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Twenty-two years ago today the Soviet Union announced that a serious nuclear accident had occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear reactor in the Ukraine near the small town of Pripyat 100 kilometres from the capital Kiev. The explosion in reactor number four, which occurred three days before, is the world's worst reactor meltdown, spewing radioactive material across the then Soviet Union and much of northern Europe.

Italy's plan to increase nuclear power may cost 40 billion euros ($59 billion,) Enel SpA Chief Executive Officer Fulvio Conti told daily Il Sole 24 Ore. Italy will probably need about eight reactors that will cost as much as 5 billion euros each, Conti said, according to the newspaper. Italy, which has the highest electricity prices in the European Union, has been looking for ways to cut power costs and reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. Italians voted to shutter the country's nuclear power plants in a 1987 referendum following the Chernobyl power-plant accident in the former Soviet Union. Enel may invest an additional $1.3 billion over the next three to four years in the U.S., where the utility has invested in renewable energy projects, Conti told the newspaper.

Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact for License Amendment to Byproduct Materials License No. 47-00260-02, for Termination of the License and Unrestricted Release of Two Union Carbide Corporation Facilities Located in South Charleston, WV AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Issuance of Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact for License Amendment. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Steve Hammann, Health Physicist, Commercial and R&D Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, Region I, 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania; telephone 610- 337-5399; fax number 610-337-5269; or by e-mail: stephen.hammann@nrc.gov. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: I. Introduction The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering the issuance of a license amendment to Byproduct Materials License No. 47- 00260-02. This license is held by Union Carbide Corporation (the Licensee) for its South Charleston Technology Park and South Charleston Plant located, respectively, at 3200 Kanawha Turnpike in South Charleston, West Virginia, and at 437 MacCorkle Avenue in South Charleston, West Virginia (the Facilities). Issuance of the amendment would authorize release of the Facilities for unrestricted use and termination of the NRC license.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's party ruled out for the first time building nuclear-power plants in Germany and backed plans to develop electric-car technology, aiming to broaden its appeal for Sept. 27 national elections. While Merkel's Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union, agreed to stick to a policy of extending the lifespan of existing atomic plants, their joint campaign program presented in Berlin today describes nuclear power as merely a "bridge" to greater use of renewable energy.

"The contractor hired to manage the $14.5 billion addition of two new reactors to Plant Vogtle is negotiating with national labor unions to provide employees. The project, for which limited site work is already under way, is expected to generate up to 3,500 temporary construction jobs and 800 permanent positions after the reactors go online in 2016 and 2017. Gentry Brann, the director of corporate communications for The Shaw Group -- the project's construction manager -- acknowledged that discussions are ongoing but said it would be premature to release details."

"The United Steelworkers union has complained that a government-backed plan to build two nuclear reactors in Georgia will create jobs overseas that should go to American workers. Skip to next paragraph Enlarge This Image Erik S. Lesser/European Pressphoto Agency The Vogtle nuclear power plant in Waynesboro, Ga. A new project would create construction jobs at the plant. Construction vehicles at the Vogtle nuclear power plant in Waynesboro, Ga. Southern Company hopes to operate new reactors. President Obama announced the government's approval of an $8.3 billion loan guarantee for the construction of the reactors on Tuesday, saying that one benefit of the project would be to create jobs. But in a letter sent to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the international president of the union, Leo W. Gerard, said that he was concerned about "the potential foreign sourcing of components for these reactors," which he said "limits our nation's ability to address our unacceptably high unemployment rate.""

"Egypt will build its first nuclear power plant in the Mediterranean coastal town of El-Dabaa, reviving the country's civilian nuclear power program after more than two decades, the El-Ahram newspaper said on Monday. Egyptian authorities announced in 2007 plans to build nuclear power facilities in the country to meet the increasing demand for electricity. The north African state's nuclear program was originally suspended after the Chernobyl disaster in the former Soviet Union in 1986. The paper quoted Egyptian energy minister Hassan Younes as saying the construction of the country's first nuclear power plant would take about 9 years. He said the decision to build the plant in El-Dabaa was based on a report by a team of international experts. The minister was quoted as saying the construction would cost from $1.5 to $2 billion. Russia, the U.S., China and the European Union support Egypt's peaceful nuclear program and have offered their assistance to the country's government."

