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The Norwegian-Russian project on replacing radioactive strontium batteries with solar panels in lighthouses along the White Sea and Barents Sea coast and islands is now completed. In 2009 the project might be adopted in the Baltic Sea. All of the Northern Fleet hydrographical service's 153 lighthouses along the White Sea and Barents Sea coast and islands, have now been modernized to use solar energy as power source, Russian TV company TV21 reports. The radioactive strontium batteries that used to supply these lighthouses with energy have been shipped to the Mayak reprocessing plant in Chelyabinsk, Siberia.

Senior Canadian officials left a binder full of confidential nuclear documents in a television studio and made no attempt to retrieve them, the TV network involved said on Wednesday. The incident is likely to increase pressure on the minority Conservative government, already under fire for its handling of the economic crisis. The main opposition Liberal Party said on Tuesday it would decide next week whether to try to bring down the Conservatives in Parliament.

It's not too early to think about what needs to be done in 2010 NewYearResolutiuon1 Claims that one will turn over a new leaf in January, via new year's resolutions, often get a bum rap. For example, will you go to the gym and lose all extra pounds gained during the holiday season? Usually, the rap is deserved because our good intentions fade by the time the Superbowl game hits the TV. That doesn't mean it isn't a good idea. As someone who spends a fair amount of time thinking about the future of the nuclear energy industry in the U.S., I've organized my thoughts to describe what I think are four key priorities, or new year's resolutions, for 2010. In short, these are my proposals for new year's resolutions for the U.S. nuclear industry. Critics of the nuclear industry are focused on fault lines

It's not too early to think about what needs to be done in 2010 NewYearResolutiuon1 Claims that one will turn over a new leaf in January, via new year's resolutions, often get a bum rap. For example, will you go to the gym and lose all extra pounds gained during the holiday season? Usually, the rap is deserved because our good intentions fade by the time the Superbowl game hits the TV. That doesn't mean it isn't a good idea. As someone who spends a fair amount of time thinking about the future of the nuclear energy industry in the U.S., I've organized my thoughts to describe what I think are four key priorities, or new year's resolutions, for 2010. In short, these are my proposals for new year's resolutions for the U.S. nuclear industry. Critics of the nuclear industry are focused on fault lines

Waste from French power stations was being deposited in the open air in Russia, French newspaper Liberation said on Monday. The paper said 13 percent of French radioactive waste produced by power group EDF could be found in the open air in a town in Siberia to which access is forbidden. The paper said it based its information on an investigation due to be broadcast on TV channel Arte on Tuesday. An EDF spokeswoman declined to confirm the 13 percent figure, or that waste was stored in the open air, but confirmed EDF sends nuclear waste to Russia.

Waste from French power stations was being deposited in the open air in Russia, French newspaper Liberation said on Monday. The paper said 13 percent of French radioactive waste produced by power group EDF could be found in the open air in a town in Siberia to which access is forbidden. The paper said it based its information on an investigation due to be broadcast on TV channel Arte on Tuesday. An EDF spokeswoman declined to confirm the 13 percent figure, or that waste was stored in the open air, but confirmed EDF sends nuclear waste to Russia.

Environmental group Greenpeace on Monday accused Congress of using "myths" and "abusing scientific data" to support their bid to revive the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant. Von Hernandez, Greenpeace Southeast Asia executive director, and geologist Kelvin Rodolfo, professor emeritus at the University of Illinois at Chicago, disproved claims by Representatives Mark Cojuangco and Juan Miguel Arroyo that the 30-year-old facility would yield clean, safe and inexpensive energy. "Nuclear energy is not clean, not safe and not cheap," said Hernandez, adding that it is "probably the most dangerous and expensive power source there is."

