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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.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will be in Brattleboro on April 16 to hold two public hearings to discuss the annual assessment of the 2008 safety performance of Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon. Both meetings are scheduled for the Ramada Hotel and Conference Center, at 1380 Putney Road. The first meeting will take place between 3:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., and will consist of a discussion between representatives from Entergy, which owns and operates Yankee, and NRC staff. Following the discussion there will be time for questions and comments from the general public. The second meeting, which starts at 7 p.m., will be a town hall-style meeting dedicated to answering questions from the public with respect to the plant's performance.

"In late January, Dmitry Dmitriyenko, governor of Russia's Far Northern region of Murmansk, on the Kola Peninsula, met with representatives of the region's public organisations, ethnic and cultural groups, and members of the Public Chamber. Altogether, Dmitriyenko heard some 20 people - but not an environmentalist among them. Below is an opinion piece by Alexei Pavlov, Director of Bellona's St. Petersburg offices. Alexey Pavlov, 16/02-2010 - Translated by Maria Kaminskaya For those who have observed the situation, however, the meeting hardly came as a surprise. As soon as Dmitriyenko took the reins in March 2009, replacing Yury Yevdokimov at the post of Governor of Murmansk Region, environmentalists found themselves struggling to get the new governor's attention. Dmitriyenko's predecessor used to meet with environmentalists regularly and would listen to their opinions even if they were contrary to his own. Dmitriyenko, by contrast, never responded to the meeting request extended last year by Severnaya Koalitsiya (Northern Coalition), a group uniting five environmental non-for-profit organisations: Bellona-Murmansk, a WWF branch operating in the Barents region, Murmansk's Priroda i Molodyozh (Nature and Youth), the Kola Centre for the Protection of Wildlife, and the Kola Ecological Centre Gaea. Last May, a couple of months after the governor took office, the coalition asked for a meeting to discuss the Kola Peninsula's most pressing environmental problems, but never received an answer. "

"The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will conduct two public meetings on Feb. 9, to discuss the agency's review process for the license renewal application for the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, located near San Luis Obispo, Calif. The meetings will be held at the Embassy Suites Hotel, 333 Madonna Road, San Luis Obispo. The first session will begin at 1:30 p.m. and continue until 4:30 p.m., as necessary. The second session, which will offer the same presentations as the earlier one, will get under way at 7 p.m. and continue until 10 p.m., as needed. Both meetings will begin with NRC staff presentations on how the license renewal review will be conducted. Following the presentations, attendees will be able to ask questions of the staff. The NRC will host an open house beginning one hour before each meeting during which people can talk informally with agency staff. Under NRC regulations, the original operating license for a nuclear power plant has a term of 40 years. The license may be renewed for up to an additional 20 years if NRC requirements are met. "

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will hold public meetings Tuesday, Jan. 27, in Winnsboro, S.C., and Wednesday, Jan. 28, in Blair, S.C., to discuss the environmental issues the agency should consider in reviewing a Combined License (COL) application for two new reactors proposed for the Summer site near Columbia, S.C. The NRC will meet with the public on Jan. 27 from 7 - 10 p.m. at Fairfield Central High School, 836 US Highway 321 Bypass S in Winnsboro, and on Jan. 28 from 7 - 10 p.m. at McCrorey-Liston Elementary School, 1978 State Hwy 215 South in Blair. The application's environmental report is available on the agency's Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/col/summer.html. Copies of the report are also available at the Fairfield County Library, 300 Washington St. in Winnsboro. NRC staff will be available for informal discussions with members of the public during "open house" sessions both evenings from 6 - 7 p.m. Formal comments on the environmental review will only be accepted during the meeting from 7 - 10 p.m.

Environmental Laboratory Advisory Board (ELAB) Meeting Dates, and Agenda AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ACTION: Notice of Teleconference Meetings. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency's Environmental Laboratory Advisory Board (ELAB), as previously announced, will have teleconference meetings on August 20, 2008 at 1 p.m. ET; September 17, 2008 at 1 p.m. ET;

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold a public meeting in Lynchburg on July 24 to discuss Areva NP's safety record. The meeting will begin at 10:30 a.m. at Areva's headquarters at 3315 Old Forest Road. According to a letter posted on the commission's Web site, the public meeting will focus on a performance review that occurred at Areva's Mt. Athos Road plant in April.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will hold two public meetings Wednesday, July 2, to discuss issues regarding the Diablo Canyon Power Plant near Avila Beach. Regulatory Commission staff will meet with Pacific Gas & Electric Co. officials at 2:30 p.m. to discuss the NRC's annual assessment of safety performance at the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant during 2007, then hold a town hall-style meeting beginning at 6:30 p.m.

Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS); Meeting of the ACRS Subcommittee on ESBWR; Notice of Meeting The ACRS Subcommittee on the Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR) will hold a meeting on August 21-22, 2008, Room T-2B3, 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will hold a public meeting June 30 in Monroe, Mich., to discuss the proposed license termination plan for the Enrico Fermi Atomic Power Plant, Unit 1. The meeting will be held from 7 - 10 p.m. at the Monroe County Board of Commissioners, 125 E. Second St., in Monroe. DTE Energy, the licensee, submitted its proposed license termination plan and an application for license amendment on March 25. The proposed plan is to demonstrate compliance with NRC criteria for unrestricted release of the property, although the facility will remain DTE property. There is no Fermi 1 spent nuclear fuel remaining onsite. Fermi 1 was a sodium-cooled fast-breeder reactor that operated from 1963 until it was permanently shut down in 1972. Much of the decommissioning for Fermi 1 was completed in 1975. Fermi 2, a boiling-water reactor, is still in operation at the same location in Newport, in Monroe County, on the shore of Lake Erie about 25 miles northeast of Toledo, Ohio. At the June 30 meeting, members of the NRC staff will discuss the proposed license termination plan and NRC's technical review of the plan. Information about Fermi 1 is available on the NRC Web site at this address: http://www.nrc.gov/info-finder/decommissioning/power-reactor/enrico-fermi-atomic-power-plant-unit-1.html.

The results of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's annual safety performance assessment for the Indian Point nuclear power plant will be the subject of a public meeting on Thursday, May 21. The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Doubletree Hotel, at 455 South Broadway in Tarrytown, N.Y. (Directions are available at: http://doubletree1.hilton.com/en_US/dt/hotel/TERHIDT-Doubletree-Hotel-Tarrytown-New-York/directions.do.) Prior to the conclusion of the meeting, NRC staff will be available to answer questions from the public on the plant's performance, as well as the agency's oversight of the facility. In addition, the NRC will conduct an informational open house from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the same location that will allow members of the public to ask questions of agency staff on a one-on-one basis. Indian Point, which is located in Buchanan (Westchester County), N.Y., is the site of two operating pressurized-water reactors. Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc., owns and runs the facility. Overall, the Indian Point plant operated safely during 2008. At the conclusion of last year, as assessed by the NRC Reactor Oversight Process, there were no performance indicators for the plant that were other than "green" and no inspection findings that were "greater than green." During 2009, Indian Point will receive the very detailed inspection regime used by the NRC, as well as enhanced oversight in the area of groundwater contamination. In 2008, the NRC devoted approximately 16,700 hours of inspection to Indian Point, including seven major team inspections.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold a public meeting June 4 in Idaho Falls, Idaho, to seek comments about specific issues that should be addressed in its environmental review of a proposed uranium enrichment facility. The meeting will be held at the Shilo Inn, 780 Lindsay Blvd. in Idaho Falls, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. NRC staff members will be available for an hour prior to the meeting to speak informally to members of the public. AREVA Enrichment Services LLC submitted an application Dec. 30, 2008, for a license to construct and operate a gas centrifuge uranium enrichment facility near Idaho Falls. AREVA resubmitted its application April 24 to double the facility's proposed production capacity. The proposed facility would enrich uranium for use in the production of fuel for commercial nuclear power reactors.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold two public meetings May 19 in Wilmington, N.C., to seek comments about specific issues that should be addressed in its environmental review of a proposed uranium enrichment facility. The meetings will be held at the Warwick Center, Ballroom 1, at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, from 1 to 4 p.m., and 7 to 10 p.m. NRC staff members will be available for an hour prior to each meeting to speak informally to members of the public. General Electric-Hitachi Global Laser Enrichment, LLC, (GLE) submitted the environmental report Jan. 30, as one part of an application for a 40-year license to construct and operate a laser-based uranium enrichment facility at the existing General Electric/Global Nuclear Fuels-Americas site near Wilmington. GLE has indicated it intends to file the rest of its application - pertaining to safety aspects of the facility - by the end of June.

