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Along with automobile makers and banks, a number of senators whose districts include U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) contaminated sites are asking for stimulus money to rejuvenate local economies with cleanup work and perhaps, freshly-cleaned land for industrial development. According to the DOE, spending more and completing cleanup would enable the government to decrease the "footprint" or overall size of each site, releasing more property for development. The letter asking for the funding was signed by Sens. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.; Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio; Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M.; Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; Jim Risch, D-Idaho; and Tom Udall, D-N.M. Sen. Patty Murray, D.-Wash.; is supporting boosting cleanup spending nationally by $6 billion. Since the mid-1990's, the DOE has already spent more than $7.3 billion on environmental cleanup nationally each year.

The U.S. House voted Wednesday to ban importing foreign low-level radioactive waste and block an attempt by EnergySolutions to bring tons of it from Italy to Utah. It voted 309-112 for a bill pushed by Reps. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, and Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., to bar such foreign waste, which includes lab coats, shoe coverings and cleaning cloths from nuclear power plants. EnergySolutions has proposed to process 20,000 tons of Italian waste in Tennessee and dump it in Utah. The bill now goes to the Senate. Matheson and Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, voted for the bill. Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, was with Utah students touring Virginia and missed the vote but has spoken against it previously. He was once a state lobbyist for EnergySolutions and received about $26,000 from the company's political action committee and employees for his 2008 election and $5,000 this year.

The U.S. House voted Wednesday to ban importing foreign low-level radioactive waste and block an attempt by EnergySolutions to bring tons of it from Italy to Utah. It voted 309-112 for a bill pushed by Reps. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, and Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., to bar such foreign waste, which includes lab coats, shoe coverings and cleaning cloths from nuclear power plants. EnergySolutions has proposed to process 20,000 tons of Italian waste in Tennessee and dump it in Utah. The bill now goes to the Senate. Matheson and Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, voted for the bill. Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, was with Utah students touring Virginia and missed the vote but has spoken against it previously. He was once a state lobbyist for EnergySolutions and received about $26,000 from the company's political action committee and employees for his 2008 election and $5,000 this year.

Nuclear power plants are being pushed as part of climate-change legislation. But the focus should be on renewable power sources, which are getting cheaper and don't produce radioactive waste. As the Senate debates climate legislation that could reinvent the country's energy infrastructure, it is richly ironic that lawmakers who consider themselves rock-ribbed fiscal conservatives are among the strongest backers of nuclear plants -- a vastly expensive, inefficient and dangerous source of energy that requires massive taxpayer bailouts. Senate Republicans and many moderate Democrats are seeking to lard up prospective climate and energy bills with billions of dollars in loan guarantees and other subsidies for nuclear power, even though it makes no sense as a solution to climate change and is a terrible option from an economic, environmental and national-security standpoint. Sens. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), whose bipartisan effort to restructure the cap-and-trade climate bill (which Republicans like to deride as "cap and tax") offers its only hope of passage in the Senate this year, signaled their intent to add more nuclear pork to the bill in a recent Op-Ed article. Meanwhile, Sens. Jim Webb (D-Va.) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) recently introduced their own alternative climate bill calling for up to $100 billion in clean-energy loan guarantees, most of which would end up going to nuclear plants.

Nuclear power plants are being pushed as part of climate-change legislation. But the focus should be on renewable power sources, which are getting cheaper and don't produce radioactive waste. As the Senate debates climate legislation that could reinvent the country's energy infrastructure, it is richly ironic that lawmakers who consider themselves rock-ribbed fiscal conservatives are among the strongest backers of nuclear plants -- a vastly expensive, inefficient and dangerous source of energy that requires massive taxpayer bailouts. Senate Republicans and many moderate Democrats are seeking to lard up prospective climate and energy bills with billions of dollars in loan guarantees and other subsidies for nuclear power, even though it makes no sense as a solution to climate change and is a terrible option from an economic, environmental and national-security standpoint. Sens. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), whose bipartisan effort to restructure the cap-and-trade climate bill (which Republicans like to deride as "cap and tax") offers its only hope of passage in the Senate this year, signaled their intent to add more nuclear pork to the bill in a recent Op-Ed article. Meanwhile, Sens. Jim Webb (D-Va.) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) recently introduced their own alternative climate bill calling for up to $100 billion in clean-energy loan guarantees, most of which would end up going to nuclear plants.

There are many reasons why it was a terrible idea for the federal government to designate Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, as a potential dumping ground for the nation's high-level nuclear waste. We can now add to that long list a report released Wednesday by the Government Accountability Office showing that it is far less expensive to store the radioactive waste where it is generated than to bury it in Nevada. The GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, estimated it would cost as little as $10 billion to store on site the 70,000 metric tons of waste that has been generated in this country, versus a minimum $27 billion at Yucca Mountain. When factoring in the possibility of even more waste, the difference in cost widens. The findings, prepared for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., and Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., are important because taxpayers would pay 20 percent of the costs of building a permanent dump. Nuclear utility ratepayers would be responsible for the balance.

