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MOX inspection finds some minor violations, report says 110309 - The Augusta Chronicle - 0 views

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    The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's most recent round of inspections at the U.S. Energy Department's mixed oxide fuel facility yielded four notices of violation for mostly minor infractions, according to a copy of the report made public today. Inspectors who conducted extensive reviews at the construction site from July 1 to Sept. 30 also noted that many programs-including the placement of concrete and steel-were adequate and in complete compliance. The $4.8 million MOX facility, scheduled to open at Savannah River Site in 2016, is designed to dispose of 34 metric tons of surplus, weapons-grade plutonium by using small amounts to make fuel for commercial reactors. The inspections involved evaluation of construction of principle structures and included quality assurance activities related to design verification and documentation control; problem identification, resolution, and corrective actions; structural steel and support activities; structural concrete activities; and geotechnical foundation activities, the report said.
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    The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's most recent round of inspections at the U.S. Energy Department's mixed oxide fuel facility yielded four notices of violation for mostly minor infractions, according to a copy of the report made public today. Inspectors who conducted extensive reviews at the construction site from July 1 to Sept. 30 also noted that many programs-including the placement of concrete and steel-were adequate and in complete compliance. The $4.8 million MOX facility, scheduled to open at Savannah River Site in 2016, is designed to dispose of 34 metric tons of surplus, weapons-grade plutonium by using small amounts to make fuel for commercial reactors. The inspections involved evaluation of construction of principle structures and included quality assurance activities related to design verification and documentation control; problem identification, resolution, and corrective actions; structural steel and support activities; structural concrete activities; and geotechnical foundation activities, the report said.
Energy Net

IAEA Applying a Nuclear Double-Standard by Gareth Porter -- Antiwar.com - 0 views

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    In 2004, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) revealed that a member state had violated its Safeguards Agreement by carrying out covert uranium conversion and enrichment activities and plutonium experiments for more than two decades. The nature of certain of those enrichment activities, moreover, raised legitimate suspicions of interest in a nuclear weapons program. The state was found to have lied to the IAEA even when it began investigating these suspicious activities, claiming that its laser enrichment research did not involve any use of nuclear material.
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    In 2004, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) revealed that a member state had violated its Safeguards Agreement by carrying out covert uranium conversion and enrichment activities and plutonium experiments for more than two decades. The nature of certain of those enrichment activities, moreover, raised legitimate suspicions of interest in a nuclear weapons program. The state was found to have lied to the IAEA even when it began investigating these suspicious activities, claiming that its laser enrichment research did not involve any use of nuclear material.
Energy Net

Radioactive Waste Storage to Begin This Week at New Dump Site in Andrews County - KWES ... - 0 views

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    Waste Control Specialists will start ushering in low-level radio active waste for storage at it's new dump site outside of Andrews County this week. They'll begin storing shipments of waste from Studsvik, Incorporated out of Tennessee. According to Waste Control Specialists (wcs), studsvik processes low-level radio active waste into a safer form for interim storage. WCS has handled radio active waste since 1997 but received a low-level radio active waste disposal license from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (tceq) this year.
Energy Net

KOB.com - Los Alamos ships 'high-activity' waste to WIPP - 0 views

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    Los Alamos National Laboratory has shipped the last of one group of high-activity radioactive waste drums to the federal government's waste dump near Carlsbad. They say it made good on a commitment to remove the material from lab property. The nuclear weapons lab shipped 282 high-activity drums to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant after repackaging much of the material identified as high activity.
Energy Net

NRC: "State of the Nuclear Renaissance - Kristine L. Svinicki - 0 views

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    "As the recent national news headlines make clear every day, finding and developing new sources of energy has been and will continue to be a national priority and will encompass both traditional and new energy sources for the foreseeable future. Regrettably, as the headlines from the Gulf of Mexico also make clear, energy development activities are not free either from risk or environmental consequence, particularly if they are pursued without adequate attention to safety. As a regulator, whose job it is to enable commercial energy activities to proceed, provided that safety, environmental, security or other applicable requirements are met, I can assure you that this regulatory role is neither easy nor at times popular, but it is a necessary and vital role that contributes to the ultimate success of energy development activities and, if performed well, diminishes the likelihood of adverse consequences."
Energy Net