"Residents get fresh opportunity to air views about proposed Buchan plant dealing with oil waste Residents concerned about controversial plans to treat radioactive waste in Buchan have been given another chance to air their views on the project. A heated public meeting on proposals to treat naturally-occurring radioactive material (Norm) at Stoneyhill landfill, four miles from Peterhead, was held earlier this month. Waste management firm Sita and radiation specialists Nuvia are working together on the scheme. The firms announced last night that a further public meeting and exhibition will take place tomorrow. They said it will allow them to "clarify" some points raised at the previous meeting as they prepare to submit a planning application to Aberdeenshire Council."

Westinghouse and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will meet next week to discuss issues over the design of the safety building for the proposed AP1000 nuclear reactor, Bloomberg reports. Last month, the NRC rejected the design of the building that houses the reactor. The regulator says it is not clear the building can stand up to natural disasters such as tornadoes and earthquakes. It asked Westinghouse to make additional changes or demonstrate that the building meets the required standard. Bloomberg quotes NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko as saying that plans to build the structure in parts instead of a solid, single piece has raised regulatory concerns. Westinghouse and its principal parent Toshiba Corp. have growing nuclear operations in Charlotte. The Shaw Power Group, also based in Charlotte, is the preferred contractor for AP1000 projects. Its parent, The Shaw Group, owns a 20 percent stake in Westinghouse.

Westinghouse and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will meet next week to discuss issues over the design of the safety building for the proposed AP1000 nuclear reactor, Bloomberg reports. Last month, the NRC rejected the design of the building that houses the reactor. The regulator says it is not clear the building can stand up to natural disasters such as tornadoes and earthquakes. It asked Westinghouse to make additional changes or demonstrate that the building meets the required standard. Bloomberg quotes NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko as saying that plans to build the structure in parts instead of a solid, single piece has raised regulatory concerns. Westinghouse and its principal parent Toshiba Corp. have growing nuclear operations in Charlotte. The Shaw Power Group, also based in Charlotte, is the preferred contractor for AP1000 projects. Its parent, The Shaw Group, owns a 20 percent stake in Westinghouse.

"The Obama Administration is attempting to get $9 billion more in loans for new nuclear reactor construction. They're trying to sneak this money on to an emergency supplemental funding bill intended to provide funds for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and to provide additional disaster relief money. But there is no emergency requiring new nuclear loans! The Department of Energy is playing sleazy politics by asking for this money on an emergency basis. To try to appease clean energy advocates, the administration is tying the nuclear loans to an equal amount of loans for renewable energy projects--but renewable energy projects have barely begun to tap their existing loan authority. Unlike for nuclear projects, which are extraordinarily expensive, there is currently plenty of money available for renewables loans. The House Appropriations Committee was scheduled to meet on May 27 to consider this bill but postponed the meeting at the last moment. It now isn't clear when or if the meeting will be rescheduled. One possibility is that the House will simply take up a similar Senate emergency funding bill--one that does not include taxpayer loans for dirty new nuclear reactors. Your actions can stop this unnecessary nuclear bailout: Tell your Representative to pass a "clean" emergency funding bill--one that provides funding only for actual emergencies, not for unnecessary and polluting nuclear reactors."

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will solicit public comments at two meetings on Wednesday, Jan. 28, regarding its preliminary conclusion that there are no environmental impacts that would preclude a 20-year extension of the operating license for the Three Mile Island 1 nuclear power plant. A draft environmental impact statement on the proposed license renewal contains the information. The report, which was issued in December, will be discussed first at a meeting to be held at 1:30 p.m. on Jan. 28 at the Sheraton Harrisburg Hershey Hotel, 4650 Lindle Road, Harrisburg, Pa. A second session will get under way at 7 p.m. on the same day at the same location. The two meetings will begin with identical overviews, including a discussion of the contents of the report, then be opened for public comment.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will discuss the results of an inspection of the proposed aging-management approach for the Susquehanna nuclear power plant on Tuesday, Dec. 16, at a meeting with the facility's management. PPL Susquehanna, LLC, which owns and operates the Salem Township (Luzerne County), Pa., plant, has applied for a 20-year license extension for each of the two units at the site. The inspection is part of an ongoing review of that application. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. in the meeting room of the Eagles Building, at 107 S. Market St. in Berwick, Pa. After a discussion of the inspection results, NRC staff will conduct a question-and-answer session regarding the review for interested members of the public.

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.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold an open house and public meeting Aug. 20 at Monroe County Community College to discuss the licensing process for DTE Energy's proposed new Fermi 3 nuclear plant. The "public outreach" meeting will start with an open house from 6 to 7 p.m., followed by a public meeting from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at the La-Z-Boy Center. The public will be invited to comment on and ask questions about the process.