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The labor union for TVA's nuclear security guards sued the federal utility today for refusing to bargain with the union after switching the guards at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant from a contract employer to TVA's payroll. The United Government Security Officers of America and its Local 22 affiliate filed the lawsuit in federal court in Knoxville after TVA hired virtually all of the contract guards at Browns Ferry but initially refused to bargain with the employees' union about the change. Last week, TVA began phasing out its contract with Pinkerton Government Services and bringing nearly all of the contract guards onto TVA's own payroll at Browns Ferry. Similar transitions are planned over the next month at TVA's Sequoyah and Watts Bar nuclear plants. In its lawsuit, the union claims TVA is not negotiating with the Government Security Officers of America as required of successor employers.

* Workers vote 96 pct to reject latest contract offer * Plan to strike at midnight, union says * Company says no meetings with union have been scheduled (Adds details) TORONTO, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Unionized workers at Cameco Corp's (CCO.TO) Port Hope, Ontario, fuel manufacturing division voted overwhelmingly on Friday to strike, and will officially walk out at midnight, a union official said. Mohamed Baksh, a staff representative for the United Steelworkers, said the vote was 96 percent to reject Cameco's most recent contract offer. He represents 137 workers at the operation, formerly known as Zircatec, which makes up a bit less than half of the total work force at the facility.

"The Electrical Trades Union has banned its members from working in uranium mines, nuclear power stations or any other part of the nuclear fuel cycle. The union says uranium is the new asbestos in the workplace. The ban will apply to ETU members in Queensland and the Northern Territory and breaching it could lead to expulsion, said ETU state secretary Peter Simpson. "We are sending a clear message to the industry and the wider community that vested interests in the uranium and nuclear industries are trying to hoodwink us about this dangerous product and industry," Mr Simpson said in a statement."

French nuclear workers, who have been protesting over pay since the start of the year, are delaying maintenance operations in 10 out of the country's 19 plants, the Sud Energie union said on Friday. Workers are slowing down maintenance work at the Paluel Belleville, Blayais, Dampierre, Chinon, Cruas, Tricastin and Fessenheim plants, costing EDF millions of euros. Industrial action was also taking place at the Chooz and Cattenom nuclear power plants, the union said. "After weeks of strike, EDF's management is still refusing to seriously negotiate workers' demands," the union said in a statement.

More than two years after they voted to unionize with the Security, Police and Fire Professionals of America, the security officers at Progress Energy's Shearon Harris nuclear power plant near Raleigh, N.C. finally have a contract. It came after a protracted fight with the guards' direct employer -- Securitas, the world's largest private security firm -- and involved the firing of numerous union supporters and the intervention of the National Labor Relations Board, which found the company guilty of bargaining in bad faith.

The Finnish Construction Union said Tuesday it had withdrawn a strike notice affecting the entire Olkiluoto nuclear power station site after a day of talks with Rimec, one of the subcontractors at the site. Kyösti Suokas, a chair of the union, said late on Tuesday that Rimec had convinced the union that the company had forwarded withheld wages to the state as tax and social security contributions. Representatives from Bouygues, the main contractor of the power station, also attended the talks. The strike had been scheduled to commence on Wednesday.

The Finnish Construction Trade Union on Tuesday issued a strike notice covering the nuclear power station construction site in Olkiluoto. The union said in a statement that temporary employment agency Rimec, thought to be registered in Cyprus, had withheld more than third of the pay of its Polish builders for tax and social security contributions but failed to explain where the money had been rendered.

Only the older folk among us can remember the headline in the Aiken Standard and Review on Nov. 29, 1950, "AEC To Construct Huge Plant Near Aiken." That headline heralded a permanent change in the economy and culture of Aiken and the whole area. More importantly, that event greatly benefited the history of the planet by making it clear to the Soviet Union that their brutal expansionist plans would not be tolerated. President Truman had become convinced the Soviet Union was rapidly developing their nuclear weapons program, perhaps including a "super" bomb, now called the hydrogen bomb. America had no choice but to do the same because the survival of the free world was at stake. So, a new facility was needed to make tritium (the heaviest isotope of hydrogen) and plutonium. The Savannah River Plant was born. The end result was that freedom-loving countries, led by the U.S., stopped the expansion of the Soviet Union, and made it possible to win the Cold War.

