-Middlesex, the bill and an identical measure in the Assembly are seen as an attempt to either force the hand of outgoing Gov. Jon S. Corzine or Gov.-elect Chris Christie to require that plant owners Exelon build cooling towers.
Yucca Mountain Licensing Proceeding
In order to participate as a party in the Yucca Mountain high-level nuclear waste repository licensing proceeding, an entity or person must be admitted to the proceeding by following the procedures of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's rules, at 10 CFR §2.309, which require a request for hearing, a petition to intervene, a demonstration of standing, and at least one admitted contention. At the close of the filing period, on December 22, 2008, a total of 318 contentions had been filed by 12 entities, including 229 from the State of Nevada, 24 from California, and 15 from Clark County.
A contention is an issue of law or fact (in this case, possible scientific fact) that alleges the license application or Yucca Mountain Environmental Impact Statement (as adopted by NRC) does not meet statutory or regulatory requirements, and in the case of the license application "nonconformance would be contrary to providing reasonable assurance of adequate protection of the public health and safety."
The NRC rule prescribes the format of contentions as seen below:
Nuclear power water rights protests triggers public hearing - Salt Lake Tribune
State water officials have decided to schedule a public hearing on a proposal that would transfer water rights amounting to billions of gallons from Kane and San Juan counties to a company that wants to build a nuclear power plant at Green River.
They're going to get an earful.
Hundreds of people and organizations have filed protests on the action, which would transfer 29,600 acre-feet of water from Kane County and 24,000 acre-feet per year from San Juan County to Blue Castle Holdings, a company working to secure a license to build a power plant. An acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons. The company would lease the water rights for 70 years.
OPB News · Hanford's New Cleanup Schedule For Tank Waste Up For Public Comment
The U.S. Department of Energy is collecting comments over the next few weeks on its new timeline for cleanup at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.
At meetings in Washington and Oregon federal officials will outline the new proposed schedule. It sets a timeline for cleaning up underground tanks of radioactive sludge and building a massive factory called the “vitrification” or “vit plant” to treat that waste.
Carrie Meyer is a spokeswoman for DOE. She says the original cleanup and construction schedule drafted in 1989 wasn't realistic.
Pentagon Dirty Bombers: Depleted Uranium in the USA | The Public Record
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold hearings tomorrow and Wednesday in Hawaii on an application by the US Army for a permit to have depleted uranium at its Pohakuloa Training Area, a vast stretch of flat land in what’s called the “saddle” between the sacred mountains of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea on Hawaii’s Big Island, and at the Schofield Barracks on the island of Oahu.
In fact, what the Army is asking for is a permit to leave in place the DU left over from years of test firing of M101 mortar “spotting rounds,” that each contained close to half a pound of depleted uranium (DU). The Army, which originally denied that any DU weapons had been used at either location, now says that as many as 2000 rounds of M101 DU mortars might have been fired at Pohakuloa alone.
Hearing set on foreign nuke waste ban bill - South Carolina & Regional - Wire - The Sun News
An effort to ban the importation of foreign nuclear waste has been given new life with a hearing set for next week in Washington, D.C.
The hearing for the Radioactive Import Deterrence Act was scheduled for Oct. 16. The bill's sponsors, U.S. Reps. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, and Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., drew it up in response to EnergySolutions Inc.'s plan to import up to 20,000 tons of low-level radioactive waste from Italy through the ports of Charleston, S.C., or New Orleans.
After processing in Tennessee, about 1,600 tons would be disposed of at EnergySolutions' facility in Utah.
Nuclear agency to hold public meeting on Babcock & Wilcox performance | Lynchburg News Advance
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold its annual public meeting with Babcock & Wilcox Nuclear Operations Group officials at 6 p.m., Sept. 28 at Lynchburg City Hall.
The public meeting will include a report on the NRC’s performance review of B&W’s operations from June 2008 through June 2009. The performance review examined safety and the handling of nuclear materials at B&W’s Mt. Athos Road facility in Campbell County. The NRC investigation concluded that B&W operates safely.
NRC officials will be present to answer questions from people who attend.
No meeting halfway on nuke licensing rules - Local - San Luis Obispo
After protests, NRC agrees to reschedule hearing slated for point equidistant — and far — from Diablo Canyon and San Onofre plants
Bowing to local pressure, the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission has agreed to reschedule a hearing to take public comment on generic rules governing the renewal of nuclear power plant licenses.
