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WCAX.COM. Yankee Decommissioning Fund Takes a Hit

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 09:04:44 -0000

New numbers show Vermont Yankee's decommissioning fund is taking a hit amid all this financial turmoil.

Last September, the fund to dismantle the plant once it closes was at $440 million. A year later-- it's dropped $43 million. It's expected to cost at least $800 million to shut down and clean up the site.

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

Tags: decommissioning economics energy nuclear nuke.news vermontyankee vt

Posted by: theenergynet

Officials face anger over radioactive site | thedailyjournal.com | The Daily Journal

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:56:40 -0000

Residents had their first shot in nearly two years Tuesday night to corner regulators about the future of the former Shieldalloy Metallurgical Corp.
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The issue is whether the radioactive residue of the former smelting facility goes away for disposal or becomes a 1,000-year environmental sore in eyesight of the downtown.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is overseeing the facility's decommissioning. It dispatched 12 officials, from groundwater specialists to legal counsel for an unusual meeting at Edgarton Memorial School on Catawba Avenue.

Tags: cleanup decommissioning ecology fuel-cycle hearing n-waste nj nrc nuclear nuke.news radiation

Posted by: theenergynet

NRC: Find Sites Undergoing Decommissioning

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:36:18 -0000

The nuclear regulatory activities of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) include decommissioning nuclear facilities. This involves safely removing a facility or site from service and reducing residual radioactivity to a level that permits the license to be terminated, with the property released either for unrestricted use or under specified restricted conditions.

Under certain conditions (as allowed by the Atomic Energy Act), the NRC enters into agreements with State governors. Those agreements authorize individual States to regulate the decommissioning of materials facilities within their borders. States that meet these conditions and agree to use the same regulatory standards as the NRC are called Agreement States. In States that do not have agreements with the NRC, the Office of Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management Programs (FSME) and the NRC's regional offices exercise regulatory authority over the decommissioning of materials facilities. In addition, the NRC retains regulatory authority over decommissioning in certain portions of Agreement States that are subject to "exclusive Federal jurisdiction," including most American Indian reservations and certain areas of military bases.

Tags: decommissioning energy nrc nuclear nuke.news online reactors resources zounds!

Posted by: theenergynet

The last radioactive lighthouses get solar technology

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 03:58:16 -0000

The last five strontium-fuelled lighthouses along the Barents Sea coast are now being replaced with solar technology. All together, 153 of the radioactive lighthouses have been removed as part of a Russian-Norwegian project.
Since year 2000, Murmansk regional authorities have together with the Norwegian Finnmark county governor removed all the radioactive lighthouses (RITEGs) from the Russian Barents Sea coast. As many as 85 of the lighthouses were located in Murmansk Oblast, while 68 of them were in Arkhangelsk Oblast.

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

Tags: decommissioning energy europe nuclear nuke.news safety

Posted by: theenergynet

knoxnews.com |Final cleanup of ORNL reactor on hold

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 03:41:34 -0000

The 1950s-era Tower Shielding Reactor was defueled a few years ago, and since then it's remained in a "surveillance and maintenance" mode.

There's no date yet for final cleanup, but DOE said it will be a part of the proposed Integrated Facilities Disposition Program, which still awaits funding.

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

Tags: decommissioning doe n-weapons nuclear nuke.news ornl reactor tn

Posted by: theenergynet

Whitehaven News: First fuel element removed – only 39,000 to go

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 03:27:22 -0000

THE final defuelling of one of the reactors at Chapelcross began last week.

The first fuel element was removed from the core of Reactor 1, beginning the active commissioning of the newly-upgraded fuel route.

About 40,000 fuel elements will be systematically removed from all four reactors and dispatched for reprocessing at the Sellafield site in west Cumbria.

Tags: decommissioning energy europe fuel-cycle n-waste nuclear nuke.news nuke.news.int reactor sellafield uk

Posted by: theenergynet

Drive to clear Dounreay of radioactive hazards goes under the sea - The Scotsman

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 03:08:47 -0000

WORK to remove one of the most persistent problems affecting the clean-up of the Dounreay nuclear site has begun beneath the waves off Caithness.
A remotely operated vehicle is combing the seabed to find the worst of the radioactive particles that have caused concern for more than quarter of a century.

Up to £25 million will be spent on covering an area the size of 60 football pitches and on monitoring up to the 2020s.

Tags: cleanup decommissioning dounreay energy europe nuclear nuke.news nuke.news.int uk

Posted by: theenergynet

Future Of Connecticut Yankee Site Remains Unclear -- Courant.com

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 08:24:59 -0000

It may not be pristine wilderness, but most of the trademark characteristics that define a nuclear power plant are long gone from Haddam Neck — no dome-shaped nuclear reactor and no electricity coursing into the power grid.

Now that the Connecticut Yankee nuclear power plant is no more, now that the only artifacts of the sixth nuclear power plant built in the U.S. are a nuclear waste storage area and a warehouse, what comes next? Can there be a second act for land that once housed a nuke plant?

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

Tags: connecticutyankee ct decommissioning energy nuclear nuke.news reactors

Posted by: theenergynet

Whitehaven News: Chapelcross closure moves a step closer

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 07:23:02 -0000

The Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) has given formal consent for a three-and-a-half year programme to remove all fuel from the Scottish plant to commence.

Chapelcross ceased generation in 2004 and preparations for de-fuelling the reactors including design, manufacturing, installation and the commissioning of a £30m upgrade to the de-fuelling route have now been completed.

