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"The National Nuclear Security Administration says it has authorized the start-up of the new Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility. NNSA officials said the opening of the "ultra-secure" warehouse facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex -- near the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee -- marks a major milestone in its efforts to create a modern, 21st century nuclear security enterprise. The $549 million facility is the Y-12's largest construction project in more than 40 years. It is designed to consolidate enriched uranium storage into a single state-of-the-art facility that reduces operating costs and improves security, efficiency and operations, officials said."

"Years after the Manhattan Project, the Department of Energy learned that workers exposed to nickel powder at various sites, including those at Oakridge, Pudacha, and Portsmouth Gaseous diffusion Plants, were at high risk. In fact, the data strongly suggested that women and African Americans were most susceptible. What did the DOE do? According to a paper, NUCLEAR POWDER/ NUCLEAR WEAPONS: The Untold Story, the agency in 1976 created a "political" study that falsified the true mortality for workers exposed to nickel power in the workplace. Urine testing had revealed purposefully negligent air monitoring. The nickel levels found in the urine of the K-25 workers were ten to hundreds of times higher than any other nickel workers in this country and around the world. In short, as the global warming emails have accused scientists, two-third (the women and African Americans) were excluded due to the government's need to have an outcome that would show workers unharmed by nickel dust. Waste handling operations at K-25 (Oak Ridge) nuclear waste operations --- and other locations --- reported hazy, smoky and foggy nickel dust conditions. "

"A spokesman for EnergySolutions said today that most operations at the company's Bear Creek waste-processing plant in Oak Ridge have returned to normal following a Feb. 4 accident in which a worker was seriously injured. But the metal melt facility, where the accident occurred, remains out of operation and won't resume activities until the safety reports have been completed, Mark Walker of EnergySolutions said today. Walker said the two reports, one by an independent team and another in-house review, are due in two weeks. EnergySolutions has had little to say about the accident over the past month, citing the ongoing investigations."

For at least one group of Oak Ridge National Laboratory engineers, going to work every day has rarely been more thrilling. "It's probably one of the most exciting, most interesting things I've ever worked on in the laboratory," said Advanced Reactor Systems and Safety Group Leader Gary Mays. Recent studies project a growth in energy consumption, which nuclear power supporters say calls for 300 more gigawatts of nuclear power by 2050. "That translates to roughly 250 to 300 new nuclear plants," Mays said. "

"Richard Toohey of Oak Ridge Associated Universities has been confirmed as a member of the board of directors of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements. The NRCP advises the government on radiation protection and related issues. He has been a member of the council since 2006. In a statement, Toohey said, "As great an honor as it was to be elected to the NCRP, it is even more of an honor to be nominated to the NCRP's board of directors." Toohey currently is ORAU's acting vice president for university partnerships. He holds a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Cincinnati. In 2008-09, he served as president of the Health Physics Society."

"An international anti-nuclear group made its way through Pike County on Tuesday, and the members are headed to Chillicothe today. The group, Footprints for Peace, started its International Peace Walk Toward a Nuclear Free Future in February in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and plan to travel through Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York before reaching the United Nations Headquarters in New York on May 1. The group's Australian organizer, Marcus Atkinson, said it is opposed to nuclear weapons and nuclear energy. His group is concerned about the hazardous waste output generated by nuclear energy the effect nuclear weapons have on people and communities throughout the world. "Our leaders are incapable of building a world without nuclear weapons. It won't happen without pressure being put on them by all of us," Atkinson said."

"There's a pending application before the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for an export license to ship 160 kilograms of uranium (enriched to 93.5 percent U-235) from the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge to France for use as fuel in the research reactor at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) near Grenoble. According to information from Y-12, it would be the first shipment of highly enriched uranium to France since 1991. Information about the shipment was reported several days ago on the blog maintained by the International Panel on Fissile Materials, which indicated the fuel needs for the French reactor previously had been provided by Russia."

