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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."

As the nation settles in for a long and increasingly contentious health care debate, residents of the CSRA are starting to draw battle lines of their own regarding the future of the Savannah River Site (SRS). According to the Department of Energy's Strategic Plan for the Savannah River Site, the 310-square-mile site is poised to become the DOE's premier location for new energy initiatives. It's got the land, the infrastructure, the brainpower and the workforce. All it needs are the initiatives. Skeptics of such an energy park, however, suspect the only real initiative the DOE is interested in involves prolonging its involvement in nuclear activities. "I think it's all a big ruse," says the Sierra Club's Susan Corbett. "What they really want are more nuclear missions."

As the nation settles in for a long and increasingly contentious health care debate, residents of the CSRA are starting to draw battle lines of their own regarding the future of the Savannah River Site (SRS). According to the Department of Energy's Strategic Plan for the Savannah River Site, the 310-square-mile site is poised to become the DOE's premier location for new energy initiatives. It's got the land, the infrastructure, the brainpower and the workforce. All it needs are the initiatives. Skeptics of such an energy park, however, suspect the only real initiative the DOE is interested in involves prolonging its involvement in nuclear activities. "I think it's all a big ruse," says the Sierra Club's Susan Corbett. "What they really want are more nuclear missions."

As the nation settles in for a long and increasingly contentious health care debate, residents of the CSRA are starting to draw battle lines of their own regarding the future of the Savannah River Site (SRS). According to the Department of Energy's Strategic Plan for the Savannah River Site, the 310-square-mile site is poised to become the DOE's premier location for new energy initiatives. It's got the land, the infrastructure, the brainpower and the workforce. All it needs are the initiatives. Skeptics of such an energy park, however, suspect the only real initiative the DOE is interested in involves prolonging its involvement in nuclear activities. "I think it's all a big ruse," says the Sierra Club's Susan Corbett. "What they really want are more nuclear missions."

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Office of New Reactors has issued an Early Site Permit (ESP) and Limited Work Authorization (LWA) to Southern Nuclear Operating Company for the Vogtle ESP site near Augusta, Ga. The ESP, valid for up to 20 years, is the fourth such permit the NRC has approved. Successful completion of the ESP process resolves many site-related safety and environmental issues, and determines the site is suitable for possible future construction and operation of a nuclear power plant. The LWA allows a narrow set of construction activities at the site. Southern Nuclear filed its ESP application Aug. 15, 2006, and filed its LWA request on Aug. 16, 2007, seeking permission for construction activities limited to placement of engineered backfill, retaining walls, lean concrete, mudmats, and a waterproof membrane.

The IAEA's 53rd General Conference of Member States concluded today in Vienna, with over 1 400 delegates from IAEA Member States attending the week-long event. Following discussion, the General Conference adopted resolutions on the following items: the Agency's Programme and Budget for 2010-2011; measures to strengthen international cooperation in nuclear, radiation,transportation and waste safety; nuclear security - measures to protect against nuclear terrorism; strengthening of the Agency's technical cooperation activities; strengthening the Agency´s activities related to nuclear science, technology and applications; strengthening the effectiveness and improving the efficiency of the safeguards system and application of the Model Additional Protocol; implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement between the Agency and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea; application of IAEA safeguards in the Middle East; and Israeli nuclear capabilities. The item on the prohibition of armed attack or threat of attack against nuclear installations, during operation or under construction was included in a Presidential statement. The full texts of adopted resolutions and the Presidential statement will be posted on the IAEA website as they become available. Story » :: DG Statement to Conference

Recent uranium workshops hosted by the Yamatji Marlpa Aboriginal Corporation in Western Australia were an opportunity for traditional owners to become involved in a new mining industry from its beginning, Yamatji chief executive Simon Hawkins told MINING DAILY. "A lot of the previous mining activity in Western Australia occurred pre-Native Title so traditional owners see uranium as an opportunity to actually have a proper partnership with the activity on their country post-Native Title," Hawkins said.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will hold a public meeting July 28 in Bruneau, Idaho, to brief members of the public on a proposal by Westinghouse Electric Co. to dispose of low-activity radioactive materials at the U.S. Ecology Disposal Facility in Grand View, Idaho. The meeting will take place from 6 - 8:30 p.m. in the Auditorium of Rimrock Jr. Sr. High School, 39678 State Highway 78, in Bruneau. Westinghouse is currently decommissioning its Hematite nuclear fuel fabrication facility in Jefferson County, Mo. Westinghouse has requested a license amendment and authorization from the NRC to dispose of some low-activity radioactive waste - including small amounts of "special nuclear material" (enriched uranium and plutonium) - at the U.S. Ecology facility. Westinghouse has also asked the NRC to exempt U.S. Ecology from the agency's licensing requirements for radioactive byproduct material and special nuclear material.

