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"An otherwise garden-variety workplace dispute has posed a larger question at the Byron nuclear generation station, 80 miles west of Chicago: How adequately are security guards trained and equipped to protect nuclear power plants? The question is raised by a complaint brought before a federal administrative judge by Matt Simon, a former guard and weapons trainer at Byron who is asking the court to decide between two explanations for why he no longer works at the facility. Was he an incompetent employee who falsified weapons logs, as claimed by Exelon Corp., which operates Byron? Or was he fired a year ago for trying to alert his superiors to security lapses at the plant, as he asserts? In what his attorneys characterize as a whistle-blower suit, Simon alleges there was a consistent policy of dumbing down security training and certifying unqualified guards. He says rifles and other equipment failed. He says plant officials filed false security reports with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and that his firing resulted directly from his speaking out."

Exelon Nuclear officials have very little to say about the latest assessment of the Byron Generating Station. Ogle County Supervisor of Assessments Jim Harrison set the plant's assessment at $525.4 million, $70.2 million more than the value set by the Ogle County Board of Review (BOR) at an appeal hearing last January.

Exelon representatives brought the Ogle County Board up to speed July 15 on their plan for storage of spent fuel at the Byron Nuclear Generating Station. Communications director Robert Kartheiser said construction has already begun on a dry cask storage system which he said is necessary to the operation of the nuclear plant.

Members of the state's main energy policy and planning agency spoke out against the decision by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. to apply to renew the company's operating license for the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant before addressing their concerns. The topic came up at a Dec. 16 California Energy Commission (CEC) hearing in Sacramento for the adoption of he 2009 Integrated Energy Policy Report, which outlines and analyzes energy-related issues affecting the state. CEC Vice Chair James Boyd chastised PG&E and contrasted their behavior with that of Southern California Edison Co., which operates the nuclear generating station in San Onofre. "I'm very disappointed … with what PG&E has done," CEC Vice Chair James Boyd said at the hearing. "I think now it's time to single out Edison for their statement of wanting to collaborate and cooperate on all the commitments while another utility has chosen to … kind of go around behind us. "I can't speak for Commissioner [Jeffrey] Byron, but I for one know there was great disappointment with that action," Boyd said. "But we'll address it in due time."

Members of the state's main energy policy and planning agency spoke out against the decision by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. to apply to renew the company's operating license for the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant before addressing their concerns. The topic came up at a Dec. 16 California Energy Commission (CEC) hearing in Sacramento for the adoption of he 2009 Integrated Energy Policy Report, which outlines and analyzes energy-related issues affecting the state. CEC Vice Chair James Boyd chastised PG&E and contrasted their behavior with that of Southern California Edison Co., which operates the nuclear generating station in San Onofre. "I'm very disappointed … with what PG&E has done," CEC Vice Chair James Boyd said at the hearing. "I think now it's time to single out Edison for their statement of wanting to collaborate and cooperate on all the commitments while another utility has chosen to … kind of go around behind us. "I can't speak for Commissioner [Jeffrey] Byron, but I for one know there was great disappointment with that action," Boyd said. "But we'll address it in due time."

"A $1 million agreement between Exelon, the Illinois Attorney General and the State's Attorneys of Will, Ogle and Grundy Counties has officially resolved the environmental consequences of radioactive tritium leaks into the groundwater beneath the Braidwood, Byron and Dresden nuclear power plants. Just about half of that is already earmarked for environmental projects in and around the areas of the affected plants. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan made the announcement late last week, stating that Exelon will pay more than $1 million to resolve three separate civil complaints that she and the State's Attorneys filed jointly, including civil penalties totaling $628,000 and $548,000 to fund several Supplemental Environmental Projects in and around the communities where the power plants are located."

A Senate spending panel has cut President Bush's 2009 budget request for Yucca Mountain by more than $100 million. Democratic Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota says that instead of the $494.7 million Bush proposed, the Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water agreed Tuesday to $386.5 million.

