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France compensates nuclear test victims
France's parliament has passed a law to compensate victims of nuclear tests in Algeria and the South Pacific, a response to decades of complaints by people sickened by radiation.
The law cleared France's Senate on Tuesday, its final legislative hurdle following approval in the National Assembly in June.
France "can at last close a chapter of its history", Defence Minister Herve Morin said in a statement.
He called the law "just, rigorous and balanced."
The text, hammered out with help from victims' associations, recognises the right for victims of France's more than 200 nuclear tests to receive compensation.
Some 150,000 people, including civilian and military personnel, were on site for the 210 tests France carried out, both in the atmosphere and underground, in the Sahara Desert and the South Pacific from 1960-1996.
Don't weaken state's nuke law - JSOnline
Weakening Wisconsin laws regulating new nuclear reactors should not be part of a climate change bill. The Clean Energy Jobs Act, unveiled in the state Legislature recently, is a significant step toward addressing global warming while strengthening our state economy. Although much of the bill is a positive step to addressing global warming, it weakens Wisconsin's current law on building new nuclear reactors.
Wisconsin's current law is common sense and protects citizens and the environment from radioactive nuclear waste, which poses considerable risks for tens thousands of years and contains plutonium, which can be used to make nuclear weapons if separated. Available renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies are faster, cheaper, safer and cleaner strategies for reducing greenhouse emissions than nuclear power.
Senate Attempts to Promote Small Nuclear Reactors Fall Short
The Senate is considering two bills that are meant to help small and modular nuclear reactor development. Unfortunately, the Nuclear Energy Research Initiative Improvement Act (S. 2052) and the Nuclear Power 2021 Act (S. 2812) would have the opposite impact.
Together (or individually), these bills would smother the private-sector initiative and free-enterprise spirit that has driven small and modular reactor development in recent years. Instead of embracing this new and innovative approach to nuclear energy development, these bills would subject the small and modular reactor business to the same government-depressed trajectory that plagues traditional reactors.
Cooling tower legislation put on hold until February | APP.com | Asbury Park Press
Legislation to mandate new cooling towers at the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station will be held until the start of the 2010 session in February when the state Senate Environment Committee can get more information from plant operators Exelon, says committee chairman Sen. Bob Smith, D-Middlesex.
'Barnegat Bay is going to be the major thrust of this spring in front of this committee," Smith said, after telling a hearing room packed with plant workers and environmental activists the committee was split evenly on releasing bill S-3041 today.
Exelon officials claimed the bill is singling out Oyster Creek as the biggest threat to Barnegat Bay due to the environmental impact of its cooling water intake and discharge. Company senior vice president James D. Firth said the committee should address the bay's other problems with non-point pollution.
t r u t h o u t | Updated: US Senators: More Coal, Oil and Nukes Are "Solution" for Global Warming
The once-demonized nuclear industry got its biggest boost in years Thursday.
A bipartisan coalition of US senators put forward a "framework" for climate legislation that aims to dramatically increase off-shore oil drilling, ensure a "future for coal" and, above all, ramp up subsidies for the financially risky nuclear power industry. The announcement was timed, in part, to send a signal to negotiators at the climate conference in Copenhagen that the US Senate is supposedly serious about climate reform.
Sen. John Kerry, Lindsey Graham and Joseph Lieberman are taking the lead in pushing an industry-friendly package that aims to bring down carbon emissions 17 percent from 2005 levels - a modest goal shared by House-passed legislation and President Obama. As The Hill reported: "White House press secretary Robert Gibbs called the framework a 'significant step' and said Obama believes it shows movement toward reaching a bipartisan Senate agreement."
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.
The Associated Press: Senators revise climate bill to court GOP support
Senators trying to craft bipartisan climate legislation offered a revised proposal Thursday that would add incentives for building nuclear power plants and open the way for expanded oil and gas drilling off the nation's coastlines in hopes of attracting wider support.
The new framework for a Senate climate bill would ease back requirements for early reductions of greenhouse gases. It calls for cuts in the range of 17 percent by 2020, instead of 20 percent, similar to reductions already approved by the House and what Obama will call for at an international climate conference in Copenhagen.
"We would like to underscore the fact that the framework we are releasing today is a starting point for our negotiations going forward," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.
