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LAND close to a former nuclear power station in Essex was yesterday earmarked as a potential site for a new reactor - sparking concerns from local campaigners. The Nuclear Decommissioning Agency (NDA) has announced that it expects to put forward land near Bradwell for consideration as the Government looks to identify locations suitable for new nuclear build. The news was greeted with alarm by local anti-nuclear campaigners - who fear it could pave the way for more than one power station to be built.

Two days after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh indicated that the Centre would address the concerns expressed by various quarters over the proposed uranium mining project in Meghalaya, the influential Khasi Sudents Union has strongly pursued its opposition to the project. "The Centre should not adopt measures of inducement, coercion, intimidation and force to push with proposed project to mine uranium in the State," the KSU said in representation submitted to the Prime Minister through the chief secretary of Meghalaya. The KSU while asking the Centre to cancel the project cited the public hearing held on June 12, 2007 "where 75 per cent of the public in the proposed uranium sites showed their opposition".

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.

This is a good opportunity to remind everyone that while some parts of the Federal Government-such as the Commerce and Energy Departments-do promote nuclear energy, the Federal Government also includes the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. We are an independent regulator that takes no position on commercial nuclear power. Rather, we oversee the safety and security of nuclear facilities and materials. Of course, any revival in domestic nuclear power will also require that utilities, vendors, plant designers and engineers, and fuel suppliers make safety and security a priority.

Two nuclear companies have taken another step forward to set up shop at a new, eastern Utah industrial park. Mancos Resources Inc. and Transition Power Development LLC have signed escrow agreements with Castleland Resource Conservation and Development, a multicounty, nonprofit economic development agency, for land in the industrial park at the intersection of Route 6 and Interstate 70, about six miles northwest of Green River. Mancos plans a uranium mill on 640 acres. Transition is proposing what would be Utah's first nuclear reactors on 1,500 acres.

On December 30, 2008, AREVA Enrichment Services, LLC (a subsidiary of AREVA NC, Inc.), submitted an application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), seeking a license to construct and operate a gas centrifuge uranium enrichment facility in the United States. Specifically, AREVA has selected a site in Bonneville County, Idaho, for its new facility, which will be known as the Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility. For detail, contact us or see the following topics on this page:

New Delhi: As a Congresswoman, Ellen O. Tauscher strongly opposed the U.S.-India nuclear deal. But President Barack Obama's nominee for a key non-proliferation post in the State Department did a U-turn on Tuesday, telling a Senate panel that the new administration supports the agreement and intends to implement it and that she would do her part to further nuclear cooperation with India if confirmed in the job of Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security. Ms. Tauscher's views were expressed in a series of answers to written questions posed by Senator Richard Lugar.