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Private equity fund CVC has pulled out of talks with General Electric (GE.N) about a possible joint bid for the power and transmission unit of France's Areva (CEPFi.PA), a French financial news service reported on Sunday. Spokesmen for the firms involved could not immediately be reached for comment. State-owned nuclear reactor group Areva is selling its T&D unit and has selected Japan's Toshiba (6502.T), a consortium led by U.S.-based GE, and French partners Alstom (ALSO.PA) and Schneider Electric (SCHN.PA) as possible buyers. Binding offers are expected for November 9 ahead of an Areva decision set for November 16.

Private equity fund CVC has pulled out of talks with General Electric (GE.N) about a possible joint bid for the power and transmission unit of France's Areva (CEPFi.PA), a French financial news service reported on Sunday. Spokesmen for the firms involved could not immediately be reached for comment. State-owned nuclear reactor group Areva is selling its T&D unit and has selected Japan's Toshiba (6502.T), a consortium led by U.S.-based GE, and French partners Alstom (ALSO.PA) and Schneider Electric (SCHN.PA) as possible buyers. Binding offers are expected for November 9 ahead of an Areva decision set for November 16.

* Daily says 13 pct of French waste dumped in Russia * EDF says radioactive waste is kept in France * EDF says only recyclable spent uranium sent to Russia PARIS, Oct 12 (Reuters) - EDF (EDF.PA) is sending to Russia spent nuclear fuel that needs to be reprocessed, the French nuclear power producer said on Monday, denying a French press report that it was using Siberia to dump nuclear waste. The world's largest nuclear energy producer said that radioactive waste was kept in France, where it was processed and stocked in dedicated facilities at Areva's (CEPFi.PA) storage site of La Hague, on the northwestern coast of Normandy.

* Daily says 13 pct of French waste dumped in Russia * EDF says radioactive waste is kept in France * EDF says only recyclable spent uranium sent to Russia PARIS, Oct 12 (Reuters) - EDF (EDF.PA) is sending to Russia spent nuclear fuel that needs to be reprocessed, the French nuclear power producer said on Monday, denying a French press report that it was using Siberia to dump nuclear waste. The world's largest nuclear energy producer said that radioactive waste was kept in France, where it was processed and stocked in dedicated facilities at Areva's (CEPFi.PA) storage site of La Hague, on the northwestern coast of Normandy.

* New reactor design criticised by French politicians * Follows calls for modification by nuclear safety bodies * Shares close almost 4 percent down PARIS, Nov 3 (Reuters) - A new generation of French nuclear power reactors came under attack on Tuesday as opposition parties called for an inquiry into their security systems, after three nuclear safety bodies asked for changes to their design. In a rare joint statement, nuclear safety bodies in France, Britain and Finland on Monday ordered France's Areva (CEPFi.PA) and EDF (EDF.PA) to modify the safety features on its European Pressurised Reactors (EPR) due to insufficient independence between the day-to-day systems and the emergency systems. Opponents to nuclear power latched on to the news, with France's opposition socialist party calling for a parliamentary inquiry.

* New reactor design criticised by French politicians * Follows calls for modification by nuclear safety bodies * Shares close almost 4 percent down PARIS, Nov 3 (Reuters) - A new generation of French nuclear power reactors came under attack on Tuesday as opposition parties called for an inquiry into their security systems, after three nuclear safety bodies asked for changes to their design. In a rare joint statement, nuclear safety bodies in France, Britain and Finland on Monday ordered France's Areva (CEPFi.PA) and EDF (EDF.PA) to modify the safety features on its European Pressurised Reactors (EPR) due to insufficient independence between the day-to-day systems and the emergency systems. Opponents to nuclear power latched on to the news, with France's opposition socialist party calling for a parliamentary inquiry.

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.

