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Texans for a Sound Energy Policy Alliance's mission is to support a Texas energy supply policy that is reasonable, sustainable and environmentally sound. The main goal is to ensure the process of approving the proposed nuclear power plant is not rushed or secretive. The key questions must be identified and the issues fully discussed. Along with seeking public opinion and community participation in the process, TSEPA has retained engineers, hydrologists, attorneys, and economic and environmental consultants to conduct independent studies to answer questions and highlight any problems that may be identified.

The Environmental Protection Agency announced its radiation health standard for the proposed nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain. The standard itself sounds innocuous, setting the radiation level at 15 millirems - about equivalent to an X-ray - a year for the first 10,000 years of the project. But Americans should have no confidence in that standard or in the Energy Department's plan to build a dump that can meet the standard. The Yucca Mountain project, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, has been a failure, and this standard shows how politics - not science - have prevailed.

Two days after Exelon Nuclear stepped forward in its quest to set up shop here, opponents sounded a warning and announced an October community forum. John Figer, director of Texans for a Sound Energy Alliance, said questions remain regarding nuclear power, safety and water usage.

The House of Representatives defeated an amendment July 17 to the fiscal 2010 energy and water appropriations bill that would have eliminated funding for the Yucca Mountain waste repository project. Representative Mike Simpson, an Idaho Republican, offered the amendment but voted against it, saying his goal was to put his colleagues on the record about taking away Yucca's funding. Simpson said in a floor statement that President Barack Obama's decision to suspend the Yucca Mountain program was "a political bow" to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, not a decision "that is based on sound science and sound policy." The amendment was defeated overwhelmingly. Overall, the bill, which was approved by the House 320-97, would provide DOE with $26.9 billion in fiscal 2010, $1.52 billion below the Obama administration's budget request. The Senate Appropriations Committee passed a $27.4 billion measure on July 8, but it was unclear July 17 when it would receive a floor vote.

"Millstone Power Station should take steps over the next two years to substantially reduce the water it uses for cooling and help restore populations of winter flounder and other marine life in Niantic Bay, but for now it is allowed to continue discharging more than 2 billion gallons of water per day into Long Island Sound. A state environmental regulator made the recommendations that were released Wednesday. Janis Deshais, hearing officer for the state Department of Environmental Protection, included the provisions as part of her decision to recommend with specific conditions the renewal of a permit allowing Millstone to withdraw and discharge water into the bay and the Sound. "

"Bruce Power is investigating what caused a "small spill" of radioactive heavy water, which forced workers to evacuate Unit 6 about 3 a.m. Monday. Workers were conducting maintenance at that Bruce B reactor, which has been down for planned service and inspections since May 14, when a spill occurred, Bruce Power reported in a news release Monday. An alarm sounded after the equivalent of a "barrel" of the reactor moderator water spilled, Bruce Power spokesman John Peevers said in an interview Tuesday. The spill occurred "as part of" maintenance activities according to a news release posted to Bruce Power's website. "The spill was immediately isolated and routed to a collection tank," the release said. All workers were allowed to return a few hours later, Peevers added. "

Doug Turner argues that politicians opposing a nuclear waste repository inside Yucca Mountain contribute to our nation's energy woes. Advocating increased use of nuclear power, Turner references the French, who are heavy producers of electricity generated by nuclear power plants. He claims their nuclear power is cheap, profitable and environmentally sound. The French pave their highways with material in which they mix radioactive wastes, spreading the hazard across the land. They store radioactive waste in facilities along miles of coastline. Radioactivity leaks into the ocean. Reprocessing creates more waste than there was before the material was reprocessed. But discarding weapons-grade plutonium and uranium would be economically irresponsible.

Nuclear energy sounds like the answer to this country's energy problems, but it isn't. For decades, nuclear power has been peddled as being an efficient and inexpensive energy. In the '50s, nuclear advocates loudly promised the world that atomic power would provide electricity "too cheap to meter." That promise dissolved with the reality of reactor construction costs in the 1970s and 1980s. But the price to consumers isn't limited to just the cost of the power usage that is listed on your monthly electricity bill. It goes way beyond that. Nuclear power is not cheap. Since the very beginning the government has been heaping subsidies, which come from our tax dollars, into the building and running of nuclear plants. But these cash payments and tax breaks are not the most valuable subsidies that they receive. The most important subsidies that the investors and owners can receive come from shifting the risks onto the taxpayers or the surrounding area's population.