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

Tags: decommissioning energy europe nuclear nuke.news nuke.news.int reactor uk

Posted by: theenergynet

Ohio nuclear processing plant to close - UPI.com

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 05:42:02 -0000

WASHINGTON, June 26 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Energy says it has given Restoration Services Inc. a contract for assistance in decommissioning an Ohio nuclear facility.

The contract requires the Oak Ridge, Tenn., woman-owned company to provide technical services for the remediation, decontamination and decommissioning of the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant at the Energy Department's site in Piketon, Ohio.

Tags: decommissioning doe n-weapons nuclear nuke.news oh portsmouth

Posted by: theenergynet

The Zion connection - Salt Lake Tribune

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 19:02:03 -0000

Under the decommissioning proposal from owner Exelon, the plant would be torn down and shipped in pieces to Utah by EnergySolutions (aka ZionSolutions for the project). Under the plan, the decommissioning funds would be turned over to ZionSolutions to ship the low-level radioactive rubble to its dump in Clive.

Tags: decommissioning energy energysolutions n-waste nuclear nuke.news reactor zion

Posted by: theenergynet

MyFox Chicago | Zion Nuke Plant to Cost Nearly $1B to Decommission

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 23:00:43 -0000

n the first of a series of public meetings, members of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission outlined plans to decommission the Zion nuclear power plant by 2018.

The plant, which sits on 250 acres of land along Lake Michigan, has not been functional since 1998.

Tags: decommissioning economics energy il nuclear nuke.news zion

Posted by: theenergynet

The Press Association: Nuclear costs 'to rise by billions'

Fri, 30 May 2008 17:14:27 -0000

Campaign groups have warned that the cost of decommissioning nuclear power stations was "spiralling out of control" after an official admission that an estimate of £73 billion was set to rise.

The £73 billion figure, published in January, was an increase of £12 billion on the previous estimate made in 2003, but a senior official at the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority said he believed the cost would continue to escalate.

Tags: decommissioning economics energy fuel-cycle n-waste nuclear nuke.news nuke.news.int uk

Posted by: theenergynet

Tearing down K-25 plant not an easy job: Knoxville News Sentinel

Fri, 23 May 2008 18:56:11 -0000

OAK RIDGE - Thousands of truckloads of hazardous garbage have already been hauled from the site, and the heavy-duty demolition work hasn't even started.

Workers will begin taking down the walls of K-25 in October, but preparations - such as removing asbestos, mercury and PCBs - have been under way for a long time.

Tags: decommissioning doe k-25 n-weapons nuclear nuke.news ornl

Posted by: theenergynet

Tim Webb: Clean-up slows down at Britain's obsolete reactors | Business | The Observer

Tue, 20 May 2008 18:29:09 -0000

The debate over new plants is obscuring a bigger problem: there isn't enough money being spent on decommissioning old ones. Tim Webb reports

Tags: decommissioning development energy fuel-cycle n-waste nuclear nuke.news nuke.news.int uk

Posted by: theenergynet

NRC: Vt. Yankee can’t raid decommissioning fund for spent fuel | burlingtonfreepress.com | The Burlington Free Press

Fri, 02 May 2008 18:47:52 -0000

BRATTLEBORO — The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is telling the owners of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant that they can’t dip into the fund set aside for dismantling the reactor to pay for storage of highly radioactive spent fuel.

“Decommissioning, as defined in (NRC rules), means to remove a facility safely from service and reduce residual radioactivity to a level that permits release of the property for either unrestricted or restricted use and termination of the license,” according to an e-mail from the NRC. “It does not include spent fuel management costs.”

Tags: decommissioning energy fuel-cycle nrc nuclear nuke.news vermontyankee

Posted by: theenergynet

Vermont Yankee wants to raid decommission fund: Times Argus Online

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 19:26:31 -0000

MONTPELIER – A new twist has hit the contentious debate over how to force the owners of Vermont Yankee to assure there's enough money required for decommissioning the nuclear plant in Vernon.

Documents show the owner of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant has asked for federal permission to use the plant's decommissioning fund to pay for storage of waste rather than for taking the plant apart.

Tags: decommissioning economics energy nuclear nuke.news vermontyankee

Posted by: theenergynet

Vt. Yankee debate gets personal at Statehouse: Times Argus Online

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 19:10:49 -0000

MONTPELIER – Tempers wore thin at the Statehouse Tuesday during a discussion about how much money must be set aside for decommissioning the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Plant when it stops making power.

A group of business leaders from across Vermont joined together at the Statehouse to ask lawmakers not to pass a decommissioning bill that has been approved by the Senate and will likely come to the floor of the House by the end of the week.

Tags: decommissioning energy nuclear nuke.news policy vermontyankee vt

Posted by: theenergynet

Questions are raised about nuclear fuel storage and dismantling Zion plant -- chicagotribune.com

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 19:09:52 -0000

Community activists concerned about storage of spent fuel at the Nuclear Power Station in Zion want more information from owner Exelon on its plan to have the plant dismantled by a contractor.

A former commissioner with the Waukegan Park District was among about 60 people who attended a presentation by Exelon Nuclear officials last weekend that drew pointed questions.

Tags: decommissioning energy fuel-cycle il n-storage nuclear nuke.news spent-fuel zion

Posted by: theenergynet

Government failing to fund UK's nuclear clean-up, say MPs - Times Online

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 18:47:31 -0000

Tags: decommissioning economics energy fuel-cycle nuclear nuke.news nuke.news.int uk

Posted by: theenergynet