Group items tagged

Areva North American President Jacques Besnainou is like a starship captain. This past week he went where no reactor vendor CEO has gone before by opening up, unfiltered by corporate PR, to a group of nuclear energy bloggers. The company has claimed it will practice "transparency" in its communication with the public and the press. This week it got a chance to prove it and it did a pretty good job. Despite the fact bloggers are somewhere in the middle of those two groups, they got candid answers to tough questions. In an exclusive interview published only here on the EnergyCollective, Besnainou laid out his views on the nuclear renaissance, recycle spent nuclear fuel, and a big investment in biomass and wind energy in the U.S. Jacques Besnainou2 It must have been quite a challenge for the executive suite in Bethesda, MD, to agree to get wired into the blogsphere. Of course Bensnainou (right) has been blogging himself for a few months via the Areva's blog. However, taking questions live from bloggers themselves is an entirely different matter than tapping out a thoughtful blog post in the quiet of a corner office.

Read the release that details how TMI will operate for an additional 20 years * Record Tracker blog: More on TMI's renewal, including links to documents. * York Town Square blog: Three Mile Island emergency indelibly written into memories. Thirty years after Three Mile Island Unit 2 suffered a partial meltdown, a federal agency has approved its sister reactor to operate for an additional 20 years. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission renewed the operating license Thursday for TMI Unit 1 in Dauphin County. The new license will expire April 19, 2034. The reactor's original 40-year license was Read TMI's response to landing license renewal. set to run out April 19, 2014.

Read the release that details how TMI will operate for an additional 20 years * Record Tracker blog: More on TMI's renewal, including links to documents. * York Town Square blog: Three Mile Island emergency indelibly written into memories. Thirty years after Three Mile Island Unit 2 suffered a partial meltdown, a federal agency has approved its sister reactor to operate for an additional 20 years. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission renewed the operating license Thursday for TMI Unit 1 in Dauphin County. The new license will expire April 19, 2034. The reactor's original 40-year license was Read TMI's response to landing license renewal. set to run out April 19, 2014.

The Air Force's already-battered nuclear corps just suffered another blow, Danger Room has learned. An internal inspection has found flaws in the way the 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana handles and protects its nuclear weapons. The Air Force's nuclear mission has come under increasing scrutiny, after a series of embarrassing mishaps, damining reports, and fired officers. Last fall, the Air Force's 5th Bomb Wing lost track of six nuclear warheads.

The U.N. nuclear non-proliferation watchdog assiduously guards its impartiality as it monitors and investigates disputed activity in Iran and Syria, with suspicious Western powers impatient for the inspectors to draw conclusions. So the International Atomic Energy Agency typically puts what have become keenly anticipated, quarterly reports on Iran and Syria through many painstaking drafts before they see the light of day, to help ensure that not a single word can be misunderstood, misinterpreted or turned to political advantage.

Insiders say Mohamed ElBaradei, chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, was rather reticent and stiff in public when he took the job in 1997. He'd spent decades below the radar in Egypt's foreign service, U.S. academia and the U.N. nuclear watchdog as head of the legal and external relations divisions. But Mohamed ElBaradei evolved into a politically outspoken tribune for international peace and fair play. That reputation grew as he challenged George W. Bush's neocons over bogus evidence of mass-destruction weaponry they used to invade Iraq, and their policy of threatening rather than negotiating with Iran, which seemed to backfire by encouraging, not dissuading, Tehran to build up nuclear capability.

Nuclear Power Industry New is a blog about utilities, companies, suppliers in the nuclear energy market. NRC Finalizes New Jersey Agreement To Regulate Certain Radioactive Materials NRC will transfer an estimated 500 licenses for radioactive material to New Jersey's jurisdiction The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has completed an agreement with New Jersey, under which the state will assume NRC's regulatory authority over certain radioactive materials. New Jersey becomes the 37th NRC Agreement State, effective Sept. 30. Under the agreement, the NRC will transfer to New Jersey the responsibility for licensing, rulemaking, inspection and enforcement activities for: (1) radioactive materials produced as byproducts from the production or utilization of special nuclear material (SNM - enriched uranium or plutonium); (2) naturally occurring or accelerator-produced byproduct material (NARM); (3) source material (uranium and thorium); (4) SNM in quantities not sufficient to support a nuclear chain reaction; and (5) the regulation of the land disposal of source, byproduct, and SNM received from other persons.

Nuclear Power Industry New is a blog about utilities, companies, suppliers in the nuclear energy market. NRC Finalizes New Jersey Agreement To Regulate Certain Radioactive Materials NRC will transfer an estimated 500 licenses for radioactive material to New Jersey's jurisdiction The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has completed an agreement with New Jersey, under which the state will assume NRC's regulatory authority over certain radioactive materials. New Jersey becomes the 37th NRC Agreement State, effective Sept. 30. Under the agreement, the NRC will transfer to New Jersey the responsibility for licensing, rulemaking, inspection and enforcement activities for: (1) radioactive materials produced as byproducts from the production or utilization of special nuclear material (SNM - enriched uranium or plutonium); (2) naturally occurring or accelerator-produced byproduct material (NARM); (3) source material (uranium and thorium); (4) SNM in quantities not sufficient to support a nuclear chain reaction; and (5) the regulation of the land disposal of source, byproduct, and SNM received from other persons.