Nuclear energy sounds like the answer to this country's energy problems, but it isn't. For decades, nuclear power has been peddled as being an efficient and inexpensive energy. In the '50s, nuclear advocates loudly promised the world that atomic power would provide electricity "too cheap to meter." That promise dissolved with the reality of reactor construction costs in the 1970s and 1980s. But the price to consumers isn't limited to just the cost of the power usage that is listed on your monthly electricity bill. It goes way beyond that. Nuclear power is not cheap. Since the very beginning the government has been heaping subsidies, which come from our tax dollars, into the building and running of nuclear plants. But these cash payments and tax breaks are not the most valuable subsidies that they receive. The most important subsidies that the investors and owners can receive come from shifting the risks onto the taxpayers or the surrounding area's population.

"Up to 217 workers may have been exposed to nuclear radiation at a Bruce nuclear power plant near Owen Sound, Ont., says the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission in a document released Tuesday. The nuclear safety watchdog first confirmed last month that workers who were upgrading the Bruce A Unit 1 reactor may have been exposed to radiation. A routine airborne sample taken on the morning of Nov. 26 at the plant threw up some red flags, according to a preliminary report by Bruce Power. Further testing of samples uncovered the presence of alpha particles, which can damage human tissue and cause cancer. The number of workers who may have been affected by the incident was unknown until Tuesday, when the CNSC, the safety commission, filed a report with new details on the November incident. The report later appeared on Scribd.com, an online site for publishing and sharing documents. "

Scanning previous internet "news" reports, two stand out in regard to the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant: A Tornado and suspicions regarding buried Huntington Pilot Plant materials. Scioto and Pike Counties in Ohio often experience more intense wind bursts when summer thunder storms form and occasionally turn to tornadoes. On July 11, 2009, NBC reported that "some damage" had been reported at the plant from a "tornado-like storm," based on word from public information officer Jack Williams the damage did not impact plant operations. In 1993, residents complained about an alleged 2.5 hour "unreported release." They alleged 13 workers were checked for exposure but no sirens sounded. However, after investigation, those responsible for the plant indicated that the 'release' was not a threat to those outside the plant. The Portsmouth facility has sirens for public notification.

Scanning previous internet "news" reports, two stand out in regard to the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant: A Tornado and suspicions regarding buried Huntington Pilot Plant materials. Scioto and Pike Counties in Ohio often experience more intense wind bursts when summer thunder storms form and occasionally turn to tornadoes. On July 11, 2009, NBC reported that "some damage" had been reported at the plant from a "tornado-like storm," based on word from public information officer Jack Williams the damage did not impact plant operations. In 1993, residents complained about an alleged 2.5 hour "unreported release." They alleged 13 workers were checked for exposure but no sirens sounded. However, after investigation, those responsible for the plant indicated that the 'release' was not a threat to those outside the plant. The Portsmouth facility has sirens for public notification.

"Several Western senators have introduced a bill seeking to triple the compensation for downwind cancer victims of Cold War atomic testing. The bill would also make it easier to prove claims and would expand eligibility for compensation payments to all of Utah - instead of just 10 counties that now qualify. But opposing the changes is Sen. Orrin Hatch - co-author of the original 1990 Radiation Exposure Compensation Act that created such compensation. "I fear it is overly broad and prohibitively expensive," he said, worrying that high costs might sink the program in budget battles and take current compensation programs with them. Hatch added, "I also believe it is important to continue to base any expansion of the program on sound science" - and add only those changes warranted by new scientific findings."

