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The discussion about Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon wasn't confined to whether or not it should continue to operate past 2012, its original license expiration date. Also of concern to both sides of the debate, and those in the middle, was whether Entergy, which owns and operates Yankee, should be allowed to spin off Yankee into a wholly independent company with financial liabilities of more than $4 billion. Vermont's Public Service Board is still reviewing whether it should issue a certificate of public good to allow the spin off. Earlier in 2009, the Department of Public Service opposed the formation of Enexus, the spin off company, unless certain conditions were met. After most of the conditions are met by Entergy, DPS recommends the PSB approve the transaction. Greenpeace warned Vermont that the formation of Enexus would not be in the best interests of the state.

The discussion about Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon wasn't confined to whether or not it should continue to operate past 2012, its original license expiration date. Also of concern to both sides of the debate, and those in the middle, was whether Entergy, which owns and operates Yankee, should be allowed to spin off Yankee into a wholly independent company with financial liabilities of more than $4 billion. Vermont's Public Service Board is still reviewing whether it should issue a certificate of public good to allow the spin off. Earlier in 2009, the Department of Public Service opposed the formation of Enexus, the spin off company, unless certain conditions were met. After most of the conditions are met by Entergy, DPS recommends the PSB approve the transaction. Greenpeace warned Vermont that the formation of Enexus would not be in the best interests of the state.

"Pacific Gas & Electric Company; Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement and Conduct the Scoping Process for Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, Units 1 and 2 Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) has submitted an application for renewal of facility Operating License Nos. DPR-80 and DPR-82, for an additional 20 years of operation at the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant (DCPP), Units 1 and 2. DCPP Units 1 and 2 are located in San Luis Obispo County, California, approximately 12 miles west-southwest of the San Luis Obispo city limits. The current operating licenses for DCPP, Units 1 and 2, expire on November 2, 2024 and August 26, 2025. The application for renewal, dated November 23, 2009, was submitted pursuant to Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) part 54, which included the environmental report (ER). A separate notice of receipt and availability of the application was published in the Federal Register on December 11, 2009 (74 FR 65811)."

"A report linking water contamination at Camp Lejeune to cancer in former base residents went to the desk of President Barack Obama this week. The President's Cancer Panel released a 240-page analysis Thursday urging the president to tighten regulations on environmental carcinogens and chemicals known to increase cancer risk. "In 2009 alone, approximately 1.5 million American men, women, and children were diagnosed with cancer, and 562,000 died from the disease," an introductory letter addressed to Obama reads. "With the growing body of evidence linking environmental exposures to cancer, the public is becoming increasingly aware of the unacceptable burden of cancer resulting from environmental and occupational exposures that could have been prevented through appropriate national action." The report, the focus of the panel's work for the 2008-2009 year, contains a section dedicated to exposure to contaminants and other hazards from military sources. Included are brief descriptions of the Vietnam-era carcinogen Agent Orange, chromium, radioactive contamination, and historical water contamination with the solvents TCE and PCE at Camp Lejeune. "

"Genkai nuclear plant operator Kyushu Electric Power Co. promised in 2009 to repay debts incurred by local fisheries cooperatives totaling 700 million yen, it was revealed on Sept. 7. The Saga Prefecture Genkai Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives, an association of over 13 local fisheries unions based in the city of Karatsu, Saga Prefecture, obtained a promise from Kyushu Electric for the power company to repay 700 million yen in debt incurred by the federation and its members in 2009 -- the same year the utility started its "pluthermal" (plutonium-thermal) reactor project at the local Genkai Nuclear Power Plant. The utility is thought to have agreed to pay the debt in return for the federation supporting the pluthermal project."

