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A grassroots group called Save Our Saskatchewan has formed in northwest Saskatchewan with a goal to bring information about a potential nuclear power plant to the community. "We're working on trying to get the information out," said Meggan Hougham, secretary of the recently formed group, which she describes as citizens "very concerned" about nuclear power. A meeting and question and answer period with Jim Harding, a former professor at the University of Regina, will be held at 7:30 p.m. today at the community hall in Paradise Hill, located northeast of Lloydminster. Bruce Power, the company proposing to build a nuclear reactor in Saskatchewan, has spoken with landowners near the small community about locating the reactor in the area.

Legislators told Gov. Jim Gibbons on Wednesday to back off from cuts in the state agency leading the fight against federal efforts to open a high-level radioactive waste dump at Nevada's Yucca Mountain. During a Senate Finance Committee hearing on the state Agency for Nuclear Projects, Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, told Bruce Breslow, the new head of the agency, to "be a mad dog on this issue" in battling the federal Department of Energy.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued mid-cycle assessment letters to the nation's 104 operating commercial nuclear power plants. The agency's most recent assessments show that all plants continue to operate safely. "We ensure nuclear power plants are safe, inspecting them and rating their performance regularly, as part of our mission to protect people and the environment," said Bruce A. Boger, associate director for operating reactor oversight and licensing in the NRC's Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. For this assessment period, all 104 plants are in the two highest performance categories. There are five levels of plant performance based on a detailed assessment of performance indicators (e.g. safety system availability and reliability, control of radiation exposure and unplanned shutdowns) and inspection findings. Levels range from "meeting all safety cornerstone objectives" (highest level) to "unacceptable performance" (lowest level). Additional information on the Reactor Oversight Process is available at : http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr1649/r4/.

Data shows proposed nuclear waste facility would fail, says state agency Nevada officials say they have found evidence that the Energy Department withheld data in a licensing request that would prove a proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain would fail. The Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects discovered two documents in a computerized database not included in a licensing application sent to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that show how unsafe buried nuclear waste would be at Yucca Mountain, said Bruce Breslow, executive director of the state agency.

The fate of nuclear energy in Ontario, once assured, appears more ambiguous than ever after one high-profile project was recently put on hold and another scrapped altogether. On July 23, Ontario's Bruce Power -- a private generator company that produces a fifth of the province's electricity -- said that because of declining energy demand, it will focus on refurbishing its two remaining units rather than going ahead with an application to build new reactors. The decision came less than a month after the province announced it was suspending a reported $26-billion proposal to build two new reactors at its Darlington site, a project that would consume the province's entire 20-year budget to ramp up its 40-year-old fleet.

The Peace River Environmental Society arranged for a series of talks on earthquake risks surrounding the construction of a nuclear power plant near Peace River, one in Fairview at the Legion May 6. The speaker was J.R. (Jack) Century, a petroleum geologist, who suggested that building a nuclear power plant in the Peace country is both unsafe and unnecessary. Century has made a study of seismicity, vibration in the earth's crust, especially as caused by injecting or flooding liquid into and withdrawing liquid from the earth as is done for tarsands and heavy oil recovery where steam is injected to heat heavy oil to make it flow. Century says that underground fractures that help to trap oil and gas underground as well as making it possible to recover them more easily, can be both a blessing and a curse, the latter especially in a limestone structure such as underlies much of the Peace. He believes that injecting into the ground, whether it is steam to recover bitumen or carbon dioxide for storage purposes can alter the "pressure regimen" down below which can lead to increased seismic activity, which in turn could lead to collapses of underground limestone structures and/or possibly catastrophic earthquakes. He pointed to a CBC news story about Japan's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant being damaged by a large earthquake. The damage included fires, water and oil leaks and pipes knocked out of place by the tremors. He implied that the same thing could happen in the Peace. He showed a map of the Peace detailing fault lines and both the original proposed location for the Bruce Power plant at Lac Cardinal and the more recent site are quite close to a fault lines.