"Groups opposed to a Bruce Power plan to ship 16 steam generators, considered intermediate-level waste, through Owen Sound and the Great Lakes en route to Sweden for recycling are circulating a resolution to municipalities and other organizations calling for an end to the proposal. A Bruce Power spokesman said the company sees moving the 100-tonne generators more as a traffic issue than one of nuclear safety. "Everyone has the right to express their opinions, but we don't see any risk in this," said Peevers. The resolution being circulated by groups such as Coalition for a Nuclear-Free Great Lakes, Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination, Beyond Nuclear and the Nuclear Information and Resource Centre (NIRC) has collected signatures from a few hundred anti-nuclear, First Nations, environmental, and physicians groups from across Canada, the United States and countries around the world. In Bruce County, Citizens for Renewable Energy out of Lion's Head is opposed to the shipment of steam generators off the site. Hundreds of individuals have also signed, including Inverhuron's Eugene Bourgeois, Dr. Paul J. Eisenbarth of Hanover and Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley. "

EnergySolutions President Val Christensen plans to tell a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee today that legislation to ban imports of foreign low-level radioactive waste is unnecessary and could hinder U.S. efforts at revitalizing the nation's nuclear-energy production. Christensen, in prepared testimony obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune , says the bill -- aimed at halting shipments of 20,000 tons of Italian low-level waste for processing in Tennessee, 1,600 tons of which would be buried in western Utah -- would encumber U.S. companies from trying to help their own nation build more nuclear plants. "There are no advantages gained by erecting this barrier to international trade," Christensen says in his remarks. "The legislation would prevent American companies from playing an international role in a vital part of the nuclear-fuel cycle that is essential to the global nuclear-energy industry, and would be doing so based on emotions and preconceptions, rather than on facts and sound science."

EnergySolutions President Val Christensen plans to tell a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee today that legislation to ban imports of foreign low-level radioactive waste is unnecessary and could hinder U.S. efforts at revitalizing the nation's nuclear-energy production. Christensen, in prepared testimony obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune , says the bill -- aimed at halting shipments of 20,000 tons of Italian low-level waste for processing in Tennessee, 1,600 tons of which would be buried in western Utah -- would encumber U.S. companies from trying to help their own nation build more nuclear plants. "There are no advantages gained by erecting this barrier to international trade," Christensen says in his remarks. "The legislation would prevent American companies from playing an international role in a vital part of the nuclear-fuel cycle that is essential to the global nuclear-energy industry, and would be doing so based on emotions and preconceptions, rather than on facts and sound science."

DU: Depleted uranium, a unique waste that will become more and more radioactive until, roughly, the year 1002009. The acronym also gives sound guidance for where depleted uranium should be buried: deep underground. But a lack of deep, underground storage space and a growing need to find permanent storage for 1.4 million tons of DU is "clearly driving" federal regulators to erroneously steer the materials to shallow burial sites like EnergySolutions' low-level radioactive waste disposal facility in Utah. That's the contention of Kansas State University Geologist Charles G. Oviatt and a pair of Brigham Young University scientists, geologist Steve Nelson and climatologist Summer Rupper. In a letter to the NRC, which is gathering input in the early stages of a three-year review of DU disposal issues, they cite a "programmatic failure" by the agency to properly plan for deep disposal of depleted uranium.

DU: Depleted uranium, a unique waste that will become more and more radioactive until, roughly, the year 1002009. The acronym also gives sound guidance for where depleted uranium should be buried: deep underground. But a lack of deep, underground storage space and a growing need to find permanent storage for 1.4 million tons of DU is "clearly driving" federal regulators to erroneously steer the materials to shallow burial sites like EnergySolutions' low-level radioactive waste disposal facility in Utah. That's the contention of Kansas State University Geologist Charles G. Oviatt and a pair of Brigham Young University scientists, geologist Steve Nelson and climatologist Summer Rupper. In a letter to the NRC, which is gathering input in the early stages of a three-year review of DU disposal issues, they cite a "programmatic failure" by the agency to properly plan for deep disposal of depleted uranium.

Greg Clark is a thoughtful chap: the sort of chap who contemplates his subject from all angles before pronouncing. If he reckons we need more nuclear power stations, that's good enough for me. Greg is also a sound localist - one of the original supporters of Direct Democracy - and he wants local communities to be consulted about the siting of any new facilities. How can these two things be reconciled? How can we build more nuclear power stations quickly while respecting local autonomy? Here's an idea: why not let the market decide? Some US states have come up with an intriguing way of settling where to build unpopular installations, from incinerators to mobile phone masts. They ask each county what it would take to make them want the facility. Each county then submits a sealed bid, and the one with the lowest price is chosen. How the county authorities use the money is up to them: they can spend it, cut taxes or both.

