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Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd (JNFL) has announced a postponement to the start of construction of its mixed oxide (MOX) fuel plant and a delay in installing new centrifuges at its enrichment plant. The company has requested that Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (Meti) revise its original application for the construction of its MOX fuel plant to allow for a further six month before the start of its construction. Construction of the J-MOX fabrication facility at Rokkasho had originally been scheduled to begin in 2007, but has been delayed by reviews of seismic criteria. In April, JNFL said that it planned to start work last month, with an expected start-up date of June 2015 for the plant, revising the date of 2012 specified in an earlier construction application.

Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd (JNFL) has announced a postponement to the start of construction of its mixed oxide (MOX) fuel plant and a delay in installing new centrifuges at its enrichment plant. The company has requested that Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (Meti) revise its original application for the construction of its MOX fuel plant to allow for a further six month before the start of its construction. Construction of the J-MOX fabrication facility at Rokkasho had originally been scheduled to begin in 2007, but has been delayed by reviews of seismic criteria. In April, JNFL said that it planned to start work last month, with an expected start-up date of June 2015 for the plant, revising the date of 2012 specified in an earlier construction application.

Washington and Moscow pledged Friday to uphold the "spirit" of the START nuclear arms treaty and to seek a new agreement as soon as possible, hours before the landmark 1991 pact was to expire. US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev said in a joint statement they would keep pushing for nuclear disarmament, despite failing to cut a last-minute deal by the treaty's December 5 expiration date. "We express our commitment, as a matter of principle, to continue to work together in the spirit of the START Treaty following its expiration, as well as our firm intention to ensure that a new treaty on strategic arms enter into force at the earliest possible date," the statement said. The Obama administration had pushed hard for a new START agreement as part of its efforts to improve strained US ties with Russia, but disputes over US monitoring of Russian missiles had bogged down talks in recent weeks.

Washington and Moscow pledged Friday to uphold the "spirit" of the START nuclear arms treaty and to seek a new agreement as soon as possible, hours before the landmark 1991 pact was to expire. US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev said in a joint statement they would keep pushing for nuclear disarmament, despite failing to cut a last-minute deal by the treaty's December 5 expiration date. "We express our commitment, as a matter of principle, to continue to work together in the spirit of the START Treaty following its expiration, as well as our firm intention to ensure that a new treaty on strategic arms enter into force at the earliest possible date," the statement said. The Obama administration had pushed hard for a new START agreement as part of its efforts to improve strained US ties with Russia, but disputes over US monitoring of Russian missiles had bogged down talks in recent weeks.

Nearly 15,000 drums of depleted uranium oxide will be shipped from South Carolina for disposal in Utah under a contract awarded by the Department of Energy. The 14,800 drums of Savannah River Site waste will be disposed of at EnergySolutions Inc.'s facility about 70 miles west of Salt Lake City. The shipments will take place over 14 months, although it was unclear Wednesday when they would start. The announcement, made by the Energy Department in mid-July, comes as EnergySolutions fights an effort to place a moratorium on the disposal of depleted uranium in Utah.

Nearly 15,000 drums of depleted uranium oxide will be shipped from South Carolina for disposal in Utah under a contract awarded by the Department of Energy. The 14,800 drums of Savannah River Site waste will be disposed of at EnergySolutions Inc.'s facility about 70 miles west of Salt Lake City. The shipments will take place over 14 months, although it was unclear Wednesday when they would start. The announcement, made by the Energy Department in mid-July, comes as EnergySolutions fights an effort to place a moratorium on the disposal of depleted uranium in Utah.

Nearly 15,000 drums of depleted uranium oxide will be shipped from South Carolina for disposal in Utah under a contract awarded by the Department of Energy. The 14,800 drums of Savannah River Site waste will be disposed of at EnergySolutions Inc.'s facility about 70 miles west of Salt Lake City. The shipments will take place over 14 months, although it was unclear Wednesday when they would start. The announcement, made by the Energy Department in mid-July, comes as EnergySolutions fights an effort to place a moratorium on the disposal of depleted uranium in Utah.

