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Taxpayers forked over a great deal of money to build the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository, which the federal government now has no plans to use. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., says taxpayers should get some of that money back. In fact, Washington's decisions regarding high-level nuclear waste disposal have been so slow and so political that a bill such as Graham's is needed to force politicians to take responsibility for this safety issue for the generations. The United States needs a place to store or dispose of its spent commercial reactor fuel. Nuclear power plants use up fuel. Those spent fuel rods are highly radioactive. Right now, they are simply piling up at the nuclear power plants that used them.

ust over a month after NorthEscambia.com broke the story that Gulf Power Company is purchasing land in North Escambia for a possible nuclear power plant, the Florida Senate has passed a bill promoting so-called "clean power" - including nuclear - in the state. The bill was approved by the Senate 37-1 late last week. The energy bill requires electric utilities to meet or exceed specified standards for the production or purchase of clean energy. Clean energy production methods include wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, hydrogen, hydroelectric and nuclear, according to the bill. The bill will now head to the Florida House for approval.

The agency regulating Florida Power & Light's nuclear reactors gave the facility good marks during its annual review, but declined at a meeting Tuesday to talk about the utility's security practices. Officials from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission hosted a public meeting at Homestead City Hall to discuss their assessment of the Turkey Point nuclear power station east of Homestead. ''FPL operated Turkey Point Units 3 and 4 in a manner that preserved public health and safety,'' Marvin Sykes, branch chief of the division of nuclear projects, told the 40 or so elected officials, activists and residents in attendance.

Progress Energy Florida today announced plans to shift the construction schedule for its planned Levy County nuclear project. In addition, the company filed its 2010 nuclear cost-recovery estimates with the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC), as required. The company's proposal will decrease customer nuclear costs to about half of the amount the company is eligible to recover in 2010 under current law. (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020923/CHM008LOGO-c) The company is adjusting the Levy County nuclear project schedule to reflect the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) determination that the excavation and foundation preparation work - originally scheduled to be completed at the same time the company was seeking a combined operating license (COL) for the plant - will not be authorized until the NRC issues the COL. The company's shift in schedule will move the commercial operation dates for the two Levy units from the 2016-2018 time period by a minimum of 20 months. The COL grants a utility permission to build and operate a new nuclear power plant. The company expects to receive the COL in late 2011 or early 2012.

The 168-mile-long loop of canals that cool the twin nuclear reactors at Turkey Point was dug in the 1970s to avoid pumping billions of gallons of damaging hot water into Biscayne Bay. More than 30 years later, the solution to one environmental problem has emerged as a prime suspect in another -- an underground saltwater wedge that has pushed miles inland from Florida Power & Light's bayside plant. Regulators don't yet know the size of the salty plume, but preliminary studies suggest a leading edge has marched far enough east, just past the Homestead Miami Speedway, to pose risks to drinking-water wells for Keys and Homestead residents and Everglades restoration projects intended to revive historic freshwater flows to the bay.

While two more nuclear reactors at Turkey Point would generate clean energy and create at least 800 permanent new jobs in the area, federal regulators Thursday night said the proposed facilities were not a done deal. ''If approved,'' stressed Stephanie Coffin, branch chief for the division of new reactor licensing at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ``This is not an automatic process.'' She and her colleagues from the Rockville, Md.-based federal agency, which regulates the construction and operation of nuclear reactors nationwide, spoke to more than 200 people at the Keys Gate Golf and Country Club, 2300 Southeast Palm Dr. Florida Power & Light has proposed building two more nuclear reactors at its Turkey Point site within the next 12 years.

Wake up and good morning. Is the nuclear power industry's renaissance getting backburnered? After a flurry of activity and 26 high-profile deals announced in recent years to build a new generation of nuclear power plants, fresh doubts are emerging. That's important to Florida where two nuclear power projects intended to generate electricity -- one by Progress Energy in Levy County north of Tampa Bay and another by FPL Group in south Florida -- have been in the fast lane but are starting to hit some bumps. A Dow Jones story suggests (subscription required) the U.S. nuclear power sector may have a "few more years in the dark ages" before its long-promised resurgence. Despite nuclear power's improved image, its rising appeal as an alternative to air-polluting coal- and oil-fired power plants, and President Barack Obama's saying nuclear has a place in any plan to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050, nukes are still struggling to win complete government and market support.

