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A Texas company is signaling its intent to turn a rural county near New Mexico into the home of the only dump in the United States that disposes of all classes of low-level radioactive waste from around the country. South Carolina shut its doors to nearly all the nation's low-level radioactive waste in July, leaving 36 states with no place to dispose of certain waste from nuclear power plants, hospitals and universities. Dallas-based Waste Control Specialists LLC received a license from state regulators earlier this year to begin accepting commercial waste from Texas and Vermont. But the company wrote in an April 6 letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that it wants to dispose of waste from other states too.

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission moved too quickly to license too many reactors in the years before the March 1979 Three Mile Island-2 accident, former NRC commissioner Peter Bradford told a Senate panel March 24. Bradford, now an adjunct professor at the Institute for Energy and the Environment at the Vermont Law School, testified that one of the lessons from the accident was that "nuclear power is least safe when complacency and pressure to expedite are highest." Other witnesses told the Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety that the industry and regulators must remain vigilant and guard against becoming complacent. NRC Chairman Dale Klein and the other three commissioners said revisions to emergency preparedness planning, modifications to plant control room equipment, better operator training and changes to the agency's enforcement authority have improved safety conditions in the industry. Marvin Fertel, the president and CEO of the Nuclear Energy Institute, said the creation of the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations nine months after the accident helped the industry to "strive for excellence" in plant operations rather than just meet the minimum regulatory requirements.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will be in Brattleboro on April 16 to hold two public hearings to discuss the annual assessment of the 2008 safety performance of Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon. Both meetings are scheduled for the Ramada Hotel and Conference Center, at 1380 Putney Road. The first meeting will take place between 3:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., and will consist of a discussion between representatives from Entergy, which owns and operates Yankee, and NRC staff. Following the discussion there will be time for questions and comments from the general public. The second meeting, which starts at 7 p.m., will be a town hall-style meeting dedicated to answering questions from the public with respect to the plant's performance.

State Rep. Lon Burnam is worried about countless trucks carrying low-level nuclear waste driving on local roads - likely Interstates 20 and 30 - on the way to a disposal site in Andrews County. Already, Vermont is sending its waste to the West Texas site, and Burnam, D-Fort Worth, is afraid that without additional restrictions more states might follow suit. "Over two-thirds of the nation's nuclear waste will come through D-FW on its way to Andrews County," he said. "The question is, are we taking it from two states or all of the states?"

The latest radioactive leak at the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant is in a threaded plug on the bottom of a demineralizer tank that is part of the reactor's water cleanup system, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Thursday. The tank contains filter material and is used to clean and purify reactor coolant water that circulates through the reactor, said Neil Sheehan, spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The filter also removes radioactivity. "The leak is small and unrelated to the leak involving the valve," Sheehan said, referring to the December leak, which was only contained last week.

"An e-mail from an anonymous whistleblower claiming Vermont Yankee nuclear power station officials were aware of a radioactive leak years ago and failed to properly fix it is being investigated by the state attorney general's office. On Wednesday, state officials said the e-mail claims that leaking underground pipes carrying radioactive fluids at the Vernon plant were first discovered two years ago and never reported to authorities. Utility regulators said the claims are true, but are now exploring them further with help from the state attorney general's office. The tip, from a person who claims to be a VY employee was received last weekend, and alleges Yankee employees were told to patch the leaking pipe rather than shutdown the power plant to make permanent repairs."

"The renaissance of nuclear power in the U.S. appears inevitable. It just may not happen as smoothly as the Obama administration and others hope. The Vermont Senate's vote Wednesday to block a license renewal for an Entergy plant shows that supporters of nuclear power still have big obstacles to overcome. Those include the growing costs for new plants, environmental worries and the age of the country's existing nuclear fleet. "I think if you said 'ready, go' today, any kind of meaningful addition would be 10 years down the road," said Eric Melvin of Mobius Risk."

