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Which sectors will perform which functions in the future in the energy industry is still being discussed, but the Department of Energy is now becomming a major investor in the renewable energy industry. So, now the U.S. government is in the auto industry, particulary advancing EVs; and also it is in the banking, investment banking, home finance, and insurance markets. Conditions are aligning to create a fundamental shift in how energy is financed, generated, transmitted, and consumed in both businesses and residences in America. Since the government has chosen to lead the way into the transition, it pays to listen to the process they have established for applicants and how they organize outgoing funds here in the initial buildout phase.

Visitors at Three Mile Island are asked not to photograph guard towers, vehicle barriers and other security measures. Yet these items are easily seen on the Internet through such sites as Microsoft's maps.live.com, now bing.com/maps. Scott Portzline, a consultant for the watchdog group Three Mile Island Alert, thinks this is a security issue. He has been monitoring sites like Google Earth, which bring satellite images to home computers, for several years. But he noticed that recently the level of detail has increased. The amount of detail on Microsoft's site "could show terrorists the quickest and best route to buildings," Portzline said.

For the first time in eight years, countries are contemplating giving nuclear stations carbon credits in the run-up to the crucial world summit on climate change in Copenhagen in December. This could greatly boost prospects of a global nuclear expansion. Draft text currently under negotiation at climate change talks by 182 countries in Bonn, Germany, includes an option to make nuclear facilities eligible for funding from 2012 under two schemes meant to help poorer countries develop low-carbon technologies: the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint Implementation. Nuclear power was excluded from these schemes under the Kyoto protocol in 2001, after opposition from European and developing countries. Now the nuclear industry is hoping to overturn that, and open the door for funding to flow to nuclear stations across the developing world.

U.S. Rep. Harry Teague, D-N.M., announced in a press release today that $172 million in stimulus money will be spent at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, known as WIPP, in southern New Mexico near Carlsbad. "The Recovery funding that will go to WIPP will create hundreds of jobs in southeastern New Mexico and help jumpstart the economy in a responsible way," said Teague. "The work that WIPP does to prepare and store nuclear waste is a unique and vital asset to our nation." WIPP is federal government's only nuclear waste repository, and it recently reached its 10-year anniversary.

"Researchers at the National Institute of Geological Sciences (NIGS) in the University of the Philippines have discovered a thrust fault less than 200 meters southwest of the derelict Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP). "It's at the tip of Napot Point," said NIGS professor Alfredo Mahar Francisco Lagmay. "At least from the papers I have been researching on, I have never seen a description of this fault." According to Lagmay, he and his team have been scouting for exposed faults such as this one for the past few months through maps and satellite images."

Big firms drop support for US climate bill * BP America, Caterpillar and Conoco end support * Opponents claim climate law is dead in the water Barack Obama suffered a setback to his green energy agenda as three firms drop out of a coalition that had been pressing for climate change laws. Photograph: Brian Kersey/Getty Images Barack Obama suffered a setback to his green energy agendatoday when three major corporations - including BP America - dropped out of a coalition of business groups and environmental organisations that had been pressing Congress to pass climate change legislation. The defections by ConocoPhillips, America's third largest oil company, Caterpillar, which makes heavy equipment, and BP rob the US Climate Action Partnership of three powerful voices for lobbying Congress to pass climate change law. They also undercut Obama's efforts to cast his climate and energy agenda as a pro-business, job-creation plan."

"The United Steelworkers union has complained that a government-backed plan to build two nuclear reactors in Georgia will create jobs overseas that should go to American workers. Skip to next paragraph Enlarge This Image Erik S. Lesser/European Pressphoto Agency The Vogtle nuclear power plant in Waynesboro, Ga. A new project would create construction jobs at the plant. Construction vehicles at the Vogtle nuclear power plant in Waynesboro, Ga. Southern Company hopes to operate new reactors. President Obama announced the government's approval of an $8.3 billion loan guarantee for the construction of the reactors on Tuesday, saying that one benefit of the project would be to create jobs. But in a letter sent to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the international president of the union, Leo W. Gerard, said that he was concerned about "the potential foreign sourcing of components for these reactors," which he said "limits our nation's ability to address our unacceptably high unemployment rate.""

"Studsvik of Sweden has signed a contract with Finland's Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) for the dismantling and metal recycling of old steam generators from the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant. Studsvik-steam generator A steam generator for treatment at Studsvik (Image: Studsvik) Studsvik's facility near Nyköping, Sweden, melts metal scrap, such as stainless steel, carbon steel, copper, aluminium or lead. Melting reduces the volume and weight of the waste, resulting in reduced costs for interim on-site storage and final disposal. The end-product is metal ingots, which can either be immediately free-released as conventional scrap metal or released after a period of decay storage. Residual products (slag, sorted material, cutting and blasting residues and dust from the ventilation filters) and ingots that cannot be free-released are returned to the customer."

