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To expand the use of clean and renewable energy sources and reduce America's dependence on foreign oil, Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced $41.9 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding for fuel cell technology. These efforts will accelerate the commercialization and deployment of fuel cells and will create jobs in fuel cell manufacturing, installation, maintenance, and support services. The new funding will improve the potential of fuel cells to provide power in stationary, portable and specialty vehicle applications, while cutting carbon emissions and broadening our nation's clean energy technology portfolio. "The investments we're making today will help us build a robust fuel cell manufacturing industry in the United States," said Secretary Chu. "Developing and deploying the next generation of fuel cells will not only create jobs - it will help our businesses become more energy efficient and productive. We are laying the foundation for a green energy economy."

Japan's Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant, built to extract plutonium from the spent fuel produced in Japan's nuclear reactors, continues to be plagued by technical difficulties that have pushed its start-up date for commercial operations to August this year. The plant in Rokkasho in northern Japan was out of action for six months from the end of 2008 due to problems in one of its vitrification facilities, a furnace that mixes high active liquid waste with molten glass to seal radioactive waste in steel canisters that can safely be buried in the ground. Attempts to restart the plant failed last November as problems with the glass melting process persisted. Then in January, 150 liters of high-level liquid radioactive waste leaked from pipes in the vitrification cell, forcing Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd. to postpone operations until August. The problems at Rokkasho, especially with extracting plutonium from spent nuclear fuel, are a blow to Japan's nuclear fuel-cycle program, whose goal is to reprocess and re-use recoverable resources from spent nuclear fuel to produce fuel for its power plants. In fact the commitment to a domestic program to increase energy and reduce nuclear waste by reprocessing spent fuel led to the creation of Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd.

Work to remove 16 million tons of radioactive waste away from the tourist town of Moab is about to go a little faster. The U.S. Department of Energy says it plans to double the amount of uranium tailings removed each day from the shores of the Colorado River. Right now, rail cars take about 2,800 tons of tailings a day to a dump site 30 miles away, where they're placed in specially designed cells. The DOE says a second train will be added in mid-August.

Work to remove 16 million tons of radioactive waste away from the tourist town of Moab is about to go a little faster. The U.S. Department of Energy says it plans to double the amount of uranium tailings removed each day from the shores of the Colorado River. Right now, rail cars take about 2,800 tons of tailings a day to a dump site 30 miles away, where they're placed in specially designed cells. The DOE says a second train will be added in mid-August.

Work to remove 16 million tons of radioactive waste away from the tourist town of Moab is about to go a little faster. The U.S. Department of Energy says it plans to double the amount of uranium tailings removed each day from the shores of the Colorado River. Right now, rail cars take about 2,800 tons of tailings a day to a dump site 30 miles away, where they're placed in specially designed cells. The DOE says a second train will be added in mid-August.

Energy Fuels is trying to alter its special use permit application. They want to open up the restriction, imposed by the Montrose Planning Commission, that states, "only raw uranium ore processed on-site may be stored in the tailings cells." The Montrose Daily Press reports that Energy Fuels CEO, George Glasier, brought up the proposed change for discussion late at the June 10 meeting, the second public hearing before the Planning Commission, after public comments were closed. By this time, many members of the public had already left. In testimony at the May 19 meeting in Nucla, before a large crowd in the high school gymnasium, Energy Fuels had publicly stated they had "no plans to process any material other than uranium ore," according to the Montrose Daily Press.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has approved Sequoyah Fuels' plan to dispose of contaminated materials in an on-site cell, a plan opposed by some residents near the Gore-area plant. John Ellis, Sequoyah Fuels president, said the NRC approved the plant's on-site disposal site Monday, "after 16 years and two months." The plant, which at one time processed uranium to use in fuel rods for nuclear power plants, was closed in 1993 after it was found that portions of the plant and groundwater were contaminated.

