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"There's a potential problem when drilling for gas, other than the possibility of well-water contamination by methane, brine or "fracking" chemicals (Plain Dealer, Sunday). In 1995, a national organization called the State Review of Oil and Natural Gas Environmental Regulations (STRONGER) reviewed state regulations on gas and oil wells. One recommendation it made was that the state should test for naturally occurring radioactive material at oil and gas exploration and production sites. In the 2000 and 2005 reviews, the same recommendation was made. Now, 15 years later, legislation requiring the testing has not even been proposed. Is there a reason to be concerned? Yes. An Environmental Protection Agency map of the radioactive gas radon shows statewide distribution. The gas slowly percolates through soil as a decay product of radium, so the potential for bringing both radon and radium to the surface during drilling exists. Additionally, gas-well borehole "cuttings" are normally buried on-site at completion of the drilling. Do those "cuttings" contain radioactive material, which would continue to expose local residents to radiation after completion of the drilling? When is legislation addressing this potential problem going to be proposed and adopted? "

"Ultrasonic tests completed Sunday night show 12 of the 69 nozzles on top of Davis-Besse's reactor head developed some sort of crack, eight more than previously known. Those 12 are among 14 that FirstEnergy Corp. identified last week of having suspicious flaws, or indications, of a crack that needed further examination, Todd Schneider, utility spokesman, said. A company report the Nuclear Regulatory Commission made public on March 15 stated that FirstEnergy could confirm only four cracks at that time. But the utility also said it hadn't yet tested 17 of the 69 nozzles."

"Consultant Craig Holmes acknowledged a mining company did not return test mining sites to baseline uranium levels after testing, which is a common practice. Holmes, who is an independent consultant hired to make sure Uranium Energy Corp. follows procedures, spent eight hours on the witness stand on Tuesday during the second day of testimony in the state contested case hearing over uranium mining in Goliad. Holmes was questioned on three main points: uranium level baseline, bore holes not being plugged within the 48 hours required after drilling, and his credibility. Holmes said the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality was notified of the violations involving the bore holes."

"Vice Speaker B.J. Cruz submitted several comments to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommending that no dredging of Apra Harbor take place and that no dumping of material dredged from Apra Harbor be allowed until adequate radiation testing of the harbor takes place. The Vice Speaker issued his comments in response to the Environmental Impact Statement for the Ocean Dredged Materials Disposal Site Offshore of Guam. In his comments to Mr. Allan Ota of the U.S. EPA, the Vice Speaker recommended No Action be taken on the proposed disposal site. "It is common knowledge," Vice Speaker Cruz wrote in a comment dated April 21, "that the U.S. Navy discharged radioactive material into Apra Harbor on more than one occasion. It is imperative, then, that no dredging of the harbor take place until adequate radiation testing independent from that reported by the U.S. Navy has been conducted on proposed dredge sites.""

"The radiological legacy of U.S. nuclear weapons testing in the Marshall Islands remains to this day and will persist for many years to come. The most severe impacts were visited upon the people of the Rongelap Atoll in 1954 following a very large thermonuclear explosion which deposited life-threatening quantities of radioactive fallout on their homeland. They received more than three times the estimated external dose than to the most heavily exposed people living near the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986. It took more than two days before the Rongelap people were evacuated after the explosion. Many suffered from tissue destructive effects, such as burns, and subsequently from latent radiation-induced diseases. In 1957, they were returned to their homeland even though officials and scientists working for the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) determined that radiation doses would significantly exceed those allowed for citizens of the United States. The desire to study humans living in a radiation-contaminated environment appeared to be a major element of this decision. A scientist in a previously secret transcript of a meeting where they decided to return the Rongelap people to their atoll stated an island contaminated by the 1954 H-Bomb tests was " by far the most contaminated place in the world.""

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."

"The Department of Energy is proposing extending a chemical barrier along the Columbia River at Hanford after a pilot project successfully trapped radioactive strontium before it entered the river. At the same time, a system to pump contaminated water out of the ground and treat it, which had disappointing results, would be torn out. DOE has been testing the chemical barrier technology since 2005, with the most recent results showing a 90 percent reduction in strontium contamination in ground water, according to DOE. The test area extends 300 feet along the Columbia near Hanford's N Reactor, but DOE is proposing extending the chemical barrier to 2,500 feet to span the width of the area where strontium exceeds drinking water standards in ground water near the river."

