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The most recent shutdown of a nuclear reactor at Dominion Virginia Power's North Anna Power Station also involved the accidental discharge of tens of thousands of gallons of cooling water into Lake Anna. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Wednesday's shutdown of Unit 2, caused by an electrical malfunction, also prompted the discharge of what was originally thought to be up to 59,500 gallons of cooling water into the Louisa County lake. The NRC said Dominion Virginia Power told the agency that it later appeared that the amount of discharge was actually closer to 35,000 gallons. Dominion Virginia Power also told the NRC that the lake water was tested after the discharge and was found to be within government-approved limits.

The most recent shutdown of a nuclear reactor at Dominion Virginia Power's North Anna Power Station also involved the accidental discharge of tens of thousands of gallons of cooling water into Lake Anna. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Wednesday's shutdown of Unit 2, caused by an electrical malfunction, also prompted the discharge of what was originally thought to be up to 59,500 gallons of cooling water into the Louisa County lake. The NRC said Dominion Virginia Power told the agency that it later appeared that the amount of discharge was actually closer to 35,000 gallons. Dominion Virginia Power also told the NRC that the lake water was tested after the discharge and was found to be within government-approved limits.

SELLAFIELD has applied to raise the limit on the amount of radioactive discharge it can release into the air. The site has applied to the Environment Agency for a five-fold increase in gas discharges known as Antimony 125 from the Magnox reprocessing plant. The agency says there is no danger to the public, but the move has drawn criticism from the anti-nuclear group Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment (Core). Core's Martin Forwood said: "We deplore any increase in environmental discharges but Sellafield has got the agency over a barrel. "We are now paying the price for the industry's abject failure to develop an alternative to reprocessing Magnox fuel."

SELLAFIELD has applied to raise the limit on the amount of radioactive discharge it can release into the air. The site has applied to the Environment Agency for a five-fold increase in gas discharges known as Antimony 125 from the Magnox reprocessing plant. The agency says there is no danger to the public, but the move has drawn criticism from the anti-nuclear group Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment (Core). Core's Martin Forwood said: "We deplore any increase in environmental discharges but Sellafield has got the agency over a barrel. "We are now paying the price for the industry's abject failure to develop an alternative to reprocessing Magnox fuel."

SELLAFIELD has applied to raise the limit on the amount of radioactive discharge it can release into the air. The site has applied to the Environment Agency for a five-fold increase in gas discharges known as Antimony 125 from the Magnox reprocessing plant. The agency says there is no danger to the public, but the move has drawn criticism from the anti-nuclear group Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment (Core). Core's Martin Forwood said: "We deplore any increase in environmental discharges but Sellafield has got the agency over a barrel. "We are now paying the price for the industry's abject failure to develop an alternative to reprocessing Magnox fuel."

A doctoral thesis by Erkki Ilus of the Finnish radiation and nuclear safety authority (STUK) shows that radioactive discharges from nuclear power plants have a minor impact compared to the effects of thermal discharges. The results are based on hydrobiological and radioecological analyses from monitoring programmes and environmental studies carried out during more than 40 years in the sea areas surrounding the two Finnish nuclear power plants, Loviisa and Olkiluoto.

A doctoral thesis by Erkki Ilus of the Finnish radiation and nuclear safety authority (STUK) shows that radioactive discharges from nuclear power plants have a minor impact compared to the effects of thermal discharges. The results are based on hydrobiological and radioecological analyses from monitoring programmes and environmental studies carried out during more than 40 years in the sea areas surrounding the two Finnish nuclear power plants, Loviisa and Olkiluoto.

BRATTLEBORO - Entergy Nuclear can resume discharging heated water into the Connecticut River this summer, according to a decision by Environmental Court Judge Merideth Wright released Friday. However, Wright imposed conditions on the discharge and didn't grant the nuclear company its full request. She said Entergy couldn't discharge the 105-degree water until July, and ordered that the company install temperature sensors at the Vernon hydroelectric dam, which is downstream from the Vernon reactor.

