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I AM an engineer working for an energy and strategy consultant in Munich, Germany. During my recent holiday in this lovely country, I noticed the ongoing debate on whether Malaysia should build nuclear energy plants or not, and read the stories in StarMag with great interest (Green or black?, Insight, Aug 16). I have the feeling that most important points are reflected correctly (maybe except Mr Robinson - Berol Robinson, president of the American branch of Environmentalist for Nuclear Energy - who obviously thinks that one part of nuclear waste which is fatal within minutes of exposure might be less harmful than one million parts of inert coal ash).

"Federal nuclear regulators are meeting to discuss a special inspection of a South Carolina plant that shut down earlier this year. Staff from the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission are in Hartsville on Wednesday to talk about safety at Progress Energy's nearby Robinson plant. Two fires happened March 28 in the plant's electrical system. The commission says the plant and public were never in danger but decided that issues raised in an initial inspection warranted further study. The plant entered a refueling outage originally planned for mid-April and remains shut down. Last month, the commission sent in a special inspection team to review the events that led to shutdown. The agency will issue a report after the public hearing."

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will hold public meetings Thursday, Dec. 4, in Crystal River, Fla., to discuss the environmental issues the agency should consider in reviewing a Combined License (COL) application for two new reactors proposed for the Levy County site near Crystal River. The NRC will meet with the public from 1 - 4 p.m. and 6 - 9 p.m. at the Florida National Guard Armory, 8551 W. Venable St. in Crystal River. The application's environmental report is available on the agency's Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/col/levy.html. Copies of the report are also available at the Citrus County Coastal Region Library, 8619 W. Crystal St. in Crystal River; the Bronson Public Library at 600 Gilbert St. in Bronson, Fla.; and the Dunnellon Branch Library at 20351 Robinson Rd. in Dunnellon, Fla.

Warren F. "Pete" Miller, Jr. has been selected by President Barack Obama to fill two posts that oversee each end of nuclear energy-supplying it and storing its waste. First, Miller was nominated to be Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy in the Department of Energy, and about a week later, he was also chosen to serve as director of Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management. Industry observers believe Miller's latter role will involve carrying out Obama's wishes to end the controversial project to store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Miller was confirmed by the Senate for the first position on August 7, 2009, but his confirmation for the radioactive waste role was held up by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), who opposes the closing of Yucca Mountain. Born in Chicago on March 17, 1943, Miller is one of five children raised by Warren F. Miller, Sr., and Helen Robinson Miller. His father worked as a milkman, delivering dairy products to homes in the Chicago area, and his mother worked as a secretary at the University of Chicago. Miller attended all-black inner city schools while growing up, and during high school, he enrolled in the Reserve Officers Training Corps, becoming commander of his ROTC unit.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission seeks public comment on proposed changes to its licensing requirements for the storage of spent nuclear fuel, which would clarify the term limits for specific licenses for independent spent fuel storage installations (ISFSIs) and for certificates of compliance (CoCs) for spent fuel storage casks. In a proposed rule published today in the Federal Register, the agency proposes formalizing the initial and renewal terms of a specific ISFSI license at a period of up to 40 years, instead of the current duration of up to 20 years. This change would codify a technical approach begun in 2004 with the renewal of the licenses for storage installations at the Surry and H. B. Robinson nuclear power plants. Currently, licensees must request an exemption if they desire a term of more than 20 years. Similarly, the proposed rule would allow CoC applicants to request initial and renewal terms of up to 40 years, provided they can demonstrate that all design requirements are satisfied for the requested term.

"Experts say uranium mining and milling in Pittsylvania County will lower property values, make it more difficult for farmers to sell their products and greatly increase residents' risks of illnesses and disease caused by living near a uranium mine. Also, the uranium deposit at Coles Hill northeast of Chatham is not 119-million pounds as mining proponents claim but just 5.5 million pounds, said Paul Robinson, research director at the Southwest Information & Research Center in Albuquerque, N.M. But another expert, Marita Noon, executive director of the Citizens Alliance for Responsible Energy in New Mexico, says Canada has been mining and milling uranium for years with no ill effects. "

"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."