Nevada is going to be able to press 222 arguments to stop the construction of the high level nuclear dump at Yucca Mountain. "It's a huge victory for Nevada," says Bruce Breslow, director of the state's Office of Nuclear Projects. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, in its 153-page decision, has allowed all but seven of Nevada's contentions to be presented at a hearing. These claims involve mostly safety, the environment and transportation.

The proposed nuclear reactor is going to cost Bruce Power a lot of money. Guess again. The private sector does not invest in nuclear power - for good reason: the public will be on the hook for many generations for the biggest part of the costs. Nuclear power plants are usually over budget and start up behind schedule. If power is needed in the meantime, we will have to purchase elsewhere. It would be 10 years or likely more before a nuclear plant starts producing electricity. Construction of power grids to export to possibly Alberta and the U.S. will be a large expense - estimated at $1 billion, again largely at public expense. Power backup for both scheduled and unscheduled maintenance and refurbishing is necessary. Note that eight nuclear power plants were once shut down for a whole decade in Ontario. The UDP report says that nuclear is compatible with 'clean' coal. It better be, as coal will be required when the huge, equally highly centralized nuclear system goes down. Note that there is not an operational clean coal plant on the planet. $1.4 billion plus of our money is being spent on an experimental project to produce only 100 MW of clean coal power. What if it does not work or is too costly to expand? Where does the backup power come from? Old dirty coal that will cost us in carbon charges?

The NDP opposition says the provincial government should study renewable power - such as wind and solar - in addition to nuclear energy. Hearings on the future of uranium and nuclear energy are scheduled to begin next month. They're taking place amid a growing debate about the future of the industry in Saskatchewan. Ontario-based Bruce Power has said a nuclear power plant for Saskatchewan is feasible, while a government advisory panel is advising that some expansion of the industry should be considered. However, the NDP says a focus on nuclear options is not enough. Once people have all of the information - including about wind, solar and other renewable energy options - then they can make a decision about what kind of power mix to have in the future, NDP members say. "If you're going to spend $10 billion, why don't we find out the full picture in terms of what we compare it to?" NDP MLA Darcy Furber said.

The provincial government is expected to release a report today on nuclear power, officially launching a public debate on whether Alberta should allow Bruce Power to build a reactor near Peace River. "There's nothing in it that indicates what the province should do, one way or another," Energy Minister Mel Knight said Wednesday. The report, written by a panel of experts assigned to the task last April, sets out a framework for discussion. Next month, the province will start to survey people online and in groups of interested parties to gauge public reaction.

The government is expected to release a report on nuclear power Thursday, officially launching a provincial debate on whether Alberta will invite Bruce Power to build a reactor near Peace River. "There's nothing in it that's prescriptive, there's nothing in it that indicates what the province should do, one way or another," Energy Minister Mel Knight said Wednesday. The report sets out answers to how nuclear reactors work and how such a project might affect the air, water and ground. It also shows how nuclear energy would tie into Alberta's system, Knight said.

Arjun Mahkijani, president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, looks back at the Three Mile Island nuclear meltdown. The accident turned the public against nuclear power and Wall Street was reluctant to invest money in new plants. He tells host Bruce Gellerman that financing nukes may still be a risky business.

"President Obama has big plans for the future of commercial nuclear energy but the industry still has to deal with the waste it's generated over the past 50 years. The administration has pulled the plug on the Yucca Mountain repository so, today, half a century of radioactive waste remains at power plants. That's costing taxpayers and ratepayers billions of dollars a year. Living on Earth's Bruce Gellerman investigates the flow of federal funds and nuclear waste in the second story in our series. YOUNG: You might call it a money meltdown. For decades the federal government promised to permanently bury that high-level nuclear waste in the Yucca Mountain Repository in Nevada. And utility consumers paid the government billions of dollars to do that. But the Obama administration wants to pull the plug on Yucca Mountain - while at the same time promising 54 billion dollars in federal loan guarantees to build new reactors. That means nuclear utility companies have to continue to store the spent fuel rods on site - often in pools of water and increasingly in special dry casks."