"Sweden is to build new nuclear power stations in defiance of a 1980 referendum when Swedes voted to phase out atomic power. After a debate in which Sweden's need for climate friendly, low carbon energy clashed with environmental concerns over atomic energy, Swedish MPs narrowly voted to build new nuclear reactor on Thursday night. "A few months ago, the climate threat dominated the environmental debate. Now it is the oil disaster in the Mexican Gulf that is sparking the world's interest and horror," said Andreas Carlgren, the Swedish environment minister during a heated debate. Related Articles * Eight new nuclear power stations planned for England * Warning signs on nuclear power * Honduras lifts overnight curfew * Iran election: 'unprecedented' turnout boosts challenge to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad * Britain's atomic test veterans remember nuclear tests of 1950s * Iran's president opens door to talks with US on nuclear programme "Both are really two sides of the same coin, namely, we must leave the dependency on oil and fossil energy behind." Construction will begin next year to replace the 10 ageing reactors that still produce 40 per cent of Sweden's electricity. But Sweden's centre-Left opposition, currently running neck and neck with the government in opinion polls ahead of elections is September, have vowed to reinstate the ban. "

"While most people trace the dawn of the nuclear era to August 6, 1945, and the dropping of the atomic bomb over the center of Hiroshima, it really began three weeks earlier, in the desert near Alamogordo, New Mexico, with the top-secret Trinity test. Its sixty-fifth anniversary will be marked-or mourned, if you will-this Friday, July 16. Entire books have been written about the test, so I'll just touch on one key issue here briefly (there's much more in my book with Robert Jay Lifton, Hiroshima in America). It's related to a hallmark of the age that would follow: a new government obsession with secrecy, which soon spread from the nuclear program to all military and foreign affairs in the cold war era. In completing their work on building the bomb, Manhattan Project scientists knew it would produce deadly radiation but weren't sure exactly how much. The military planners were mainly concerned about the bomber pilots catching a dose, but J. Robert Oppenheimer, "The Father of the Bomb," worried, with good cause (as it turned out) that the radiation could drift a few miles and also fall to earth with the rain."

"While most people trace the dawn of the nuclear era to August 6, 1945, and the dropping of the atomic bomb over the center of Hiroshima, it really began three weeks earlier, in the desert near Alamogordo, New Mexico, with the top-secret Trinity test. Its sixty-fifth anniversary will be marked -- or mourned, if you will -- tomorrow, July 16. Entire books have been written about the test, so I'll just touch on one key issue here briefly (there's much more in my book with Robert Jay Lifton, Hiroshima in America). It's related to a hallmark of the age that would follow: a new government obsession with secrecy, which soon spread from the nuclear program to all military and foreign affairs in the cold war era."

As 1,000 ex-servicemen exposed to atomic tests in the Pacific in the 50s fight for compensation in the High Court, the widow of one veteran tells his story KEITH Davies held up his hands to cover his face and was shocked to see his own bones. Keith was on board an aircraft carrier, HMS Warrior in the 1950s and was an unwitting witness to Britain's testing of early nuclear bombs.

The Government was accused today of seeking to "snuff out" compensation claims of up to £100 million for veterans contaminated during nuclear and atomic tests in the 1950s. It has resisted the claims "with the utmost determination and all the colossal resources - legal, financial and scientific at its command," Benjamin Browne, QC, representing more than 1,000 veterans, said. Yet even though the Government accepted scientific evidence "of the highest repute" demonstrating a link between the veterans' exposure to radiation and cancer, lawyers "seek to rubbish that report at every turn". Mr Browne told Mr Justice Foskett in the High Court in London that "time and again", governments had told veterans that they had to await compensation until there was scientific proof of the link.

Britain deliberately misled Australia about the effects of its nuclear tests at Maralinga and poisoned hundreds of servicemen with its atomic blasts, London's High Court has heard. The claims were made on the first day of a long-awaited legal battle by more than 800 veterans who are demanding millions of dollars in compensation from Britain's Ministry of Defence (MoD).