Creating about 25 shelf-feet of environmental documentation soon will result in a $28 million cleanup project at Sequoyah Fuels plant site near Gore. The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved a plan Monday to eliminate dangerous pollutants there. "We've got a cabinet with documents for the regulators," said John Ellis, Sequoyah Fuels president. "The eight-and-half-by-eleven (inch) ring binders would probably go for about 25 feet. It's everything from feasibility studies, to cell construction plans to site characterization and sampling data with annual groundwater reports - that itself is about 11/2 inches thick." Ellis started work at the facility in 1992, about a year before portions of it were found to be contaminated. After that finding, Sequoyah Fuels completely ceased processing uranium for fuel rods, its central operation there.

"Twenty concrete vaults sit side-by-side, like self-storage containers, next to the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant. These concrete tombs hold fuel cells, each containing 12-foot rods of enriched uranium. The rods are toxic and radioactive and were never intended to be stored here indefinitely, among Ocean County's 560,000 residents. Nationwide, about 70,000 tons of fuel rods wait for long-term storage - the very long term. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that spent fuel stored at New Jersey's four nuclear power plants will remain dangerous to humans for at least 10,000 years and harmful to the environment for 1 million years more. The industry generates about 2,200 tons more of the waste each year, and many companies have plans to expand nuclear power in the United States - PSEG wants to build a new plant in Salem County's Lower Alloways Creek Township."

Crews have taken the first bites out of the old uranium mill-tailings pile in Moab, Utah, beginning a yearslong process of transferring it far from the Colorado River. Abut 630,000 tons will have been moved from Moab to the disposal cell near Crescent Junction by year's end, said Wendee Ryan of the U.S. Department of Energy. The Energy Department and its contractor, Energy Solutions Corp., began moving the tailings pile this year. Moab residents and downstream water providers lobbied for years to have the 16-million-ton pile of mill tailings moved from its spot along the north bank of the Colorado River to a cell up against the Bookcliff Mountains at Crescent Junction that is deemed less likely to contaminate the river. The pile is being moved by train from Moab to the disposal cell 30 miles north.

Crews have taken the first bites out of the old uranium mill-tailings pile in Moab, Utah, beginning a yearslong process of transferring it far from the Colorado River. Abut 630,000 tons will have been moved from Moab to the disposal cell near Crescent Junction by year's end, said Wendee Ryan of the U.S. Department of Energy. The Energy Department and its contractor, Energy Solutions Corp., began moving the tailings pile this year. Moab residents and downstream water providers lobbied for years to have the 16-million-ton pile of mill tailings moved from its spot along the north bank of the Colorado River to a cell up against the Bookcliff Mountains at Crescent Junction that is deemed less likely to contaminate the river. The pile is being moved by train from Moab to the disposal cell 30 miles north.

EnergySolutions, Inc. (NYSE: ES) announced today that $22.9 million of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding has been allocated to the Moab UMTRA project. The total amount of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding for the Moab project is $108 million. The funding is being used to accelerate removal of uranium mill tailings away from the banks of the Colorado River. Thus far 160 jobs have been created this year as a result of Recovery Act funding. "We are thrilled that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has allocated sufficient funding to the Moab project to accelerate the cleanup of the site. This is great news for the community and for all who use the Colorado River and Lake Powell," said Steve Creamer, CEO and Chairman of EnergySolutions. The Recovery Act funding is being used to excavate, transport and dispose of additional mill tailings from the Moab site to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission-approved disposal cell at Crescent Junction. This additional work began in June and will continue through September 2011. Additionally, this additional funding supports increasing the size of the disposal cell as well as crushing, transporting, and placing final rock cover on the disposal cell. This portion of the work began in August and continues through September 2011. Sixteen million tons of uranium mill tailings will eventually be relocated 30 miles north of Moab to a location designated by the DOE.