"WHAT: News briefing to release 1st Year Radioactive Report Card on President Obama and his Administration to grade their performance on policies on nuclear weapons production, waste cleanup and reactor funding. WHEN: Monday, March 15, 2010 - - 10:00am WHERE: Room 2322 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC WHO: Leaders of the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA) a national network of organizations representing the concerns of people living downwind and downstream from U.S. nuclear research, testing, production and waste disposal facilities - Michele Boyd, Director, Safe Energy Program, Physicians for Social Responsibility -- taxpayer subsidies for new reactors, radioactive waste disposal, and nuclear contamination cleanup - Ralph Hutchison, Coordinator, Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance -- new Department of Energy (DOE) nuclear production plants, the next generation of weapons they may help support, and the implications for U.S. treaty obligations - Nick Roth, Program Director, Alliance for Nuclear Accountability -- performance of President Obama and his Administration during its first year in office and changes that must be made to improve its grades. WHY: Scores of activists from across the nation will present their concerns about U.S. nuclear weapons, cleanup and reactor spending policies in dozens of meetings with leaders of Congress and the Obama Administration from March 15 - 17 as part of ANA's 22nd Annual DC Days. "

"All Americans - and, indeed, the whole world - were surprised in August 1945 when the first nuclear bombs were dropped from U.S. B-29 Superfortress bombers on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, bringing U.S. victory and the end of World War II. Many Tennesseans were surprised to discover that the new city of Oak Ridge, not far from Knoxville, had played a huge part in the dawning of "the atomic age." It was only later that most people began to understand that there are big problems about what to do with radioactive nuclear waste, not only from manufacturing weapons, but also from our nuclear plants that generate electricity. There is argument about storing nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, Nev. - and about getting it there safely."

"A bill that would prohibit 'blending' of nuclear waste in Tennessee, a process that is being tested at an Oak Ridge facility, failed on a 3-3 tie vote Tuesday in a House subcommittee after a Roane County legislator said it would jeopardize East Tennessee jobs. The bill was sponsored by Rep. Ty Cobb, D-Columbia, who said the blended waste could pose a health risk and wind up being permanently stored in Tennessee. That could include 20,000 tons of nuclear waste from Italy, he said. But Rep. Dennis Ferguson, D-Harriman, said EnergySolutions Inc., which is testing the process, and other companies involved have a 'great safety record,' much expertise and employ about 600 people in Roane and neighboring counties at a time when the 'economy is critical.'"

Beyond Nuclear today raised concerns over the potential for nuclear industry bias in a proposed study that will look at cancer risks around U.S. nuclear power reactors. The study, initiated by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), has been offered to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). The two agencies will meet to discuss the investigation of cancer risks around U.S. reactors on April 26th, the 24th anniversary of the reactor explosion at Chernobyl in the Ukraine that dispersed radiation across the planet. The NRC had previously retained Oak Ridge Associated Universities to conduct the study, but has shifted to the NAS. The move came in an apparent response to earlier criticisms of potential bias after citizens' groups, sent a letter expressing strong apprehension over conflicts of interest and inappropriate study methodology. This study would update a 1990 National Cancer Institute study which had universally recognized design flaws.

"Protestors from around the world and around the corner converged on Exelon Nuclear's Limerick Generating Station Tuesday morning to protest the world's continued pursuit of nuclear power. Part of a group called Footprints for Peace, about 21 people, some of them Buddhist monks and nuns, carried flags, donned gas masks, chanted mantras and banged drums outside the plant's main entrance at Sanatoga and Evergreen roads. Plant security were present, as were the Limerick Police, but there were no incidents and the protest ended as peacefully as it began after a little more than an hour. The protestors - who starting walking two months ago from the Y-12 Nuclear Weapons Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn. - arrived in Montgomery County via the Schuylkill River Trail and stayed overnight at St. James United Church of Christ on High Street."

