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The Standard: More studies needed on nuclear power

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 19:00:05 -0000

Kenya must undertake a comprehensive assessment of her long-terma energy needs and exploit local resources before contemplating the construction of a nuclear plant, a nuclear expert has said.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) senior energy economist Dr Ferenc Toth, said the country might encounter enormous problems in financing a nuclear plant due to stringent conditions from international financers.

Tags: africa development energy kenya nuclear nuke.news nuke.news.int

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Whitehaven News: Drigg’s huge waste site project to get most materials by rail

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:59:15 -0000

ONE of the area’s biggest construction projects, at the low-level radioactive waste site at Drigg, will not only give valuable work to two Copeland quarries but keep transport disruption to a minimum.

Drigg villagers will be told that 90 per cent of the materials needed to built the massive Vault 9 at the repository will be taken by rail.

Tags: energy europe fuel-cycle n-waste nuclear nuke.news nuke.news.int nw-transport uk

Posted by: theenergynet

Whitehaven News: Nuclear shipments ban to go?

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:58:00 -0000

SELLAFIELD is one step away from having its ban on plutonium shipments lifted.

The ban or prohibition notice was imposed in June after it was discovered that a shipment of the highly radioactive material from Sellafield to France failed to meet regulations. The embarrassment arose over a failure to comply with the Department of Transport’s certificate of ap

Tags: energy europe france fuel-cycle nuclear nuke.news nw-transport plutonium sellafield uk

Posted by: theenergynet

Whitecourt Star - Study links cancer, nuclear power

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:55:16 -0000

A German study linking increased cancer rates in children with their proximity to nuclear power plants raised some eyebrows at the Blue Ridge Community Hall last week.

Tipping Point, a Whitecourt-based anti-nuclear group invited German pediatrician Dr. Ernst Iskenius to present the results of the KiKK study to about 30 Whitecourt and Woodland County residents.

The KiKK study was the second of two released by the German government last fall. Its results created a public outcry and debate, which is still continuing today in Europe.

The first German study, published by Terschueren Hoffmann and D.B. Richardson found 14 cases of leukemia between 1990 and 2005 in children living within five kilometres from the Krummel nuclear plant in Geesthacht and another northern facility in Germany.

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

Tags: canada cancer energy eruope germany leukemia nuclear nuike.news.int nuke.news safety study

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RIA Novosti - Russia denies nuclear weapons on ships bound for Venezuela

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:52:01 -0000

Russian warships en route to Venezuela to take part in naval exercises are not carrying nuclear weapons, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Thursday.

"There are no tactical nuclear weapons on board these ships," Andrei Nesterenko told a news conference at RIA Novosti.

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

Tags: europe n-weapons nuclear nuke.news nuke.news.int proliferation russia sam venezuela

Posted by: theenergynet

New nukes to cost at top end of $4-bil to $10-bil range: analyst

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:42:30 -0000

One factor in securing investment for new nuclear construction will be "solid, well-substantiated" cost estimates for construction, a Wall Street analyst said Wednesday. Caren Byrd of Morgan Stanley said the "considerable divergence" of current cost estimates for a new nuclear plant -- she cited figures of $4 billion to $9 billion or $10 billion -- was "risk appearing."

Tags: economics energy nuclear nuke.news pro-nuclear reactors

Posted by: theenergynet

How hot is too hot?: Rutland Herald Online

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:41:37 -0000

Panel questions methods on Yankee radiation standards

MONTPELIER — The public was short-changed last year when the Department of Health changed the way it calculated the radiation coming from the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant and didn't hold public hearings on the issue, members of a legislative panel said Wednesday.

Last year, the Department of Health started using a "conversion factor" of 0.6 on any measured radiation coming from the plant, noting that science showed that not all radiation is absorbed by the human body. The change has made it easier for Vermont Yankee to meet the state's radiation emission limits, which are the strictest in the country.

Tags: energy health nuclear nuke.news safety vermontyankee vt

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Committee questions health officials on radiation - Boston.com

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:40:29 -0000

A legislative committee on Wednesday criticized the Vermont Health Department for reworking the way it measures radiation being emitted by the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant without first bringing the changes to the committee.

The Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules put the Health Department's radiological health chief in the hot seat over changes that have made it easier for Vermont Yankee to stay within state limits for radiation as measured at the plant boundary.

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

But others were sharply critical of the changes, saying they were among multiple steps taken in recent years that had the effect of making it easier for Vermont Yankee to stay under its radiation limits.

Tags: energy health nuclear nuke.news safety vermontyankee vt

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ENERGY: Nuclear power play - Rochester City Newspaper

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:38:06 -0000

It's been more than 20 years since a new nuclear reactor came online in New York. That could soon change.

Unistar, a partnership between Constellation Energy and the French company AREVA, is proposing a new reactor at Nine Mile Point just outside of Oswego. The plant would produce 1,600 megawatts, reports the Syracuse Post-Standard - a single megawatt can power up to 1,000 homes. Unistar told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that it plans to apply for the expansion this year, says the Post-Standard. The licensing process is expected to take up to four years.

Tags: areva development energy nine-mile-point nuclear nuke.news ny reactor

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Group to discuss nuclear power plant -- dailypress.com

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:37:06 -0000

The Isle of Wight Citizens Association will talk about safety at the Surry nuclear power plant and county spending during a meeting Monday.

The group meets at 7 p.m. at the Carrollton Library on New Towne Haven Lane.