One of the great things about working at the longest-continually published magazine in the U.S. -- born in 1845 -- is thumbing through the archives. Our environment reporter, David Biello, was thumbing through some bound volumes earlier this week, and he came across a gem from our February 1947 issue. The piece, which has no byline, is quite timely, despite being more than 60 years old. It hits two of today's growing crises square on -- energy and the economy -- by suggesting a replacement for silver and gold monetary standards:

The Alliance of Nuclear Worker Advocacy Groups (ANWAG), which includes the Coalition for a Healthy Environment, has joined with others in a letter to President-elect Obama on recommended reforms to the sick nuclear worker compensation program. Here's the letter. http://blogs.knoxnews.com/knx/munger/anwagblog.pdf

'Tis the season to get rid of nukes? In an effort to achieve world peace and lessen the growing threat of nuclear power, a nascent group including the likes of former President Jimmy Carter, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, Bishop Desmond Tutu and Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa this week launched a campaign calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons. The new organization, Global Zero, is planning a grassroots effort to spur world powers to rid the planet of nukes over the next 25 years. Meeting yesterday and Monday in Paris, 100 past and current world leaders signed a declaration imploring the U.S. and Russia to slash their nuclear arsenals and for a system to be created to verify that countries are complying with non-proliferation treaties, according to the Associated Press.

Terrie Barrie of the Alliance of Nuclear Worker Advocacy Groups circulated a Dec. 30 letter she received from Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada regarding the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program. As for the earlier request he and other senators made for a comprehensive investigation of the federal program, Reid wrote, "I am pleased to let you know that GAO is giving priority status to our request. In fact, I was recently informed that the investigation is already under way, and I plan to closely monitor its progress." Reid said the findings of that GAO investigation would used for develop reforms of the program in the 111th Congress. He said he and Sen. Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico had recently asked NIOSH to establish a new online system to make it easier for claimants to check the status of their applications. "As a result of our persistence, NIOSH set up a special form at the following Web site: http://www2a.cdc.gov/ocas/status.html.

It is said that all that glitters is not gold. Keep that in mind when considering the bidding war heating up the nuclear power business. France's EDF has offered $6.5 billion for half of Constellation Energy Group's nuclear business and some other assets, trumping Warren Buffett's bid of $4.7 billion for all of Constellation. If plummeting demand for everything from new cars to tin foil could fell BHP's monster bid for Rio Tinto, why wouldn't it weigh on demand for energy? While nuclear power has regained some favor as a cheap, relatively clean alternative to nasty fossil fuels, is it really safe to expect consumers to ramp up electric heat this winter, and air conditioning next summer, when they are worried about losing their jobs?

Thinking about making over your home or business so that it runs greener? What about going nuclear? That seems to be what at least two utilities are hoping customers will opt for as concerns grow about the damage created by planet-warming emissions from highly polluting sources like coal and from other fossil sources like gas.

Ahh, a Friday afternoon toast to science. PG&E announced today that its Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power plant is actually situated on two seismically sensitive faults, not just the one previously identified in the 1970s when the plant was sited and built. "The new fault is thought to be smaller than the other fault off the plant's coastline, the Hosgri fault, but it is closer to shore. The new fault is less than a mile offshore while the Hosgri fault is about three miles offshore," according to a story in the San Luis Obispo Tribune.

As the world seeks low-carbon forms of energy production to reduce the emissions blamed for global warming, the champions of nuclear power have been re-branding the industry as one of the world's greenest. Last month, the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency said "nuclear energy is virtually carbon-free" across its life cycle and "the only carbon-mitigating technology with a proven track record on the scale required."

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who found it odd that GOP presidential hopeful John McCain, in recalling Democrat Barack Obama's position on nuclear energy, as: It has to be safe. Environment. Blah, blah, blah. After this remark, the crowd in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, went wild. Blah, blah, blah? I write it almost every day as a placeholder when I'm setting up a blog post. But coming from a presidential candidate? And getting applause? This is great oratory?

After being battered by its own missteps, near-calamities, strong opposition and financial overruns, the nuclear power industry is showing increased signs of emerging from a three-decade coma in the U.S. Many are giving a second look to the U.S.. nuke industry, including longtime skeptics on the lookout for alternatives to fossil fuels. Here at SEJ's annual conference, there's a livelier-than-usual discussion about nuclear power as a part of the solution to America's energy woes. One of the most prominent voices here calling for a nuclear power revival was R.K. Pachauri, who as Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore last year.

Scientific American has a thoughtful article this month about the trade-offs between energy and water. Many big power plants - nuclear, coal, biomass and of course, hydroelectric - use lots of water. Conversely, making water drinkable, and piping it into big cities, can require plenty of electricity. This potentially forces a choice between the two.

After a recent column and blog post about the troubles of Trench 13, I heard from a number of folks with stories about the nuclear burial grounds at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. One gentleman, who worked initially in the "laborers' gang" at the lab burial grounds (known as Solid Waste Storage Areas) and who later worked in the office where truck shipments were recorded, said folks might be surprised to know what's deposited in trenches and wells. "We buried all kinds of cars, trucks. We've buried cranes," the former worker said. On one occasion, a truck loaded with hot tools from a nuclear reactor in New York set off alarms before it ever arrived at the monitoring station, he said.

If you thought the Cold War was over-that long nuclear standoff that shaped the last five decades of the 20th century-think again. Following his American counterpart, and perhaps prompted by new tensions over the war in Georgia and the agreement between the U.S. and Poland to deploy a missile defense system there, Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has announced plans to upgrade that country's "nuclear deterrent" by 2020.