There are many reasons why it was a terrible idea for the federal government to designate Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, as a potential dumping ground for the nation's high-level nuclear waste. We can now add to that long list a report released Wednesday by the Government Accountability Office showing that it is far less expensive to store the radioactive waste where it is generated than to bury it in Nevada. The GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, estimated it would cost as little as $10 billion to store on site the 70,000 metric tons of waste that has been generated in this country, versus a minimum $27 billion at Yucca Mountain. When factoring in the possibility of even more waste, the difference in cost widens. The findings, prepared for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., and Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., are important because taxpayers would pay 20 percent of the costs of building a permanent dump. Nuclear utility ratepayers would be responsible for the balance.

EnergySolutions clarifies 'contracts' claim Italian waste » There are agreements, but no binding deal. Washington » EnergySolutions has sent a clarification to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission explaining that it did not have signed contracts to import Italian low-level waste after a congressman questioned the company's claim last week. Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., quizzed EnergySolutions President Val Christensen about why the company argued in a June filing that it would suffer substantial economic harm if a license were not granted to import 20,000 tons of low-level radioactive waste from Italy. Christensen acknowledged that the company did not have any contracts and the filing should have said "memorandum of understanding," which is not a legally binding contract. In a filing with the NRC Friday, the company said that "upon further review" it would be more precise to use the word "memorandum" instead of "contracts." Gordon, along with Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, is sponsoring legislation that would ban the importation of foreign low-level radioactive waste. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, also is a co-sponsor.

EnergySolutions clarifies 'contracts' claim Italian waste » There are agreements, but no binding deal. Washington » EnergySolutions has sent a clarification to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission explaining that it did not have signed contracts to import Italian low-level waste after a congressman questioned the company's claim last week. Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., quizzed EnergySolutions President Val Christensen about why the company argued in a June filing that it would suffer substantial economic harm if a license were not granted to import 20,000 tons of low-level radioactive waste from Italy. Christensen acknowledged that the company did not have any contracts and the filing should have said "memorandum of understanding," which is not a legally binding contract. In a filing with the NRC Friday, the company said that "upon further review" it would be more precise to use the word "memorandum" instead of "contracts." Gordon, along with Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, is sponsoring legislation that would ban the importation of foreign low-level radioactive waste. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, also is a co-sponsor.

In 2003, there were a mere 100 mining claims in the million or so acres of public land surrounding Grand Canyon National Park. Now there are more than 8,500 - mostly for uranium - with more than 1,100 claims less than five miles from arguably America's most iconic national park. Late last week, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar received nearly 100,000 public comments supporting a permanent ban on new mining claims on the 1 million acres of national forest and Bureau of Land Management land surrounding the park. ken salazar And H.R. 644, floated by House National Parks, Forests and Public Lands Subcommittee chairman Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Arizona) and cosponsored by 40 House members - including Colorado Rep. Jared Polis (D-Boulder) - would make permanent a temporary moratorium Salazar imposed in July.

In 2003, there were a mere 100 mining claims in the million or so acres of public land surrounding Grand Canyon National Park. Now there are more than 8,500 - mostly for uranium - with more than 1,100 claims less than five miles from arguably America's most iconic national park. Late last week, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar received nearly 100,000 public comments supporting a permanent ban on new mining claims on the 1 million acres of national forest and Bureau of Land Management land surrounding the park. ken salazar And H.R. 644, floated by House National Parks, Forests and Public Lands Subcommittee chairman Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Arizona) and cosponsored by 40 House members - including Colorado Rep. Jared Polis (D-Boulder) - would make permanent a temporary moratorium Salazar imposed in July.

France may have painted itself into a corner by pushing state-owned nuclear power group Areva to sell its most profitable unit, and could end up weakening the very domestic industries it is trying to champion. The government, which owns 93 percent of Areva, must choose between three bids for the Areva's electricity transmission & distribution (T&D) business -- from GE, Toshiba, and a French consortium of Alstom and Schneider Electric -- each of which potentially hurts French economic interests in different ways. Should the government choose GE or Toshiba for the business, valued at 4 to 5 billion euros ($5.9-7.4 billion), it would in either case end up strengthening a company that competes with Areva in its core nuclear segment.

France may have painted itself into a corner by pushing state-owned nuclear power group Areva to sell its most profitable unit, and could end up weakening the very domestic industries it is trying to champion. The government, which owns 93 percent of Areva, must choose between three bids for the Areva's electricity transmission & distribution (T&D) business -- from GE, Toshiba, and a French consortium of Alstom and Schneider Electric -- each of which potentially hurts French economic interests in different ways. Should the government choose GE or Toshiba for the business, valued at 4 to 5 billion euros ($5.9-7.4 billion), it would in either case end up strengthening a company that competes with Areva in its core nuclear segment.