"Having agreed to compensation for Cold War era atomic energy workers who developed cancer and other illnesses, the D.O.E. and other entities of the government have been searching for a solution to nuclear waste. Nuclear power represents an alternative to fossil fuels, but solutions to the lingering radioactive half lives of elements like uranium have not been resolved. For instance, after receiving a report on the severity of the contamination (uranium, nickel and non-uranium) at the Huntington Pilot Plant / Reduction Pilot Plant, a decision was made in 1978-1979 to tear it down. The remains of the production apparatus, ( i.e. hoses), as well as the walls and girders were buried in a classified contaminated location at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon, Ohio. The Portsmouth, Paducah, Oak Ridge and Huntington facilities worked both on uranium enrichment and recycling nickel from depleted uranium. Site Specific Meetings --- the next Thursday, May 6 at 6 p.m. at the OSU Endeavor Center --- are ongoing. They are part of a decision making process --- what will be placed on the site of the former gaseous diffusion plant, what will be done with waste buried there, what will be done with waste stored there? (Editor's Note: Documents have confirmed that the HPP/RPP processed nickel powder and recycled scrap uranium from barrier materials at the diffusion plants. Some distinctions exist between "enriched" uranium and "depleted" uranium. We're uncertain whether the "depleted" uranium was /is stored at diffusion plants or transported between various plants.) "

"A peace group says the government and its contractors are starting work on a big project at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant before it's fully approved and before some environmental impacts have been assessed. In a statement released Wednesday, the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance said the Department of Energy should halt all site preparation and preliminary construction activities for the Uranium Processing Facility - a proposed multi-billion-dollar production facility at Y-12. "DOE is getting the cart way out in front of the horse," Ralph Hutchison, coordinator of OREPA, said by e-mail. The final Site Wide Environmental Impact Statement required for construction of UPF has not yet been issued, and a Record of Decision is not expected for several months."

Environmental regulators are in informal dispute with the Dept. of Energy on a number of issues regarding the Oak Ridge cleanup program, and the state of Tennessee has been playing hardball at times, rejecting multiple requests for milestone changes in recent months because of differences over funding commitments. However, the state has agreed -- verbally, at least -- to change some of the schedules associated with removal of the highly radioactive fuel salts at the Molten Salt Reactor. The Molten Salt has been a real hang-up in the EM program, plagued with technical difficulties and surprises and sometimes bad luck. In the past, the state has shown considerable empathy and leniency in the schedule over the years when there were technical hiccups involved."

Critics had some harsh words for the U.S. Department of Energy on Tuesday regarding a draft environmental impact statement prepared for a proposed program meant to safely, securely and sustainably expand the use of nuclear energy. DOE has prepared the statement for what is known as the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, and officials had a public hearing on the program at the New Hope Center at the Y-12 National Security Complex. First proposed by the Bush Administration, GNEP would expand the use of nuclear power as an energy source, both domestically and internationally. Officials say it would also strive to reduce the risk of nuclear proliferation and limit the impacts of getting rid of spent nuclear fuel.

U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., last week introduced legislation that would ensure compensation for the families of sick former nuclear workers won't be taken away in cases where sick workers or their eligible survivors die before their claims are processed. "We should not allow an inefficient bureaucracy to run out the clock through a claims process that takes so long that our Cold War heroes are dying before their claims are processed, leaving their families with no compensation," Alexander said in a press release. "The men and women who built our nuclear deterrent -- and their families -- deserve better. According to estimates from the Department of Labor, this will affect approximately 1,200 current and future claimants."

A company's bid for a license to import 20,000 tons of nuclear waste from Italy drew nearly 4,000 public comments by Tuesday's deadline, as environmental groups, lawmakers and Utah's governor seek to derail the plan. EnergySolutions Inc. is seeking to import the low-level radioactive waste through the ports of Charleston, S.C., or New Orleans. If approved by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, it would be the largest amount of nuclear waste ever allowed into the country.

Missing nuclear materials from overseas pose a bigger threat to countries like the United States than a stolen bomb from Russia or a so-called "dirty bomb," according to a former U.S. Air Force secretary. "Fissile materials from Russia and Pakistan are the problem," said Thomas Reed, a nuclear physicist who worked for President Ronald Reagan, as well as a weapons designer at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.