"President Obama's plan to kick-start the construction of nuclear power plants in the United States comes with a big catch: Because private banks won't lend to an industry viewed as financially risky, taxpayers would be accountable for billions in government-guaranteed loans if plant developers default. Precisely how much risk the public would carry remains a subject of lobbying by the industry, which is trying to minimize its financial exposure as the political climate in Washington has warmed in its favor."

"A nuclear power expert who briefed state legislators on the operation of Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant last week recommended they vote no Wednesday on continued operation of the plant. Paul Blanch, who has 45 years in the industry, including working or consulting at Millstone, Connecticut Yankee, Maine Yankee and Indian Point nuclear power plants and the Electric Power Research Institute and the Nuclear Energy Institute, said there are two major reasons for closing down the plant -- Entergy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. "Entergy is certainly the worst of the worst," Blanch told the Reformer one day after his testimony at the Statehouse. The company is nothing but a "carpetbagger coming up here (with the) only goal to extract as much money as possible," he said. "They're milking every dime out of it that they possibly can." "

"At least 27 of America's 104 aging atomic reactors are known to be leaking radioactive tritium, which is linked to cancer if inhaled or ingested through the throat or skin. February 12, 2010 | LIKE THIS ARTICLE ? Join our mailing list: Sign up to stay up to date on the latest Environment headlines via email. Advertisement Like a decayed flotilla of rickety steamers, at least 27 of America's 104 aging atomic reactors are known to be leaking radioactive tritium, which is linked to cancer if inhaled or ingested through the throat or skin. The fallout has been fiercest at Vermont Yankee, where a flood of cover-ups has infuriated and terrified near neighbors who say the reactor was never meant to operate more than 30 years, and must now shut. In 2007 one of Yankee's 22 cooling towers simply collapsed due to rot. "

"The state's top health official said Tuesday it's reasonable to assume a radioactive substance leaking from the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant is reaching the Connecticut River. Dr. Wendy Davis, commissioner of the state Department of Health, told The Associated Press that the volume and direction of flow of tritium-tainted groundwater leads to the conclusion that it's reaching the river. Previous statements from the Health Department had indicated the water containing tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen that has been linked to cancer when ingested in large amounts, was believed to be flowing toward or to the river. But they also said it was diluted by uncontaminated river water, so that lab instruments were not detecting it in samples of river water."

"The zone of groundwater now contaminated at the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant is about the size of a football field. And the state Health Department has increased the testing of private wells in the area around the plant. VPR's John Dillon has more. (Dillon) The Department of Health stepped up its monitoring work in early January after Yankee discovered radioactive tritium in a well about 30 feet from the Connecticut River. The department now says a half-dozen wells are showing tritium. Some have registered high levels - close to what's found in water that's used in the nuclear reactor. The Health Department says that a corridor of contaminated water is flowing from the turbine building toward the Connecticut River. "

"The highest level of radioactive tritium yet - 2.45 million picocuries per liter - was discovered Saturday in a new groundwater monitoring well at the Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor. The Department of Health announced the discovery, which was in a well near the building holding the advanced off-gas system. The department said such high concentrations were an indication that one or more pipes are leaking highly contaminated water into the ground. Nancy Erickson, communications director for the Department of Health, said the new level is very close to the tritium concentration in reactor water, which is usually measured at 2.9 million picocuries for tritium. Erickson said the contaminated well is near an excavation that was made to inspect a concrete duct that encases a 2-inch drain pipe."

With nuclear energy, uranium atoms split inside a reactor, and radiation heats water to its boiling point creating steam to spin a giant turbine. It all seems like ingenious, efficient, and clean energy production. So where's the mess? Now consider plutonium, a horribly carcinogenic and highly fissionable substance, radioactive for more than half a million years. If exposed to air, it will ignite. Like little pieces of confetti, very fine plutonium particles will disperse after ignition. A single particle -- like talc, to give you some perspective -- can give you lung cancer. In the words of Helen Caldicott, M.D.: "Hypothetically, if you could take one pound of plutonium and could put a speck of it in the lungs of every human being, you would kill every man, woman, and child on earth" -- not immediately, but over time "from lung cancer," Caldicott explains.