A meeting of the Department of Energy's Site Specific Advisory Board for clean up and reuse of the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant at Piketon brought forth a tug of war. Much like the Huntington downtown Superblock which lay fallow for nearly 30 years, uses for the contaminated site break down to two camps: Clean up the radioactive waste that still kills former workers versus possibly attracting a so-called new nuclear plant that would allegedly be safe. The latter would bring jobs to an area starving for employment. But, many nearby residents do not trust the statements that a 'new' nuclear plant would not continue the odyssey of cover ups since the former facility opened during the Cold War in the 1950s. However, after an elaborate news conference in the summer of 2009, the project dropped off the radar. Activist and former Piketon employee Vina Colley, referred to past contamination as a reason to avoid nuclear power. "All of their drains and laundry [water] where they washed contaminated clothes and [water from] equipment washed off went into the local creeks, which emptied into the Scioto River, then filtered to the Ohio and down to the Mississippi. We're not the only ones affected. The whole world is affected by what these nuclear facilities are producing and releasing into the environment."

A meeting of the Department of Energy's Site Specific Advisory Board for clean up and reuse of the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant at Piketon brought forth a tug of war. Much like the Huntington downtown Superblock which lay fallow for nearly 30 years, uses for the contaminated site break down to two camps: Clean up the radioactive waste that still kills former workers versus possibly attracting a so-called new nuclear plant that would allegedly be safe. The latter would bring jobs to an area starving for employment. But, many nearby residents do not trust the statements that a 'new' nuclear plant would not continue the odyssey of cover ups since the former facility opened during the Cold War in the 1950s. However, after an elaborate news conference in the summer of 2009, the project dropped off the radar. Activist and former Piketon employee Vina Colley, referred to past contamination as a reason to avoid nuclear power. "All of their drains and laundry [water] where they washed contaminated clothes and [water from] equipment washed off went into the local creeks, which emptied into the Scioto River, then filtered to the Ohio and down to the Mississippi. We're not the only ones affected. The whole world is affected by what these nuclear facilities are producing and releasing into the environment."

A meeting of the Department of Energy's Site Specific Advisory Board for clean up and reuse of the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant at Piketon brought forth a tug of war. Much like the Huntington downtown Superblock which lay fallow for nearly 30 years, uses for the contaminated site break down to two camps: Clean up the radioactive waste that still kills former workers versus possibly attracting a so-called new nuclear plant that would allegedly be safe. The latter would bring jobs to an area starving for employment. But, many nearby residents do not trust the statements that a 'new' nuclear plant would not continue the odyssey of cover ups since the former facility opened during the Cold War in the 1950s. However, after an elaborate news conference in the summer of 2009, the project dropped off the radar. Activist and former Piketon employee Vina Colley, referred to past contamination as a reason to avoid nuclear power. "All of their drains and laundry [water] where they washed contaminated clothes and [water from] equipment washed off went into the local creeks, which emptied into the Scioto River, then filtered to the Ohio and down to the Mississippi. We're not the only ones affected. The whole world is affected by what these nuclear facilities are producing and releasing into the environment."

"In 2007, the first application to build a new reactor in the United States in more than three decades was filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). By the end of that year, four more applications had landed at the agency. In 2008, 12 additional applications arrived, with one more filed in 2009. Nuclear backers proclaimed a "renaissance" underway. The NRC, which over the years had lost personnel because of a shortage of work, geared up, hiring 1,000 new staffers to handle the licensing requests. Things got so crowded at the Office of New Reactors that in May the agency broke ground for a third office building in suburban Washington."

Greek conservationists from the Greek NGO, Archipelagos, work to protect endangered common dolphins and monk seals and also the region's marine ecosystems from the effects of overfishing, shipping, and the military. Dr Anastasia Miliou, manager and head scientist from Archipelagos Institute of Marine and Environmental Research of the Aegean Sea, based on the Greek island of Samos in the eastern Aegean, explains about seals, uranium deposits and sonar * Digg it * Buzz up * Share on facebook (6) * Tweet this (14) * Guardian Weekly, Friday 30 October 2009 09.00 GMT * Article history Monk seal An endangered monk seal. Photograph: Phil Mislinski/Getty Images The Mediterranean monk seal is the world's rarest and most endangered marine mammal. Its population is less than 450 and one of the most important remaining populations survives in the Aegean region. We are urging fishing communities and authorities to understand that the marine biodiversity needs to be conserved, not only for the sake of productive marine ecosystems or the endangered species, but also for the benefit of human communities, whose livelihood depends on the health and productivity of the seas."