Louise Lockwood has lived in Whispering Pines for 50 years. She says she's always worried about how close the Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant is to her home. "If anything happens we're right there," said Lockwood. When our news partners at the Miami Herald reported a top-level plant employee resigned in protest last year, because managers allegedly wanted him to re-start a nuclear reactor before it was safe to do so, Lockwood immediately wanted to hear from the plant's owner, Florida Power and Light.

A battle between clean energy and renewable energy is about to ensue in the state Legislature. Sen. Lee Constantine, R-Altamonte Springs, has introduced Senate Bill 2490, a measure requiring that 20 percent of the power provided by Florida electric utilities be made with renewable resources such as wind and solar. The standard is supported by Gov. Charlie Crist and recommended by the Florida Public Service Commission. Sen. Charlie Dean, R-Inverness, recently introduced an alternative measure, SB 2328, that would require utilities to get 20 percent of their power from clean energy sources, including nuclear, by 2020. Progress Energy and Florida Power & Light, the state's largest producers of nuclear power, have lobbied hard for a clean standard.

Leaders and residents discuss concerns over Turkey Point and utility lines even though Florida Power & Light officials declined to attend a meeting. If you go | Nuclear Regulatory Commission meetings What: April 23 Nuclear Regulatory Commission meeting: FPL permits Where: Keys Gate Golf Club, 2300 Palm Dr., Homestead For information: Miami-Dade County Commissioner Katy Sorenson's office, 305-375-5218 What: April 28 Nuclear Regulatory Commission meeting: Turkey Point evaluation Where: Homestead City Hall, 790 N. Homestead Blvd. For information: Commissioner Katy Sorenson's office, 305-375-5218 BY TANIA VALDEMORO tvaldemoro@MiamiHerald.com Residents and elected officials, armed with questions about safety at the Turkey Point nuclear power station east of Homestead, left with no answers Thursday after Florida Power & Light executives did not appear at a community forum in Cutler Bay. Organized by Miami-Dade County Commissioner Katy Sorenson, the event at the South Dade Government Center, 10710 SW 211th St., was intended to provide citizens with information about safety practices at Turkey Point.

More than two years after a federal investigation found that guards were sleeping on the job at Florida Power & Light's Turkey Point nuclear plant, the utility has paid a six-figure fine to resolve the case. FPL sent the Nuclear Regulatory Commission a check for $130,000 in January, the commission confirmed Monday. FPL spokesman Tom Veenstra confirmed late Monday that the company had paid the fine. Six guards at the Miami-Dade County plant slept or served as lookouts for other guards who were sleeping ''on multiple occasions'' between 2004 and 2006, the commission concluded. All of the guards were contractors with Palm Beach Gardens-based Wackenhut. None remained on the job after the violations were announced last year, officials said.

"Health officials in South Florida have confirmed a cluster of childhood cancer cases in one Palm Beach County community, though the cause remains uncertain. Officials confirmed higher than normal rates of brain tumors and cancer among children in The Acreage, a semirural community about 20 miles northwest of West Palm Beach. Investigators have interviewed affected families to try and determine any commonalities. The state Department of Environmental Protection concluded last year that some homes in The Acreage have wells with elevated levels of radium and other radioactive substances that could result from natural causes. The study also found ground water quality was "generally good." "

"Repairs to a cracked reactor building containment wall could keep the Crystal River nuclear plant off line until midyear, Progress Energy says. The company powered down the nuclear plant in September for a major maintenance project that was expected to be finished by late December. But shortly after the job began, workers discovered that part of the containment wall had separated into two layers. The plant has remained off line since then while the company investigates its cause and comes up with a repair plan."

When Coleen Ware walked into Turkey Point, she was shocked to see that the indicators showing control rod positions looked like something out of an early '70s sci-fi movie. On special assignment from the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations to teach managers of the South Dade plant about safety, she was surprised by the aged indicators, which show the position of the rods in the reactor core -- a central measure about how the core is functioning. ``There are the old gauges . . . where . . . a needle that goes around and around,'' Ware testified, saying they were ``not very reliable.'' When operators looked at the indicators daily, ``they'd be stuck.

When Coleen Ware walked into Turkey Point, she was shocked to see that the indicators showing control rod positions looked like something out of an early '70s sci-fi movie. On special assignment from the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations to teach managers of the South Dade plant about safety, she was surprised by the aged indicators, which show the position of the rods in the reactor core -- a central measure about how the core is functioning. ``There are the old gauges . . . where . . . a needle that goes around and around,'' Ware testified, saying they were ``not very reliable.'' When operators looked at the indicators daily, ``they'd be stuck.

