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Participating in nuclear power hearing can be a 'learn-as-you-go' process Joseph Wojcicki concedes his last name can twist tongues. "It's Voo-tess-kee," the West Columbia man says with a thick Polish accent. "But you can call me 'Joe the Intervenor.'" A retired Midlands Tech math teacher, Wojcicki took part as a citizen intervenor in the Public Service Commission's almost three-week-long hearing on SCE&G's $9.8 billion plan to add two reactor units to the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station at Jenkinsville. Intervenors, 12/22/08 Intervenors Pamela Greenlaw, bottom left, Meira Warshauer, center, and Joseph Wojcicki, right, listen to attorney Bob Guild, standing left, as he enters an objection to secret building cost amounts during the hearing before the commission. The intervenors sit at the table with lawyers for other groups challenging the nuclear plan. They represent the consumer. - Tim Dominick/tdominick@thestate. /The State Intervenors, 12/22/08 Lay-people known as "intervenors" question witnesses at the Public Service Commission hearing on SCE&G's plan to build two reactors at its plant in Jenkinsville. - Tim Dominick/tdominick@thestate. /The State Intervenors, 12/22/08 About a half-dozen lay-people known as "intervenors" are questioning witnesses at the Public Service Commission hearing on SCE&G's plan to build two reactors at its plant in Jenkinsville. - Tim Dominick/tdominick@thestate. /The State Intervenors, 12/22/08 Intervenors Pamela Greenlaw, bottom left, Meira Warshauer, center, and Joseph Wojcicki, right, listen to attorney Bob Guild, standing left, as he enters an objection to secret building cost amounts during the hearing before the commission. - Tim Dominick/tdominick@thestate. /The State Intervenors, 12/22/08 Intervenor Joseph Wojcicki looks through documents during the hearing before the commission. - Tim Dominick/tdominick@thestate. /The State Intervenors, 12/22/08 Citizen intervenor Meira Warshauer, left, asks a que

Question: When is a plan not a plan? Answer: When it is Atomic Energy of Canada Limited's "cleanup" proposal for the town of Port Hope, Ontario. At a packed hearing last week, Canada's nuclear regulator, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, listened to presentations on the proposal from its staff, AECL, private citizens, and volunteer organizations - roughly 100 presentations in all, spanning 17 hours of hearing time. AECL is asking for a licence for a low level radioactive waste site. The site will house approximately 1.5 million cubic metres of nuclear and industrial waste, collected from the community over the course of the next decade. The proposal was approved in 2007, following a six-year environmental assessment. The ensuing licensing process should have been fairly straight forward - hash out a few technical details and get shovels in the ground.

Question: When is a plan not a plan? Answer: When it is Atomic Energy of Canada Limited's "cleanup" proposal for the town of Port Hope, Ontario. At a packed hearing last week, Canada's nuclear regulator, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, listened to presentations on the proposal from its staff, AECL, private citizens, and volunteer organizations - roughly 100 presentations in all, spanning 17 hours of hearing time. AECL is asking for a licence for a low level radioactive waste site. The site will house approximately 1.5 million cubic metres of nuclear and industrial waste, collected from the community over the course of the next decade. The proposal was approved in 2007, following a six-year environmental assessment. The ensuing licensing process should have been fairly straight forward - hash out a few technical details and get shovels in the ground.

Question: When is a plan not a plan? Answer: When it is Atomic Energy of Canada Limited's "cleanup" proposal for the town of Port Hope, Ontario. At a packed hearing last week, Canada's nuclear regulator, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, listened to presentations on the proposal from its staff, AECL, private citizens, and volunteer organizations - roughly 100 presentations in all, spanning 17 hours of hearing time. AECL is asking for a licence for a low level radioactive waste site. The site will house approximately 1.5 million cubic metres of nuclear and industrial waste, collected from the community over the course of the next decade. The proposal was approved in 2007, following a six-year environmental assessment. The ensuing licensing process should have been fairly straight forward - hash out a few technical details and get shovels in the ground.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission today announced the opportunity to request a hearing on an application to renew the operating license for the Cooper Nuclear Station for an additional 20 years. Cooper is a boiling water reactor located 23 miles south of Nebraska City, Neb. The plant owner, Nebraska Public Power District, submitted the renewal application Sept. 30. The current operating license for Cooper expires Jan. 18, 2014. The NRC staff has determined that the application contains sufficient information for the agency to formally "docket," or file, the application and begin its safety and environmental reviews. Docketing the application does not preclude requesting additional information as the reviews proceed, nor does it indicate whether the Commission will renew the license. A notice of opportunity to request a hearing has been published in the Federal Register, and the deadline for requesting a hearing is March 2, 2009. Petitions may be filed by anyone whose interest may be affected by the license renewal and who wishes to participate as a party in the proceeding. A request for a hearing and a petition for leave to intervene must be filed through the NRC's E-Filing system. Anyone wishing to file should contact the Office of the Secretary by e-mail at HEARINGDOCKET@nrc.gov at least five days before the filing deadline to request a digital ID certificate and allow for the creation of an electronic docket. More information on the hearing process is available on the NRC Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/regulatory/adjudicatory/hearing.html.