"It is incumbent upon all levels of government, as well as public and private parties within the U.S., to prepare for" a nuclear detonation in a U.S. city, according to a new U.S. government document. "Planning Guidance for Response to a Nuclear Detonation" (pdf) was drafted by an interagency team and published by the Homeland Security Council earlier this month (h/t Docuticker.com). Security requirements for the protection of classified or controlled information held by the Department of Energy are set forth in a newly revised "Information Security Manual" (pdf), DoE Manual 470.4-4A, January 16, 2009.

Female employees from Russia's nuclear energy industry are competing for the Miss Atom 2009 title this month. The event's sponsors hope the beauty pageant will help dispel the industry's negative image. Imagine, if you will, a bikini clad beauty queen strutting out of lake, with giant cooling towers belonging to a nuclear power facility dominating the background. Odd perhaps? Not, apparently, in Russia. There, women working in the country's nuclear industry compete for the annual title of Miss Atom.

The Ukrainian Enerhoatom nuclear power generating company and the Russian TVEL Corporation have signed contracts on supplies of nuclear fuel to Ukrainian nuclear power plants in 2009. Ukrainian News learned this from a joint statement by Enerhoatom and the TVEL Corporation. According to the statement, a part of the nuclear fuel will be made from Ukrainian uranium. The statement reads that the Enerhoatom nuclear power generating company and the TVEL Corporation are intending to sign a long-term contract on supplies of nuclear fuel to the Ukrainian nuclear power plants after 2010.

The 2009 federal budget was late in arriving, but the Omnibus bill brought some good news to Oak Ridge National Laboratory. I had a chance to talk with ORNL Director Thom Mason Thursday, and he was pretty upbeat -- especially about the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor. The U.S. involvement in ITER got a lift after a huge disappointment at the start of this fiscal year. U.S. ITER, which is headquartered in Oak Ridge, got $124 million in funding for the rest of the year, Mason said, and that's a really big deal for the ITER folks.

General Electric and its subsidiary United Nuclear Corp. are preparing to spend $5 million to remove about 97,000 cubic yards of radium-contaminated soil from around three households on Red Water Pond Road and an unnamed arroyo next to the former Northeast Churchrock Mine. Seven Navajo families live in the three households, but for the next five months they are facing "relocation" to apartments in Gallup as part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's interim removal action.

Interview with Jan Lovelace, widow of poisoned nuclear complex worker Harry Lovelace, details the trials both have gone through to try get help through the Energy Employee Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (EEOICPA) administered by the U.S. Dept. of Labor. Jan also describes the extreme personal difficulties of Harry's illness, attributed to his work as a fireman at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. Ten-minutes, filmed by Wes Rehberg, music by Paul Page, ©2009 Wild Clearing

Interview with Jan Lovelace, widow of poisoned nuclear complex worker Harry Lovelace, details the trials both have gone through to try get help through the Energy Employee Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (EEOICPA) administered by the U.S. Dept. of Labor. Jan also describes the extreme personal difficulties of Harry's illness, attributed to his work as a fireman at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. Ten-minutes, filmed by Wes Rehberg, music by Paul Page, ©2009 Wild Clearing

Second contract signed by Uranerz for the sale of uranium to a U.S. utility Uranerz Energy Corporation has announced that it has entered into an agreement for the sale of uranium to one of the United States' largest nuclear operators, with plants located in several states. This is the second contract signed by Uranerz for the sale of uranium to a U.S. utility; the Company announced its first such contract in July 2009. This agreement is a long-term contract with deliveries over a five year period and pricing which contains market referenced prices, with combined spot and long term indicators, to set the final sales price. The agreement's pricing structure contains floor prices to provide Uranerz with downside protection and ceiling prices which protect the buyer from unlimited upside price risk. Uranerz continues to pursue additional uranium off-take sales opportunities to develop a portfolio that reflects a balance between market-related and fixed price contracts thus providing appropriate security to market price fluctuations, production cost fluctuations and pricing diversification.