"Never underestimate a politician's willingness to pander. That's the obvious lesson to be had from Barack Obama's State of the Union address on Wednesday night. The speech was so predictable that it wasn't even the most important news story of the day. That spot was claimed by Steve Jobs and Apple's new iPad. There are many reasons why Obama - the man who just a year ago was seen as the one who would deliver American politics from the mundane - has fallen so far, so fast, in the eyes of the public. (Full disclosure: I voted for Obama.) But surely one of Obama's biggest problems is that he's allergic to speaking the plain truth. His entire candidacy and presidency has been built on carefully crafted phrases and buzzwords that, in the end, have no meaning at all. "

"The levels of radiation accumulated in soil near the crippled nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan far exceeded the level of radiation the then-Soviet Union had used as a criterion for urging people to evacuate at the time of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, threatening to plague local residents for a lengthy period. Using aircraft, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology checked the cesium-137 (half life of about 30 years) and cesium-134 (half life of about two years) accumulated in soil in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy in April. Cesium-137 that has longer effects, ranging from 3 million to 14.7 million becquerels per square meter, was detected in Namie, Futaba, Minamisoma, Iitate and Katsurao, northwest of the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, in Fukushima Prefecture. The levels far exceeded 550,000 bacquerels per square meter, the level the then-Soviet Union had used as a criterion for urging people to evacuate at the time of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Based on recommendations from the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP), the Japanese government used 20 millisieverts per year of radiation in the atmosphere as the criterion to designate evacuation areas in the wake of the nuclear accident in Fukushima. Therefore, there are areas that have not been designated as evacuation zones although they have larger amounts of accumulated radiation. The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology says, "Radioactive substances in soil do not enter human bodies immediately." On the other hand, when authorities try to decide whether to allow local residents to return to their homes or resume farming, levels of soil contamination could be one of the hot topics of debate."

- The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) today released the executive summary of a new report that should put an end to claims that new nuclear weapons are required to maintain a safe, secure and reliable nuclear arsenal, according to experts at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). "This new scientific report should be the final nail in the coffin for proposals to build new nuclear weapons," said Stephen Young, senior analyst in the Global Security Program at UCS. "The report finds that we can maintain our nuclear weapons indefinitely by simply continuing to do what we are already doing." The report, by a prominent, independent scientific panel called the JASON group, concluded that the United States can maintain current high levels of safety, security and reliability indefinitely without designing a new generation of warheads or testing current warheads. The panel found that the arsenal can be maintained by two existing programs: the Stockpile Stewardship Program, which monitors the arsenal for signs of aging, and the Life-Extension Program, which refurbishes existing warheads with new components.

- The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) today released the executive summary of a new report that should put an end to claims that new nuclear weapons are required to maintain a safe, secure and reliable nuclear arsenal, according to experts at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). "This new scientific report should be the final nail in the coffin for proposals to build new nuclear weapons," said Stephen Young, senior analyst in the Global Security Program at UCS. "The report finds that we can maintain our nuclear weapons indefinitely by simply continuing to do what we are already doing." The report, by a prominent, independent scientific panel called the JASON group, concluded that the United States can maintain current high levels of safety, security and reliability indefinitely without designing a new generation of warheads or testing current warheads. The panel found that the arsenal can be maintained by two existing programs: the Stockpile Stewardship Program, which monitors the arsenal for signs of aging, and the Life-Extension Program, which refurbishes existing warheads with new components.

"New Subsidies for Constructing Reactors Would Shift Financial Risks to Taxpayers Massive government subsidies proposed in two pending Senate climate and energy bills would shift the risk of financing and constructing new nuclear reactors from the industry to U.S. taxpayers, according to an analysis released today by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). Such subsidies would disadvantage more cost-effective, less risky approaches to curbing the heat-trapping emissions that cause global warming, including energy efficiency programs and renewable energy technologies, the group said. The UCS analysis is the first to quantify the most significant subsidies for the nuclear industry proposed in the American Power Act (APA) and the American Clean Energy Leadership Act (ACELA). Those subsidies include expanded federal loan guarantees, reduced accelerated depreciation periods, a 10 percent investment tax credit, expanded production tax credits, and expanded federal regulatory risk insurance. Assuming eight new reactors are built over the next 15 years, UCS found those subsidies would amount to approximately $40 billion, or $5 billion per reactor, slightly more than half of what a typical 1,100 megawatt reactor would cost to build today. If the industry is able to secure federal approval to build the 31 new reactors it is expected to request, UCS found that total proposed subsidies could be worth from $65 billion to as much as $147 billion."