RADIOACTIVE discharges into the air from Sellafield appear to have been breached. Source of the discharges is the Magnox reprocessing plant which was shutdown earlier in the year because it was in danger of going over the legal limits. But operators Sellafield Ltd told The Whitehaven News yesterday: "It seems likely that we will have exceeded the limit up to the end of August. We won't get confirmation for another six weeks after all the analysis has been done but we think we have gone through it and have written to the Environment Agency to that effect." Management have decided not to close the Magnox plant for a second time because there is no hazard from the higher levels of discharge.

A RISE in radioactive discharges into the air is causing another problem at Sellafield, it was confirmed to The Whitehaven News yesterday. Increased levels have come from the Magnox reprocessing plant. For the last five weeks it has had to close to avoid exceeding the discharge limit. The plant has just started up again but Sellafield Ltd has applied to the Environment Agency for a new authorisation to raise the discharge limit.

A RISE in radioactive discharges into the air is causing another problem at Sellafield, it was confirmed to The Whitehaven News yesterday. Increased levels have come from the Magnox reprocessing plant. For the last five weeks it has had to close to avoid exceeding the discharge limit. The plant has just started up again but Sellafield Ltd has applied to the Environment Agency for a new authorisation to raise the discharge limit.

"Members of an environmental coalition who opposed the relicensing of the Oyster Creek Generating Station have accused its owner, Exelon Nuclear, of violating state law. The coalition's attorney Richard Webster, who is the legal director of the Eastern Environmental Law Center, said Tuesday that "Exelon covered up tritium discharges that occurred in July 2007 and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission failed to follow up to ensure a violation that was to be corrected 10 years ago had been." Tritium contamination was found in the ground at the facility in May. Exelon attributed the contamination to a July 17, 2007 tritium release. Tritium is a weak, naturally occurring radioactive form of hydrogen. Webster maintains that a freedom of information request revealed that Exelon illegally failed to report a major discharge of tritium to the ground in 2007. "As the Department of Environmental Protection has noted, Exelon is required to report tritium discharges," he said."

"Millstone Power Station should take steps over the next two years to substantially reduce the water it uses for cooling and help restore populations of winter flounder and other marine life in Niantic Bay, but for now it is allowed to continue discharging more than 2 billion gallons of water per day into Long Island Sound. A state environmental regulator made the recommendations that were released Wednesday. Janis Deshais, hearing officer for the state Department of Environmental Protection, included the provisions as part of her decision to recommend with specific conditions the renewal of a permit allowing Millstone to withdraw and discharge water into the bay and the Sound. "

"The owners of a closed uranium mine near Golden have been ordered by the state health department to stop discharging polluted water into a creek that flows into a Denver-area reservoir. The state health department is taking action because Cotter Corp. has been discharging pollution without a permit and uranium levels in the water are significantly exceeding the safety standard, Steve Gunderson, director of the state water quality control division, said Thursday. The agency sent the notice earlier this month. The Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety has sent a separate notice to Cotter saying it believes the company is violation of several state laws. Cotter could face fines of up to $10,000 if found in violation. The Denver-based company didn't immediately return a call seeking comment."

A groundwater discharge permit is being sought for Mount Taylor Uranium Mine and Mill owned by Rio Grande Resources, according to the New Mexico Environment Department. Gerald Schoeppner of NMED's Groundwater Quality Bureau said Wednesday that the company has an existing discharge plan for its mine that it's trying to renew, "but that's one of the pieces of the puzzle that's missing - how they're planning to treat their mine water for the dewatering to meet standards."

MarylandDoesn't Need a $10 Billion Radioactive Boondoggle, Groups Say WASHINGTON, D.C. - Four environmental organizations filed a legal challenge late Wednesday against the proposed Calvert Cliffs-3 atomic reactor before the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The filing, which is a formal petition to intervene in the NRC's licensing process, marks the latest action in an ongoing fight to stop the proposed reactor before construction starts. The challenge asserts that the Calvert Cliffs project runs afoul of laws and regulations that prohibit foreign ownership or domination of a U.S. reactor; that the company - UniStar Nuclear, a subsidiary of Constellation Energy and Electricite de France - does not have adequate assurance that it will have the funds necessary to decontaminate and decommission the facility; that the license application does not consider the cumulative effects of adding yet another nuclear reactor's radioactive and chemical discharges to a Chesapeake Bay already groaning under the effects of discharges from 11 atomic reactors; and that the proposed reactor does not have any place to put either its high-level or "low-level" radioactive waste.