Japan's Chugoku Electric Power Co (9504.T) is likely to delay the start of construction on the No.1 reactor at its Kaminoseki nuclear plant by at least two years, until the financial year 2012/13 or later, Kyodo news agency reported on Thursday. The move will push back the start of commercial operations of the 1,373-megawatt No.1 reactor by at least two years to the year starting in April 2017 or later, Kyodo said.

Japan's Chugoku Electric Power Co (9504.T) is likely to delay the start of construction on the No.1 reactor at its Kaminoseki nuclear plant by at least two years, until the financial year 2012/13 or later, Kyodo news agency reported on Thursday. The move will push back the start of commercial operations of the 1,373-megawatt No.1 reactor by at least two years to the year starting in April 2017 or later, Kyodo said.

The 1.18 million-kW No. 3 reactor at Kyushu Electric Power Co.'s Genkai nuclear power plant in Saga Prefecture, which is Japan's first reactor using plutonium-uranium mixed oxide (MOX) as fuel, attained nuclear criticality last Thursday and started trial operations Monday (commerical operations are to start on Dec. 2). Thus "pluthermal" power generation has begun, but many problems remain unresolved. MOX fuel, made of plutonium extracted from spent nuclear fuel and uranium, was primarily intended for use in a fast breeder reactor (FBR), the core of Japan's nuclear fuel-cycle plan. But the prototype FBR Monju in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, has remained shuttered since a major accident in 1995. As a secondary step, the government in 1997 decided to adopt pluthermal power generation, which burns MOX fuel in ordinary light water reactors. But mishaps delayed its start by 10 years.

The 1.18 million-kW No. 3 reactor at Kyushu Electric Power Co.'s Genkai nuclear power plant in Saga Prefecture, which is Japan's first reactor using plutonium-uranium mixed oxide (MOX) as fuel, attained nuclear criticality last Thursday and started trial operations Monday (commerical operations are to start on Dec. 2). Thus "pluthermal" power generation has begun, but many problems remain unresolved. MOX fuel, made of plutonium extracted from spent nuclear fuel and uranium, was primarily intended for use in a fast breeder reactor (FBR), the core of Japan's nuclear fuel-cycle plan. But the prototype FBR Monju in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, has remained shuttered since a major accident in 1995. As a secondary step, the government in 1997 decided to adopt pluthermal power generation, which burns MOX fuel in ordinary light water reactors. But mishaps delayed its start by 10 years.

The 1991 Soviet-U.S. Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I) expires December 5 next year. This brings to the fore the problem of reducing nuclear arsenals and the monitoring of the process because the 2002 Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (SORT), which is valid through 2012, does not provide for irreversible reductions and does not establish a permanent mutual verification mechanism. The 1991 treaty, which entered into force in late 1994, limits the sides' strategic offensive potential to 1,600 carriers and 6,000 warheads. START II, the successor of START I, banned the use of MIRVs on ICBMs but it was never validated. In 2004, Russia officially withdrew from START II in response to the U.S. pullout from the 1972 ABM Treaty in 2002.

Court hears uranium protesters locked in container Civil action starts over uranium protest in 2000 A civil trial has started in the SA Supreme Court over police treatment of protesters at an outback uranium mine. Ten protesters who were locked in a shipping container at Beverley in South Australia in 2000 are claiming damages from the government for injury and suffering caused by their allegedly false imprisonment. The government has already settled out of court with three other plaintiffs who had been part of the class action. A lawyer for the remaining plaintiffs, Brian Walters, told the court the protesters were given no warning before police beat them with batons, used capsicum spray and locked them in a shipping container with no water or toilet facilities for up to eight hours. They are now suing the state government over their treatment by police.

Court hears uranium protesters locked in container Civil action starts over uranium protest in 2000 A civil trial has started in the SA Supreme Court over police treatment of protesters at an outback uranium mine. Ten protesters who were locked in a shipping container at Beverley in South Australia in 2000 are claiming damages from the government for injury and suffering caused by their allegedly false imprisonment. The government has already settled out of court with three other plaintiffs who had been part of the class action. A lawyer for the remaining plaintiffs, Brian Walters, told the court the protesters were given no warning before police beat them with batons, used capsicum spray and locked them in a shipping container with no water or toilet facilities for up to eight hours. They are now suing the state government over their treatment by police.