Nurses in Saskatchewan say they appreciate the value of nuclear medicine but do not want the province to build a nuclear reactor so that it can start manufacturing medical isotopes. The Saskatchewan Union of Nurses (SUN) presented its views Tuesday to Dan Perrins, who is heading the public consultation process on uranium development on behalf of the provincial government. Rosalee Longmore, the president of SUN, presented Perrins with a study that reviewed the medical literature on nuclear reactors. The union also released the results of an email survey of its members. According to the union, 822 nurses responded to the two questions posed. Prior to asking the questions, the survey outlined for the nurses four examples of health concerns related to nuclear reactors.

Article Highlights * The Soviet Union conducted 456 nuclear tests at Semipalatinsk in eastern Kazakhstan from 1949 until 1989 without regard for their effect on the local people or environment. * The full impact of radiation exposure was hidden for years by Soviet authorities and has only come out since the test site closed in 1991. * Semipalatinsk is a reminder of the high price paid by the people of Kazakhstan for Soviet nuclear weapons. During the rainy, windy early morning of August 29, 1949, the Soviet Union conducted its first nuclear explosion--code-named "First Lightning"--at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in eastern Kazakhstan. Witnesses remember feeling the ground tremble and seeing the sky turn red--and how that red sky was quickly dominated by a peculiar mushroom-shaped cloud. The Soviet military and scientific personnel conducting the test knew that the rain and wind would make the local population more susceptible to radioactive fallout. But at the time, authorities disregarded the consequences for the sake of military and political goals.

Article Highlights * The Soviet Union conducted 456 nuclear tests at Semipalatinsk in eastern Kazakhstan from 1949 until 1989 without regard for their effect on the local people or environment. * The full impact of radiation exposure was hidden for years by Soviet authorities and has only come out since the test site closed in 1991. * Semipalatinsk is a reminder of the high price paid by the people of Kazakhstan for Soviet nuclear weapons. During the rainy, windy early morning of August 29, 1949, the Soviet Union conducted its first nuclear explosion--code-named "First Lightning"--at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in eastern Kazakhstan. Witnesses remember feeling the ground tremble and seeing the sky turn red--and how that red sky was quickly dominated by a peculiar mushroom-shaped cloud. The Soviet military and scientific personnel conducting the test knew that the rain and wind would make the local population more susceptible to radioactive fallout. But at the time, authorities disregarded the consequences for the sake of military and political goals.

"After months of failed negotiations, members of the local unions that represent bus drivers, maintenance personnel, dispatchers, and the United Steel Workers, held an informational picket to let the community know about issues they have with Battelle Energy Alliance, the company who operates the INL. This coming Monday, the contract between the company and the unions will end at midnight. Negotiations have been taking place since April, but so far, no resolution has been met. A lack of communication, loss of seniority rights, and problems with labor relations are all reasons the group says they're picketing today. The main issue for the bus drivers is one proposal from Battelle would force them to take a four and a half hour mid-day, unpaid break. "

David Lochbaum, Union of Concerned Scientists; Consideration of Petition in the Rulemaking Process AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Resolution and closure of petition docket. SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering the issues raised in a petition for rulemaking submitted by David Lochbaum, on behalf of the Union of Concerned Scientists, in the ongoing ``Power Reactor Security Requirements'' rulemaking. The petitioner requested that the NRC amend its regulations to require that licensees implement procedures to ensure that when information becomes known to a licensee about an individual that would prevent that individual from gaining unescorted access to the protected area of a nuclear power plant, the licensee will implement measures to ensure the individual does not enter the protected area, whether escorted, or not; and, when sufficient information is not available to a licensee about an individual to determine whether the criteria for unescorted access are satisfied, the licensee will implement measures to allow that individual to enter the protected area only when escorted at all times by an armed member of the security force who remains in periodic communication with security supervision.

Alyaksandr Valchanin, leader of the Union Chernobyl-Belarus, met with Mikhail Rusy, chairperson of the Chernobyl aftermath committee in the House of Representatives, on Monday to discuss the rights of workers involved in the massive cleanup effort after the 1986 nuclear accident. In an interview with BelaPAN, the activist said that he had been pushing for a meeting with the lawmaker for a long time but all of his petitions had been unanswered. The meeting was arranged after Mr. Valchanin petitioned Uladzimir Makey, head of the Presidential Administration, over the matter. The activist described the meeting as "constructive." "Mr. Rusy assured me that we can develop joint projects and representatives of our association would be invited to the committee's meetings. We discussed health resort treatment for Chernobyl cleanup workers, benefits for Chernobyl-affected people," he said. Mr. Valchanin said that the Belarusian authorities were ready to maintain some cooperation with the association. "This is even good that Mr. Rusy is poised for dialogue. I, for my part, offered to use my international contacts for solving the problems of Chernobyl-affected people. It seems to me that the proposal found understanding," he noted. Mr. Valchanin said that the possible registration of the union in Belarus had not been discussed. "But we intend to get registered in our country and will make every effort for this," he said. BelaPAN