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) have published a meeting report on the first gathering of the Nuclear Energy Standards Coordination Collaborative (NESCC). NESCC is a joint initiative to identify and respond to the current needs of the nuclear industry. The activity provides a cross-stakeholder forum to facilitate and coordinate the timely identification, development, and revision of standards for the design, operation, development, licensing, and deployment of nuclear power plants. Standards for other nuclear technologies, including advanced reactor concepts, will also be addressed. On June 1, 2009, more than thirty individuals gathered at the NIST headquarters in Gaithersburg, Md., for the inaugural NESCC meeting. Attendees first discussed the intent of the activity, which is focused on collaboration and coordination rather than standards development. Ambler Thompson, Ph.D., of NIST and Fran Schrotter of ANSI then led participants in a thorough review of the group's charter, and the group agreed on very minor revisions to the document. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the American Nuclear Society (ANS) indicated that they would need to seek their respective Board approvals at upcoming meetings. The charter will be finalized based upon any comments from ASME, ANS, or any other interested stakeholder, provided such comments are received by ANSI by close of business on Wednesday, July 15.

With the failure of the nation's nuclear spent fuel repository at Yucca Mountain to open and $1.6 billion in federal stimulus funds in the offing, some legislative officials are offering up our state to become the nation's dumping ground for the more than 55,000 tons of deadly radioactive waste generated by nuclear reactors, even suggesting a revival of the reprocessing debacle. Nuclear reprocessing produces the sort of high-level waste that is sitting in leaking tanks at the Savannah River Site, considered by many, even DHEC, to be the most significant environmental hazard threatening South Carolina. Why are some of our legislators actively pursuing what many consider the most risky, dirty and dangerous nuclear activity? U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and Reps. James Clyburn and Joe Wilson are openly calling for reprocessing, although they admit our state has a dismal record of ever getting rid of any radioactive waste dumped here. Reprocessing would mean the whole nation would transport its high-level waste to our state. We would become Yucca Mountain.

At the center of a desolate valley in the middle of Nevada, more than a dozen miles from the nearest paved road, one of the few signs of human activity is a rusty steel well casing that juts oddly out of the desert floor. Nobody lives here, but it has a name: the Central Nevada Test Area. It was once a hub of scientific activity. Today, it is an abandoned outpost of the Cold War.

Two pieces of legislation have passed and been signed by Governor Brian Schweitzer that streamline the process of cleaning up contaminated sites on Montana's state superfund list. Both laws take effect in October. State superfund sites are locations where contamination has been released from industry or mining activities. In Montana, the majority of these contaminated releases occurred at sites where mining, smelting, wood treating, railroad fueling and maintenance, petroleum refining, landfilling, and chemical manufacturing and storage activities were conducted, says the state Department of Environmental Quality.

After 136 years, the Ontario government is planning on revising its 136 year old mining law to reflect modern circumstances (including prohibiting exploration on private land in Southern Ontario). Drafted in the 1873 when the exploitation of natural resources was seen as the key to economic success, mining was treated as an activity that superseded anything else. Based on a "free entry" system, a mining company could explore and stake land anywhere in the province, including personal property, aboriginal lands, and some zones of ecological sensitivity. And in Canada (and Ontario), mining was and still is serious business. The largest private sector employer of Aboriginal people, mining provides Ontario with a trade surplus of about $3.3 billion annually. However, pressure has been mounting to modernize the Mining Act and reached a fever pitch with the jailing of Aboriginal protestors trying to block mining activities from occurring on traditional land.

"The agency, a semiautonomous branch of the Energy Department, would receive a 13.4-percent budget increase in fiscal 2011 to maintain the country's nuclear stockpile and conduct nonproliferation activities around the globe, according to the White House funding request. More than $7 billion would be devoted beginning Oct. 1 to "weapons activities," which ensure the safety and performance of the nation's atomic stockpile. The amount is a $624 million increase from this year. Another $2.7 billion would be funneled to the agency's Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation program, a hike of 25.8 percent above fiscal 2010. That effort seeks to secure nuclear materials around the globe that could be used for weapons and convert them for peaceful purposes."

"The Nuclear Regulatory Commission today launched an Open Government Web page to serve as the gateway for agency activities related to the White House's Open Government initiative. The NRC is actively supporting the open government initiative and encouraging public participation through a new user-friendly citizen engagement tool accessible through this page. The Web page is at: http://www.nrc.gov/open.html. The public, including NRC employees, can use the tool to easily share ideas and comments on how the agency can work better with others inside and outside government, improve the availability and quality of information, and be more innovative and efficient. "

MONTREAL ­ Quebec's Liberal government must stop uranium exploration near Sept Îles and declare a moratorium on uranium mining activities across the province to avoid the mass resignation of 20 doctors in the North Shore town, a Sept Îles doctor said Friday. "I want to work in a place where the government listens to citizens and where medical opinions are respected," said Bruno Imbeault, a pulmonologist at the Centre Hospitalier et des Services Sociaux de Sept Îles.

MONTREAL ­ Quebec's Liberal government must stop uranium exploration near Sept Îles and declare a moratorium on uranium mining activities across the province to avoid the mass resignation of 20 doctors in the North Shore town, a Sept Îles doctor said Friday. "I want to work in a place where the government listens to citizens and where medical opinions are respected," said Bruno Imbeault, a pulmonologist at the Centre Hospitalier et des Services Sociaux de Sept Îles.