J-Power, Japan's biggest electricity wholesaler, said it has delayed the start of its first atomic power plant by 2½ years after carrying out additional work to make the station resistant to a strong earthquake. The plant, located in Oma in Japan's northern prefecture of Aomori, will start in November 2014, Electric Power Development Co., J-Power's official name, said in a statement to the Tokyo Stock Exchange. It was originally slated to start in March 2012.

"The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) today called a new nuclear weapons agreement between the United States and Russia "a critical first step" to reduce the global nuclear threat. The so-called NEW START agreement will be signed on April 8 in Prague, Czech Republic, to coincide with the historic speech President Obama delivered there nearly one year ago calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons worldwide. "NEW START is a critical first step in a nuclear risk reduction agenda that has been embraced by countless world leaders and a bipartisan chorus of foreign policy heavyweights and former U.S. government officials," said David Wright, co-director of UCS's Global Security Program. "There is a growing recognition that nuclear weapons are now a liability, not an asset, and they don't make the world safer or address today's threats.""

Start-up of Europe's first EPR nuclear power plant, the Olkiluoto 3 under construction in Finland, has been postponed beyond June 2012 because civil construction is taking longer than was previously estimated, according plant owner Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO). Finland's nuclear regulatory agency has, meanwhile, called attention to "deficiencies" in the welding of the plant's cooling system, potentially causing further delays. The Finnish utility said last week that the plant's supplier, an AREVA-Siemens Energy consortium, is responsible for the current schedule, and that it has requested a re-analysis of the anticipated start-up date. Work on the long-awaited nuclear power project began in 2005, and the plant was originally due to come online in 2009, but the project has been consistently plagued with faulty materials and planning problems. AREVA in September revealed that the total cost of the flagship third-generation reactor had risen to some €5.3 billion-up from the originally estimated cost of €3 billion. Costs could go up even more because of timeline uncertainties.

Start-up of Europe's first EPR nuclear power plant, the Olkiluoto 3 under construction in Finland, has been postponed beyond June 2012 because civil construction is taking longer than was previously estimated, according plant owner Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO). Finland's nuclear regulatory agency has, meanwhile, called attention to "deficiencies" in the welding of the plant's cooling system, potentially causing further delays. The Finnish utility said last week that the plant's supplier, an AREVA-Siemens Energy consortium, is responsible for the current schedule, and that it has requested a re-analysis of the anticipated start-up date. Work on the long-awaited nuclear power project began in 2005, and the plant was originally due to come online in 2009, but the project has been consistently plagued with faulty materials and planning problems. AREVA in September revealed that the total cost of the flagship third-generation reactor had risen to some €5.3 billion-up from the originally estimated cost of €3 billion. Costs could go up even more because of timeline uncertainties.

"China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group Co. will start trial operations of a nuclear reactor at the Lingao plant that will supply electricity to the country's southern region and cut coal use. Commercial operations of the reactor, part of a phase-two expansion of Lingao, are expected to start in October and a second unit will commence in 2011, the government-controlled nuclear power supplier said in a statement posted on the website of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission today. "

Russia has officially started the construction of its first floating nuclear power plant. However, the project designers have failed to complete all technical details. The project is deadlocked, newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta concludes. Meanwhile, also Chinese authorities now consider to start construction of floating nuclear power plants, the newspaper writes. The Russian plans for serial production of floating nuclear power plants have been presented widely both in Russia and internationally. Last year, the project was officially started in the Sevmash yard in Severodvinsk, Arkhangelsk Oblast. This year, Russia's state nuclear power company Rosatom transferred the assignment to the Baltiiskii Yard in Sankt Petersburg.

Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. has started work on the next generation of above-ground radioactive waste storage systems. While still in the preliminary-design stage, the New Dry Storage System will be used to safely store spent fuel rods and other waste generated at its Chalk River site until such a time as it can be permanently disposed. Brodie Whitelaw, project leader, said the project is just getting started, with a preliminary design expected to be completed next year. Ideally, construction for the facility would start in 2013, with it becoming operational in 2015.