California is urging federal regulators to turn down the Energy Department's bid to build a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, charging analysts did not fully study how the plan would affect Death Valley groundwater and the state's transportation networks. "Proceeding with the project in the manner described by DOE poses a threat to the people, natural resources and environment of California," attorneys said at the outset of a 400-page document filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Share & Save Newsvine Digg Fark Technorati reddit StumbleUpon del.icio.us Slashdot Propeller Mixx Furl Twitter MySpace Facebook Google Bookmarks Yahoo! Bookmarks Windows Live Favorites Ask MyStuff myAOL Favorites What is this? Most Popular Stories # WYNN RESORTS: Enter the Encore # NORM: Fredericks bidding KVBC-TV farewell # HAPPY NEW YEAR: Rates for rooms at discounts # SILENT NIGHT: Workers outnumber stocked racks at soon-to-be-closed stores # NORM: Deadbeat leaves his mark on Strip # F Street closing called biased # NORM: Record numbers of strippers seen # LAS VEGAS LAWYER: Justices chide 'heavy hitter' # North Las Vegas police officer arrested on misconduct, other charges # Station Casinos to use its remaining credit The commission "may not approve DOE's license application unless DOE provides an adequate environmental analysis that analyzes threats to California and how to mitigate them," said the lawyers from the state's Energy Commission and its Department of Justice.

McCain's vow to build 45 atomic plants has bold glow of deception The most recent nuclear power plant to go online in the United States was the Watts Bar station in Tennessee, which started producing power in 1996, a scant 23 years after construction began. Thus John McCain's debate claim that, as president, he would somehow push through the construction of 45, count 'em, 45 new nuclear plants without worrying about where they'd be placed or what we'd do with the radioactive waste drew quite a response, at least in me ("There hasn't been a nuclear reactor built in 30 years!" I shouted at the TV).

Claims of substandard welding at the construction site of Finland's third commercial nuclear reactor have led to a request for a police investigation. An engineer serving as deputy project chief for the construction company Bouygues feels that a current affairs programme on YLE TV-2 libelled his company with claims of substandard welding at the site.

The 750 tons of radioactive sludge that Waste Management agreed to accept at its local municipal landfills would expose the public to less radiation annually than watching TV, according to a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission assessment.

Obama TV spot is second on nuclear waste repository Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama began airing a new television ad in Las Vegas on Thursday that criticizes Republican John McCain for supporting the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. The ad, "Dangerous," states, "If you don't want nuclear waste here, you don't want John McCain here."

There are only seven Web sites that more people use than Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that lets anyone edit most of its articles. None of the sites that are more popular than Wikipedia have as their main purpose producing information about the world. The top sites, Google and Yahoo, mainly function as links to other sites. Facebook and Myspace, which people use to keep in touch with their friends, are third and fifth most popular, respectively. The other sites that are more visited than Wikipedia are YouTube (a kind of online TV), eBay (a virtual flea market), and Microsoft's version of Google.

Iran has allowed rare access to the Bushehr nuclear reactor, where Iranian and Russian engineers have started conducting pre-conditioning tests using dummy fuel without any radioactive content. Iranian TV reporter at Bushehr reactor Journalists were taken round the power plant shepherded by security guards. They included the BBC's Jon Leyne (not pictured) who called the security regime "polite but firm". Russian and Iranian engineers watch visitors to Bushehr plant Russian and Iranian engineers are stationed at the plant which has been built and equipped by the Russian contractor Atomstroiexport. Operation room at Bushehr plant Our correspondent says the control room looked close to completion, but in some other areas, machinery was still wrapped in plastic. Iranian officials from the Atomic Energy Organization ask photojournalists to leave the turbine building during an organised tour in the Bushehr nuclear power plant At one stage during the organised tour, Iranian atomic agency officials asked photojournalists to leave a room housing turbines. Radar facilities on the skyline at Bushehr plant Radar facilities dominate the skyline at the nuclear plant, which will house a 1,000-megawatt light-water reactor used for generating electricity. Barbed wire and a missile emplacement on the perimeter of the nuclear power plant in Bushehr The plant seems to be well defended - as in the past both Israel and the US have threatened pre-emptive military action against Iran's nuclear facilities. Head of Russian nuclear agency Sergei Kiriyenko Russian nuclear chief Sergei Kiriyenko attended the inauguration. Russia and international monitors will ensure the plant fulfils its job to generate energy and not to produce any weapons material. Back

Members of the Network Opposed to BNPP Revival fear that the planned re-commissioning of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant will spur corruption anew within the country's corridors of power. A report from the network disclosed that while the technical concerns on the plant's site and plant safety have not yet been directly addressed by the proponents, it is not the end or be-all of talks considering BNPP's revival. "One should not neglect other aspects of equal importance: the politics and economics of the project," the network said.