Today I was trolling the blogs and newspaper web pages when I happened to read this amusing editorial by Denny Bonavita, editor and publisher of McLean Publishing Co. in west-central Pennsylvania, which includes the Courier-Express in DuBois, Pa. The "Our Opinion" penned by Mr. Bonavita is titled "If Not Yucca, Where?" and starts out by accusing the president of "pandering to Sen. Harry Reid, the Democratic leader in the Senate." It then goes on to throw a little mud in Senator Reid's face by continuing it "further muddies Obama's credentials as an effective, bipartisan president. But that's fine."

Firstenergy Nuclear Operating Company; Notice of Availability of the Final Supplement 36 to the Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants, Regarding the License Renewal of Beaver Valley Power Station, Units 1 and 2 Notice is hereby given that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission or NRC) has published a final plant-specific supplement to the ``Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants (GEIS),'' NUREG-1437, regarding the renewal of operating licenses DPR-66 and NPF-73 for an additional 20 years of operation for the Beaver Valley Power Station, Units 1 and 2, which are located in Shippingport, PA about 25 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, PA. Possible alternatives to the proposed action (license renewal) include no action and reasonable alternative energy sources.

Former nuclear workers at a western Pennsylvania plant who are sick could receive $150,000 in compensation plus medical help under a government program. The Department of Labor announced Thursday that Atomic Weapons Employer employees who worked at Vitro Manufacturing in Canonsburg, Pa., during a set period in the 1940s and '50s are eligible. Under the program, former workers diagnosed with one of 22 specific cancers are presumed to have received it from working at the plant and will receive compensation. A worker's survivors are also sometimes eligible. Copyright 2008 The Associated

_ 1955: A U.S. government reactor makes Arco, Idaho, the world's first town electrified by nuclear power. _ 1957: The U.S.' first commercial nuclear power plant becomes operational in Shippingport, Pa. (Nuclear reactors were already in service in the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom). It was retired in 1982. _ March 29, 1979: Three Mile Island Unit 2 in Middletown, Pa., melts down. No one was killed or seriously injured that day, but the public relations disaster sets back the industry for decades. _ April 26, 1986: Chernobyl nuclear power plant explodes in Soviet Ukraine, killing thousands. A radioactive cloud floats over much of Europe and large areas of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus are contaminated. _ 1996: The U.S.' last new reactor comes online at Watts Bar nuclear power plant near Spring City, Tenn. It took 22 years to finish Unit 1 and Unit 2 remains unfinished, becoming a poster child of the industry's inefficiency. _ 2001: Worries about terrorist plots against nuclear power plants prompts new security measures. Governors send National Guard troops to watch over plants as public confidence about the safety of the installations drops. _ 2002: Employees discover an acid leak after it nearly ate through a reactor vessel cap at the Davis-Besse plant in Oak Harbor, Ohio. Owner FirstEnergy Corp. pays a record $28 million fine and juries convict two plant employees of hiding the corrosion. _ 2007: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission receives first full power plant application in 28 years. NRG Energy Inc.'s proposal for two reactors near Bay City, Texas, is one of 26 licenses pending at the agency. _ February 2009: President Barack Obama calls for a cap on greenhouse gas emissions. The proposal would almost certainly raise the cost to operate coal- and gas-fired plants and is seen as a boost for nuclear energy.

"French Prime Minister Francois Fillon has summoned the heads of state-controlled groups EDF (EDF.PA) and Areva (CEPFi.PA) on Wednesday and will likely call on the chief executives to stop sniping at each other in public. Henri Proglio and Anne Lauvergeon have been at odds with each other since Proglio, who took over EDF in November, called the creation of nuclear fuel, reactors and waste recycling group Areva by Lauvergeon in 2001 "probably an error". Strategy disagreements between the two outspoken executives turned to public hostility in recent days after Areva suspended deliveries of nuclear fuel to and the collection of waste from EDF after the expiry on Dec. 31 of a deadline to renew a contract."