"The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) announces that, at the request of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL), the date of the one-day public hearing to consider AECL's application for the restart of the National Research Universal (NRU) Reactor is being rescheduled. The hearing was initially scheduled to take place on June 28, 2010. Date: July 5, 2010 Place: CNSC Public Hearing Room 14th floor, 280 Slater Street Ottawa, Ontario Time: as set by the agenda published prior to the hearing date The public hearing will be webcasted live on the Internet via the CNSC Web site and archived for a period of 90 days. The public was invited to submit comments on AECL's request until June 23, 2010. This time limit is not being extended. All submissions are available to the public upon request to the Secretariat."

The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB), an independent judicial arm of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, will provide a live video stream of the first day of its hearing concerning the NRC's Enforcement Order against former Davis-Besse employee David Geisen. The live video stream is part of an ASLB pilot program examining how information technology can enhance the public's ability to observe the Board's activities. The video stream, which will be archived for 90 days, will be available at this Web site: http://www.visualwebcaster.com/event.asp?id=53643. The video, scheduled to start Dec. 8 shortly before 9:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, will be available in Windows Media and QuickTime formats. The hearing will begin Dec. 8 at 9:30 a.m. and could last the entire week; the commencement of the hearing on subsequent days will be determined during the course of the hearing. The public may observe the proceeding in person, except for any closed sessions, in the ALSB Hearing Facility, Room T-3B45 of the agency's Two White Flint North building, at 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Md.

"Canada's nuclear watchdog is fast-tracking a request for a hearing to consider reopening the country's aging medical isotope-producing reactor. Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. made a request Friday for a formal hearing in hopes of restarting medical isotope production at the Ontario plant by mid-summer. The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission has not yet scheduled a hearing, which is expected to take one day, but it said the date would be announced quickly and normal hearing rules will be tossed aside to deal with what it calls a priority case. "

"A Nuclear Regulatory Commission legal panel is hearing arguments in Las Vegas about whether the federal Energy Department can withdraw its application to build a national nuclear waste dump in Nevada. Local officials say a decision by the NRC's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board and Construction Authorization Board will be pivotal to the fate of the Yucca Mountain project. A public hearing was expected to take all day Thursday at an NRC hearing facility near McCarran International Airport. The panel of administrative judges are also considering which petitioners can be admitted as parties in licensing proceedings, and how millions of documents generated during more than 25 years of study could be archived, maintained and preserved."

"The Nuclear Regulatory Commission today announced the opportunity for public participation in a hearing on a Combined License (COL) application for two new reactors at the Turkey Point site near Homestead, Fla. Florida Power & Light submitted the COL application June 30, 2009, seeking approval to build and operate two AP1000 reactors at the site, approximately 40 miles south of Miami. The Turkey Point application, minus proprietary or security-related details, is available on the NRC Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/col/turkey-point.html. The NRC staff has determined that the application contains sufficient information for the agency to formally "docket," or file, the application and begin its technical review. Docketing the application does not preclude additional requests for information as the review proceeds; nor does it indicate whether the Commission will issue the license. The docket numbers established for this application are 52-040 and 52-041. The NRC has issued in the Federal Register a notice of opportunity to intervene in the proceeding on the application, and the deadline for requesting a hearing is Aug. 17. Petitions may be filed by anyone whose interest may be affected by the proposed license, who wishes to participate as a party in the proceeding, and who meets criteria set out in the NRC's regulations. Background information regarding the hearing process was provided by NRC staff to members of the public during an April 2009 meeting in Homestead."