Decommissioning costs, timescale increase at Italian reactors: EC - 0 views

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    Decommissioning of experimental nuclear reactors dating from 1959 at Ispra in northern Italy is costing more and taking longer than expected according to a report by the European Commission that is to be presented to the European Parliament Thursday. The EC is reporting to the Parliament's energy committee on the activities of the Joint Research Center on decommissioning of nuclear installations and management of radioactive waste under the Euratom treaty. The report covers the activities of the JRC between 2004 and 2008, when it was involved in decommissioning at sites in Belgium (Geel), Germany (Karlsruhe) and the Netherlands (Petten) as well as the Italian site. However, most of its work was focused on the Ispra site because decommissioning activities are currently relatively limited at the other sites as these continue to operate.
Energy Net

U.S. agencies responsible for nuclear data leak : GAO | Reuters - 0 views

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    Several federal agencies share responsibility for the inadvertent publishing by a government office of sensitive U.S. nuclear power information on the Web last May, Congressional investigators said on Wednesday. U.S. The Government Printing Office published the 266-page document, which gave details on nuclear power sites, locations, facilities and activities, on the Web on May 7. It included 14 diagrams of buildings or facilities at U.S. nuclear sites, two of which were marked "Official Use Only" and described activities at national laboratories. None of the agencies that had prepared the draft document for the International Atomic Energy Association -- the Departments of Energy and Commerce and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission -- had made sure it was marked with U.S. security designations, the Government Accountability Office said in a report about its investigation.
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    Several federal agencies share responsibility for the inadvertent publishing by a government office of sensitive U.S. nuclear power information on the Web last May, Congressional investigators said on Wednesday. U.S. The Government Printing Office published the 266-page document, which gave details on nuclear power sites, locations, facilities and activities, on the Web on May 7. It included 14 diagrams of buildings or facilities at U.S. nuclear sites, two of which were marked "Official Use Only" and described activities at national laboratories. None of the agencies that had prepared the draft document for the International Atomic Energy Association -- the Departments of Energy and Commerce and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission -- had made sure it was marked with U.S. security designations, the Government Accountability Office said in a report about its investigation.
Energy Net

North Shore doctors threaten to resign over uranium mine - 0 views

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    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 Lower North Shore town, a Sept Îles doctor said yesterday. "I want to work in a place where the government listens to citizens and where medical opinions are respected," said Bruno Imbeault, one of 20 doctors at the the Centre hospitalier et des services sociaux de Sept Îles who signed an open letter to Health Minister Yves Bolduc pledging to resign unless uranium exploration activities in the area are stopped. The hospital employs 60 physicians. The doctors oppose a proposed uranium mine at Kachiwiss Lake, about 13 kilometres from Sept Îles, because they believe it will harm the environment and the health of area residents.
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    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 Lower North Shore town, a Sept Îles doctor said yesterday. "I want to work in a place where the government listens to citizens and where medical opinions are respected," said Bruno Imbeault, one of 20 doctors at the the Centre hospitalier et des services sociaux de Sept Îles who signed an open letter to Health Minister Yves Bolduc pledging to resign unless uranium exploration activities in the area are stopped. The hospital employs 60 physicians. The doctors oppose a proposed uranium mine at Kachiwiss Lake, about 13 kilometres from Sept Îles, because they believe it will harm the environment and the health of area residents.
Energy Net

Fourteen fault lines found near Japanese nuclear plants - Sacramento Living - Sacrament... - 0 views

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    There are 14 potentially active fault lines in areas near the crisis-hit Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant and other nuclear-related facilities, the Japanese government has announced. The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency announced the results of research undertaken by power utilities following the Great East Japan Earthquake. The 14 faults discovered to be potentially active were previously considered unlikely to cause earthquakes. According to the research, a magnitude-7.6 earthquake could occur on the potentially active Hatakawa fault line in Fukushima Prefecture, the largest magnitude earthquake estimated. The agency said the intensity of any quakes from the fault lines would not exceed the level the facilities were designed to withstand. It also said there were no problems with the facilities' quake resistance. Five of the 14 fault lines are near Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 and No. 2 nuclear power plants. The other nine are near Japan Atomic Power Co.'s Tokai No. 2 power plant and the Japan Atomic Energy Agency's Tokai reprocessing plant in Ibaraki Prefecture.
Energy Net