FEARS that radioactive material taken from France's old uranium mines has been used in construction have been raised by a TV documentary. According to investigators for the programme Pièces à Conviction (Incriminating evidence), there are many sites where radioactive material is a potential health risk including schools, playgrounds, buildings and car parks. Very little uranium is now mined in Europe, but France carried out mining from 1945 - 2001 at 210 sites which have now been revealed by IRSN, the Institute of Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety on its website - click here.

Oswego, New York (WSYR-TV) - Oswego County boasts several nuclear power plants already -- but any hopes it will house Constellation energy's newest facility have been dashed. Friday, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced it is postponing its review of Constellation's application for a new plant in Scriba -- at the company's request. Constellation asked for the delay because it has decided to build the first of its four proposed nuclear plants in Maryland. Paperwork to move that project forward must first be approved by the NRC before any subsequent plants can be okayed.

The Philippines may choose to dispose of nuclear waste at the Spratlys Islands should the government proceed with a plan to use nuclear energy. Using the islands as a disposal facility for spent nuclear fuel may even end the dispute over its ownership, said Pangasinan Representative Mark Cojuangco, who authored a House Bill that intends to rehabilitate the country's only nuclear plant in Bataan. Besides the Philippines, a host of other countries including China, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Vietnam are claiming dominion over the islands. The disputed territory "can actually be a mechanism for regional peace because [other countries claiming the Spratlys] are looking for repositories of nuclear waste," Cojuangco said in a briefing.

One video recorder set, six tapes, a digital camera and a stone. North Korea laid out its evidence Tuesday against two American journalists sentenced to hard labor for entering the country illegally. The country's official news agency reported that the journalists, Lisa Ling and Euna Lee, documented their journey into communist North Korea, even pocketing a stone to commemorate the illicit trip across the frozen Tumen River from China. "We've just entered a North Korean courtyard without permission," the Korean translation of their videotape narration said, according to Korean Central News Agency. Ling, 32, and Lee, 36, who work for former Vice President Al Gore's California-based Current TV media group, were sentenced last Monday to 12 years of hard labor in a North Korean prison for illegal entry and "hostile acts."

Greenpeace is calling for the construction permit for the Olkiluoto European Pressurized Reactor (EPR) in Finland - the world's largest prototype nuclear reactor - to be cancelled, following revelations of severe problems in the design of its electronic safety control systems. The call comes after a Finnish TV current affairs program broadcast details yesterday evening of a leaked letter from Finnish nuclear regulator STUK to Areva, the French constructor of the Olkiluoto 3 plant. The letter warns of a lack of 'real progress' in the 'design of control protection systems', which could lead to a halt in further construction work.1

Greenpeace sounded an alert Wednesday over possible hazards that a large ship transporting reprocessed nuclear waste may pose when it passes through Philippine waters next month. The environmental activist group urged the Philippine government to proactively prevent the passage of the waste in the vicinity of the country's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in early May. It said about 1.8 tons of radiotoxic plutonium in Mixed-Oxide (MOX) fuel intended for nuclear power plants is traveling to Japan via the Cape of Good Hope and the southwest Pacific Ocean. Greenpeace said the shipment left France for Japan last March 5 and is expected to pass by the waters between the Philippines and Palau before it reaches Japan by mid-May.

With echoes of that fantastic/horrifying nuclear thriller Edge Of Darkness (don't wait for the film, see the original TV series), energy giant EDF has been busted for spying on our colleagues at the Greenpeace in France. Five people have been indicted by the French courts, including two EDF security executives, a computer expert and the head of a private investigation firm. The charge: attempting to hack into Greenpeace computer systems in France.