Two Dominion Virginia Power representatives will be on hand to answer the question of how safe is the nuclear power plant. The group will also talk about whether county government spending is out of control and about treated sewer sludge coming to Isle of Wight to be used as fertilizer.

Tags: energy meeting nuclear nuke.events nuke.news surry va

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Lake Keowee level headed down: Anderson Independent-Mail

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:35:57 -0000

Lake Keowee will be lowered on Oct. 20 in order for Duke Energy to perform some preventative maintenance. This is an annual procedure that Duke Energy does in order to maintain its intake pumps.

“As part of the operation of the Oconee Nuclear Plant, we have some intake pumps that bring water from Lake Keowee into the plant as part of what is called the condensing cooling water system of the plant,” said Jason Walls, a spokesman for Duke Energy. “The pumps are used to basically help turn steam back into water after it turns the turbines. For our employees to safely access the areas that need to be maintained we’re going to have to lower Lake Keowee.”

Tags: duke ecology energy nuclear nuke.news oconee reactor safety water

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Victoria Advocate - Forum faces nuclear issues

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:34:19 -0000

City refuses to air meeting on Channel 15, but did air pro-nuke speakers

A group of residents concerned about nuclear power coming to Victoria doesn’t think the city is giving it a “fair shake.”

Texans for a Sound Energy Policy Alliance asked to air a recording of the “Nuclear 101” forum tonight on the city’s Channel 15, but city leaders declined, director John Figer said.

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

Tags: energy nuclear nuke.news tx victoria

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Doctor sounds alarm on risks of nuclear energy - Press-Telegram

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:32:43 -0000

`It looks as though all Africa might be gone in a week or so ... It seems to go quite quickly at the end, so far as we can ascertain. It's a bit difficult, because when more than half the people in a place are dead, the communications usually go out, and then you don't quite know what's happening."

So says a character in "On the Beach," Nevil Shute's 1957 novel in which, following a nuclear war, every person on Earth is dead or dying.

Preposterous? Dr. Helen Caldicott does not think so. She read the book as a girl growing up in Melbourne, Australia. Unlike many of us, she had the good sense to be frightened by the story, finding it all too plausible.

Tags: ca caldicott energy fuel-cycle health nuclear nuke.news safety

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The Associated Press: Nuclear Weapons complex changes advance

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:31:37 -0000

The Energy Department moved ahead Thursday on further restricting the nation's most dangerous nuclear material, part of a plan to scale back and modernize management of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile.

The department gave preliminary approval to an environmental impact study on the consolidation program, which includes limiting plutonium and highly enriched uranium to just five sites, compared with seven today. The government also would close 600 buildings and structures at the facilities and reduce the number of workers involved in weapons programs by 20 to 30 percent.

Tags: bombplex2030 doe n-weapons nuclear nuke.news proliferation

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Ukrainian Journal: Russia’s Atomstroiexport to build Khmelnytsky reactors three and four

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:30:41 -0000

The general contractor to build reactors three and four at the Khmelnytsky nuclear power plant will be Russia's ZAO Atomstroiexport, a source in the Fuel and Energy Ministry told Interfax-Ukraine.

"The interagency tender commission on the selection of the type of generating units for reactors three and four at the Khmelnytsky NPP has finished its work. After studying proposals from Atomstroiexport, South Koera's ÊÅÐÑÎ and U.S. company Westinghouse, the commission said that the Russian project was the best," the source said.

Tags: development energy europe nuclear nuke.news nuke.news.int reactor russia ukrain

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NewsRoom Finland: Finnish local councils may be given veto on uranium mines

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:29:22 -0000

A Finnish government working group tasked with proposing amendments to the Mining Act said in a report Wednesday that local councils should have the right to veto uranium mines.

Mauri Pekkarinen, the economic affairs minister, said as he was handed the report that the veto right was justified.

Tags: energy europe finland fuel-cycle mining nuclear nuke.news nuke.news.int policy uranium

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Robots to work in Dounreay's radioactive cells - John O'Groat Journal and Caithness Courier

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:28:14 -0000

ROBOTS are being employed to help clean up Dounreay. Decommissioning bosses have turned to specialist demolition firm Brokk to supply the remotely-operated equipment that can work inside cells and a pond where radiation levels are still too high for human access.

The robots – mounted on tracks like a construction excavator and powered by electricity – have been fitted with specially-designed tools.

They will go inside the cells and pond to cut up and package the vessels and pipes where more than 10,000 spent fuel elements were dissolved and reprocessed before the plant shut down in 1996.

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

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Bush signs U.S.-India nuclear pact into law | Reuters

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:27:22 -0000

President George W. Bush on Wednesday signed legislation that will allow the United States and India to open up nuclear trade, saying the two countries are "natural partners."

His action will pave the way for the details of the agreement to be signed by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee in Washington on Friday.

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

Tags: bush energy india n-weapons nuclear nuke.news nuke.news.int treaty us

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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

NRC investigates shipment after concerns over radiation levels: Times Argus Online

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 09:02:33 -0000

A shipment of lead-lined shielding from the Pilgrim Nuclear plant to its sister reactor, Vermont Yankee, this weekend had higher-than-reported radiation readings and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Monday it was looking into the matter.

The large box of lead shielding arrived at the Vermont reactor Friday night from Pilgrim, and when it arrived the radiation measured on the box was two to three times what was measured at Pilgrim, a plant located south of Boston.

Tags: investigation nrc nuclear nuike.news safety transport vermontyankee vt

Posted by: theenergynet