EnergySolutions, Inc. (NYSE: ES) announced today that $22.9 million of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding has been allocated to the Moab UMTRA project. The total amount of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding for the Moab project is $108 million. The funding is being used to accelerate removal of uranium mill tailings away from the banks of the Colorado River. Thus far 160 jobs have been created this year as a result of Recovery Act funding. "We are thrilled that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has allocated sufficient funding to the Moab project to accelerate the cleanup of the site. This is great news for the community and for all who use the Colorado River and Lake Powell," said Steve Creamer, CEO and Chairman of EnergySolutions. The Recovery Act funding is being used to excavate, transport and dispose of additional mill tailings from the Moab site to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission-approved disposal cell at Crescent Junction. This additional work began in June and will continue through September 2011. Additionally, this additional funding supports increasing the size of the disposal cell as well as crushing, transporting, and placing final rock cover on the disposal cell. This portion of the work began in August and continues through September 2011. Sixteen million tons of uranium mill tailings will eventually be relocated 30 miles north of Moab to a location designated by the DOE.

"A big part of Hanford's clean-up effort is taking place right now. That's nine radioactive "hot cells" packed up in custom containers and sealed for disposal. It's work that's years in the making. KEPR was the only station there as workers rolled out another hot cell. Each can weigh up to 200 tons. It's just one reason the work is slow. It also moves slowly because what's inside the containers is very, very dangerous. Gary Snow runs the demolition part of today's project. "The purpose of the building was to do testing on radiating materials. And over the course of the building, there were numerous accidents that spread contaminations," said Snow. The hot cell rolled out Thursday was not rolled out in the morning because it was too windy. But once it is, it will go in a custom brown container and will be filled with a cement grout."

MONTROSE COUNTY - Energy Fuels Inc. has told the Montrose County Planning Commission it wants to process waste and process streams beyond uranium ore at their proposed Paradox Valley Pinon Ridge uranium mill. The announcement came after public testimony was concluded at a second hearing June 10 in Montrose for a special use permit. The proposed location of the new facility would be about 12 miles east of Paradox in the West End off of state Highway 90. In public testimony at the first hearing May 19, Energy Fuels representatives said that they had "no plans to process any material other than uranium ore." This appears to have been the sole public comment on the subject. Advertisement Montrose County Planning Director Steve White issued a memo to the planning commission prior to the June 10 hearing that proposed the specific condition that "only raw uranium ore processed on-site may be stored in the tailings cells."

ROBOTS are being employed to help clean up Dounreay. Decommissioning bosses have turned to specialist demolition firm Brokk to supply the remotely-operated equipment that can work inside cells and a pond where radiation levels are still too high for human access. The robots - mounted on tracks like a construction excavator and powered by electricity - have been fitted with specially-designed tools. They will go inside the cells and pond to cut up and package the vessels and pipes where more than 10,000 spent fuel elements were dissolved and reprocessed before the plant shut down in 1996.

"Signs of leakage have turned up at a nuclear waste storage cell since shortly after it was built two dozen years ago, an engineer and chemist has told regulators. And some of the federal regulators responsible for the site - almost from the beginning - seem to have been looking the other way, she said. Ann Roberts, a former Town of Porter resident, has recently questioned the Army Corps of Engineers on its monitoring of the radiological waste buried in a 10-acre cell in Lewiston. She believes the cell is leaking, and wants to know why officials deny it's happening, even though nuclear waste materials have been found outside of it. "

"Environmental regulators have approved another expansion of DOE's CERCLA landfill in Oak Ridge, which will push the disposal capacity to 2.2 million cubic yards and apparently be the final addition to the facility that opened in 2002. Cell 5, which brought the capacity to 1.7 million cubic yards (the previous cap under the original Record of Decision) was completed in May. Bechtel Jacobs Co., DOE's environmental manager in Oak Ridge, said work is already underway on Cell 6, which will be constructed by Avisco -- the same woman-owned company that built Cell 5."