Former White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales misled Congress when he claimed the CIA in 2002 approved information that ended up in the 2003 State of the Union speech about Iraq's alleged effort to buy uranium for its nuclear weapons program, a House committee said Thursday. The committee also expressed skepticism about claims by then-national security adviser Condoleezza Rice that she was unaware of the CIA's doubts about the claim before President George W. Bush's speech. Iraq's alleged attempt to buy uranium was one of the justifications for the Bush administration's decision to go to war. The claim has since been repudiated. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said in a memo that its investigation showed the CIA had warned at least four National Security Council officials not to allow Bush, in three speeches in 2002, to cite questionable intelligence that Iraq had attempted to obtain uranium. The sentences were stripped out of those speeches, but made it into the State of the Union address.

Union Electric Company d/b/a Amerenue; Acceptance for Docketing of an Application for Combined License for Callaway Plant Unit 2 Nuclear Power Plant By letter dated July 28, 2008, as supplemented by letters dated September 24, 2008, November 14, 2008, and November 25, 2008, Union Electric Company d/b/a AmerenUE (AmerenUE), submitted an application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a combined license (COL) for a single unit of the U.S. Evolutionary Power Reactor (U.S. EPR) in accordance with the requirements contained in 10 CFR Part 52, ``Licenses, Certifications and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants.'' This reactor will be identified as Callaway Plant Unit 2 and is to be located at the current Callaway County, Missouri site of the Callaway Power Plant. A notice of receipt and availability of this application was previously published in the Federal Register (73 FR 59677) on October 9, 2008, as corrected in Federal Register (73 FR 61444 on October 16, 2008).

The French CGT union said on Thursday a 24-hour strike in the nuclear sector has cut 9,500 megawatts (MW), or a sixth of the nuclear capacity, by 1330 GMT, pushing intraday power prices higher. The union warned that if the management of state-backed nuclear energy operator, EDF, did not listen to the demands of the workers, who are striking over pay and working conditions, those actions would be repeated.

Uranium Deal Helps Benefactors, but Costs Taxpayers $2.1 Billion IN 1993, Vice President Gore boarded Air Force Two and flew to Moscow for meetings with Russian Prime Minister Victor Chernomyrdin about the vitally important task of protecting nuclear weapons and nuclear material in the newly decentralized former Soviet Union. It was a natural mission for Gore; during his tenure in the Senate, he had become something of an expert in arms control agreements and, thanks to the patronage from Hammer, had already met with Anatoly Dobrynin, Moscow's longtime ambassador to Washington. Many defense experts consider Russia's nuclear arsenal to pose the greatest immediate threat to U.S. security, of even greater concern than China's alleged acquisition of U.S. nuclear secrets. The Chinese will no doubt develop sophisticated warheads and the missiles to launch them over the next decade or two; the Russians already have them. The fear of loose nukes grew as economic conditions in the old Soviet republics deteriorated in the early 1990s. Gore's mission was to reach an agreement with Russia on a way to manage all those weapons in a post-Cold War world.

The Union of Concerned Scientists said Tuesday that Oconee Nuclear Station workers were exposed to "dangerous" levels of radiation due to "mishaps" during an April incident -- allegations Duke Energy denies. A Duke spokeswoman said Tuesday that areas of the reactor building were evacuated as a precaution, and workers weren't sent into high-radiation areas. Dave Lochbaum, director of nuclear safety projects for the union, said that during the shutdown "the company had damaged two reactor coolant pumps, unknowingly exceeded reactor cool-down limits and triggered a potentially disastrous loss-of-coolant accident."

PLYMOUTH - Entergy Corp. plans to bar roughly 250 Pilgrim nuclear power plant workers from the site if a new contract agreement can't be reached by the time their current contract expires at the end of the day Thursday. The Utility Workers Union of America Local 369 plans to hold a vote Wednesday in Plymouth that would give the Braintree-based union's negotiators the authority to go on strike at the Entergy plant.

THE leader of Australia's biggest blue-collar union has been left out on a limb over his push for the development of a nuclear power industry, as senior colleagues yesterday debunked his proposal as fanciful and unnecessary. Paul Howes, national secretary of the right-wing Australian Workers Union, was reported in The Australian yesterday as saying that nuclear power was the only option if the nation was to reduce carbon output and pursue renewable energy.