"Nearly twenty years ago I co-wrote Nukespeak, a cultural history of the selling of nuclear technology for both peaceful and military purposes. My co-authors and I dedicated the book to George Orwell, whose literary creation of 'newspeak' in the classic novel 1984 illustrated the power to control reality through the adroit manipulation of language. The euphemisms, obfuscations and omissions employed by nuclear boosters throughout both industry and government - what one writer has called the "linguistic cosmetics" used "to avoid communicating uncomfortable or threatening thoughts so that the nuclear industry can control the images and perceptions of nuclear power" - were so clearly reminiscent of Orwellian thought control that the homage seemed, if anything, perhaps a little too obvious."

"HNN has confirmed through publicly available, unclassified documents that the workers at the formerly 'secret' Huntington Pilot Plant/Reduction Pilot Plant (HPP/RPP) on the INCO campus were exposed to [at least] "trace quantities" of Neptunium and Plutonium. The Huntington facility received nickel from reactors at Hansford and Savannah River, as well as the Paducah and Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plants. The Portsmouth, Ohio, plant is located in Piketon, Ohio. Vina Colley, a compensated Portsmouth (Piketon) Diffusion Plant former atomic worker and activist for compensation of workers, believes that plutonium and other residue on materials sent to Huntington for recycling and decontamination eventually made the Huntington plant contaminated beyond clean up. "

With nuclear energy, uranium atoms split inside a reactor, and radiation heats water to its boiling point creating steam to spin a giant turbine. It all seems like ingenious, efficient, and clean energy production. So where's the mess? Now consider plutonium, a horribly carcinogenic and highly fissionable substance, radioactive for more than half a million years. If exposed to air, it will ignite. Like little pieces of confetti, very fine plutonium particles will disperse after ignition. A single particle -- like talc, to give you some perspective -- can give you lung cancer. In the words of Helen Caldicott, M.D.: "Hypothetically, if you could take one pound of plutonium and could put a speck of it in the lungs of every human being, you would kill every man, woman, and child on earth" -- not immediately, but over time "from lung cancer," Caldicott explains.

With nuclear energy, uranium atoms split inside a reactor, and radiation heats water to its boiling point creating steam to spin a giant turbine. It all seems like ingenious, efficient, and clean energy production. So where's the mess? Now consider plutonium, a horribly carcinogenic and highly fissionable substance, radioactive for more than half a million years. If exposed to air, it will ignite. Like little pieces of confetti, very fine plutonium particles will disperse after ignition. A single particle -- like talc, to give you some perspective -- can give you lung cancer. In the words of Helen Caldicott, M.D.: "Hypothetically, if you could take one pound of plutonium and could put a speck of it in the lungs of every human being, you would kill every man, woman, and child on earth" -- not immediately, but over time "from lung cancer," Caldicott explains.

Fire broke out in a chemical laboratory near India's financial capital Mumbai. The incident that took two lives and left one person injured happened in a lab at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre on December 30th. According to authorities fire broke out on the third floor of the lab at the research centre and the dead are said to be the research students who couldn't escape the laboratory in time. Officials have ruled out any radioactive leakage but incident has many worried about the safety of the Indian Nuclear program.

Fire broke out in a chemical laboratory near India's financial capital Mumbai. The incident that took two lives and left one person injured happened in a lab at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre on December 30th. According to authorities fire broke out on the third floor of the lab at the research centre and the dead are said to be the research students who couldn't escape the laboratory in time. Officials have ruled out any radioactive leakage but incident has many worried about the safety of the Indian Nuclear program.

'We don't think Utah should be the garbage dump for the rest of the world,' leaders say. The community-building Alliance for Unity sees no reason for Utah to become a world dumping ground for low-level radioactive waste, and its members are urging state leaders to do what's necessary to prevent that from happening. "We must do all in our power to protect Utah's image as a beautiful, safe and healthy place," said the statement, approved Dec. 8. "As we do so, we protect not only our economic future but also the well-being of our children and future generations unborn."

'We don't think Utah should be the garbage dump for the rest of the world,' leaders say. The community-building Alliance for Unity sees no reason for Utah to become a world dumping ground for low-level radioactive waste, and its members are urging state leaders to do what's necessary to prevent that from happening. "We must do all in our power to protect Utah's image as a beautiful, safe and healthy place," said the statement, approved Dec. 8. "As we do so, we protect not only our economic future but also the well-being of our children and future generations unborn."