Disposal work at Piketon facility completed | chillicothegazette.com | Chillicothe Gazette - 0 views

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    The U.S. Department of Energy has announced that disposal of 5.7 million pounds of excess plant oils has been completed by its Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office. Advertisement The work was part of deactivation activities being done by USEC to prepare the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon for decontamination and decommissioning. According to DOE, the removal and disposal of the motor lubricating oils and transformer oils used during uranium enrichment activities at the plant in the past has been a major achievement \to remove a significant fire hazard, eliminate the potential for an environmental release and minimize hazards for workers during decontamination and decommissioning. The plant stopped producing enriched uranium in 2001 and has been in cold shutdown since 2005. The oil disposition work started in 2006 and was stepped up this year -- with 4.1 million of the 5.7 million pounds being removed in just more than nine months this year. The excess oils were incinerated at the Clean Harbors Commercial Incineration Facility in Deer Park, Texas.
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    The U.S. Department of Energy has announced that disposal of 5.7 million pounds of excess plant oils has been completed by its Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office. Advertisement The work was part of deactivation activities being done by USEC to prepare the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon for decontamination and decommissioning. According to DOE, the removal and disposal of the motor lubricating oils and transformer oils used during uranium enrichment activities at the plant in the past has been a major achievement \to remove a significant fire hazard, eliminate the potential for an environmental release and minimize hazards for workers during decontamination and decommissioning. The plant stopped producing enriched uranium in 2001 and has been in cold shutdown since 2005. The oil disposition work started in 2006 and was stepped up this year -- with 4.1 million of the 5.7 million pounds being removed in just more than nine months this year. The excess oils were incinerated at the Clean Harbors Commercial Incineration Facility in Deer Park, Texas.
Energy Net

Nuclear waste moved off the agenda (environmentalresearchweb blog) - environmentalresea... - 0 views

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    The governments new draft National Policy Statement on nuclear power, indicating which issues the new Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) should take on board, and which it can ignore, contains this remarkable statement: "The Government is satisfied that effective arrangements will exist to manage and dispose of the waste that will be produced from new nuclear power stations. As a result the IPC need not consider this question." The draft Statement goes on to say that 'Geological disposal will be preceded by safe and secure interim storage'. So it seems, the waste issue is all in hand and we needn't bother too much about it, or any problems with the much more active spent fuel that the new reactors' high fuel 'burn up' approach will create. Despite the fact that the highly active spent fuel is to be kept on site at the plant for perhaps several decades, that is evidently not something IPC will have to consider in its assessment of whether the proposed plants can go ahead. Instead the IPC will just focus on any conventional local planning and environmental impact issues that may emerge in relation to the 10 new nuclear plants that the government has now backed.
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    The governments new draft National Policy Statement on nuclear power, indicating which issues the new Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) should take on board, and which it can ignore, contains this remarkable statement: "The Government is satisfied that effective arrangements will exist to manage and dispose of the waste that will be produced from new nuclear power stations. As a result the IPC need not consider this question." The draft Statement goes on to say that 'Geological disposal will be preceded by safe and secure interim storage'. So it seems, the waste issue is all in hand and we needn't bother too much about it, or any problems with the much more active spent fuel that the new reactors' high fuel 'burn up' approach will create. Despite the fact that the highly active spent fuel is to be kept on site at the plant for perhaps several decades, that is evidently not something IPC will have to consider in its assessment of whether the proposed plants can go ahead. Instead the IPC will just focus on any conventional local planning and environmental impact issues that may emerge in relation to the 10 new nuclear plants that the government has now backed.
Energy Net

NRC: Risk Management and Security - is it Time for a Recalibration? - Nuclear Power Ind... - 0 views