The meeting had been set for Tuesday evening in Westlake Village, a Los Angeles County town near Thousand Oaks.
However, local elected officials and activists argued that San Luis Obispo County residents were unlikely to attend a meeting held about 160 miles away.
The agency has agreed to postpone the hearing to an undetermined later date and location, said Roger Hannah, NRC spokesman.
Yankee hearing leaves unanswered questions: Rutland Herald Online
Entergy Nuclear refused to say Wednesday how Cobalt 60, a radioactive byproduct of the nuclear fission process, ended up in the Connecticut River in 1997, an issue that surfaced earlier this week during a legislative hearing on radiation monitoring at the Vermont Yankee plant.
Robert Williams said Entergy was preparing a report on the issue for the Committee on Administrative Rules and said it would decline further comment.
Williams said Cobalt 60 had gotten into the storm drains at Vermont Yankee and had ended up in the Connecticut River as a result of a ventilation problem, but he declined to say how the Cobalt 60 got out of the plant itself.
VIDEO: Jim Albertini testimony at NRC meeting - Big Island Video News
Jim Albertini, a Big Island resident who has stood in opposition to the military presence on the island, especially in regards to nuclear weaponry, testified at the NRC meeting in Hilo.
"Ongoing live-fire at PTA (millions of rounds annually) risks spreading the DU radiation already present," Albertini wrote in a recent media release. "DU is particularly hazardous when small burned DU oxide particles are inhaled. The Hawaii County Council, more than a year ago, on July 2, 2008, called for a halt to all live-fire and other activities at PTA that create dust until there is an assessment and clean up of the DU already present. 7 additional needed actions have also been noted by the Council. The military has ignored the Council and continues live-fire and other dust creating activities at PTA, putting the residents of Hawaii Island at risk, since no comprehensive testing has been completed."
VIDEO: Depleted uranium on Hawaii focus of NRC hearing in Hilo - Big Island Video News
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission held the second of two scheduled public meetings on the U.S. Army's application for a license to possess depleted uranium. The first meeting was held Wednesday in Kona. Bigislandvideonews.com covered the second meeting at the Hilo High School Library on Thursday evening.
Residual amounts of DU have been found at Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island, as well as Schofield Barracks on Oahu.
Army’s depleted uranium application now before NRC | Hawaii247.org
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission began its review of the U.S. Army’s application to possess depleted uranium this week on the Big Island.
The procedure to grant a license - and establishing any conditions to that license – is expected to last into next year.
The application covers nine sites across the country, including Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island and Schofield Barracks on Oahu.
Utahns sound off about hot waste at Matheson meeting - Salt Lake Tribune
U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson commiserated Monday with Utahns who want tougher controls on low-level radioactive waste in the state, urging them to become advocates for his bill to ban shipments from abroad.
"I don't stand before you with all of the ideas about how to get this done," the Utah Democrat told a state Capitol meeting room filled with about 60 people "I'm looking for ideas and suggestions that can help me move this forward."
Salt Lake City-based EnergySolutions Inc. -- which operates a disposal site for low-level radioactive waste in Tooele County that serves 36 states -- won a federal court ruling last spring to import waste from Italy and other nations, a ruling that limits the state's authority over the site on all but health and safety issues.
Nuclear reactors too expensive
CPS Energy announced its cost estimate for two more nuclear reactors at the South Texas Project near Bay City last week. The $13-billion price tag is the latest estimate in a sustained and systemic low-balling by utilities wishing to receive government subsidies.
CPS' partner, NRG Energy, recently pegged the cost of units 3 and 4 at $10 billion, a figure that has jumped nearly 50 percent from its original estimate of $5.4 billion.
Other analyses, however, have estimated the cost of two new reactors to be nearly 100 percent higher than the CPS estimate. Former Texas Office of Public Utility Counsel official Clarence Johnson recently estimated the cost of STP expansion to be $20 billion to $22 billion, while nuclear engineer and president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research Dr. Arjun Makhijani estimated a cost of up to $17.5 billion in 2008.
Whitehaven News | Sellafield ‘blackmail’ case goes to tribunal Add your comments
ALLEGATIONS that “bribery and blackmail” were used to coerce Sellafield workers into accepting a pay deal are to be heard at an industrial tribunal.