NASA is testing a concept for powering future lunar and Mars bases that involve a nuclear power source the size of a trash can attached to an engine based on 19th Century technology called the Stirling Engine. The testing, using a non nuclear power source, is taking place at the Marshal Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. According to NASA, "For this particular test series, the Marshall reactor simulator was linked to a Stirling engine, developed by NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. The Stirling engine, named for 19th-century industrialist and inventor Robert Stirling, converts heat into electricity.

NASA is testing a concept for powering future lunar and Mars bases that involve a nuclear power source the size of a trash can attached to an engine based on 19th Century technology called the Stirling Engine. The testing, using a non nuclear power source, is taking place at the Marshal Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. According to NASA, "For this particular test series, the Marshall reactor simulator was linked to a Stirling engine, developed by NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. The Stirling engine, named for 19th-century industrialist and inventor Robert Stirling, converts heat into electricity.

New signs will be posted at the South Texas Project nuclear power plant, as a new law takes effect making it a federal crime to carry a gun into a nuclear plant. While security has always been tight, with armed guards manning metal detectors at the heavily fortified main gates, it has never actually been against federal law to pack heat at the nation's 102 nuclear power plants until now. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said plants had to rely on local prosecutors to accept "Carrying a Prohibitied Weapon" charge, which was unlikely since there was such a grey area in the law. The new law now allows the FBI and federal prosecutors to arrest and charge anyone found with a gun at those metal detectors.

New signs will be posted at the South Texas Project nuclear power plant, as a new law takes effect making it a federal crime to carry a gun into a nuclear plant. While security has always been tight, with armed guards manning metal detectors at the heavily fortified main gates, it has never actually been against federal law to pack heat at the nation's 102 nuclear power plants until now. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said plants had to rely on local prosecutors to accept "Carrying a Prohibitied Weapon" charge, which was unlikely since there was such a grey area in the law. The new law now allows the FBI and federal prosecutors to arrest and charge anyone found with a gun at those metal detectors.

The Hanford nuclear site was established in 1943 in the town of Hanford, Washington along the Columbia River. Plutonium manufactured at the site was used in the nuclear bomb that was detonated over Nagasaki, Japan. The plant's waste disposal procedures were woefully inadequate. To this day, millions of gallons of high-level radioactive waste remains at the site and comprises the largest Hanford decomission activities 1964-71environmental clean up in Uited States history since being decommissioned between 1964 and 1971. On September 30, 2009: U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) a senior member of the Energy and Water Appropriations Committee, announced that the final version of a spending bill that funds Hanford cleanup will include more than $87 million more for cleanup than the President's Fiscal Year 2010 budget request. Murray, who was part of the Conference Committee and Appropriations Subcommittee that crafted the final legislation, fought for the inclusion of the additional funding after the House version of the bill cut Hanford funding to $51.8 million below the President's budget request. The additional funding secured by Murray will go primarily toward groundwater cleanup and K Basin sludge treatment and disposal.

The Hanford nuclear site was established in 1943 in the town of Hanford, Washington along the Columbia River. Plutonium manufactured at the site was used in the nuclear bomb that was detonated over Nagasaki, Japan. The plant's waste disposal procedures were woefully inadequate. To this day, millions of gallons of high-level radioactive waste remains at the site and comprises the largest Hanford decomission activities 1964-71environmental clean up in Uited States history since being decommissioned between 1964 and 1971. On September 30, 2009: U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) a senior member of the Energy and Water Appropriations Committee, announced that the final version of a spending bill that funds Hanford cleanup will include more than $87 million more for cleanup than the President's Fiscal Year 2010 budget request. Murray, who was part of the Conference Committee and Appropriations Subcommittee that crafted the final legislation, fought for the inclusion of the additional funding after the House version of the bill cut Hanford funding to $51.8 million below the President's budget request. The additional funding secured by Murray will go primarily toward groundwater cleanup and K Basin sludge treatment and disposal.

FOX 13 with partner Utahpolicy.com asked republican and democratic insiders whether energy solutions should be allowed to bring 10,000 additional tons of depleted uranium and radioactive waste from Italy to the Tooele County Facility. Energy consultant, Jeff Hartley said, "Energy is the most regulated industry and of that industry, nuclear is the most regulated and I have every confidence that if those products posed any type of threat, they wouldn't let them in the state." FOX 13 and Utahpolicy.com asked 50 Republican and 50 Democratic politicians, activists and lobbyists and other insiders about the Uranium Policy. Both sides claim the science and the facts but the issues about Italian waste coming to Utah, 67 percent of Republican insiders say take it, especially because it comes with millions in shared profits for tax payers. 71 percent of Democrats say to keep it out, believing it will make Utah less safe and hurt the State's image.