Greg Clark is a thoughtful chap: the sort of chap who contemplates his subject from all angles before pronouncing. If he reckons we need more nuclear power stations, that's good enough for me. Greg is also a sound localist - one of the original supporters of Direct Democracy - and he wants local communities to be consulted about the siting of any new facilities. How can these two things be reconciled? How can we build more nuclear power stations quickly while respecting local autonomy? Here's an idea: why not let the market decide? Some US states have come up with an intriguing way of settling where to build unpopular installations, from incinerators to mobile phone masts. They ask each county what it would take to make them want the facility. Each county then submits a sealed bid, and the one with the lowest price is chosen. How the county authorities use the money is up to them: they can spend it, cut taxes or both.

A Minnesota Indian community with a nuclear power plant as its neighbor is holding a rally to voice opposition to a utility's expansion plans there. Friday's rally by the Prairie Island Indian Community is the latest step it has taken to sound off against Xcel Energy Inc.'s plans for the Red Wing plant. The utility plans to spend $600 million to upgrade the plant so it can handle higher pressure and temperatures that could add 164 megawatts to its output. Regulators have also signed off on expanded waste storage. Tribal members say they are concerned about health and safety risks from the plant.

A Minnesota Indian community with a nuclear power plant as its neighbor is holding a rally to voice opposition to a utility's expansion plans there. Friday's rally by the Prairie Island Indian Community is the latest step it has taken to sound off against Xcel Energy Inc.'s plans for the Red Wing plant. The utility plans to spend $600 million to upgrade the plant so it can handle higher pressure and temperatures that could add 164 megawatts to its output. Regulators have also signed off on expanded waste storage. Tribal members say they are concerned about health and safety risks from the plant.

"Throughout a long public process concerning the approval of what could be the nation's first new uranium mill constructed in nearly three decades, project supporters have largely rejected arguments made by opponents as being overly emotional and lacking in sound, scientific substance. But that criticism may have lost some of its sting last week when scientists hired by local environmental group Sheep Mountain Alliance to examine parts of a 15-volume radioactive materials license application submitted to state regulators last fall by Energy Fuels Resources Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Toronto-based Energy Fuels Inc., presented their findings during two public meetings held in Telluride and Ophir."

"Three degrees might not sound like much. But according to FirstEnergy Corp., a three-degree reduction in Davis-Besse's operating temperature will provide enough safety over the next two years to ensure there is no additional cracking of the steel nozzles that penetrate the reactor's interim head. Now it's up to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to decide whether it agrees with the utility's analysis of what caused 24 of the massive steel device's 69 nozzles to either develop flaws or full-blown cracks. One had been leaking reactor acid on top of the lid when the flaws were found in mid-March, though - unlike eight years ago - the problem was caught long before any noticeable amount of steel had melted, according to Vito Kaminskas, Davis-Besse's director of plant engineering."

"Operators starting up the Millstone Unit 1 reactor in Connecticut on September 1, 1972, had their efforts complicated by a problem with a demineralizer intended to clean up water from the main condenser before sending it to the reactor vessel to be turned into steam. Despite having been only recently placed in service, the demineralizer exhibited signs that its capacity to purify water had been nearly fully consumed. The workers took the troublesome demineralizer out of service and replaced it with another demineralizer. Half an hour later, the second demineralizer exhibited similar signs. The operators began shutting down the reactor. About an hour later, the chloride level of the reactor water increased above maximum allowable limits. The operators scrammed the reactor (i.e., shut it down rapidly). The main condenser was located directly beneath the turbine. Steam entered the main condenser after spinning the turbine blades to rotate the generator and make electricity. The steam is condensed back into water by flowing past thousands of metal tubes containing cool water - in this case, sea water from Long Island Sound."

Call it the alphabet soup rule. You can tell how important an issue is in the Legislature by how many groups with long acronyms line up behind it or against it. In the battle over AmerenUE's attempt to change Missouri law so that it can charge consumers higher rates while building its proposed nuclear plant in Callaway County, the first salvo was fired by MEDA, or the Missouri Energy Development Association. The group represents most of the state's utilities, and, of course, it's in favor of the plant. MEDA's Warren Wood makes the bill sound like it's pro-consumer, pro-environment.