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    Thank you, and good afternoon, everyone. I am pleased to have the opportunity to participate in this important conference. The concept of managing risk to avoid adverse consequences has been with us since the first human beings appeared on the planet. Over time, the application of the principles of risk management to ever broader fields of activity has been constant and is still expanding. Some view this as progress and others as the unwelcome price we have to pay for the increasing complexity of our existence. In the regulatory field, the concept of risk as a management tool is relatively recent. At the NRC, it was not until 1995 that the Commission issued a policy statement that encouraged the application of probabilistic risk assessment "as an extension and enhancement of traditional regulation." As a regulator and based on the agency's experience over the last two decades, I strongly support the use of risk analysis as a means to focus on the events and activities that pose the greatest risks to public health and safety and to ease unnecessary burdens on licensees. I believe we have come a long way since 1995. I also believe, however, that we can and should expand the systematic use of risk analysis to areas where, up to now, it has been used intermittently. I am referring here to the security arena. This will be a difficult task, however, and will require the concerted effort of the NRC and the industry to carry it out.
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    Thank you, and good afternoon, everyone. I am pleased to have the opportunity to participate in this important conference. The concept of managing risk to avoid adverse consequences has been with us since the first human beings appeared on the planet. Over time, the application of the principles of risk management to ever broader fields of activity has been constant and is still expanding. Some view this as progress and others as the unwelcome price we have to pay for the increasing complexity of our existence. In the regulatory field, the concept of risk as a management tool is relatively recent. At the NRC, it was not until 1995 that the Commission issued a policy statement that encouraged the application of probabilistic risk assessment "as an extension and enhancement of traditional regulation." As a regulator and based on the agency's experience over the last two decades, I strongly support the use of risk analysis as a means to focus on the events and activities that pose the greatest risks to public health and safety and to ease unnecessary burdens on licensees. I believe we have come a long way since 1995. I also believe, however, that we can and should expand the systematic use of risk analysis to areas where, up to now, it has been used intermittently. I am referring here to the security arena. This will be a difficult task, however, and will require the concerted effort of the NRC and the industry to carry it out.
Energy Net

Power station sitting on active faults | The Japan Times Online - 0 views

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    "Active faults under Tohoku Electric Power Co.'s Higashidori nuclear power complex in Aomori Prefecture are grounds for a reassessment of the seismic safety of the plant, according to a recent study. The new report released Monday by researchers including Mitsuhisa Watanabe, professor at Toyo University, may affect a decision whether to restart the plant's reactor, which is currently shut down, as well as the earthquake-proof safety screening for other nuclear plants. However, Tohoku Electric, which runs the single-reactor plant, and Tokyo Electric Power Co., which is building a new reactor in the same Higashidori complex, said the faults were shaped by the swelling of water-bearing strata and deny there are active faults that cause earthquakes under the plant site."
Energy Net

NRC: Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed GE-Hitachi Global Laser Enri... - 0 views

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    "On January 30, 2009, General Electric (GE)-Hitachi Global Laser Enrichment LLC (GLE) submitted an environmental report to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a license to construct, operate, and decommission the GLE Global Laser Enrichment Facility. The proposed GLE Facility would be located in the North-Central Sector of the existing GE property near Wilmington, North Carolina. The proposed GLE Facility, if licensed, would enrich uranium for use in commercial nuclear fuel for power reactors. Feed material would be comprised of non-enriched uranium hexafluoride (UF6). GLE would employ a laser-based enrichment process to enrich uranium to up to eight percent uranium-235 by weight, with an initial planned maximum target production of six million separative work units (SWUs) per year. GLE expects to begin preconstruction activities in 2011. If the license is approved, GLE would expect to begin facility construction in 2012, and continue some construction activities through 2017. GLE anticipates commencing initial production in 2013 and reaching peak production in 2017. Prior to license expiration in 2052, GLE would seek to renew its license to continue operating the facility, or plan for the decontamination and decommissioning of the facility per the applicable licensing conditions and NRC regulations. The proposed GLE Facility would be licensed in accordance with the provisions of the Atomic Energy Act. Specifically, an NRC license under Title 10, "Energy," of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Parts 30, 40, and 70 would be required to authorize GLE to possess and use special nuclear material, source material, and byproduct material at the proposed GLE site."
Energy Net

U.S. EPA says cleanup must resume at nuclear weapons research site / Northern Californi... - 0 views

