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The Uranium Mining Subcommittee's approval Thursday of the final draft of a study to determine whether uranium can be mined and milled safely in Virginia drew a variety of reactions from local opponents and a supporter. "We're very gratified," Patrick Wales, geologist and spokesman for Virginia Uranium Inc., said Friday. "An independent study of uranium mining and milling has been the one thing we've been proposing since the inception of our company." VUI seeks to mine and mill a 119-million-pound uranium ore deposit at Coles Hill, about six miles northeast of Chatham. Virginia currently has a moratorium on uranium mining.

A move to open Minnesota to future nuclear power plants fell short Thursday in the House, hurting the chances of any change this year. The vote was 72-60 against undoing a 15-year-old moratorium on new nuclear facilities.

"The Obama administration plans to ask Congress to increase spending on the U.S. nuclear arsenal by more than $5 billion over the next five years as part of its strategy to halt the spread of nuclear weapons and eventually rid the world of them. The administration argues that the boost is needed to ensure that U.S. warheads remain secure and work as designed as the arsenal shrinks and ages nearly 18 years into a moratorium on underground testing and more than two decades after large-scale warhead production ended. The increase is also required to modernize facilities - some dating to World War II - that support the U.S. stockpile and to retain experts who "will help meet the president's goal of securing vulnerable nuclear materials worldwide ... and enable us to track and thwart nuclear trafficking (and) verify weapons reductions," Vice President Joe Biden wrote in a Friday Wall Street Journal opinion piece. The administration will seek an initial $600-million increase for nuclear weapons programs in the proposed 2011 budget it submits to Congress on Monday. That would increase annual spending on those programs by about 10 percent, to almost $7 billion."

"Conventional wisdom says California is a lousy place to bet on new nuclear power. In Berkeley, the city government won't buy services of any kind from a company that refuses to sign a "nuclear free" disclosure. In Sacramento, a moratorium against new reactor construction has held since 1976. And statewide, energy developers have a hard enough time securing permits for massive power plants run by renewable energy, much less finding enough political daylight to launch a multibillion-dollar nuclear project."

"Opponents of uranium mining in Southside Virginia and the people who want to end a state moratorium on mining the fuel for nuclear power plants have one more difference of opinion: the size of the deposit. A speaker at a forum Thursday organized by environmentalists said the deposit totals 5.5 million pounds, not the 119 million pounds estimated by Virginia Uranium Inc. Environmental analyst Paul Robinson said much of the uranium deposit is "too diluted to be reasonably mined" and questioned the need for the uranium the Virginia deposit would produce."

"German Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen is reportedly considering stripping the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) of its nuclear waste duties to expedite storage at the controversial Gorleben site. Daily newspaper Die Tageszeitung reported on Tuesday that sources at Röttgen's ministry said he may take away responsibility for the final disposal of nuclear waste from the BfS by creating another government agency or privatising the process. The potential change resulted from a conflict between Röttgen and BfS President Wolfram König. Whereas Röttgen on Monday announced the Environment Ministry would end a moratorium on exploring possible storage at the controversial underground site at Gorleben in the sate of Lower Saxony, König has said the site fails to meet international safety standards. "

"Germany is restarting exploration of its highly controversial potential nuclear storage site at Gorleben after a ten-year moratorium. Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen said Monday further security analyses would take another seven years and no one could say today if the disused salt mine in central Germany was suitable for holding the radioactive waste from the country's 17 nuclear plants. Roettgen added even if Gorleben turns out to be suitable, the storage facility will not open before 2030. Gorleben was chosen as a nuclear storage site three decades ago and was partially explored until 2000 for an estimated euro1.5 billion ($2 billion)."

"What began on the House floor as an Office of Energy Security technical bill quickly morphed into a two-hour debate over an amendment to lift the ban on building new nuclear power plants. Rep. Bill Hilty (DFL-Finlayson), who sponsors HF3009/ SF2971,* successfully offered the amendment to lift the moratorium. However, conditions attached would delay when a developer could recoup construction costs from ratepayers of the electricity produced at the facility. It would allow the Public Utilities Commission to refuse cost recovery for the construction of a nuclear generating plant until the plant is operating at 85 percent capacity. Cost overruns would be prohibited from being recovered. The amendment was passed 73-59. The bill passed 86-43 as amended. It now returns to the Senate, where Sen. Yvonne Prettner Solon (DFL-Duluth) is the sponsor. The Senate passed it 63-4 March 29."

