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The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has sent a team of specialists to review the circumstances surrounding the identification of air trapped in a safety system at the Beaver Valley Unit 1 nuclear power plant in Shippingport, Pa. The team began its work at the site today. There are two nuclear reactors at Beaver Valley, both operated by FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company (FENOC). On Sept. 23, FENOC detected air (called a "void") in the suction lines for both trains of the low-head safety-injection system (LHSI) at Beaver Valley Unit 1. (The low-head safety-injection system is one of the systems that supply water to the reactor in the event of an accident at the plant. It is also used to circulate cooling water following an accident.) At the time, FENOC determined that the system would have operated as designed. On Oct. 4 and 5, the company effectively eliminated the void by venting both loops of the system and filled the system with water. The company also verified the same conditions did not exist at Beaver Valley Unit 2.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has completed its final environmental impact statement for the Beaver Valley Power Station Units 1 and 2, and concluded that there are no environmental impacts that would preclude license renewal for an additional 20 years of operation. Beaver Valley Power Station units are pressurized-water reactors, located in Shippingport (Beaver County), Pa., and operated by FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co. The current operating licenses for Beaver Valley Unit 1 and 2 are due to expire on Jan. 29, 2016, and May 27, 2027, respectively. On Aug. 28, 2007, FirstEnergy submitted an application for a 20-year license extension for each unit.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued its final safety evaluation report (SER) for the proposed renewal of the operating licenses for the Beaver Valley Power Station, Units 1 and 2, and concluded that there are no open items that would preclude license renewal for an additional 20 years of operation. The report documents the results of the NRC staff's review of the license renewal application and site audits of the plant's aging management programs to address the safety of plant operations during the period of extended operation. Overall, the results show that the applicant has identified actions that have been or will be taken to manage the effects of aging in the appropriate safety systems, structures and components of the plant and that their functions will be maintained during the period of extended operation. Beaver Valley Power Station units are pressurized-water reactors, located in Shippingport (Beaver County), Pa., and operated by FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co. The current operating licenses for Beaver Valley, Units 1 and 2 are due to expire on Jan. 29, 2016, and May 27, 2027, respectively. On Aug. 28, 2007, FirstEnergy submitted an application for a 20-year license extension for each unit. In a letter dated June 8, Brian Holian, director of the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation's Division of License Renewal, provided FirstEnergy with the SER. The SER will be available on the NRC's Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applications/bvalley.html. Issuing the final SER is a significant milestone in a license renewal review.

Valve Leak Stopped, No Radioactive Release Reported At Beaver Valley SHIPPINGPORT, Pa. -- A leak in a valve at a nuclear reactor in Shippingport, Beaver County, has been resolved and no radioactive release was reported. The leak in the Beaver Valley Power Station's No. 2 nuclear reactor was discovered at about 3 a.m. Tuesday. It was resolved within an hour. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission declared the incident an "unusual event," the least of four emergency classifications. A spokesman for the NRC told Channel 4 Action News that the plant has been shut down for maintenance since October, and a valve was accidentally left open while the cooling system was being taken out of service, which caused water to flow into the pressurized relief tank.

Valve Leak Stopped, No Radioactive Release Reported At Beaver Valley SHIPPINGPORT, Pa. -- A leak in a valve at a nuclear reactor in Shippingport, Beaver County, has been resolved and no radioactive release was reported. The leak in the Beaver Valley Power Station's No. 2 nuclear reactor was discovered at about 3 a.m. Tuesday. It was resolved within an hour. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission declared the incident an "unusual event," the least of four emergency classifications. A spokesman for the NRC told Channel 4 Action News that the plant has been shut down for maintenance since October, and a valve was accidentally left open while the cooling system was being taken out of service, which caused water to flow into the pressurized relief tank.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff is seeking public comment on its preliminary conclusion that there are no environmental impacts that would preclude renewal of the operating license for the Beaver Valley Power Station in Shippingport, Pa. The information is contained in a draft supplemental environmental impact statement on the proposed license renewal issued last month. As part of its license renewal application, First Energy submitted an environmental report. The NRC staff reviewed the report and performed an on-site audit. The staff also considered comments made during the environmental scoping process, including comments offered at public meetings held last Nov. 22 in Pittsburgh. Based on its review, the NRC staff has preliminarily determined that the adverse environmental impacts of license renewal for Beaver Valley are not so great that preserving the option of license renewal for energy planning decision-makers would be unreasonable. The draft supplemental environmental impact statement is open for public comment until Dec. 17, and will also be the subject of public meetings on Oct. 30th at the Embassy Suites Pittsburgh-International Airport, 550 Cherrington Parkway, in Pittsburgh. There will be two identical sessions, at 1:30 p.m., and at 7:00 p.m.