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has released its proposed cleanup plan for the Northeast Churchrock Mine, kicking off a 30-day public comment period. Two public meetings to discuss the cleanup alternatives will be held at Pinedale Chapter House on June 23 and July 7. Both are scheduled 6-8 p.m. EPA's preference for addressing potential exposure risks from radium- and uranium-contaminated soils is to move all the contaminated waste material from the mine to an existing disposal cell at the United Nuclear Corp. mill site or to a newly constructed cell at the UNC mill facility. Any cell would be lined and capped and would receive long-term monitoring.

EnergySolutions Inc. opened its gates Sunday night to the latest shipment of depleted uranium from the Savannah River cleanup site in South Carolina. But the waste won't be buried just yet, under an agreement between Utah Gov. Gary Herbert and the U.S. Energy Department. Instead, the 5,408 drums of low-level radioactive waste will be unloaded tomorrow and placed in a specialized landfill cell for storage until Utah regulators have an opportunity to wrap up a proposed license change and a proposed regulation change. Dane Finerfrock, director of the Utah Division of Radiation Control, said his staff was on hand Monday to review the shipping papers for the waste and check the paperwork against the content of a sampling of drums. They will also be on hand to watch the drums be placed into the landfill cell, probably on Tuesday.

EnergySolutions Inc. opened its gates Sunday night to the latest shipment of depleted uranium from the Savannah River cleanup site in South Carolina. But the waste won't be buried just yet, under an agreement between Utah Gov. Gary Herbert and the U.S. Energy Department. Instead, the 5,408 drums of low-level radioactive waste will be unloaded tomorrow and placed in a specialized landfill cell for storage until Utah regulators have an opportunity to wrap up a proposed license change and a proposed regulation change. Dane Finerfrock, director of the Utah Division of Radiation Control, said his staff was on hand Monday to review the shipping papers for the waste and check the paperwork against the content of a sampling of drums. They will also be on hand to watch the drums be placed into the landfill cell, probably on Tuesday.

"Ten years have passed since Alexander Nikitin was acquitted charges of treason and espionage by the Russian Supreme Court, which could have landed him in a jail cell for 20 years if not earned him the death penalty. But for the confusion of those years in Russia, Nikitin believes that he would not have been acquitted of the same charges, however innocent he was, in Russia today. Nikitin here tells of the events that took four years, eleven months and eight days. Alexander Nikitin, 14/06-2010 - Translated by Charles Digges I was arrested very early on the morning of February 6th 1996. It read like a page from Stalin's Russia. Someone rang the door and ordered me to come to an interrogation by the FSB, the Russian intelligence service (and the successor to the KGB). They said that I not need to take anything with me and my family should not worry because I would soon come home again. But I did not come home. Instead I found myself in a jail cell. The FSB's accusations against me turned out to be very serious: high treason and espionage. I was at risk for the death penalty. "

Radioactive material is toxic because it creates ions - by stripping away electrons from atoms - when it reacts with biological molecules. These ions can form free radicals, which damage proteins, membranes, and nucleic acids. Free radicals damage components of the cells' membranes, proteins or genetic material by "oxidizing" them - the same chemical reaction that causes iron to rust. This is called "oxidative stress". Many forms of cancer are thought to be the result of reactions between free radicals and DNA, resulting in mutations that can adversely affect the cell cycle and potentially lead to malignancy.

Remote-handled transuranic waste resulting from decades of research activities at the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory is now being readied for safe, long-term storage out of state. Specially designed rooms called hot cells enable this environmental legacy to be safely sorted and packaged into containers with robotic arms, avoiding all human contact and supporting worker safety.

"As noted earlier this year, one of ORNL's oldest facilities was demolished in the first phase of Recovery Act cleanup work. After the wooden superstructure was demolished (by Clauss Construction under a subcontract to UT-Battelle), the World War II-era hot cells were "weather-proofed" to prevent the spread of rad contamination until they can be dismantled and removed. In the top photo, you can see that the hot cells -- where materials from the historic Graphite Reactor were once processed -- have been encased in a gray protective sealant, awaiting future work. One lab official reportedly referred to them as ORNL's "Stonehenge." "