FOX 13 with partner Utahpolicy.com asked republican and democratic insiders whether energy solutions should be allowed to bring 10,000 additional tons of depleted uranium and radioactive waste from Italy to the Tooele County Facility. Energy consultant, Jeff Hartley said, "Energy is the most regulated industry and of that industry, nuclear is the most regulated and I have every confidence that if those products posed any type of threat, they wouldn't let them in the state." FOX 13 and Utahpolicy.com asked 50 Republican and 50 Democratic politicians, activists and lobbyists and other insiders about the Uranium Policy. Both sides claim the science and the facts but the issues about Italian waste coming to Utah, 67 percent of Republican insiders say take it, especially because it comes with millions in shared profits for tax payers. 71 percent of Democrats say to keep it out, believing it will make Utah less safe and hurt the State's image.

How careful do patients have to be following nuclear diagnostic tests, or after radiation for the treatment of cancer? How long do these nuclear materials remain in the body? And how long will this radiation remain detectable and transmissible to others? A report from Johns Hopkins University says that patients, following radiation, must be made aware that they can pass along radiation to others. But unlike cholesterol, this subject is rarely, if ever, discussed at the dinner table. The problem is that nuclear diagnostic tests are not going to go away or decrease. Rather, unless we develop other means of diagnosis, these tests will increase in the years ahead. During scans to detect thyroid disease, coronary troubles and cancer, radioactive drugs are either injected, taken orally or inhaled. Gamma cameras or positron emission tomography (PET) scanners can then detect this energy and use it to produce images of the body on a computer.

How careful do patients have to be following nuclear diagnostic tests, or after radiation for the treatment of cancer? How long do these nuclear materials remain in the body? And how long will this radiation remain detectable and transmissible to others? A report from Johns Hopkins University says that patients, following radiation, must be made aware that they can pass along radiation to others. But unlike cholesterol, this subject is rarely, if ever, discussed at the dinner table. The problem is that nuclear diagnostic tests are not going to go away or decrease. Rather, unless we develop other means of diagnosis, these tests will increase in the years ahead. During scans to detect thyroid disease, coronary troubles and cancer, radioactive drugs are either injected, taken orally or inhaled. Gamma cameras or positron emission tomography (PET) scanners can then detect this energy and use it to produce images of the body on a computer.

" ... we know that doing 62 million scans every year for a population of 300 million is not just unnecessary and wasteful, but it's dangerous. It's producing tens of thousands of cancers."-- Dr. Atul Gawande, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, on NPR's Morning Edition, Sept. 3, 2009 Medical CT and PET scanners expose at least four million North Americans to high doses of radiation each year, a new study shows. Around 400,000 of them get very high doses, higher than the maximum annual doses allowed for nuclear reactor or nuclear weapon site workers, or anyone working with radioactive materials, according to an article in The New England Journal of Medicine (August 27, 2009), "Exposure to Low-Dose Ionizing Radiation from Medical Imaging Procedures."

" ... we know that doing 62 million scans every year for a population of 300 million is not just unnecessary and wasteful, but it's dangerous. It's producing tens of thousands of cancers."-- Dr. Atul Gawande, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, on NPR's Morning Edition, Sept. 3, 2009 Medical CT and PET scanners expose at least four million North Americans to high doses of radiation each year, a new study shows. Around 400,000 of them get very high doses, higher than the maximum annual doses allowed for nuclear reactor or nuclear weapon site workers, or anyone working with radioactive materials, according to an article in The New England Journal of Medicine (August 27, 2009), "Exposure to Low-Dose Ionizing Radiation from Medical Imaging Procedures."

Aiken-area business leaders say the Savannah River Site may become the nation's high-level nuclear waste dumping ground if the federal government drops plans for a disposal site in Nevada. But the SRS Community Reuse Organization says shelving the Yucca Mountain site is a bad idea, and it says the nation now needs to figure out how to dispose of high-level nuclear waste. The group's mission supports job creation in the five counties around SRS, a 300-square mile nuclear weapons site. Aiken, Augusta and surrounding communities could suffer a bad image if the waste is left at SRS, making it harder to recruit industry, the reuse organization said in a statement Monday. It is calling for a special blue-ribbon panel to study options for disposing of waste.

Aiken-area business leaders say the Savannah River Site may become the nation's high-level nuclear waste dumping ground if the federal government drops plans for a disposal site in Nevada. But the SRS Community Reuse Organization says shelving the Yucca Mountain site is a bad idea, and it says the nation now needs to figure out how to dispose of high-level nuclear waste. The group's mission supports job creation in the five counties around SRS, a 300-square mile nuclear weapons site. Aiken, Augusta and surrounding communities could suffer a bad image if the waste is left at SRS, making it harder to recruit industry, the reuse organization said in a statement Monday. It is calling for a special blue-ribbon panel to study options for disposing of waste.