France's Areva (CEPFi.PA) said on Monday it would modify the design of its European Pressurised Reactors (EPR) before the end of the year, following a request by the French, UK and Finnish nuclear safety bodies. The bodies asked in a joint statement that the control and safety systems within the reactor be independent from each other to avoid both systems failing at the same time. "The safety of the EPR is not called into question," a spokeswoman at the world's largest nuclear reactor maker told Reuters.

France's Areva (CEPFi.PA) said on Monday it would modify the design of its European Pressurised Reactors (EPR) before the end of the year, following a request by the French, UK and Finnish nuclear safety bodies. The bodies asked in a joint statement that the control and safety systems within the reactor be independent from each other to avoid both systems failing at the same time. "The safety of the EPR is not called into question," a spokeswoman at the world's largest nuclear reactor maker told Reuters.

France's Areva (CEPFi.PA) said on Monday it would modify the design of its European Pressurised Reactors (EPR) before the end of the year, following a request by the French, UK and Finnish nuclear safety bodies. The bodies asked in a joint statement that the control and safety systems within the reactor be independent from each other to avoid both systems failing at the same time. "The safety of the EPR is not called into question," a spokeswoman at the world's largest nuclear reactor maker told Reuters.

Valve Leak Stopped, No Radioactive Release Reported At Beaver Valley SHIPPINGPORT, Pa. -- A leak in a valve at a nuclear reactor in Shippingport, Beaver County, has been resolved and no radioactive release was reported. The leak in the Beaver Valley Power Station's No. 2 nuclear reactor was discovered at about 3 a.m. Tuesday. It was resolved within an hour. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission declared the incident an "unusual event," the least of four emergency classifications. A spokesman for the NRC told Channel 4 Action News that the plant has been shut down for maintenance since October, and a valve was accidentally left open while the cooling system was being taken out of service, which caused water to flow into the pressurized relief tank.

Valve Leak Stopped, No Radioactive Release Reported At Beaver Valley SHIPPINGPORT, Pa. -- A leak in a valve at a nuclear reactor in Shippingport, Beaver County, has been resolved and no radioactive release was reported. The leak in the Beaver Valley Power Station's No. 2 nuclear reactor was discovered at about 3 a.m. Tuesday. It was resolved within an hour. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission declared the incident an "unusual event," the least of four emergency classifications. A spokesman for the NRC told Channel 4 Action News that the plant has been shut down for maintenance since October, and a valve was accidentally left open while the cooling system was being taken out of service, which caused water to flow into the pressurized relief tank.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has accepted for review the combined license (COL) application for an Evolutionary Power Reactor (EPR) at the Bell Bend site near Berwick, Pa. PPL Bell Bend submitted the application and associated information Oct. 13. The application, minus proprietary or security-related details, is available on the NRC Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/col/bell-bend.html. PPL Bell Bend is seeking approval to build and operate an EPR at the site, approximately seven miles northeast of Berwick. The EPR is an Areva-designed pressurized water reactor, with a nominal output of approximately 1,600 megawatts of electricity. Areva filed its application Dec. 11, 2007, to certify the design. A version of the EPR is currently under construction at the Olkiluoto site in Finland and at Flamanville, France. The EPR application, minus proprietary or security-related details, is available on the NRC Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/design-cert/epr.html.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has sent a team of specialists to review the circumstances surrounding the identification of air trapped in a safety system at the Beaver Valley Unit 1 nuclear power plant in Shippingport, Pa. The team began its work at the site today. There are two nuclear reactors at Beaver Valley, both operated by FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company (FENOC). On Sept. 23, FENOC detected air (called a "void") in the suction lines for both trains of the low-head safety-injection system (LHSI) at Beaver Valley Unit 1. (The low-head safety-injection system is one of the systems that supply water to the reactor in the event of an accident at the plant. It is also used to circulate cooling water following an accident.) At the time, FENOC determined that the system would have operated as designed. On Oct. 4 and 5, the company effectively eliminated the void by venting both loops of the system and filled the system with water. The company also verified the same conditions did not exist at Beaver Valley Unit 2.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff is seeking public comment on its preliminary conclusion that there are no environmental impacts that would preclude renewal of the operating license for the Beaver Valley Power Station in Shippingport, Pa. The information is contained in a draft supplemental environmental impact statement on the proposed license renewal issued last month. As part of its license renewal application, First Energy submitted an environmental report. The NRC staff reviewed the report and performed an on-site audit. The staff also considered comments made during the environmental scoping process, including comments offered at public meetings held last Nov. 22 in Pittsburgh. Based on its review, the NRC staff has preliminarily determined that the adverse environmental impacts of license renewal for Beaver Valley are not so great that preserving the option of license renewal for energy planning decision-makers would be unreasonable. The draft supplemental environmental impact statement is open for public comment until Dec. 17, and will also be the subject of public meetings on Oct. 30th at the Embassy Suites Pittsburgh-International Airport, 550 Cherrington Parkway, in Pittsburgh. There will be two identical sessions, at 1:30 p.m., and at 7:00 p.m.