With nuclear energy, uranium atoms split inside a reactor, and radiation heats water to its boiling point creating steam to spin a giant turbine. It all seems like ingenious, efficient, and clean energy production. So where's the mess? Now consider plutonium, a horribly carcinogenic and highly fissionable substance, radioactive for more than half a million years. If exposed to air, it will ignite. Like little pieces of confetti, very fine plutonium particles will disperse after ignition. A single particle -- like talc, to give you some perspective -- can give you lung cancer. In the words of Helen Caldicott, M.D.: "Hypothetically, if you could take one pound of plutonium and could put a speck of it in the lungs of every human being, you would kill every man, woman, and child on earth" -- not immediately, but over time "from lung cancer," Caldicott explains.

"Anti-nuclear activists totaled around 70 when they left Brattleboro earlier this month for a march through freezing winter temperatures to the Statehouse. When they arrived in the city early Wednesday afternoon - 126 miles later - their number totaled in the hundreds, flooding the Statehouse with a message that hasn't been that loud since same-sex marriage supporters lobbied lawmakers in 2009. Betsy Williams of Westminster West, one of the organizers of the "Step It Up To Shut It Down" walk, said about 175 people took part in the march, some joining for a day and some for longer stretches. Participants included toddlers and Vermonters who are in their 80s, she said."

"Amidst utter chaos in the atomic reactor industry, Team Obama is poised to vastly expand a bitterly contested loan guarantee program that may cost far more than expected, both financially and politically. The long-stalled, much-hyped "Renaissance" in atomic power has failed to find private financing. New construction projects are opposed for financial reasons by fiscal conservatives such as the Heritage Foundation and National Taxpayers Union, and by a national grassroots safe energy campaign that has already beaten such loan guarantees three times. New reactor designs are being challenged by regulators in both the US and Europe. Key projects, new and old, are engulfed in political/financial uproars in Florida, Texas, Maryland, Vermont, New Jersey and elsewhere. "

"Entergy Nuclear said Thursday it is convinced it has found and stopped the source of multiple radioactive leaks at the Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor, which has been leaking tritium into the groundwater since last November. The company said it was starting cleanup efforts immediately, by pumping some groundwater out of the immediate contaminated area into holding tanks, with plans to filter and clean it and return it to the reactor for reuse."

"The new senior resident inspector from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission worked for Entergy Nuclear, the owner of Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor, until 2006, before he left to become a federal inspector. But a spokesman for the NRC said David Spindler stopped working for Entergy Nuclear in 2006, well beyond the two-year hiatus federal regulations call for. Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for the NRC, said there are federal regulations dealing with employees who may face "an appearance of loss of impartiality in the performance of his official duties." He said federal regulations call for a two-year "period of disqualification" from working in matters in which a former employer is involved."

"Power generator Entergy has canceled its plan to spin off five nuclear plants into a separate company. The plan has encountered opposition since it was announced nearly two years ago, and the decision announced today comes after New York regulators rejected the plan last month. Entergy, based in New Orleans, said it will record a charge of 40 to 45 cents per share for costs associated with unwinding the proposal. The five plants have six units in New York, Massachusetts, Vermont and Michigan. The company said it decided to call off the deal given the potential for the legal process to continue for an extended period."

"A safety culture survey conducted at Vermont Yankee in Vernon is pretty much worthless, said Ray Shadis, technical consultant for the New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution, which opposes the continued operation of the nuclear power plant. On Tuesday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission held a public meeting to discuss an Entergy fleet-wide nuclear safety culture assessment, an opinion poll of its employees conducted by Synergy Consulting Services Co. The survey was primarily used to determine if employees felt that they had adequate safety training and if their safety concerns were handled discreetly, responsibly and without negative repercussion. While it is true that the employees' perception of Yankee's safety culture has been moving upward since 2006, said Shadis, it is still below the levels reached in 2002, prior to Entergy's purchase of the power plant from a consortium of utilities. Before Entergy took over, said Shadis, worker confidence was at its highest. In 2004, it recovered slightly, he said, but then in 2006, it hit "rock bottom." "