MONTREAL ­ Quebec's Liberal government must stop uranium exploration near Sept Îles and declare a moratorium on uranium mining activities across the province to avoid the mass resignation of 20 doctors in the North Shore town, a Sept Îles doctor said Friday. "I want to work in a place where the government listens to citizens and where medical opinions are respected," said Bruno Imbeault, a pulmonologist at the Centre Hospitalier et des Services Sociaux de Sept Îles.

"The Highly Active Waste was last week transported via rail from Sellafield to Barrow. The second shipment headed for Holland whose power stations created the used nuclear fuel which was then reprocessed and stored at Sellafield. Sellafield bosses said the radioactive waste would continue to generate heat for many years to come. But nuclear chiefs say the waste was so well absorbed into glass blocks and so well packed it was no threat to Barrow or to docks, rail and shipping staff. "

"The moves for the scheduled shutdown of the Unit 1 of the Nuclearelectrica Nuclear Power Plant in Cernavoda (south-east) begin on this May 7, and the reactor will be desynchronized from the National Energy System, on May 8, Nuclearelectrica release informs. The planned shutdown is expected to last 30 days, while the plant is to carry out activities part in several main programmes such as the mandatory inspections programme, the programme for preventive and corrective maintenance, including the verification of the equipment and the repairs of those found dysfunctional or out of order and the mandatory testing programme, in compliance with the National Commission of Nuclear Activities Control (NCNAC) provisions, and which can be conducted only when the Reactor is shut off."

The Hanford nuclear site was established in 1943 in the town of Hanford, Washington along the Columbia River. Plutonium manufactured at the site was used in the nuclear bomb that was detonated over Nagasaki, Japan. The plant's waste disposal procedures were woefully inadequate. To this day, millions of gallons of high-level radioactive waste remains at the site and comprises the largest Hanford decomission activities 1964-71environmental clean up in Uited States history since being decommissioned between 1964 and 1971. On September 30, 2009: U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) a senior member of the Energy and Water Appropriations Committee, announced that the final version of a spending bill that funds Hanford cleanup will include more than $87 million more for cleanup than the President's Fiscal Year 2010 budget request. Murray, who was part of the Conference Committee and Appropriations Subcommittee that crafted the final legislation, fought for the inclusion of the additional funding after the House version of the bill cut Hanford funding to $51.8 million below the President's budget request. The additional funding secured by Murray will go primarily toward groundwater cleanup and K Basin sludge treatment and disposal.

The Hanford nuclear site was established in 1943 in the town of Hanford, Washington along the Columbia River. Plutonium manufactured at the site was used in the nuclear bomb that was detonated over Nagasaki, Japan. The plant's waste disposal procedures were woefully inadequate. To this day, millions of gallons of high-level radioactive waste remains at the site and comprises the largest Hanford decomission activities 1964-71environmental clean up in Uited States history since being decommissioned between 1964 and 1971. On September 30, 2009: U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) a senior member of the Energy and Water Appropriations Committee, announced that the final version of a spending bill that funds Hanford cleanup will include more than $87 million more for cleanup than the President's Fiscal Year 2010 budget request. Murray, who was part of the Conference Committee and Appropriations Subcommittee that crafted the final legislation, fought for the inclusion of the additional funding after the House version of the bill cut Hanford funding to $51.8 million below the President's budget request. The additional funding secured by Murray will go primarily toward groundwater cleanup and K Basin sludge treatment and disposal.

Anti-nuclear activists in Germany are gearing up for another transport of highly active nuclear waste to run through France and Germany from 7 to 9 November for dumping at the north German village of Gorleben. About 20,000 police will be deployed to guard the consignment against thousands of demonstrators. At http://www.castor.de/ticker/index_en.html is a newswire run by the protest movement. It already has some run-up stories on it.

Uranium Watch works to educate and advocate for protection of public health and the environment from past, current, and future impacts of uranium mining, uranium milling, nuclear waste disposal at uranium mill sites, and other impacts of the nuclear fuel cycle. Uranium Watch is encouraging and facilitating public participation in state and federal regulatory decision-making processes related to the uranium industry. The Uranium Watch Web Site was developed to provide citizens with news, information, and resources about current and historic uranium mining and milling activities and issues.

With the Vermont Legislature set to vote on Vermont Yankee's future next year, groups opposing the nuclear power plant's relicensing are more active than ever. On Monday, the "Solar Rollers" coasted down Route 9 into Bennington after a grueling ride from Brattleboro. Thirty years after their first bike ride to oppose nuclear power, Tom Wilson and David Detmold, both from Massachusetts, are riding through Vermont, along with others, in opposition of nuclear power, and additional years for Vermont's lone plant, which is owned by Entergy. The duo founded the group in 1978 to oppose the construction of a nuclear power plant in Seabrook, Mass.