"The Obama administration is planning to cut the U.S. nuclear arsenal by as much as 40 percent by 2021, but also wants to spend nearly $175 billion over the next 20 years to build new facilities and maintain and modify thousands of weapons, according to two sections of an administration plan made public today by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) and the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). The proposal, the "FY 2011 Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan," which is part of the Department of Energy's proposed fiscal year 2011 budget, was drafted by DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and presented to members of Congress in May. "

Neither a group of environmental organizations nor a labor union have grounds to contest Entergy's plan to spin off six of its nuclear reactors into a new company, stated the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, in a ruling issued Aug. 22. Because they have no standing, wrote the NRC, their petition to intervene in the license transfer of nuclear power plants in Vernon, Oswego and Buchanan, N.Y., Plymouth, Mass., and Covert Township, Mich., was denied.

Bailout estimates for failed projects could range from hundreds of billions to more than a trillion The nuclear power industry is pressuring Congress to dramatically expand federal loan guarantees for building new plants, which would put taxpayers and ratepayers at significant financial risk, according to a report released today by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). Congress already has authorized $60 billion for loan guarantees in which the federal government would shield utilities and private investment firms from the risk of default on loans for building new electricity generation plants. The Department of Energy (DOE) has allocated $18.5 billion of that money for new nuclear plants over the next few years. Given the average projected cost of building one reactor is currently $9 billion, the industry is clamoring for considerably more. To date, the DOE has received $122 billion in applications for loan guarantees for new nuclear power plants.

This month marks the 60th anniversary of Moscow's entry into the nuclear club. At first blush a historic footnote, the roots of the Soviet achievement demand far more attention because they explain why President Obama will find it so difficult to fulfill his vaunted nuclear disarmament agenda any time soon. For the Soviet Union, the development of the Bomb marked a coming of age, its ascendance to superpower stardom. For Russia, the inheritor of the Soviet atomic legacy, nuclear weapons remain a critical foundation for its claim today to be a major player on the world stage. It is unlikely to relinquish this privilege in ongoing arms control talks.

The House of Representatives today passed the first comprehensive climate and energy bill, the "American Clean Energy and Security Act," by a 219 to 212 vote. Below is a statement by Kevin Knobloch, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists. "We're thrilled that Congress has finally caught up with science and the American people in recognizing the need to switch on clean energy. Our future is now looking more like the Jetsons and less like the Flintstones.

The following essay by Kevin Knobloch, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists, was distributed by the McClatchy-Tribune News Service to newspapers across the country. Thanks to documents recently uncovered by a lawsuit, we now know that a major industry trade group was told by its science advisers in 1995 that it was spreading false information about climate change. But that didn't matter to the Global Climate Coalition, which included the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and a number of oil and auto companies. The coalition, which disbanded in 2002, simply continued to deny the consensus of the world's climate scientists.

A "discussion draft" (pdf) for climate and energy legislation released today by Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.) sets the stage for the federal government to rapidly adopt a comprehensive approach to energy and climate policy, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). House members will use the discussion draft as a starting point for crafting legislation. Waxman, the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Markey, the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment, have pledged to move a bill out of the Energy and Commerce committee by Memorial Day, Monday, May 25. The discussion draft release comes on the heels of President Obama reaffirming his pledge to move rapidly on comprehensive climate and energy legislation during a March 24 press conference.

Giant loan guarantees could stick taxpayers with the bill At a time of deep partisan and ideological divi -sion in Washington, there aren't many issues that bring together forces from across traditional divides. So when scholars at conservative think tanks like the Heritage Foundation and taxpayer groups such as the National Taxpayers Union agree with environmentalists on something, it's time to sit up and take notice. That's exactly what's happening on the issue of federal subsidies for new nuclear power plants. Fiscal conservatives know that nuclear subsidies are a potential multibillion dollar boondoggle, while environmentalists know that - even beyond the environmental and public safety threats posed by the reactors themselves - there are far better and much cheaper solutions to our energy and global warming challenges."

"The Obama administration is expected to make final decisions as early as today about the Nuclear Posture Review, the official policy document that will define U.S. nuclear weapons policy for the next five to 10 years. This will take place at what is called a "principals meeting" attended by Cabinet members whose departments are involved in the review. The congressionally mandated review will set the role nuclear weapons will play in overall U.S. security policy, how many nuclear weapons the United States needs to fulfill those roles, and whether the United States should produce new nuclear warheads. "The administration's decisions on the Nuclear Posture Review will not only set U.S. policy, they will shape the future of nuclear weapons globally," said Lisbeth Gronlund, senior scientist and co-director of the Global Security Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). "President Obama, who has the final word, can choose to make the transformational changes needed to address the real threats of the 21st century, or can allow bureaucratic inertia and the parochial interests of the federal nuclear weapons labs to hold sway." "