After a couple of months of demolition work at the World War II-era K-25 building, federal contractors are ready to dispose of the tons of contaminated rubble that's starting to pile up at the Oak Ridge site. The first shipments to the nuclear landfill are supposed to take place today, according to Dennis Hill of Bechtel Jacobs Co. -- the Dept. of Energy's cleanup manager. "They'll start out with five trucks doing three roundtrips a day," Hill said. That means 15 truckloads of waste will be shipped each day to the landfill seven miles away from K-25 on the DOE Oak Ridge reservation. The landfill,which has multiple liners to protect the environment, is a CERCLA disposal facility known officially as the Environmental Management Waste Management Facility. After things get started and operations get smoothed out, the number of daily waste shipments will pick up significantly. The trucks will follow a route on a specially built "haul road," which keeps the traffic of radioactive waste off public highways. Eventually, about 400,000 cubic yards of waste will be generated by demolition of K-25, which was the nation's first gaseous diffusion plant and at the time of its construction in the early 1940s was the world's largest building under one roof.

The construction of two nuclear reactors in the Japanese town of Kaminoseki has been delayed by at least two years as a result of strong resistance from the locals. The Chugoku Electric Power Co. is expected to delay the start of work to build one of two 1,373-megawatt reactors at its planned nuclear power plant in Yamaguchi Prefecture for at least two years amid strong opposition from residents around the site, pushing back the start of commercial operations to March 2018.

The construction of two nuclear reactors in the Japanese town of Kaminoseki has been delayed by at least two years as a result of strong resistance from the locals. The Chugoku Electric Power Co. is expected to delay the start of work to build one of two 1,373-megawatt reactors at its planned nuclear power plant in Yamaguchi Prefecture for at least two years amid strong opposition from residents around the site, pushing back the start of commercial operations to March 2018.

Southern California Edison declared an unusual event at the 1,080-megawatt Unit 3 at San Onofre nuclear power station in California due to both emergency diesel generators being inoperable, the company told the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in a report. Operators started to shut the unit but returned it to nearly full power after fixing the problem. The unit started at full power on Dec. 12 and was cut to at least 90 percent. It was back to 99 percent power early Monday. An unusual event is the lowest of the NRC's four emergency classifications. San Onofre is located in San Clemente in San Diego County about 60 miles (96 km) north of San Diego.

Southern California Edison declared an unusual event at the 1,080-megawatt Unit 3 at San Onofre nuclear power station in California due to both emergency diesel generators being inoperable, the company told the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in a report. Operators started to shut the unit but returned it to nearly full power after fixing the problem. The unit started at full power on Dec. 12 and was cut to at least 90 percent. It was back to 99 percent power early Monday. An unusual event is the lowest of the NRC's four emergency classifications. San Onofre is located in San Clemente in San Diego County about 60 miles (96 km) north of San Diego.

Contents KK-7 Stopped Due to Radioactive Leak, KK-6 Begins Start-up Tests Local groups demand that start-up tests be suspended until investigations into KK-7's leaking fuel rod problem have been concluded and that both KK-6 and KK-7 be immediately shut down. Hamaoka Nuclear Power Station Struck By Earthquake The fact that an earthquake that arose so far away could cause so large a ground motion begs the question of whether the plant could withstand an earthquake immediately beneath the plant. Nuclear Energy Policy Under a New Government It might be hoped that a change of government would herald a change of nuclear energy policy, but we should not be too sanguine about the chances of a significant improvement. Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant: 14 Month Delay The estimated date of completion of construction and testing of its Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant has been extended by fourteen months to October 2010. It is the seventeenth time that the schedule had been extended. Public Finance and Export Insurance for Nuclear-Related Exports NGOs demand rigorous safety assessment, information disclosure and stakeholder involvement. An accident not to be forgotten: 10 Years have passed since the JCO Criticality Accident It might not have been so when the plant was first constructed, but at the time of the accident the plant was surrounded by houses. Nuclear fuel should not be handled in such places. Workers' Radiation Exposure Data for FY2008 The total collective dose in FY 2008 for people working at nuclear power plants was 84.04 person sieverts, an increase of 5.86 person sieverts compared to the previous year. Who's Who: Hiromitsu Ino There are many superb specialists in all sorts of academic fields, but there is one important difference between Ino and a large percentage of these "experts". That is that Ino succeeded in bridging the gap between specialist research and social activism.

