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"Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said Tuesday his country will not stop its calls on Israel to join the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and submit its facilities to international observation. Following a meeting here with Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukiya Amano, Abul Gheit said his country will press ahead with its calls for submitting all Israeli nuclear facilities to international observation, state- run MENA news agency reported. "I can not imagine any one in Egypt would say that we stop calls for submitting Israeli facilities to the observation of international society represented in the IAEA," he said. Meanwhile, Abul Gheit said his meeting with Amano also touched upon ways the international watchdog could help Egypt to carry out its peaceful nuclear program."

Review of accelerated depreciation, investment tax credit, and production tax credit provisions of Senator Kerry's and Senator Lieberman's American Power Act In May 2010, Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) released a discussion version of The American Power Act (henceforth referred to as the "K-L Bill" or the "APA"). The K-L Bill as proposed is a wide-ranging piece of energy legislation that includes a number of new subsidies to nuclear power. This memo evaluates three of those nuclear provisions, describing how they work and estimating their subsidy value to recipients in the nuclear power sector: * 5-year accelerated depreciation period for new nuclear power plants (section 1121). * Investment tax credit (ITC) for nuclear power facilities (section 1122) and the related grants for qualified nuclear power facility expenditures in lieu of tax credits (section 1126). * Modification of credit for production from advanced nuclear power facilities (section 1124). The K-L Bill includes a number of subsidies to nuclear power that were not evaluated in this memo, and as a result this memo should be viewed as one part of a larger picture of how federal subsidies distort US energy markets and fuel choice.1 The values presented

Perma-Fix Environmental has received the go-ahead to resume shipments of radioactive waste to the Nevada Test Site from its M&EC processing facility in Oak Ridge, but a temporary ban on shipments to NTS remains in effect for the company's facilities at Richland, Wash., and Gainesville, Fla. Larry McNamara, the chief operating officer of Perma-Fix, said today an audit last week at the Oak Ridge facility went well and satisified the previous concerns. M&EC was put on suspension following a September incident in which a container of waste leaked and had rad contamination on its exterior.

Agency to build three new facilities here for storage, modernization The National Nuclear Security Administration approved a long-term plan Tuesday that keeps nuclear weapons assembly work at the Pantex Plant and cements its role in high-explosives manufacturing. Pantex, located 17 miles northeast of Amarillo, assembles and dismantles nuclear weapons, modernizes older warheads and stores tons of plutonium weapons cores, the nuclear hearts of modern atomic bombs and long-range missiles. The plan, unveiled Tuesday by NNSA Administrator Tom D'Agostino, includes three new Pantex facilities: an underground plutonium-storage complex, new high-explosives pressing operations and a $172 million weapons-surveillance facility where warheads and bombs can be monitored for signs of aging

The National Nuclear Security Administration announced this week that they have approved the start of construction of a Waste Solidification Building at the Savannah River Site, as part of the MOX project. The WSB is one of three critical facilities that will allow for the disposal of surplus weapons-usable plutonium. "Beginning construction of the Waste Solidification Building is another clear indication that we are moving forward with our plans to dispose of at least 34 metric tons of surplus U.S. weapons plutonium," said William Tobey, NNSA deputy administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation. The Waste Solidification Building will process liquid waste from the Mixed Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility, currently under construction, and the planned Pit Disassembly and Conversion Facility (PDCF), scheduled to be completed in 2016.

A public health assessment by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry concluded there were "no public health hazards" from airborne releases at the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant (also known as the K-25 Site) and the early-era S-50 facility at the Oak Ridge site. The full report is available online and at local libraries. The agency is receiving public comment through Feb. 20. In a release distributed to the news media, the ATSDR said: "The study looked at the atmospheric releases of radioactive and nonradioactive hazardous substances from the K-25/ S-50 facilities between 1944 and 1995 when the facility closed. After evaluating potential chronic and acute exposure to ionizing radiation and uranium releases, ATSDR found those doses were not expected to cause adverse health effects for people living near the ORGDP. The ORGDP is currently known as the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP).