"The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has accepted for review the Early Site Permit (ESP) application for the Victoria County site near Victoria, Texas. The applicant, Exelon Nuclear Texas Holdings, submitted the application and associated information on March 25. The application, minus proprietary and security-related details, is available on the NRC Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/esp/victoria.html. Exelon's ESP application seeks resolution of safety and environmental issues for the site, approximately 13 miles south of Victoria. Docketing the Victoria County application does not indicate whether the Commission will approve or reject the request. The NRC has established docket number 52-042 for this application, and the agency will subsequently publish a notice of opportunity to intervene in the required adjudicatory hearing. Petitions to intervene in a hearing may be filed within 60 days of the notice, by anyone whose interest may be affected by the proposed license and who wishes to participate as a party in the proceeding. More information on the hearing process is available on the NRC Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/regulatory/adjudicatory/hearing.html. "

"An expert hearing was held at the European Parliament earlier this month regarding the forthcoming EU Directive on Nuclear Waste. Different approaches to nuclear waste management policies by EU member states were discussed in order to shed light on what a strong and comprehensive directive should contain. Veronica Webster, 15/06-2010 The attendees heard that an all-encompassing definition of nuclear waste must be included in the forthcoming directive, as well as some of the necessary characteristics of acceptable geological repositories for nuclear waste. The hearing was co-hosted by Anni Podimata, a Greek socialist and Rebecca Harms, a German green member of the European Parliament. The hearing was also held in cooperation with green NGO Friends of the Earth Europe. "

Most of the 20 speakers at last week's public hearing in Richmond on a proposed uranium mine in Southside Virginia had the same talking points. They're worried about the mine's effect on the environment and particularly the surrounding streams and groundwater. Members of a legislative panel will hear those identical concerns when they travel next month to Pittsylvania County, home to an estimated 60,000 tons of uranium, for a second hearing on the issue. So far, no forum has been scheduled for Virginia Beach, which gets its drinking water from Lake Gaston, located downstream from the mine site.

Cogema Mining, Inc.; Establishment of Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Pursuant to delegation by the Commission dated December 29, 1972, published in the Federal Register, 37 FR 28,710 (1972), and the Commission's regulations, see 10 CFR 2.104, 2.300, 2.303, 2.309, 2.311, 2.318, and 2.321, notice is hereby given that an Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (Board) is being established to preside over the following proceeding: Cogema Mining, Inc. Irigaray and Christensen Ranch Facilities (License Renewal for Source Materials License SUA-1341) This Board is being established in response to requests for hearing that were filed pursuant to a Notice of Request to Renew Source Materials License SUA-1341, COGEMA Mining, Inc., Irigaray and Christensen Ranch Facilities, Johnson and Campbell Counties, WY, and Opportunity to Request a Hearing dated February 9, 2009 (74 FR 6436). Requests for hearing dated April 10, 2009 were filed by: (1) The Powder River Basin Resource Council; and (2) the Oglala Delegation of the Great Sioux Nation Treaty Council (Oglala Delegation), which also seeks ``leave to make filings by e-mail due to problems with the NRC's EIE document system encountered by [petitioner's counsel] due to computer system and software incompatibilities'' (Pet. for Hearing at 125)

A fight over whether to build two generating units at the Comanche Peak nuclear power plant near Glen Rose will be centered in the Hood County seat of Granbury six days from now. A panel of the federal Atomic Safety and Licensing Board will hear oral arguments beginning at 9 a.m. Wednesday on a request by opponents of the plant's expansion that they be granted intervener status. If they are successful, a public hearing would be held regarding their opposition to Luminant Generation's application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a license to operate the two units. The arguments will be heard in the jury selection room of the Hood County Justice Center, 1200 Pearl St. If necessary, the hearing will continue the next morning.

"The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board handling the Diablo Canyon nuclear reactor license renewal proceeding will hear oral argument May 26 on the request by the San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace (SLOMFP) for an evidentiary hearing. The Board is an independent quasi-judicial arm of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that decides legal challenges to applications and proposed licensing actions by the NRC. The oral argument will be presented by the lawyers representing SLOMFP, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), and NRC staff. The session will begin at 8:30 a.m. PDT and may extend into the evening, if necessary, on Wednesday, May 26, in the San Luis Obispo County Board Chambers of the County Government Center, 1055 Monterey St. in San Luis Obispo. Although the oral argument will be limited to the lawyers for the litigants, the session is open to the public for observation. Early arrival is suggested to allow for security screening for all members of the public interested in attending. NRC policy prohibits signs, banners, posters or displays in the hearing room. PG&E submitted a license renewal application on Nov. 24, 2009, seeking a 20-year renewal of the operating licenses for Diablo Canyon Power Plant Units 1 and 2. The units are located approximately 12 miles southwest of San Luis Obispo. The Atomic Safety & Licensing Board is considering whether SLOMFP should be granted intervenor status in the proceeding. SLOMFP has submitted contentions challenging five aspects of PG&E's application, along with a request to waive two NRC regulations so as to allow the admission of two of the contentions. All parties have filed extensive legal briefs on these issues. On May 26th the Board will listen to the lawyers' arguments and ask them questions concerning the proposed contentions and waiver requests. Documents related to the Diablo Canyon license renewal application are available on the NRC Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applications/diabl

