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In 2004, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) revealed that a member state had violated its Safeguards Agreement by carrying out covert uranium conversion and enrichment activities and plutonium experiments for more than two decades. The nature of certain of those enrichment activities, moreover, raised legitimate suspicions of interest in a nuclear weapons program. The state was found to have lied to the IAEA even when it began investigating these suspicious activities, claiming that its laser enrichment research did not involve any use of nuclear material.

In 2004, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) revealed that a member state had violated its Safeguards Agreement by carrying out covert uranium conversion and enrichment activities and plutonium experiments for more than two decades. The nature of certain of those enrichment activities, moreover, raised legitimate suspicions of interest in a nuclear weapons program. The state was found to have lied to the IAEA even when it began investigating these suspicious activities, claiming that its laser enrichment research did not involve any use of nuclear material.

A leak was found under the UO2 (uranium dioxide) plant during its shutdown that has been contributing to the historical and recent contamination of the soils at Cameco's Port Hope Conversion Facility, general manager Andy Thorne told Port Hope council last night. He said a yellow stain led to the discovery of the leak under the main sump near the eastern wall of the U02 building and on Nov. 5, excavation took place to remove 17.5 cubic metres of contaminated soil. They dug down 1.8 metres to remove as much soil as could safely be removed, and then drilled a collection well outside the wall to capture any groundwater contamination. "Any contaminated water will be addressed by the collection well," Mr. Thorne said. "It is a localized area and we are able to address the situation adequately."

After a long and challenging 14 months, Cameco Corporation has received permission to resume production at its uranium hexaflouride (UF6) plant. "We're in the final stages of putting the plant back into operation and production should start within the next several days," said Andy Oliver, vice president of Cameco's fuel services division, during a presentation to Port Hope council on Sept. 16. He detailed the status of the contamination at Cameco's Port Hope conversion plant.

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staffers from Atlanta listened to public complaints about operations at the Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc., plant here for about three hours Thursday night. Located near the Nolichucky River in Erwin, the Nuclear Fuel Services plant for decades has produced fuel for U.S. Navy nuclear-powered submarines and surface ships. It also "down-blends" highly-enriched uranium to a low-enriched state suitable for conversion into fuel for Tennessee Valley Authority nuclear-power plants. A number of NFS employees, including at least one vice president, were in the audience during the meeting, but made no comments and took no direct role in the meeting. Efforts to reach NFS spokesman Lauri Turpin for comment on Friday via telephone and e-mail were unsuccessful.

There's been a lot of megatons-to-megawatts activity in recent years, but some folks aren't too sure if that's going to continue to be a big factor in the downsizing of the U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals. Of course, a lot of folks are skeptical, period, about a nuclear renaissance. Darrel Kohlhorst isn't one of them. I've had a couple of opportunities in recent weeks to talk to the general manager at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant. During a conversation at a hearing for Y-12's Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement, he offered some views on nuclear power. Here's what he said:

There's been a lot of megatons-to-megawatts activity in recent years, but some folks aren't too sure if that's going to continue to be a big factor in the downsizing of the U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals. Of course, a lot of folks are skeptical, period, about a nuclear renaissance. Darrel Kohlhorst isn't one of them. I've had a couple of opportunities in recent weeks to talk to the general manager at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant. During a conversation at a hearing for Y-12's Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement, he offered some views on nuclear power. Here's what he said:

Leaking nuclear waste in a storage facility in Lower Saxony has raised the temperature of the conversation over nuclear power in Germany. Conservatives say nuclear power is safe and clean, but the Left is saying, 'I told you so.' But no one knows what to do about radioactive water leaking from the mine. The Asse II salt mine, in Lower Saxony, is leaking radioactive brine. The trouble with nuclear waste is that it never goes away, German politicians are (re-)learning this week, after a status report on barrels of leaking nuclear waste in a storage facility based at a former salt rock and potash mine called Asse II in Lower Saxony

Andy Thorne, general manager of Cameco Corp.'s Port Hope conversion facility, provided an update on the contamination situation to about 80 Port Hope residents Monday, similar to the one provided to Port Hope council last Tuesday. Yellow staining was observed in the bottom of excavation pit in the UF6 building on July 13, 2007, and Cameco halted production six days later, once it was discovered the contamination was more widespread than originally thought.