"President Obama's decision to cut federal funds for the Yucca Nuclear Waste Repository leaves operators of the nation's reactors holding more than 120 million pounds of high level waste. Federal officials say that the waste is safe, but critics say spent fuel pools are vulnerable targets for terrorists. Several State Attorneys General are suing to change that. Senior Correspondent Bruce Gellerman investigates the Pilgrim reactor in Plymouth, Massachusetts. YOUNG: Vermont just said no to nukes. Vermont's State Senate blocked a license extension for the aging - and leaking - Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. That comes just days after President Obama announced billions of federal dollars to build reactors. The president wants a new generation of nuclear plants, but as the Vermont vote shows, old problems still plague the industry. One of the biggest problems is what to do with nuclear waste."

"Energy thinker Amory Lovins will speak at Salisbury's Catawba College on Feb. 23. Lovins is co-founder of Rocky Mountain Institute, a "think-and-do tank" that applies market-based solutions to efficient use of resources. Time magazine last year named him one of the world's 100 most influential people. He talked with energy and environment writer Bruce Henderson; comments are edited for clarity and brevity."

"A typical SLO County Board of Supervisors meeting can feel like a rehearsed stage show, in which there isn't so much digging for answers as there is rehashing what's already been talked about outside the public venue. But on March 9, when the topic turned to the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, question dodging and iffy responses didn't cut it. "I do realize that our view may be inconvenient for PG&E," Supervisor Bruce Gibson said. On a 3-2 vote, the board decided to ask the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to delay the re-licensing of Diablo Canyon until 3-D seismic studies of multiple offshore fault lines are complete. (Supervisors Frank Mecham and Katcho Achadjian voted no.) PG&E representatives expect a seismic report to be completed by December. But PG&E reps protested that delaying the re-licensing process-the company applied in November to extend the license 20 years for each reactor-would cost ratepayers in the long run. The company applied with the Public Utilities Commission to spend $85 million in ratepayer funds toward the studies."

"I was most concerned today to learn of a letter sent out to Peace River businesses by the Peace River Chamber of Commerce urging them to speak out strongly in favour of bringing nuclear power to the region, as is fervently hoped for by the project's proponent, Bruce Power. It also seems odd that this has happened only a couple of days after a visit to Peace River by Premier Ed Stelmach."

"A company's plan to ship radioactive steam generators on the Great Lakes is drawing crticism from Mayor Mike Bradley. Bradley said he's seen no evidence Bruce Power has consulted with communities along the shipping route. The comapny plans to transport 16 generators this fall from its nuclear plant near Kincardine, Ontario, to Owen Sound, Ontario. From there, the generators will be loaded on a ship that will travel the Great Lakes and the St. Clair River en route to a recycler in Sweden. Removing the generators is part of a refurbishment project at the plant near Kincardine, company officials have said. "

"SEAWAY CARGO: Canadian plant awaits OK for its shipping plan By JAEGUN LEE TIMES STAFF WRITER WEDNESDAY, JULY 14, 2010 ARTICLE OPTIONS A A A print this article e-mail this article A Canadian nuclear power station is planning to ship 16 decommissioned radioactive steam generators through the St. Lawrence Seaway this September. And although the company's application is pending the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission's approval, the idea of having nuclear waste traveling on Lake Huron, through the Welland Canal and the St. Lawrence Seaway is raising concerns among the region's environmental groups. "Do we have the capability to handle a nuclear accident? I'm not sure if we're prepared for it," said Jennifer J. Caddick, executive director of Save the River, Clayton. "But the bigger issue here is transparency. There are a ton of questions that need to be answered.""

Last month I asked Robert McNamara, the secretary of defense during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, what he believed back in the 1960s was the status of technical locks on the Minuteman intercontinental missiles. These long-range nuclear-tipped missiles first came on line during the Cuban missile crisis and grew to a force of 1,000 during the McNamara years - the backbone of the U.S. strategic deterrent through the late 1960s. McNamara replied, in his trade-mark, assertively confident manner that he personally saw to it that these special locks (known to wonks as "Permissive Action Links") were installed on the Minuteman force, and that he regarded them as essential to strict central control and preventing unauthorized launch.