According to an Oct. 3 report by staff of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, about 450 Rackable Can Storage Boxes were loaded by Y-12 workers during FY2007 and '08 to prepare for the move into the new Oak Ridge storage facility for weapons-grade uranium. Based on previous information released by NNSA and B&W, the managing contractor, each of those boxes holds a half-dozen cans, and each of those cans holds up to 44 pounds of highly enriched uranium (HEU). The defense board memo said B&W plans to begin loading material into the new $549 million storage facility in fiscal year 2010. The loading is to take place in two phases. "The first phase is to de-inventory the Warehouse within about three months after start up

Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials will meet with AREVA NP, Inc., management in Richland, Wash., on Thursday, Nov. 13, to discuss the results of a regulatory safety performance review at the company's commercial nuclear fuel fabrication plant. The meeting will be held at 1 p.m. PST in Conference Room 5 at the AREVA facility, which is located at 2101 Horn Rapids Road in Richland, and will be open to members of the public and the news media. NRC officials will be available during the meeting to answer questions from those in attendance. The NRC staff assessed performance at AREVA during a period beginning Aug. 13, 2006 and ending Aug. 13, 2008 in the areas of operational safety, safeguards, radiological controls, facility support and licensing. The NRC staff review highlighted improvements made by the company in several areas, and based on overall performance, the agency determined that no additional inspections beyond the standard program for such a facility are needed.

Most of the nation has nowhere to send its low-level nuclear waste. It can't stop producing this waste. It's necessary for diagnosing and treating cancer and other diseases, and for research. But because there is nowhere to send the waste, it piles up in hospitals, other medical facilities and research centers. It's an illustration of our nation's inability to deal realistically with nuclear issues. Most of this waste used to be sent to South Carolina to the Barnwell Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Facility. It was the first such facility in the country when it began receiving radioactive waste in 1971. It is just one of three in the nation today.

Most of the nation has nowhere to send its low-level nuclear waste. It can't stop producing this waste. It's necessary for diagnosing and treating cancer and other diseases, and for research. But because there is nowhere to send the waste, it piles up in hospitals, other medical facilities and research centers. It's an illustration of our nation's inability to deal realistically with nuclear issues. Most of this waste used to be sent to South Carolina to the Barnwell Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Facility. It was the first such facility in the country when it began receiving radioactive waste in 1971. It is just one of three in the nation today.

The Nuclear Waste Management Organization is seeking public input as they begin the process of trying to find a long-term storage facility site for used nuclear fuel. Although New Brunswick, a province that uses nuclear energy, has been named as a potential site for the storage facility, Energy Minister Jack Keir says it's too early to pass judgment on the merits of such a facility. He adds that the government believes in the process the organization is undertaking.

Radioactive water is leaking from an old salt and potash mine in Germany that had been converted to a storage facility for nuclear waste. The discovery of the leak has reopened debate about nuclear power, theerman magazine Der Spiegel reports. German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel described the mine as "the most problematic nuclear facility in Europe." The Asse II mine in Lower Saxony shut down in 1964. Three years later it reopened as an "experimental" nuclear facility.

27 May 2008 - The wet storage facility for spent fuel at Goesgen nuclear power plant in Switzerland has been unveiled by Kernkraftwerk Goesgen-Daeniken AG at a ceremony attended by high-ranking representatives of the customer, Areva. The facility is capable of accommodating up to 1008 uranium or mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel assemblies. It has already received its first batch of spent fuel and impressively confirmed the merits of its sophisticated design.

The Union of Concerned Scientists wants to postpone construction of a new production facility at Y-12 (Uranium Processing Facility or UPF) until the nation has a new nuclear policy and a better handle on the future of the U.S. nuclear arsenal. UCS also says it's "premature" to build the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement (CMRR) Nuclear Facility at Los Alamos. The new report, "The Cart Before the Horse: DOE's Plan for the Future of the U.S. Nuclear Weapons Complex," is available

In a couple of memos over the past couple of years, including one dated Jan. 9, staff of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Board have mentioned the Special Material Capability Project at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant. Federal and contractor officials at the Oak Ridge plant have been mum on details of the project, at least publicly, refusing to address what work will take place at the facility or what "special material" will be handled there. Last month's safety board report notes that project construction is about 80 percent complete and includes installation of major machines, including "a new negative-pressure glovebox in a Y-12 facility that provides additional worker protection."