THERE'S "enough evidence" to designate parts of Dalgety Bay as 'radioactive contaminated land' and the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) has warned they'll be forced to do it if the Ministry of Defence doesn't take decisive action. That's the view of Sepa's radioactive substances unit manager, Byron Tilley, and a Sepa scientist said the problem was "much more serious than anyone thought" and particles which could give a radiation dose far higher than 'safe' levels have been found on the town's beach.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued annual assessment letters to the nation's 104 operating commercial nuclear power plants. All the plants continue to operate safely. "Our ongoing assessment of nuclear power plant performance is at the heart of the agency's mission of protecting people and the environment," said Eric Leeds, director of the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. "The 2008 year-end results show that about 83 percent of the plants are performing strongly enough that we're satisfied with our basic level of inspections at those sites." If a nuclear power plant's performance declines, the NRC increases the level of inspection to ensure the plant operator is taking the steps necessary to correct the situation. The additional amount of inspection is commensurate with the level of plant performance. At the close of last year, only one reactor, Unit 3 at Palo Verde (Ariz.), required the NRC's highest level of attention. Three reactor units, Cooper (Neb.) and Units 1 and 2 at Palo Verde (Ariz.), required significant NRC attention. And another 14 reactor units, Units 1 and 2 at Byron (Ill.), Unit 1 at Comanche Peak (Texas), Unit 1 at Farley (Ala.), Unit 1 at Grand Gulf ( Miss.), Unit 2 at Hatch (Ga.), Kewaunee (Wis.), Units 1 and 2 at McGuire (N.C.), Unit 2 at Nine Mile Point (N.Y.), Unit 1 at Oconee (S.C.), Palisades (Mich.), Unit 1 at Prairie Island (Minn.), and Unit 2 at San Onofre (Calif.), required additional attention beyond the basic level.

Byron Motley's family has lived here in Pittsylvania County for generations. The hay farmer can still look across the narrow blacktop road in front of his house and see the oak tree beneath which his father was born. But Motley is suddenly pondering a move to North Carolina. Likewise, Phillip Lovelace, the ninth generation in his family to live in Pittsylvania, is considering moving to

State Sen. Christopher Connors, R-Ocean, recently asked the state Department of Environmental Protection to answer tough questions about tritium leaks at the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station in Lacey that occurred about two weeks after the plant was relicensed for another 20 years. Advertisement Such action by an elected official is commendable. Now, Connors' efforts must be directed toward the federal agency ultimately responsible for this problem. By failing to ensure that a proper aging management program was in place at Oyster Creek, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has again shirked its responsibilities. Corroding pipes leaking radioactive water into the surrounding environment is taking the NRC by surprise. This situation has been replicated at aging nuclear plants nationwide, including the Indian Point Nuclear Plant in Westchester County, N.Y., the Byron, Braidwood and Dresden reactors in Illinois and the Palo Verde plant in Arizona.

"Congress could provide funds in supplemental budget votes WASHINGTON, April 28 (Reuters) - U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said on Wednesday that the Energy Department would need an additional $13 billion in authority from Congress to provide loan guarantees for building three new nuclear plants. The department in February awarded $8.3 billion in loan guarantees to help build the first U.S. nuclear power plant in nearly three decades. Chu told a Senate subcommittee that the $12 billion the department had left in loan guarantee authority would be enough to cover one more nuclear plant project that is seeking government help. He said an additional $4 billion would allow a loan guarantee for a second nuclear plant project and a third reactor may be ready to seek a loan guarantee this year, but the department would another $9 billion in authority for that project. Senator Byron Dorgan said Congress will likely vote on several supplemental budget bills this year and those measures might provide an opportunity to add funding for additional nuclear loan guarantees."

With President-elect Barack Obama signaling that energy issues should be at the core of any economic stimulus package, the resurgent U.S. nuclear industry-like so many others-is pushing to make sure it's well represented. Industry representatives and lobbyists are asking lawmakers to use the economic stimulus package, estimated to be in the range of $700 billion to $800 billion, to help revive the country's long-dormant nuclear manufacturing sector, as well as to train workers for jobs within the industry, which is now precariously poised for an expansion. In recent years, more than two dozen applications for new reactors have been filed with federal regulators, after a 30-year drought in which no nuclear reactors were approved.

"As global warming becomes a reality, pressure is mounting on governments to find low-carbon solutions to generating electricity. Yet with close to seven billion people in the world, many scientists are questioning the capacity of renewable energies to meet the growing demands of most countries. New developments in nuclear technology and ongoing research into reducing its associated hazards are leading various key players to take a fresh look at nuclear power."