Contents KK-7 Stopped Due to Radioactive Leak, KK-6 Begins Start-up Tests Local groups demand that start-up tests be suspended until investigations into KK-7's leaking fuel rod problem have been concluded and that both KK-6 and KK-7 be immediately shut down. Hamaoka Nuclear Power Station Struck By Earthquake The fact that an earthquake that arose so far away could cause so large a ground motion begs the question of whether the plant could withstand an earthquake immediately beneath the plant. Nuclear Energy Policy Under a New Government It might be hoped that a change of government would herald a change of nuclear energy policy, but we should not be too sanguine about the chances of a significant improvement. Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant: 14 Month Delay The estimated date of completion of construction and testing of its Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant has been extended by fourteen months to October 2010. It is the seventeenth time that the schedule had been extended. Public Finance and Export Insurance for Nuclear-Related Exports NGOs demand rigorous safety assessment, information disclosure and stakeholder involvement. An accident not to be forgotten: 10 Years have passed since the JCO Criticality Accident It might not have been so when the plant was first constructed, but at the time of the accident the plant was surrounded by houses. Nuclear fuel should not be handled in such places. Workers' Radiation Exposure Data for FY2008 The total collective dose in FY 2008 for people working at nuclear power plants was 84.04 person sieverts, an increase of 5.86 person sieverts compared to the previous year. Who's Who: Hiromitsu Ino There are many superb specialists in all sorts of academic fields, but there is one important difference between Ino and a large percentage of these "experts". That is that Ino succeeded in bridging the gap between specialist research and social activism.

It's the waste disposal equivalent of a last-minute call from the governor, a radioactive reprieve. The trains were to start arriving in Utah this month, carrying 15,000 drums containing 11,000 metric tons of depleted uranium to EnergySolutions' low-level radioactive waste disposal facility in Tooele County. Now, the Department of Energy has announced the shipments won't start leaving the yard at DOE's Savannah River site in South Carolina until December. The delay will buy time for Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, to convince the DOE to put the transfer on hold until the Nuclear Regulatory Commission completes an ongoing review of depleted uranium disposal. Matheson has a solid argument.

It's the waste disposal equivalent of a last-minute call from the governor, a radioactive reprieve. The trains were to start arriving in Utah this month, carrying 15,000 drums containing 11,000 metric tons of depleted uranium to EnergySolutions' low-level radioactive waste disposal facility in Tooele County. Now, the Department of Energy has announced the shipments won't start leaving the yard at DOE's Savannah River site in South Carolina until December. The delay will buy time for Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, to convince the DOE to put the transfer on hold until the Nuclear Regulatory Commission completes an ongoing review of depleted uranium disposal. Matheson has a solid argument.

France's EDF (EDF.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) plans to start the new-generation EPR reactor under construction at the Flamanville nuclear site in northwest France in 2012, and not in 2013 as stated by Areva earlier, EDF said on Wednesday. "EDF confirms the European Pressurized Reactor (EPR) will start in 2012," EDF said in a statement.

Thanks to $5 million in federal stimulus money, cleanup at the nuclear waste dump along Route 66 should begin ahead of schedule. Army Corps of Engineers officials said remediation at the site could begin by year's end. It will take about three years to complete the $56 million project, they said. "We're very excited to have the opportunity to get started a little ahead of schedule," said Lenna Hawkins, Army Corps deputy district engineer for the Pittsburgh District. Cleanup at the site wasn't scheduled to begin until next year. Hawkins said the allocation of the stimulus money "bumped up" the start date. The Army Corps will remove 50,000 tons of radioactive materials from the Shallow Land Disposal Area (SLDA), owned by Babcock & Wilcox.