Iran has allowed rare access to the Bushehr nuclear reactor, where Iranian and Russian engineers have started conducting pre-conditioning tests using dummy fuel without any radioactive content. Iranian TV reporter at Bushehr reactor Journalists were taken round the power plant shepherded by security guards. They included the BBC's Jon Leyne (not pictured) who called the security regime "polite but firm". Russian and Iranian engineers watch visitors to Bushehr plant Russian and Iranian engineers are stationed at the plant which has been built and equipped by the Russian contractor Atomstroiexport. Operation room at Bushehr plant Our correspondent says the control room looked close to completion, but in some other areas, machinery was still wrapped in plastic. Iranian officials from the Atomic Energy Organization ask photojournalists to leave the turbine building during an organised tour in the Bushehr nuclear power plant At one stage during the organised tour, Iranian atomic agency officials asked photojournalists to leave a room housing turbines. Radar facilities on the skyline at Bushehr plant Radar facilities dominate the skyline at the nuclear plant, which will house a 1,000-megawatt light-water reactor used for generating electricity. Barbed wire and a missile emplacement on the perimeter of the nuclear power plant in Bushehr The plant seems to be well defended - as in the past both Israel and the US have threatened pre-emptive military action against Iran's nuclear facilities. Head of Russian nuclear agency Sergei Kiriyenko Russian nuclear chief Sergei Kiriyenko attended the inauguration. Russia and international monitors will ensure the plant fulfils its job to generate energy and not to produce any weapons material. Back

HHS gives notice as required by 42 CFR 83.12(e) of a decision to evaluate a petition to designate a class of employees for the Bliss & Laughlin Steel facility, in Buffalo, NY, to be included in the Special Exposure Cohort under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000. The initial proposed definition for the class being evaluated, subject to revision as warranted by the evaluation, is as follows: Facility: Bliss & Laughlin Steel facility. Location: Buffalo, NY. Job Titles and/or Job Duties: All employees. Period of Employment: January 1, 1948 through December 31, 1998.

Workers at the nuclear reactor facility in Dimona were made to volunteer to drink uranium in 1998 as part of an experiment, according to a lawsuit filed four months ago in the Be'er Sheva Labor Tribunal by a former worker at the facility. The experiment was allegedly carried out without obtaining written consent from the workers or warning them of risks or side effects, as required by the Declaration of Helsinki on human experimentation. The Israel Atomic Energy Commission said in a statement that the Dimona facility "has the safety and health of its workers as its highest priority."

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will hold a public meeting July 28 in Bruneau, Idaho, to brief members of the public on a proposal by Westinghouse Electric Co. to dispose of low-activity radioactive materials at the U.S. Ecology Disposal Facility in Grand View, Idaho. The meeting will take place from 6 - 8:30 p.m. in the Auditorium of Rimrock Jr. Sr. High School, 39678 State Highway 78, in Bruneau. Westinghouse is currently decommissioning its Hematite nuclear fuel fabrication facility in Jefferson County, Mo. Westinghouse has requested a license amendment and authorization from the NRC to dispose of some low-activity radioactive waste - including small amounts of "special nuclear material" (enriched uranium and plutonium) - at the U.S. Ecology facility. Westinghouse has also asked the NRC to exempt U.S. Ecology from the agency's licensing requirements for radioactive byproduct material and special nuclear material.

Spent nuclear fuel is being moved from a storage pool at the twin-reactor Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant to a new above-ground storage facility at the Central Coast facility. Pacific Gas and Electric, operator of the coastal San Luis Obispo County plant, says loading of the used nuclear fuel began Monday night. Eight containers of fuel in a storage pool will be moved during several months to the new interim facility, where they will be anchored to a 7 1/2-foot-thick concrete pad.