Several conservative Senate Republicans failed Tuesday to amend a resolution calling for the development of renewable energy sources to include nuclear power. SJR1, sponsored by Senate Minority Leader Pat Jones, D-Holladay, was approved 27-1 without the amendment and now goes to the House. Only Sen. Margaret Dayton, R-Orem, voted against it. Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, had argued that nuclear power should be added to the list of renewable energy sources in the bill - wind, geothermal and solar. Buttars said leaving nuclear power off that list sent the message the state isn't interested in its development.

Tennessee's Attorney General produced a mixed opinion on the constitutionality of bills concerning radioactive waste in the state's landfills. State Rep. Frank Buck (D-Dowelltown) requested an opinion from the attorney general's office questioning whether bills introduced to the General Assembly by state Rep. Donna Rowland (R-Murfreesboro) and Sen. Jim Tracy (R-Murfreesboro) violate the U.S. Constitution's Commerce Clause.

The U.S. House sent a message to Italy, to Utah-based EnergySolutions, and to the world Wednesday -- the United States will not be a dumping ground for other nations' radioactive waste. By a vote of 309-112, members wisely approved the Radioactive Import Deterrence Act, which bans radioactive waste imports. Co-sponsored by Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, and Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, the measure aims to tame EnergySolutions' international business aspirations. The company is seeking a license from the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission to import 20,000 tons of contaminated materials from Italy's nuclear power industry. The waste would be processed at the firm's recycling facility in Tennessee, and 1,600 tons of leftovers would land in the company's low-level radioactive waste disposal facility in Tooele County, the only repository available for waste from 36 states.

The U.S. House sent a message to Italy, to Utah-based EnergySolutions, and to the world Wednesday -- the United States will not be a dumping ground for other nations' radioactive waste. By a vote of 309-112, members wisely approved the Radioactive Import Deterrence Act, which bans radioactive waste imports. Co-sponsored by Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, and Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, the measure aims to tame EnergySolutions' international business aspirations. The company is seeking a license from the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission to import 20,000 tons of contaminated materials from Italy's nuclear power industry. The waste would be processed at the firm's recycling facility in Tennessee, and 1,600 tons of leftovers would land in the company's low-level radioactive waste disposal facility in Tooele County, the only repository available for waste from 36 states.

Is the Climate Bill morphing into an excuse to promote fossil fuels and new nuclear power plants? Sen. John Kerry's (D-MA) recent promotion of a pro-nuke/pro-drilling/pro-coal agenda in the name of Climate Protection has been highlighted in a New York Times op ed co-authored with Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC). The piece brands nuke power "our single largest contributor of emissions-free power." It advocates abolishing "cumbersome regulations" so utilities can "secure financing for more plants." And it wants "serious investment" to "find solutions to our nuclear waste problem."

Is the Climate Bill morphing into an excuse to promote fossil fuels and new nuclear power plants? Sen. John Kerry's (D-MA) recent promotion of a pro-nuke/pro-drilling/pro-coal agenda in the name of Climate Protection has been highlighted in a New York Times op ed co-authored with Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC). The piece brands nuke power "our single largest contributor of emissions-free power." It advocates abolishing "cumbersome regulations" so utilities can "secure financing for more plants." And it wants "serious investment" to "find solutions to our nuclear waste problem."

Revision to reflect its 'expanded mission' Congress set out to modernize the mission of the Nevada Test Site and eventually change the name it's had for the past 57 years with Senate passage Tuesday of the defense authorization bill. The 93-7 vote sent the measure to President Barack Obama with an amendment by Nevada's senators that charges the head of the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration with "renaming the site to reflect the expanded mission." That "expanded mission," according to the amendment by Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign, R-Nev., will focus on developing methods to verify treaties and reduce nuclear security threats "while continuing to support the nation's nuclear weapons program and other national security programs."

Revision to reflect its 'expanded mission' Congress set out to modernize the mission of the Nevada Test Site and eventually change the name it's had for the past 57 years with Senate passage Tuesday of the defense authorization bill. The 93-7 vote sent the measure to President Barack Obama with an amendment by Nevada's senators that charges the head of the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration with "renaming the site to reflect the expanded mission." That "expanded mission," according to the amendment by Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign, R-Nev., will focus on developing methods to verify treaties and reduce nuclear security threats "while continuing to support the nation's nuclear weapons program and other national security programs."