""Loan Guarantee Fever" in Congress Finds No Counterpart in Across-the-Board Cold Shoulder From State Solons; From Kentucky to Arizona, Industry Lobbyists Fail to Overturn Bans, Pass Costs on to Consumers or Get Nuclear Classified as "Renewable Energy" WASHINGTON, May 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- It was front-page news across America this February when the Vermont Senate voted to shut down the troubled Vermont Yankee reactor in 2012. But what most Americans don't know is that the nuclear industry also lost all of its seven other major state legislative pushes this year ? going 0-8 and putting yet another nail in the coffin of the myth of the "nuclear renaissance" in the United States, according to an analysis by the Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS). Even as some in Congress would lavish tens of billions of dollars ? and even unlimited ? loan guarantees on the embattled nuclear power industry, state lawmakers in Arizona, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Vermont and West Virginia and Wisconsin said a firm "no" this year to more nuclear power. The legislative issues ranged from attempts by nuclear industry lobbyists to overturn bans on new reactors to "construction work in progress" (CWIP) assessments to pay for new reactors to reclassifying nuclear power as a "renewable resource." How bad is the nuclear power industry doing in state legislatures? In 2009, the industry went 0-5 with reactor moratorium overturn efforts in Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Minnesota, and West Virginia. Even after stepping up its on-the-ground efforts in 2010 with paid lobbyists and extensive public relations efforts in states like Wisconsin, the industry again came up with nothing."

"An association based in Switzerland is helping its European neighbours in their search for a good place to dump nuclear waste. Ten nations have enlisted the aid of Baden-based Arius, or Association for Regional and International Underground Storage. They hope to consolidate their radioactive waste within a single location. The countries in question include Austria, Ireland, Italy and seven others - but not Switzerland. In 2006, the federal government enacted a ten-year moratorium on the export of nuclear waste - the storage of which is the producers' responsibility."

"Iran's recent formal notification to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of its nuclear fuel swap deal with Turkey and Brazil - a move aimed at budging from its previous tough stance - is expected to undercut the US-led international campaign for fresh sanctions against Teheran. Due to deep concerns over Iran's nuclear program, the international community has pushed for several rounds of Teheran-targeted United Nations Security Council resolutions, urging the Islamic nation to put a moratorium on its uranium enrichment."

"Breaking the tradition of not naming countries, the first draft of the final document of 2010 Nuclear-Non Proliferation Treaty Review conference has asked India, Pakistan and Israel to join NPT and CTBT. "The conference calls upon India, Israel and Pakistan to accede to the treaty as non-nuclear weapon States, promptly and without conditions, thereby accepting an internationally legally binding commitment not to acquire nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices," the first draft of the document said. "The conference also calls upon India and Pakistan to maintain moratoriums on nuclear testing and calls upon India, Israel and Pakistan to sign and ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) without delay and without conditions," it said."

"The agitation against Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) is a prelude to an-all India uprising for a total moratorium on nuclear energy, said a former Atomic Energy Commission scientist. "We will soon launch an all-India agitation demanding a total ban on nuclear power plants," Dr MP Parameswaran, who holds India's first PhD in nuclear engineering told DNA. Many top scientists in the country have expressed their desire to join this nation-wide agitation."

was startled and dismayed to learn that Gov. Jim Doyle accepted nearly $24,000 from Florida Power & Light executives a few weeks before weakening his opposition to nuclear power in Wisconsin. FPL is the current owner of the atomic power station located at Point Beach. Of course a Doyle spokesperson described the idea of a quid pro quo as being "ridiculous," but the timing remains highly suspicious.

Wisconsin law sets two conditions that must be met before new nuclear power plants can be built in the state. One is that there must be "a federally licensed facility" for high-level nuclear waste. In addition, the proposed nuclear plant "must be economically advantageous to ratepayers." It's a law that the nuclear power industry doesn't like. Given the near-death of the planned waste storage facility at Yucca Mountain, and the estimated $6 to $12 billion cost (pdf) of building one nuclear reactor -- not to mention the lack of interest from private investors and the tanking economy -- Wisconsin's law effectively bans new nuclear plants in the state, for the foreseeable future.