Treaty's Entry Into Force Makes Entire Southern Hemisphere Free of Nuclear Weapons Over the last 13 years, all 53 African nations have signed the Treaty of Pelindaba. A Treaty making Africa into a zone free of nuclear weapons entered into force on 15 July 2009, in turn expanding the nuclear-weapon free territories to cover the entire Southern hemisphere. The Treaty of Pelindaba entered into force when Burundi deposited its instrument of ratification, becoming the 28th nation to do so. Over the last 13 years, all 53 African nations have signed the Treaty of Pelindaba. The IAEA has issued the following statement:

Nuclear power is not the answer to climate change (Guilty greens admit they could do more, 2 September). Indeed it could well undermine the development of the real solutions - energy efficiency and renewable energy. And yet the Labour government has moved from a position of supporting a programme of replacing older nuclear plants to one of a radical expansion, with talk of a UK nuclear contribution of 35-40% "beyond 2030". Currently the UK gets 13% of its electricity from nuclear sources. The government has also indicated that it saw a major role for exporting UK nuclear technology and expertise. Gordon Brown has indicated that he believes the world needs 1,000 extra nuclear power stations and has argued that Africa could build nuclear power plants to meet growing demands for energy. In 2009 a new UK Nuclear Centre of Excellence was announced to "promote wider access to civil nuclear power across the world", with an initial budget of £20m.

The Federation for a Sustainable Environment (FSE) informs Mining Weekly that two of the three mining companies responsible for cleaning and treating the toxic mine water in the Western Basin have once again stopped pumping and treating the mine void water. The mines were instructed earlier this year by the Depart(ment of Water and Environ-mental Affairs (DWEA) to pump and partially treat the toxic water that rose up to just 0,6 m from the surface. The department further directed that, after October 31, 2009, the water had to be pumped and treated to values with sulphates of less than 600 mg/ℓ, failing which it might take any measures it considered necessary to remedy the situation, which could include taking the measures itself and recovering all reasonable costs for measures taken by the department from the parties to whom the directive was issued as well as taking legal action against the parties.

Deceptions about our nuclear weapons have "threatened the survival of the human species." Two Years After Nisour Square Massacre, Blackwater Still Armed and Dangerous In Iraq Jeremy Scahill Holbrooke on Afghanistan: It's Not Whether You Win or Lose, It's How You Play the Game Danielle Kurtzleben The Tragedy of Our 'Disappeared' Veterans Penny Coleman Why Are U.S. Officials Protecting the Pakistan Military on Aid to Taliban? Gareth Porter Honduras: "People Are In The Streets Every Day" Jessica Pupovac A Statement On My Friends, Three U.S. Hikers Reportedly Detained at Iran/Iraq Border Shon Meckfessel More stories by Daniel Ellsberg RSS icon World RSS Feed RSS icon Main AlterNet RSS Feed Advertisement Upcoming AlterNet stories on Digg Digg What is Digg? * 62 diggs Burning Questions for the Authors of 'Marijuana Is Safer' The authors of a new book on misconceptions about marijuana respond to the torrent of comments on an excerpt published on AlterNet. On August 6, AlterNet posted an excerpt from the new book Marijuana Is Safer: So Why Are We Driving Americans to Drink? (Chelsea Green, 2009). Reader response was overwhelming. Within hours, the excerpt was.... * 58 diggs 10 Awesome Things Would Happen If Health Reform Passes Forget the fearmongering scare tactics of the right, here's how your life will actually be better. The truth about health care reform. * 45 diggs Lou Dobbs Tours Single-Payer Systems Abroad and Realizes... Has CNN's government-out-of-my-face bloviator actually had a change of heart when it comes to Obama's health plan? * 34 diggs Right-Wing Militias Haven't Always Been Racist- they are now There are growing signs that militias are on the rise again and now their target isn't just government, but Blacks and Latinos. * 29 diggs 7 Ways We Can Fight Back Against the Rising Fascist Threat | Why the right-wing extremism must be stopped in its tracks or else