Beaver Valley Power Station, Units 1 and 2; Notice of Availability of the Draft Supplement 36 to the Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants, and Public Meeting for the License Renewal of the Beaver Valley Power Station, Units 1 and 2

Firstenergy Nuclear Operating Company; Notice of Availability of the Final Supplement 36 to the Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants, Regarding the License Renewal of Beaver Valley Power Station, Units 1 and 2 Notice is hereby given that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission or NRC) has published a final plant-specific supplement to the ``Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants (GEIS),'' NUREG-1437, regarding the renewal of operating licenses DPR-66 and NPF-73 for an additional 20 years of operation for the Beaver Valley Power Station, Units 1 and 2, which are located in Shippingport, PA about 25 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, PA. Possible alternatives to the proposed action (license renewal) include no action and reasonable alternative energy sources.

It took just 20 minutes at a motel in Moon this month for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to report approvingly on FirstEnergy Corp.'s plans to manage its two aging nuclear power reactors in Shippingport, Beaver County, and clear the way for the facility's 20-year license renewals. A final NRC decision on the renewals for the Beaver Valley reactors isn't expected until the last half of 2009, but there's no rush and even less suspense. The original 40-year operating license for Beaver Valley Unit 1 won't expire until January 2016, and the license for Unit 2 runs until May 2027.

"The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has enlisted the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a study of cancer rates in areas surrounding nuclear facilities across the country, including Beaver County. The study, which is expected to begin this summer and take up to three years, will examine cancer occurrence and mortality rates in residential populations living near nuclear facilities. Shippingport was the site of the nation's first commercial nuclear power plant, which was replaced by the Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Station owned by Akron, Ohio-based FirstEnergy Corp. A previous study released in 1990 found no increased risk of cancer death for people living near nuclear facilities. The study conducted by the National Cancer Institute looked at 107 counties near 62 nuclear facilities, including Beaver County. "

During what company officials are calling a routine inspection, workers at the Beaver Valley nuclear power station discovered a hole in the containment building's steel encasement. "During the inspection of the Unit 1 containment building, a small blister was discovered on the steel liner," Todd Schneider, spokesman for FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company (FENOC), said in a telephone interview Friday night. A small hole was then discovered underneath some corrosion. Unit 1 at the Beaver Valley Power Station was shut down early Monday morning for a scheduled refueling and for maintenance work. "We are going to investigate on what caused it, but repairs should be completed during the time of the scheduled outage," Schneider predicted. According to information the company released to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the trouble spot was located at the 738-foot elevation level inside the containment area.

A Pittsburgh-based energy advocacy group wants the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to delay a final decision on the licensing renewal process for Beaver Valley nuclear reactor Units 1 and 2, concerned about corrosion in a reactor containment liner. "We're not optimistic, frankly," David Hughes, executive director of Citizen Power, said Thursday. "Not because we don't believe our concerns don't have merit, but we're not confident with the NRC." A final decision had been expected Monday. But Neil Sheehan, an NRC spokesman, said Friday that timetable has been pushed back, as the NRC plans to release another report on the liner issue. A final decision could now come in early November, Sheehan said. History is on the side of Akron-based FirstEnergy, owner of the reactors, and against Citizen Power. According to NRC records, a license renewal request has never been refused, with more than half of the 104 reactors across the country seeking license renewals in the last decade. And the process cleared a big hurdle last week, with the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards recommending the license renewal. Licensing renewal

A Pittsburgh-based energy advocacy group wants the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to delay a final decision on the licensing renewal process for Beaver Valley nuclear reactor Units 1 and 2, concerned about corrosion in a reactor containment liner. "We're not optimistic, frankly," David Hughes, executive director of Citizen Power, said Thursday. "Not because we don't believe our concerns don't have merit, but we're not confident with the NRC." A final decision had been expected Monday. But Neil Sheehan, an NRC spokesman, said Friday that timetable has been pushed back, as the NRC plans to release another report on the liner issue. A final decision could now come in early November, Sheehan said. History is on the side of Akron-based FirstEnergy, owner of the reactors, and against Citizen Power. According to NRC records, a license renewal request has never been refused, with more than half of the 104 reactors across the country seeking license renewals in the last decade. And the process cleared a big hurdle last week, with the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards recommending the license renewal. Licensing renewal

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has extended the operating license for two nuclear reactors in western Pennsylvania by 20 years each. The NRC extended the licenses Thursday after a series of reviews an inspections at FirstEnergy Corp.'s Beaver Valley Unit 1 and Unit 2 reactors in Shippingport, about 30 miles northwest of Pittsburgh. The original 40-year operating license for Unit 1 expires in January 2016 while Unit 2's license runs until May 2027. Those licenses now run until 2036 and 2047, respectively. The Unit 1 reactor went online in 1976 and Unit 2 in 1987.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has extended the operating license for two nuclear reactors in western Pennsylvania by 20 years each. The NRC extended the licenses Thursday after a series of reviews an inspections at FirstEnergy Corp.'s Beaver Valley Unit 1 and Unit 2 reactors in Shippingport, about 30 miles northwest of Pittsburgh. The original 40-year operating license for Unit 1 expires in January 2016 while Unit 2's license runs until May 2027. Those licenses now run until 2036 and 2047, respectively. The Unit 1 reactor went online in 1976 and Unit 2 in 1987.