A facility that cleans the uniforms of nuclear industry employees, including those at the Limerick Generating Station, is monitoring the buildup of low-level radioactive material in the Schuylkill River. UniTech Services Group Inc. has discharged treated wastewater into the Schuylkill River since 2004, in accordance with safety standards set by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. On Friday, DEP issued a news release updating the public on its "field investigation," which began last summer in an effort to learn more about the possible cumulative effects of such discharges on both the river and its ecosystem.

The recent ruling of the Circuit Court of the City of Richmond was short and to the point: "Virginia law requires regulation of Dominion's thermal pollution discharge because the exception for waste treatment simply doesn't apply here." With this ruling, a decades-old viola tion of the law was ended. The impact of the decision could benefit the many thousands of people who use Lake Anna annually. Dominion's permit violated the law. In 2007 the Virginia Water Control Board approved a permit for Dominion Virginia Power to discharge hot water from its North Anna nuclear power plant into Lake Anna. The permit was illegal for several reasons.

"Residents, environmentalists and company officials on Wednesday debated a proposal requiring the Oyster Creek Generating Station to build cooling towers. The state Department of Environmental Protection wants the plant to build cooling towers as part of a water-discharge permit. The plant's owner, Exelon Corp., said closing the plant would be preferable financially to installing a cooling system the company estimated would cost more than $700 million. At the hearing, most local residents and elected officials sided with the company and urged the DEP to let the plant continue using its current cooling system, which circulates 662 million gallons of water per day from canals off the Forked River. Lacey Township Mayor Gary Quinn defended the private jobs and public revenue the plant provides, including more than $11 million in Energy Receipts Taxes the township receives each year. Exelon Corp. lawyer William J. Donohue said 700 plant employees would lose their jobs if the state prevailed in adding cooling towers to the plant's water-discharge permit."

The Vermont Supreme Court has upheld a 2008 Environmental Court decision to allow Entergy Vermont Yankee to release thermal discharge water into the Connecticut River that is expected to raise the temperature of the river by one degree. And while environmental groups that argued against the release say the decision will adversely affect aquatic life, Entergy officials celebrated the decision by the state's high court. "We are very pleased with this decision," Yankee spokesman Rob Williams said after the Supreme Court issued its ruling Friday. "Vermont Yankee is a responsible steward of the river and this small leeway granted on temperature limit will help ensure the plant's reliability output during the warmer summer months for the region's electric consumers." Yankee plans on releasing the warmer water into the river this summer, Williams said. The Vermont Agency of Natural Resources first granted Yankee a permit to increase the temperature of the Connecticut River near the plant by one degree in 2004.

The Vermont Supreme Court has upheld a 2008 Environmental Court decision to allow Entergy Vermont Yankee to release thermal discharge water into the Connecticut River that is expected to raise the temperature of the river by one degree. And while environmental groups that argued against the release say the decision will adversely affect aquatic life, Entergy officials celebrated the decision by the state's high court. "We are very pleased with this decision," Yankee spokesman Rob Williams said after the Supreme Court issued its ruling Friday. "Vermont Yankee is a responsible steward of the river and this small leeway granted on temperature limit will help ensure the plant's reliability output during the warmer summer months for the region's electric consumers." Yankee plans on releasing the warmer water into the river this summer, Williams said. The Vermont Agency of Natural Resources first granted Yankee a permit to increase the temperature of the Connecticut River near the plant by one degree in 2004.

"Authorities have an environmental mystery on their hands after about 50 fish died near the discharge canal of Oyster Creek Generating Station. The nuclear plant went offline Wednesday for planned maintenance and restarted Saturday night. But the 47 floating fish were found Saturday morning, days after the shutdown and before the startup began. "It is puzzling that there could be a thermal shock this time of year. Usually it happens in the winter," said Larry Hajna, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection. Plant spokesman David Benson said Monday, "Our reactor was offline for four days. The discharge canal was at environmental-level temperatures. We found 47 fish over the weekend, mainly bluefish.""