Bill would relax nuclear ban, expand renewables - JSOnline
Four lawmakers involved in energy and environmental issues on Thursday released details of the global warming legislation that is expected to be introduced soon in the state Legislature.
The draft legislation would relax the state’s ban on building nuclear power plants while requiring the state’s utilities to increase the amount of renewable power they generate and increase their investment in energy efficiency.
The draft "is intended to track the recommendations of the (global warming) task force," the four legislators said in a letter Thursday. The task force, appointed by Gov. Jim Doyle, included legislators, utilities, environmental groups and businesses.
Deseret News | Bennett seeks to stall bill to ban nuclear waste
Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, said Friday he will seek to stall in the Senate a bill that the House passed this week to block Energy?Solutions from importing 20,000 tons of low-level radioactive waste to Utah.
"I believe the legislation is premature," Bennett said in written statement.
He has accepted $49,300 in campaign donations from EnergySolutions and its employees since 2005, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. In fact, that group says Bennett has accepted more donations from the waste industry than any 2010 congressional candidate in the nation.
House says no to foreign N-waste - Salt Lake Tribune
One hurdle down, opponents of Salt Lake City-based EnergySolutions' plan to bring foreign radioactive waste to Utah are now bracing for a tough fight in the Senate over a proposed ban on the stuff.
The U.S. House overwhelmingly passed legislation Wednesday that would bar low-level radioactive waste from being brought from foreign countries into the United States for disposal. The measure is aimed squarely at EnergySolutions' efforts to bring 20,000 tons of Italian waste to Tennessee for processing, then ship some 1,600 tons of radioactive leftovers to the company's Tooele County site for burial.
Bill supporters cheered Wednesday's 309-112 vote. But they know they face a bigger challenge in the Senate, where companion legislation hasn't moved nor attracted a single co-sponsor since it was introduced 11 months ago.
Deseret News | Ban on foreign waste from Italy to Utah gets OK
The U.S. House voted Wednesday to ban importing foreign low-level radioactive waste and block an attempt by EnergySolutions to bring tons of it from Italy to Utah.
It voted 309-112 for a bill pushed by Reps. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, and Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., to bar such foreign waste, which includes lab coats, shoe coverings and cleaning cloths from nuclear power plants. EnergySolutions has proposed to process 20,000 tons of Italian waste in Tennessee and dump it in Utah. The bill now goes to the Senate.
Matheson and Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, voted for the bill. Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, was with Utah students touring Virginia and missed the vote but has spoken against it previously. He was once a state lobbyist for EnergySolutions and received about $26,000 from the company's political action committee and employees for his 2008 election and $5,000 this year.
State rep. questions radioactive waste in landfills - Oak Ridge, TN - The Oak Ridger
Tennessee lawmakers want more information on a state program that allows low-level radioactive waste into regular landfills around the state.
State Rep. Brenda Gilmore of Nashville told The Nashville Tennessean that she plans to push a bill to restrict the practice.
A similar measure ground to a halt last year. Gilmore says a strong lobbying effort from the industry stopped it.
State officials say Tennessee's program was developed because of its proximity to so many nuclear facilities and doesn't handle cases individually.
Instead it has a licensing process that makes disposal more economical and quicker here.
Nuclear power as an answer to climate change? - washingtonpost.com
Despite a renewed interest in nuclear power around the world [front page, Nov. 24], nuclear power remains a dangerous distraction from real solutions to the climate crisis. The fundamental problems of nuclear power plants have not changed. The plants are risky, expensive and dangerous, and they are vulnerable targets for terrorist attacks.
After decades and billions of dollars of public money wasted, there is no solution to the problem of radioactive waste. Instead of pouring billions of taxpayer dollars into subsidizing a mature and dangerous industry that will leave a toxic legacy for future generations, policymakers should stay focused on getting our energy from clean sources that will last forever.
Kyle Ash, Washington
The writer is senior legislative representative for the Greenpeace USA's Global Warming Program.
No new nukes -- plants, that is -- latimes.com
Nuclear power plants are being pushed as part of climate-change legislation. But the focus should be on renewable power sources, which are getting cheaper and don't produce radioactive waste.
As the Senate debates climate legislation that could reinvent the country's energy infrastructure, it is richly ironic that lawmakers who consider themselves rock-ribbed fiscal conservatives are among the strongest backers of nuclear plants -- a vastly expensive, inefficient and dangerous source of energy that requires massive taxpayer bailouts.