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    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has notified the Department of Energy that they must immediately resume cleanup activities at its Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif., or face escalating penalties. A federal facilities agreement was signed between EPA, DOE and California state agencies in June 1988. The agreement outlines DOE's responsibilities and milestones for addressing site contamination. DOE has failed to operate numerous groundwater and soil vapor treatment facilities and associated wells -- an integral part of cleanup activities at the site. While pump-and-treat systems have been shutdown, site contamination has spread laterally and vertically, resulting in a larger volume of contaminated groundwater and increasing timeframes for completing the overall cleanup.
Energy Net

Tallahassee Area Community, Inc. - - 0 views

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    Forty four Tallahassee Area Community property owners are slated as being the first population in the world to live within 500 feet of an active Uranium Mining program. The remainder of the community would be irreversibly, and irretrievably affected by a decision of our county to allow the mining project to move forward. The environment which we chose for our retirement years would be damaged and changed. We stand against the existence of an industrial mining operation in our agricultural/forestry neighborhood. We believe that people cannot live inside an active uranium mining area safely; the two functions cannot coexist in the same area, at the same time.
Energy Net

Could a big earthquake reduce Manhattan to rubble someday?: Scientific American - 0 views

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    A new study from the Earth Institute at Columbia University says there's more seismic activity around the Big Apple than previously thought. Researchers also say they discovered a new active fault line running from Stamford, Conn., 25 miles (40.2 kilometers) west toward the Hudson River. There, this underground fault intersects with another fault line. Sitting on top of that intersection is the Indian Point nuclear power plant. Scary stuff perhaps? Maybe-but big earthquakes still remain geologically unlikely around New York City.
Energy Net

AFP: Iran slowing uranium enrichment: IAEA - 0 views

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    Iran is continuing to enrich uranium, a process potentially used to make an atom bomb, but has slowed down the expansion of its enrichment activities, the UN's atomic watchdog said Thursday. "Contrary to the decisions of the (United Nations) Security Council, Iran has not suspended its enrichment related activities," the International Atomic Energy Agency wrote in its latest report on Tehran's contested nuclear drive. Enriched uranium is used to make both nuclear fuel and the fissile material for an atom bomb. But a senior official close to the agency said that Iran's expansion of its enrichment plant in Natanz had slowed "considerably."
Energy Net

Resistance Over Nuclear Power Begins Meltdown (from The Herald ) - 0 views

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    Kris Van Dijck is mayor of Dessel, a small municipality of some 9000 citizens in northern Belgium. He is also a member of the Flemish parliament. We met in Edinburgh on Monday morning, when Mr Van Dijck joined a panel session I was chairing at an international conference for those who communicate the nuclear industry's message around the world. Dessel has been home to various nuclear activities since 1952. Seven companies from the sector are currently active there, from headquarters to plants processing and storing low-level nuclear waste. It all adds up to 1830 jobs, 70% of them filled by local people. The people, observes their mayor, are fully informed about what the industry is doing locally and have the power to call a halt to anything that causes undue concern.
Energy Net

NRC:- NRC 21st Annual Regulatory Information Conference March 10-12 to Focus on Safety ... - 0 views

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    The theme of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's 21st Annual Regulatory Information Conference (RIC) will be Safe Today -- Safer Tomorrow: The Power of Sharing Knowledge. The RIC will be held March 10-12 at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel and Conference Center, 5701 Marinelli Road, Bethesda, Md. More than 2,300 people are expected to attend, including representatives from more than 25 foreign countries, the nuclear industry and congressional staff. Agency speakers at the conference will include NRC Chairman Dale E. Klein and Commissioners Gregory B. Jaczko, Peter B. Lyons, Kristine L. Svinicki, and Executive Director for Operations William Borchardt. This year's special guest speaker is Jason Grumet, the founder and president of the Bipartisan Policy Center, which has been active in leading unique coalitions that could lead to significant policy achievements at both the state and federal level. The conference brings together NRC staff, plant owners, nuclear materials users and other interested stakeholders to discuss nuclear safety and security topics and current regulatory activities. Topics at this year's RIC include: construction and licensing of new nuclear power plants; advanced reactor designs; security; safety research; domestic and international nuclear power plant operating experience; technical issues such as digital instrumentation and control in nuclear plants and fire protection; operator training; and safe disposal of nuclear waste. The conference will also feature posters, exhibits and models on various nuclear topics of interest.
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