The state of Oregon has fined URS, the contractor operating the incinerator at the Umatilla Chemical Depot, $111,000. Most of the fine is for violations of the facility's hazardous waste and air contaminant discharge permits as it began to burn mustard weapons agent and the agent containers. The Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility has not incinerated any chemical weapons agent or containers for 40 days while it addresses the issue. "They are delaying operations to make sure it doesn't happen again," said Rich Duval of the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality's Chemical Demilitarization Program in Hermiston. URS's Washington Demilitarization Co. reported the problems to the state, including eight occasions when the plant exceeded its emissions limit for carbon monoxide as it began incinerating mustard agent.

The state of Oregon has fined URS, the contractor operating the incinerator at the Umatilla Chemical Depot, $111,000. Most of the fine is for violations of the facility's hazardous waste and air contaminant discharge permits as it began to burn mustard weapons agent and the agent containers. The Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility has not incinerated any chemical weapons agent or containers for 40 days while it addresses the issue. "They are delaying operations to make sure it doesn't happen again," said Rich Duval of the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality's Chemical Demilitarization Program in Hermiston. URS's Washington Demilitarization Co. reported the problems to the state, including eight occasions when the plant exceeded its emissions limit for carbon monoxide as it began incinerating mustard agent.

A huge, anticipated turnout of workers from the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in Lacey, fishermen, Barnegat Bay environmental activists and others has prompted moving the state Senate Environment Committee meeting Monday to 1 p.m. in a big first-floor hearing gallery at the State House Annex. The committee will consider S-3041, which would require a new cooling system at Oyster Creek as a condition of any new state discharge permit. Sponsored by committee Chairman Sen. Bob Smith, R-Middlesex, the bill and an identical measure in the Assembly are seen as an attempt to either force the hand of outgoing Gov. Jon S. Corzine or Gov.-elect Chris Christie to require that plant owners Exelon build cooling towers.

A huge, anticipated turnout of workers from the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in Lacey, fishermen, Barnegat Bay environmental activists and others has prompted moving the state Senate Environment Committee meeting Monday to 1 p.m. in a big first-floor hearing gallery at the State House Annex. The committee will consider S-3041, which would require a new cooling system at Oyster Creek as a condition of any new state discharge permit. Sponsored by committee Chairman Sen. Bob Smith, R-Middlesex, the bill and an identical measure in the Assembly are seen as an attempt to either force the hand of outgoing Gov. Jon S. Corzine or Gov.-elect Chris Christie to require that plant owners Exelon build cooling towers.

The state Legislature may finally do what the Department of Environmental Protection and Gov. Jon Corzine should have done long ago: Mandate a cooling tower at the Oyster Creek nuclear reactor in Lacey to mitigate the plant's harmful environmental and economic impact. A bill proposed by Sen. Bob Smith, D-Middlesex, is scheduled to be heard by the Senate Environment Committee in Trenton Monday in what is shaping up as an epic showdown between Oyster Creek owner Exelon and the state's environmental groups, which are firmly united in support of the legislation. Among those expected to testify against it is Exelon CEO John Rowe. The bill would impose conditions on all energy generation facilities that withdraw water from or discharge water to a "shallow lagoonal estuary." At Oyster Creek, those conditions could only be satisfied by constructing a cooling tower.

The state Legislature may finally do what the Department of Environmental Protection and Gov. Jon Corzine should have done long ago: Mandate a cooling tower at the Oyster Creek nuclear reactor in Lacey to mitigate the plant's harmful environmental and economic impact. A bill proposed by Sen. Bob Smith, D-Middlesex, is scheduled to be heard by the Senate Environment Committee in Trenton Monday in what is shaping up as an epic showdown between Oyster Creek owner Exelon and the state's environmental groups, which are firmly united in support of the legislation. Among those expected to testify against it is Exelon CEO John Rowe. The bill would impose conditions on all energy generation facilities that withdraw water from or discharge water to a "shallow lagoonal estuary." At Oyster Creek, those conditions could only be satisfied by constructing a cooling tower.