Two unions – GMB and Unite – are bringing the case against Sellafield Ltd aimed at winning financial compensation for thousands of members on the site.
This is believed to be the first hearing of its kind in British industry.
“It is going to tribunal and we are just waiting for a date,” said Whitehaven-based GMB regional organiser Steve Gibbons.
NRC - Commission Acts On High Level Waste Contention Appeals
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission voted 4-0 today to uphold the decisions of three Construction Authorization Boards (CABs) conducting a hearing on the Department of Energy’s application to build and operate a high-level radioactive waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.
The Commission’s decision includes several rulings, including a rejection of most of the NRC staff’s appeal of several admitted contentions, or arguments, as well as the rejection of two Nevada contentions challenging DOE’s managerial competence and institutional integrity.
DOE submitted its application June 3, 2008; on Sept. 9, 2008, the NRC staff determined that the 8,600-page application contained sufficient technical information for the agency to docket it and initiate its comprehensive safety review. The NRC announced an opportunity to participate in a hearing in October 2008, and the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel created three CABs to examine the 317 contentions filed by 12 petitioners, including the states of Nevada and California, the Nuclear Energy Institute, the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe and other parties.
The Yucca Mountain application, minus some classified portions, is available on the NRC Web site at this address: http://www.nrc.gov/waste/hlw-disposal/yucca-lic-app.html.
NRC - NRC to Hold Public Workshops in Maryland and Utah on Safe Disposal of Depleted Uranium and Other Unique Waste Streams
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will conduct two public workshops in September to solicit public views on major issues for new regulations for land disposal of unique radioactive wastes, including but not limited to significant quantities of depleted uranium.
The workshops will be held Sept. 2-3 in Rockville, Md., and Sept. 23-24 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Exact locations and final agendas for the workshops will be announced closer to those dates.
The Commission directed the agency staff March 18 to initiate rulemaking to specify a requirement for a site-specific analysis for the disposal of large quantities of depleted uranium, and other unique waste streams, such as reprocessing wastes and the technical requirements for such an analysis. The Commission also directed the staff to develop a guidance document for public comment that outlines the parameters and assumptions to be used in the site-specific analyses. The Commission said the staff should “promptly” conduct a public workshop to discuss issues associated with disposal of depleted uranium and other unique waste streams, potential issues to be considered in rulemaking, and technical parameters of concern in the analysis so that informed decisions can be made in the interim before the rulemaking is final.
VA: Area residents visit uranium site
As a Pittsylvania native and one who spent 40 years in the chemical industry, I have found it embarrassing to admit to friends that I knew very little about uranium, the element, and nothing about its source and processing. When it was announced that the largest deposit of uranium in the United States was discovered in Pittsylvania County, I was excited, as anyone with scientific curiosity should be.
I had hoped factual details concerning this discovery, as well as some development plans, would be forthcoming in an understandable way. However, it seems that some newspapers rarely feel any obligation or responsibility to pass on scientific facts; residents seeking such information must find other venues.
That's just what my family and I did, and a report of our experience may encourage others who are interested in such facts to do the same thing. The website for Virginia Uranium is www.virginiauranium.com, and it lists the company's contact number, 434-432-1065. Upon calling this number, I was told they welcomed visits at any time, but preferred scheduling visitors in groups.
I telephoned six friends, who were free on short notice, and together we attended an informational presentation at VUI last week.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission makes odd stop in Estero to get public comment : Lee : Naples Daily News
The nearest cooling towers rest in Homestead, more than 100 miles away.
So why did this small, unincorporated part of Lee County host a meeting about new safety rules for the nation’s 63 nuclear power plants, one of only 11 such meetings being held across the nation?
Call it the Nuclear Regulatory Commission roadshow. In its effort to cement a slate of new guidelines for preventing and responding to terrorist attacks on power plants, the federal nuclear watchdog recently hit the road to take comments on the proposed changes.
Estero made the list of stops when an industry lobbying group, the Nuclear Energy Institute, scheduled its emergency preparation conference at the nearby Hyatt Regency. With scores of emergency experts from plants across the nation gathered in the area, and with a tight deadline to solicit public comment on the changes, the commission headed down to Florida.
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