HUNDREDS of war veterans who suffered long-term health effects following British nuclear tests overseas more than half-a-century ago will mount a High Court legal challenge against the Government tomorrow. Many servicemen either died very young, suffered from cancers, skin defects, infertility and reduced life-expectancy following the atomic bomb explosions in the Pacific and Indian Oceans in 1957. The tests were carried out by the Ministry of Defence and were designed to improve Britain's nuclear capability.

Cheryl Gallant, MP Renfrew- Nipissing-Pembroke, has confirmed that the program recently announced by the federal government to recognize the service of atomic veterans is now accepting applications. "Women and men in the service of their country, past or present, deserve the respect, admiration and care of a grateful nation," said MP Gallant. "Prime Minister Stephen Harper and our government are committed to the care and well-being of our veterans and recognize the service of those who participated in nuclear weapons testing and in nuclear decontamination work. This program recognizes the exceptional service that these individuals have performed for their country." Canadian military veterans and civilian science and technology workers from the Department of National Defence who participated in nuclear weapons tests and the Chalk River decontamination efforts performed their duty under exceptional circumstances. In recognition of their exceptional service to the nation, these Canadians will be eligible to apply for an ex-gratia payment of $24,000.

Record of Decision for the Complex Transformation Supplemental Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement--Tritium Research and Development, Flight Test Operations, and Major Environmental Test Facilities AGENCY: National Nuclear Security Administration, U.S. Department of Energy. [[Page 77657]] ACTION: Record of Decision. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a separately organized agency within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), is issuing this Record of Decision (ROD) for the continued transformation of the nuclear weapons complex (Complex). This ROD is based on information and analyses contained in the Complex Transformation Supplemental Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (SPEIS) (DOE/EIS-0236-S4) issued on October 24, 2008 (73 FR 63460); comments received on the SPEIS; and other factors, including costs, technical and security considerations, and the missions of NNSA. The SPEIS analyzes the potential environmental impacts of alternatives for transforming the nuclear weapons complex into a smaller, more efficient enterprise that can respond to changing national security challenges and ensure the long-term safety, security, and reliability of the nuclear weapons stockpile.

Tests have uncovered radioactive contaminants in an open-air burn pit, already rife with chemical pollutants, at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, according to state regulatory officials. Low levels of radium-226 were discovered during testing this fall, said Norman Riley, the field lab project director for California's Department of Toxic Substances Control. "These are very low levels of radionuclides, and certainly the discovery of radium is not that surprising," Riley said Monday. "It's fairly common to find radium in landfills. We don't know if we found all that there is to find, and it doesn't answer the question of where it came from."

Ministers tell servicemen who witnessed 1950s test explosions they should have claimed years ago Ministers have been accused of blocking compensation claims brought by hundreds of nuclear test veterans who believe they developed cancers and other illnesses after being forced to witness atomic bomb experiments in the 1950s and '60s. Despite pay-outs to former servicemen in the US, France and China, Britain has told its veterans there is no case for offering compensation, and that there is no scientific justification for a full investigation into birth defects suffered by the veterans' children and grandchildren.

A new nuclear weapons report by a panel of scientists and two new books by weapons scientists show just how deeply the nuclear genie still haunts the scientific heirs of the Manhattan Project. "Scientists have always felt a special responsibility for nuclear weapons, the one weapon they have created of such import," says physicist John Browne, a former head of Los Alamos (N.M.) National Laboratory. Now, amid pressing economic and wartime worries, nuclear weapons are poised once again to enter public debate, fueled by warnings from Congress and a campaign pledge by President-elect Barack Obama to support the 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. The treaty, which bans nuclear weapon test explosions, has been ratified by 143 nations, but not the United States.

The pros and cons regarding Yucca mountain are endless. It was in the late 1980s when all eyes were turned toward the State of Nevada - think about it - a small state with two new senators. There was Texas and the state of Washington with powerful leadership, as compared to our own little state of Nevada. Included in this mixture was the powerful nuclear industry pushing all the way to Nevada and Yucca Mountain. There are advantages to Yucca Mountain in that it is in a remote area along side the Nevada test site, wherein there had been nuclear testing. Think about human exposure over the next 10,000 years. Fractured rock that will provide a path down to the water table. Think also about the mountain as it sits quietly at this moment in isolation, but we have had earthquakes and this area is located in the southwestern Nevada volcanic field. There are a maze of faults and fractures beneath this mountain which make it difficult to model flow pathways.