Accepting the arguments made by two Gibbons P.C. lawyers, a federal judge has dismissed a class action brought against a Pennsylvania engineering firm hired by the owners of a Reading, PA manufacturing plant to test air quality and beryllium levels at the plant. The lawsuit sought medical monitoring for thousands of local residents exposed to particles the plant emitted.

TULLYTOWN, Pa. - Borough leaders want "Trash Mountain" to grow green, not glow green. Thats why they're fighting a plan to bring radioactive sludge to the Tullytown Landfill.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission today announced the opportunity for public participation in a hearing on a Combined License (COL) application for a new reactor at the Bell Bend site near Berwick, Pa. The site is adjacent to the existing two-reactor Susquehanna Steam Electric Station. PPL Bell Bend submitted the COL application and associated information Oct. 10, 2008, seeking approval to build and operate an Evolutionary Power Reactor (EPR) at the site, approximately six miles northeast of Berwick. The NRC is currently reviewing the EPR for possible certification. The Bell Bend application, minus proprietary or security-related details, is available on the NRC Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/col/bell-bend.html.

The U.S. Department of Labor has announced that all former Vitro Manufacturing workers have now been added to the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act's (EEOICPA) Special Exposure Cohort (SEC). The EEOICPA provides compensation and medical benefits to employees who became ill as a result of working in the nuclear weapons industry. Survivors of qualified employees may also be entitled to benefits. An employee who is included in a designated SEC class of employees, and who is diagnosed with one of 22 specified cancers, may receive a presumption of causation under the EEOICPA. The new SEC class of former employees includes all Atomic Weapons Employer employees who worked at Vitro Manufacturing in Canonsburg, Pa., from August13, 1942, through December 31, 1957, for at least 250 workdays, occurring either solely under this employment or in combination with workdays within one or more other classes of employees in the SEC.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued its final safety evaluation report (SER) for the proposed renewal of the operating licenses for the Beaver Valley Power Station, Units 1 and 2, and concluded that there are no open items that would preclude license renewal for an additional 20 years of operation. The report documents the results of the NRC staff's review of the license renewal application and site audits of the plant's aging management programs to address the safety of plant operations during the period of extended operation. Overall, the results show that the applicant has identified actions that have been or will be taken to manage the effects of aging in the appropriate safety systems, structures and components of the plant and that their functions will be maintained during the period of extended operation. Beaver Valley Power Station units are pressurized-water reactors, located in Shippingport (Beaver County), Pa., and operated by FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co. The current operating licenses for Beaver Valley, Units 1 and 2 are due to expire on Jan. 29, 2016, and May 27, 2027, respectively. On Aug. 28, 2007, FirstEnergy submitted an application for a 20-year license extension for each unit. In a letter dated June 8, Brian Holian, director of the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation's Division of License Renewal, provided FirstEnergy with the SER. The SER will be available on the NRC's Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applications/bvalley.html. Issuing the final SER is a significant milestone in a license renewal review.