FirstEnergy Corp.'s application for renewal of licenses to continue operating the Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Station is on hold until the company resolves a safety issue, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission reported Thursday. During inspections in June and July, the NRC found two flooded manholes containing medium-voltage cables that provide electricity to reactor pumps. The NRC determined that the water could potentially degrade the cables and cause them to fail. FirstEnergy last year applied for 20-year extensions of licenses to operate the Unit 1 and Unit 2 reactors at Shippingport. The Unit 1 license expires in 2016 and the one for Unit 2 expires in 2027. The inspections were part of the license renewal process.

FirstEnergy Corp. believes it has determined what caused the hole discovered last week in the steel lining of a reactor containment building at the Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Station. The hole, measuring about 1 inch by 3/8 inch, in the Unit 1 reactor containment building was discovered Thursday during a routine inspection. The reactor had been shut down earlier last week as part of a scheduled refueling and maintenance outage. The containment building is built of 4-foot-thick concrete walls with a 3/8-inch-thick steel liner underneath the concrete. Company spokesman Todd Schneider said workers enlarged the hole and found a 2-by-4-inch board embedded in the concrete, touching the steel liner. FirstEnergy believes moisture from the board, which has been there since at least 1976 when the reactor first went online, caused the steel to corrode.

Thursday's discovery of a small hole in the steel lining of the reactor containment building of Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Station's Unit 1 wasn't the first time a breach has been found there, a Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman said Saturday. Before Thursday's discovery, no radiation was released from the building, and there was "no impact to the public health or safety of any employees," FirstEnergy spokesman Todd Schneider said Friday evening. NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said that in 2006, corrosion was found in the lining of the same containment building when the reactor was shut down so that FirstEnergy could replace the reactor lid and three steam generators. The Unit 1 reactor has been shut down since Monday for scheduled refueling and maintenance. As part of that routine work, the containment building around the reactor was inspected, Schneider said.

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Wednesday said it dispatched a special inspection team to review how FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co. handled an incident at its Beaver Valley-1 nuclear unit in which air was trapped in a system that would supply water to the reactor during an accident. NRC said Fenoc had detected a "void" in the suction lines for both trains of the unit's low-head safety-injection system. Fenoc discovered the problem September 23 and "effectively eliminated" the void October 4 and 5 by venting both loops of the system and then filling the system with water, NRC said. After Fenoc detected the void, the company determined that the system would operate as designed during an accident, NRC Region I spokeswoman Diane Screnci said.

The Beaver Valley Power Station in Shippingport could run out of space for its low-level radioactive waste in two to five years. A local university and hospital have changed their practices so they don't have to keep radioactive isotopes on their campuses. The problem is that Pennsylvania, like 35 other states, no longer has a place to get rid of its low-level radioactive waste. That means anyone generating the material has to store it, at least temporarily, until a permanent site becomes available. And that could take years. "What are we going to do with it, send it to the sun?" said Gregory Rogers, director of the Intelligence and National Security Program at Point Park University. "We should be looking at it not as a panic right now but as what should we be doing in 2015?"

Italy will hold talks with the Obama administration and Westinghouse next week on opening its nuclear power market to US technology following concerns raised by Washington that the revival of the Italian nuclear industry after a two-decade moratorium will be dominated by France's EDF. Italian and US officials said Claudio Scajola, minister for economic development, and Steven Chu, US energy secretary, would sign an agreement in Washington next Tuesday on research and development of nuclear technology and issue a joint declaration on industrial co-operation in nuclear power. Mr Scajola will then visit the Beaver Valley nuclear plant built by Westinghouse in Pennsylvania which started operating in 1976. Japan's Toshiba bought Westinghouse in 2006.

During the presidential campaign, Republican candidate John McCain pledged to build 45 nuclear reactors by 2030 to meet the nation's energy needs. With just about everybody but the most ardent of global-warming deniers recognizing the negative impact that coal-fired plants are having on the environment, the proposal was appealing politically because it rolled energy independence and global warming into one package. It also was unrealistic. The United States has neither the manpower nor the materiel to construct that many nuclear power plants in that time period, and the companies that develop and design nuclear plants would face similar constraints. Clearing regulatory hurdles can take decades - and don't forget the NIMBY factor.