Deceptions about our nuclear weapons have "threatened the survival of the human species." Two Years After Nisour Square Massacre, Blackwater Still Armed and Dangerous In Iraq Jeremy Scahill Holbrooke on Afghanistan: It's Not Whether You Win or Lose, It's How You Play the Game Danielle Kurtzleben The Tragedy of Our 'Disappeared' Veterans Penny Coleman Why Are U.S. Officials Protecting the Pakistan Military on Aid to Taliban? Gareth Porter Honduras: "People Are In The Streets Every Day" Jessica Pupovac A Statement On My Friends, Three U.S. Hikers Reportedly Detained at Iran/Iraq Border Shon Meckfessel More stories by Daniel Ellsberg RSS icon World RSS Feed RSS icon Main AlterNet RSS Feed Advertisement Upcoming AlterNet stories on Digg Digg What is Digg? * 62 diggs Burning Questions for the Authors of 'Marijuana Is Safer' The authors of a new book on misconceptions about marijuana respond to the torrent of comments on an excerpt published on AlterNet. On August 6, AlterNet posted an excerpt from the new book Marijuana Is Safer: So Why Are We Driving Americans to Drink? (Chelsea Green, 2009). Reader response was overwhelming. Within hours, the excerpt was.... * 58 diggs 10 Awesome Things Would Happen If Health Reform Passes Forget the fearmongering scare tactics of the right, here's how your life will actually be better. The truth about health care reform. * 45 diggs Lou Dobbs Tours Single-Payer Systems Abroad and Realizes... Has CNN's government-out-of-my-face bloviator actually had a change of heart when it comes to Obama's health plan? * 34 diggs Right-Wing Militias Haven't Always Been Racist- they are now There are growing signs that militias are on the rise again and now their target isn't just government, but Blacks and Latinos. * 29 diggs 7 Ways We Can Fight Back Against the Rising Fascist Threat | Why the right-wing extremism must be stopped in its tracks or else

The Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment (COMARE) is a quango that is supposed to be a watchdog on the health issues arising from the activities of nuclear installations in the UK. COMARE's terms of reference are "to assess and advise Government . on the health effects of natural and man-made radiation and to assess the adequacy of the available data and the need for further research". But how seriously does this body take its responsibilities? Not very, it seems. A recent authoritative health study commissioned by the German government entitled KiKK (Kinderkrebs in der Umgebung von KernKraftwerken, or Childhood Cancer in the Vicinity of Nuclear Power Plants) found increased leukemias near all German nuclear facilities. The Environmental Health Sub-Committee of the West Cumbria Site Stakeholder Group, a group that discusses nuclear issues mainly concerning Sellafield, raised the findings of this study with COMARE and asked for its views. A one-page COMARE briefing was sent by Professor Alex Elliott, the COMARE chairman, and was read out to the May 2009 meeting of the Environmental Health Sub Committee as COMARE's official view. It is likely that other stakeholder groups near other UK nuclear sites were informed along similar lines. However the COMARE briefing was never published on its website.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials in King of Prussia, Pa., have selected Heather Jones as the new resident inspector at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon, Vt. She joins NRC Acting Senior Resident Inspector Dave Spindler at the plant, which is operated by Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. Jones joined the agency's Region I office in 2005 after earning a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Arizona and a master's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh. She is a graduate of the NRC's Nuclear Safety Professional Development Program, a two-year training program that provides specialized training in nuclear safety and a broad perspective of NRC regulatory activities. Jones also completed a rigorous NRC inspector qualification program. Most recently, she was assigned as a reactor inspector in the Region I Division of Reactor Safety, performing engineering inspections.