A Dec. 10 town-hall meeting will address the health effects of high-voltage lines, nuclear-reactor safety and the environmental impact of nuclear plants. Over the past year, a chorus of concern about Florida Power & Light's push to expand its Turkey Point facility has steadily grown louder. Several cities have voiced opposition to the high-voltage lines that would carry power from the larger plant along U.S. 1 to downtown Miami. In response to the worries of those who could be affected, the newly incorporated activist group Citizens Allied for Safe Energy is inviting everyone interested in the matter to a town-hall meeting Dec. 10. A group of speakers will address general issues on nuclear safety, the health effects of power-line magnetic fields, and environmental problems associated with nuclear plants. `POSSIBLE CARCINOGEN'

A Dec. 10 town-hall meeting will address the health effects of high-voltage lines, nuclear-reactor safety and the environmental impact of nuclear plants. Over the past year, a chorus of concern about Florida Power & Light's push to expand its Turkey Point facility has steadily grown louder. Several cities have voiced opposition to the high-voltage lines that would carry power from the larger plant along U.S. 1 to downtown Miami. In response to the worries of those who could be affected, the newly incorporated activist group Citizens Allied for Safe Energy is inviting everyone interested in the matter to a town-hall meeting Dec. 10. A group of speakers will address general issues on nuclear safety, the health effects of power-line magnetic fields, and environmental problems associated with nuclear plants. `POSSIBLE CARCINOGEN'

A group of activists is raising concerns over two new reactors at Turkey Point while Florida Power & Light assures residents that the nuclear plant is safe. Over the past year, a chorus of concern about Florida Power & Light's push to expand its Turkey Point facility has steadily grown louder.

A group of activists is raising concerns over two new reactors at Turkey Point while Florida Power & Light assures residents that the nuclear plant is safe. Over the past year, a chorus of concern about Florida Power & Light's push to expand its Turkey Point facility has steadily grown louder.

"Progress Energy is asking the Tampa Tribune to retract a two-paragraph brief that ran on page 6B of its print editions, which said the utility company had plans to scrap development of its nuclear power plant after state regulators last week rejected its $500 million rate increase request.Download Utility reaction to rate hike rejection1 The article sparked a protest from Sen. Mike Fasano, who sent a letter to Public Service Commission Chairwoman Nancy Argenziano asking the PSC to demand that the company refund to customers the money it had already collected from customers to pay for development of the new nuclear plants. "Since Progress Energy was allowed to raise rates last year and previously for advance nuclear cost recovery, it only seems fair that the customers who paid those rates should be given a refund for a project that is no longer in the works,'' Fasano wrote. Download Argenziano24a.ltr"

"* To suspend $10 bln in investment over next 5 years * Cites deteriorating regulatory environment in Florida * Progress Energy sees similar regulatory action * FPL shares off 3 pct, Progress shares edge up - FPL Group Inc, owner of the largest utility in Florida, said it would halt spending on projects in the state representing about $10 billion of investment over the next five years because of a deteriorating regulatory environment. The Florida Public Service Commission on Wednesday unanimously rejected FPL's request to raise its base rates by 30 percent, or $1.3 billion, and instead allowed an increase of $75.4 million."

"Three Nuclear Regulatory Commissioners have upheld the July 2009 ruling by a panel of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) that is hearing a challenge to two new Progress Energy Florida (PEF) nuclear reactors in Levy County, Florida. Three organizations, the Ecology Party of Florida, Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) and the Green Party of Florida are representing the interests of members living within a 50 mile radius of the proposed new nuclear site, located in the Florida Nature Coast less than 10 miles from the existing PEF Crystal River Nuclear Power Station. The Levy County reactors are projected to cost $17 billion. The landmark ruling, handed down on Thursday, January 7 in response to an appeal by PEF, affirms that the ASLB will hear very broad concerns raised by the Intervening groups, including impacts of a new nuclear plant on ground and surface waters, endangered species, and environmental and safety issues of generating so-called "low-level" radioactive waste that currently has no off-site disposal option. "

"Residents of this historic southern Manatee County community voiced their discontent and lack of confidence Wednesday in a proposed 50-year plan to clean up contaminated groundwater under their homes. At a meeting in the Mount Tabor Missionary Baptist Church on Tallevast Road, more than 50 residents gathered to hear representatives of the Lockheed Martin Corp. explain the Remedial Action Plan submitted to Florida environmental regulators. When Doug Foster, a consultant with the engineering firm Camp Dresser & McKee, hired to develop the plan, flashed a slide indicating the plan would take at least 50 years, the audience began to rumble and snicker. "