After a decade in development, microwave casting is about to become part of the production capabilities at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge. Y-12 has contracted with a vendor, Microwave Synergy Inc., to complete the detailed design work and deliver the first production unit by unit July 2010. "Overall completion of installation, checkout and turn-over of the microwave caster to operations is scheduled for the end of FY 2011," B&W, the government's contractor at Y-12, said in response to questions. The Oak Ridge plant currently has five R&D microwave units and a "production-scale" prototype caster in the 9212 complex, where uranium is processed and fabricated into nuclear warhead parts. "The current prototype unit only has been used to cast enriched uranium into different shapes for evaluation purposes," B&W said via e-mail.

After a decade in development, microwave casting is about to become part of the production capabilities at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge. Y-12 has contracted with a vendor, Microwave Synergy Inc., to complete the detailed design work and deliver the first production unit by unit July 2010. "Overall completion of installation, checkout and turn-over of the microwave caster to operations is scheduled for the end of FY 2011," B&W, the government's contractor at Y-12, said in response to questions. The Oak Ridge plant currently has five R&D microwave units and a "production-scale" prototype caster in the 9212 complex, where uranium is processed and fabricated into nuclear warhead parts. "The current prototype unit only has been used to cast enriched uranium into different shapes for evaluation purposes," B&W said via e-mail.

Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, and two Idaho congressmen are calling for hearings into whether a program to compensate downwind cancer victims of atomic bomb tests in the 1950s and '60s should be expanded to include more areas - including several counties in Utah and Idaho. "Eligibility for compensation is limited to certain counties in just a few states. These geographical boundaries are, quite frankly, arbitrary boundaries that do not account for the fact that radioactive fallout does not abide by lines on a map," Matheson and Reps. Walt Minnick, D-Idaho, and Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, wrote to House Judiciary Committee leaders. The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act currently applies to residents who lived in 21 counties, including 10 in Utah - mostly in southern Utah nearest to the Nevada Test Site. However, the Deseret News obtained fallout maps in past years showing its path went through Salt Lake County and parts of eastern Utah for some tests.

"Nearly 100 lawmakers, mostly Republicans, are urging Energy Secretary Steven Chu to stop moving forward on shuttering the nuclear waste repository site at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. The Obama administration has yanked funding for the project, which has been in the works for more than two decades, and let go employees who worked at the site. In a harshly worded letter sent Tuesday, the lawmakers -- led by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash. -- assert that the Energy Department is violating the Nuclear Waste Repository Policy Act, which in 1987 designated Yucca Mountain as the only option for the nation's nuclear waste repository site. "

U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson and a bipartisan group of members of Congress are reviving their bill to stop imports of foreign nuclear waste to the United States. Reps. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., and Lee Terry, R-Neb., have called a news conference for next week with the Utah Democrat to reintroduce the measure, now dubbed the Radioactive Import Deterrence Act of 2009, or the "RID Act." The bill would slam the door shut on most foreign-generated radioactive waste seeking disposal in U.S. landfills, including the low-level radioactive waste site owned and operated by Salt Lake City-based EnergySolutions Inc. in Tooele County.

Coloradoans Against Resource Destruction (C.A.R.D.) will hold a public meeting in Fort Collins on Feb. 11 to provide an update on the status of the proposed in-situ uranium leach mining project near Nunn. Advertisement The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. in the Fort Collins Senior Center, 1200 Raintree Drive. A Canadian mining company began buying mineral leases in 2007 in Weld County and announced its intention to mine uranium six miles northeast of Fort Collins and about the same distance north of Windsor.

It's essential for the full 3-D analysis of a corroded radiation barrier at the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant to be made public before officials decide whether to approve a 20-year license renewal, according to a local congressman. Moreover, all studies on Oyster Creek safety issues should be promptly released to the public "to ensure independent review and help improve public confidence" in U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission work and "the entire NRC relicensing process," according to a letter to the NRC from Rep. Christopher H. Smith, R-N.J.

WASHINGTON - EnergySolutions would limit international low-level radioactive waste to 5 percent of its storage facility in Tooele County, company chairman R. Steve Creamer told a U.S. House panel Tuesday. Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, and other opponents of the company's plan to bring Italian waste to the United States see a threat to the country's storage capacity for its own low-level waste. But Creamer tried to calm those fears by committing to a limit on the amount of foreign waste the company would take.

Two of the main architects of Senate global warming legislation today will unveil a section for the bill intended to promote nuclear energy, which could open the floodgates for a myriad of potentially controversial proposals from both parties when floor debate starts next month. Sens. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., and John Warner, R-Va., will unveil a new nuclear title that will be offered to a bill the two authored with Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer, which is aimed at reducing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions through a cap-and-trade program. Lieberman and Warner will offer it as an amendment because Boxer has not favored language singling out nuclear energy. But all three senators suggested today they may not be at odds on at least this initial framework of a nuclear section. "We're not going to lose Sen. Boxer," Warner said to reporters after an event with Boxer, Lieberman and religious leaders promoting their bill, which will be on the Senate floor as early as June 2. "I think it will be relatively non controversial," Lieberman added.