An effort to ban the importation of foreign nuclear waste has been given new life with a hearing set for next week in Washington, D.C. The hearing for the Radioactive Import Deterrence Act was scheduled for Oct. 16. The bill's sponsors, U.S. Reps. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, and Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., drew it up in response to EnergySolutions Inc.'s plan to import up to 20,000 tons of low-level radioactive waste from Italy through the ports of Charleston, S.C., or New Orleans. After processing in Tennessee, about 1,600 tons would be disposed of at EnergySolutions' facility in Utah.

An effort to ban the importation of foreign nuclear waste has been given new life with a hearing set for next week in Washington, D.C. The hearing for the Radioactive Import Deterrence Act was scheduled for Oct. 16. The bill's sponsors, U.S. Reps. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, and Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., drew it up in response to EnergySolutions Inc.'s plan to import up to 20,000 tons of low-level radioactive waste from Italy through the ports of Charleston, S.C., or New Orleans. After processing in Tennessee, about 1,600 tons would be disposed of at EnergySolutions' facility in Utah.

"A public hearing on Duke Energy Carolinas' plan for a third cooling water pond at its proposed Lee Nuclear Station quickly devolved into pro- and anti-plant factions talking past each other. Not that the people did not have important things to say. But in the two-hour hearing Thursday night in Gaffney, S.C., only a few of the presentations involved the proposed pond and the plant's impact on the Broad River, which will provide the cooling water. Instead, the discussion tended to be about the pros and cons of nuclear energy. Supporters contended Duke has a strong nuclear safety record and the plant is needed to provide power and jobs for the Carolinas."

The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel's Pre-License Application Presiding Officer (PAPO) Board will hold a case management meeting Dec. 2 in Rockville, Md., to discuss how classified information will be protected and handled during adjudicatory hearings on the proposed high-level waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev. Representatives from the Department of Energy, the state of Nevada, and the NRC staff will attend the meeting at the ASLB hearing room at NRC headquarters, Two White Flint North, 11545 Rockville Pike, at 1 p.m. Eastern Time. Other potential parties who have filed a notice of appearance may participate either in person or by video hookup in the NRC's Las Vegas Hearing Facility, Pacific Enterprise Plaza, Building 1, 3250 Pepper Lane, Las Vegas, beginning at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. Members of the public are welcome to observe the meeting at either location. The meeting will also be Webcast on the Internet at http://www.visualwebcaster.com/event.asp?id=53642.

Georgia regulators will begin hearings November 3 on whether to allow construction of two Westinghouse AP1000s at the Vogtle nuclear power plant site. Under state law, new power generation cannot be added in Georgia without a certificate of public convenience and necessity issued by the PSC. The Georgia Public Service Commission is expected to vote on the proposal March 17. Georgia Power is the majority owner of the two existing Vogtle reactors, which are operated by Southern Nuclear Operating Co. Both companies are subsidiaries of Southern Co. The PSC will hold a public hearing November 3 on the additional units. Testimony, including from Georgia Power -- which would also be majority owner of the new units, if built -- will continue November 5-7. Hearings and testimony from staff and intervenors will be held from January 12?16 and rebuttal testimony will be received from Georgia Power February 9?13. Southern Nuclear filed an application with NRC in March for a combined construction permit-operating license for the new units.

A committee representing commercial and industrial customers wants state regulators to delay hearings on South Carolina Electric & Gas Co.'s request to build two new nuclear reactors. The South Carolina Energy Users Committee says it needs more time to prepare for the hearings. The Public Service Commission has scheduled hearings in October.

After protests, NRC agrees to reschedule hearing slated for point equidistant - and far - from Diablo Canyon and San Onofre plants Bowing to local pressure, the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission has agreed to reschedule a hearing to take public comment on generic rules governing the renewal of nuclear power plant licenses. The meeting had been set for Tuesday evening in Westlake Village, a Los Angeles County town near Thousand Oaks. However, local elected officials and activists argued that San Luis Obispo County residents were unlikely to attend a meeting held about 160 miles away. The agency has agreed to postpone the hearing to an undetermined later date and location, said Roger Hannah, NRC spokesman.