Senate Republicans and many moderate Democrats are seeking to lard up prospective climate and energy bills with billions of dollars in loan guarantees and other subsidies for nuclear power, even though it makes no sense as a solution to climate change and is a terrible option from an economic, environmental and national-security standpoint. Sens. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), whose bipartisan effort to restructure the cap-and-trade climate bill (which Republicans like to deride as "cap and tax") offers its only hope of passage in the Senate this year, signaled their intent to add more nuclear pork to the bill in a recent Op-Ed article. Meanwhile, Sens. Jim Webb (D-Va.) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) recently introduced their own alternative climate bill calling for up to $100 billion in clean-energy loan guarantees, most of which would end up going to nuclear plants.
The Associated Press: Minnesota tribe to rally against nuclear expansion
A Minnesota Indian community with a nuclear power plant as its neighbor is holding a rally to voice opposition to a utility's expansion plans there.
Friday's rally by the Prairie Island Indian Community is the latest step it has taken to sound off against Xcel Energy Inc.'s plans for the Red Wing plant.
The utility plans to spend $600 million to upgrade the plant so it can handle higher pressure and temperatures that could add 164 megawatts to its output. Regulators have also signed off on expanded waste storage.
Tribal members say they are concerned about health and safety risks from the plant.
Bipartisan duo pushes more nuclear power in Minnesota | StarTribune.com
Talk about lessening the world’s dependence on greenhouse gas-emitting fossil fuels, and increasingly, nuclear power comes up. Now if only the world could figure out what to do with all those spent fuel rods.
The proposed national nuclear waste repository in Nevada’s Yucca Mountain seems a long-shot as long as Sen. Harry Reid, of Senate Majority Leader fame, remains a force to be reckoned with in Nevada and Democratic politics.
Nuke critics renew campaign against re-licensing
Vermont Yankee critics are gearing up for another campaign aimed at persuading state lawmakers to turn thumbs-down on the plant's request for a 20-year license extension.
A coalition of groups including Vermont Public Interest Research Group and former Gov. Phil Hoff are announcing the campaign Thursday. It's aimed at getting more Vermont towns to pass resolutions on Town Meeting Day opposing Vermont Yankee's bid to remain operating past its scheduled 2012 closing.
Last year, 36 towns passed such a measure.
Nuclear waste bill passes house, threatens Energy Solutions' controversial plans for Utah
t's a hot issue in Utah, and its final outcome may be decided in Washington. On Thursday, the House of Representatives voted a bill through that would block any import of foreign nuclear waste into the United States. Support for the measure was largely by Democrats, with only four House Republicans voting "yea."
The bill will likely face a more difficult battle in the Senate. If passed, it would thwart waste treatment company Energy Solutions' plans to import 20,000 tons of Italian nuclear waste and bury some of it (about 1600 tons, according to the company) in Utah's soil.
Gordon foreign waste ban to get committee vote on The Murfreesboro Post
Tomorrow (Nov. 19), the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee will consider Congressman Bart Gordon’s bill concerning foreign radioactive waste. Gordon’s bipartisan legislation, the Radioactive Import Deterrence (RID) Act, H.R. 515, would prevent foreign-generated radioactive waste from being processed in Tennessee and disposed in the U.S.
The full committee markup of the RID Act will begin at 8:30 a.m. CST. A live webcast can be viewed on the E&C’s website when the hearing begins http://energycommerce.house.gov/.
Tomorrow’s markup comes after the E&C’s Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment held a legislative hearing on October 16 and passed the RID Act on November 3.
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Background:
U.S. Senators unveil bill to double nuclear power | Reuters
Two U.S. Senators on Monday unveiled bipartisan legislation aimed at doubling nuclear power in 20 years and increasing funding for research into low carbon sources of energy.
Sponsored by Tennessee Republican Lamar Alexander and Virginia Democrat Jim Webb, the bill would provide $100 billion in loan guarantees for carbon-free electricity projects, adding to the existing $47 billion loan guarantee program.
Although the additional loan guarantees would not be limited to nuclear power, the nuclear industry would likely be the major recipient of the extra money because it is one of the most established low carbon energy sources.
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