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A new report by the Department of Energy on the Moab tailings project says an average of 12,000 tons of contaminated dirt are being shipped to a nearby disposal site each week and by late June, more than 100,000 tons have been removed. Federal stimulus money and an extra allocation from the Omnibus Appropriation Act infused an additional $118 million to the project to accelerate the timeline of the cleanup. Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, said the funding boost is critical, given the severity of contamination at the former Atlas mine northwest of Moab. "The danger posed by this unstable site is clear," he said. "It is a risk not only to Moab but to millions of downstream water users. It's important that this threat is removed as quickly as possible."

* In talks with potential local, foreign equity partners * To couple power generation, industrial process heat use By Agnieszka Flak JOHANNESBURG, June 23 (Reuters) - South African nuclear technology firm PBMR plans to have its first 80 megawatt (MW) power and heat processing plant based on its pebble-fuel technology by 2018, a company official said. Tom Ferreira, a spokesman for Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR), said the timeline for the launch of the plant had been delayed after the company decided to change its designs to attract more investments and bridge a funding gap.

_ 1955: A U.S. government reactor makes Arco, Idaho, the world's first town electrified by nuclear power. _ 1957: The U.S.' first commercial nuclear power plant becomes operational in Shippingport, Pa. (Nuclear reactors were already in service in the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom). It was retired in 1982. _ March 29, 1979: Three Mile Island Unit 2 in Middletown, Pa., melts down. No one was killed or seriously injured that day, but the public relations disaster sets back the industry for decades. _ April 26, 1986: Chernobyl nuclear power plant explodes in Soviet Ukraine, killing thousands. A radioactive cloud floats over much of Europe and large areas of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus are contaminated. _ 1996: The U.S.' last new reactor comes online at Watts Bar nuclear power plant near Spring City, Tenn. It took 22 years to finish Unit 1 and Unit 2 remains unfinished, becoming a poster child of the industry's inefficiency. _ 2001: Worries about terrorist plots against nuclear power plants prompts new security measures. Governors send National Guard troops to watch over plants as public confidence about the safety of the installations drops. _ 2002: Employees discover an acid leak after it nearly ate through a reactor vessel cap at the Davis-Besse plant in Oak Harbor, Ohio. Owner FirstEnergy Corp. pays a record $28 million fine and juries convict two plant employees of hiding the corrosion. _ 2007: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission receives first full power plant application in 28 years. NRG Energy Inc.'s proposal for two reactors near Bay City, Texas, is one of 26 licenses pending at the agency. _ February 2009: President Barack Obama calls for a cap on greenhouse gas emissions. The proposal would almost certainly raise the cost to operate coal- and gas-fired plants and is seen as a boost for nuclear energy.

"India's government failed to introduce a bill intended to shield U.S. nuclear equipment suppliers from liability, delaying the entry of companies including General Electric Co.'s atomic venture. The Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill 2010, listed as the main item on today's agenda in parliament, was deferred because of opposition from lawmakers. Prithviraj Chavan, a minister in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's office, today said the government will table the bill after addressing concerns of opposition members, without giving a timeline. The proposed law sets a limit of 5 billion rupees ($110 million) on compensation to be paid by companies operating reactors, and excludes suppliers of equipment, according to a copy of the draft bill. The overall liability can reach about $450 million, with the additional amount borne by the government. "It seems the government is going to bail out American companies from responsibility in case there is any nuclear accident," said Shahnawaz Hussain, a legislator with the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party. "

"The nuclear energy industry made several policy recommendations today to the blue ribbon commission counseling the U.S. Department of Energy on future management of used nuclear fuel and nuclear waste. These recommendations included the value of centralized temporary storage of used fuel assemblies, the continuing need for a geologic disposal facility even if used fuel is recycled, and a new management and financing structure for the entity that oversees the program. "The greatest service that the commission can render to the nation is to develop a used fuel management policy that will endure, define a process for implementing the policy, determine the timelines to be followed to achieve the policy, and delineate the legal and legislative changes needed to make the policy a reality," said Nuclear Energy Institute President and Chief Executive Officer Marvin Fertel in a presentation to the commission."

Ths is a brief timeline of Japan's history of nuclear problems

SCE&G's plan to build two reactors goes before state regulators Wednesday SCE&G and Santee Cooper estimate it will cost about $10 billion to build two nuclear reactors in Fairfield County. What nuclear energy can you do with $10 billion? A few ideas: Thirty years after the commercial nuclear power industry appeared dead, South Carolina is on the leading edge of its rebound. Nationwide, applications to build a dozen nuclear power reactors - four in South Carolina - have been filed with the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission. While there is growing public support for nuclear power, its resurgence also has touched off a firestorm of debate.

Labour's forced sale of British Energy's former Westinghouse unit (with its Nuclear Power division) to Japan's Toshiba 2 years ago- against the loud objections of BE's management- resulted in much of the mess of today.

The six-year crisis over North Korea's nuclear ambitions has been a roller coaster of stalled negotiations and then sudden progress, resulting in major shifts in policy by the Bush administration.

1994: North Korea and the United States sign an agreement under which the North shuts down its plutonium-based nuclear reactor in exchange for help building two "light water" nuclear reactors for producing electricity. _ Sept. 17, 1999: President Clinton agrees to first major easing of economic sanctions against North Korea since the Korean War's end in 1953.

Early 1960s: The federal government proposes a nuclear reactor alongside Town Lake. The City Council rejects the proposal, which contracting giant Brown and Root had advised the city would have major cost overruns. 1971: Houston Lighting & Power announces a feasibility study of building a nuclear power plant to be shared by Austin, San Antonio and Corpus Christi. September 1972: Austin voters reject a $289 million bond referendum proposed by then-mayor Roy Butler for nuclear power, 52 percent to 48 percent. It would have funded Austin's involvement in the South Texas Nuclear Project, which Brown and Root was going to build. November 1973: Voters approve a $161 million bond referendum for nuclear power, 51 percent to 49 percent. 1976: The first concrete for the project is laid. With University of Texas students out, Austin voters reject a referendum in August requiring Austin to sell its share of the South Texas Nuclear Project, 75 percent to 25 percent.

Developments in North Korea's nuclear and missile programs: _ 1994: Under agreement with U.S., North Korea pledges to freeze and eventually dismantle its nuclear weapons program in exchange for help building two safer power-producing nuclear reactors. _ Aug. 31, 1998: North Korea fires suspected missile over Japan and into the Pacific Ocean, calling it a satellite. _ Sept. 13, 1999: North pledges to freeze long-range missile tests. _ Sept. 17, 1999: President Bill Clinton agrees to first major easing of economic sanctions against North Korea since Korean War's end in 1953.

The United States explodes the world's first atomic bomb at Alamogordo, N.M. Aug. 6 Little Boy, a uranium bomb, dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. Between 80,000 and 140,000 killed. Aug. 9 Fat Man, a plutonium bomb, dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. About 74,000 killed. 1946: June 30 First subsurface detonation by the United States at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific. 1949: Aug. 29 Soviet Union detonates its first atomic bomb, Joe 1, at Semipalatinsk in Kazakhstan.

"The government is compiling a schedule of measures to deal with the accident at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant to provide evacuees as well as the international community a better idea of what to expect. Prime Minister Naoto Kan is scheduled to attend the Group of Eight summit later this month and is expected to explain what the government is planning to do to stabilize the situation at the Fukushima plant, as well as in rebuilding areas struck by the Great East Japan Earthquake. "