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"Three civic leaders in south-central Washington are challenging the federal government's decision to abandon Yucca Mountain as a nuclear waste repository. President Obama has said he doesn't see the Nevada site as a workable option for storing spent nuclear fuel and nuclear waste. He has asked a commission to recommend alternatives. Bob Ferguson, Bill Lampson and Gary Petersen filed a lawsuit in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington D.C. on Thursday. They say the decision to terminate the project violates the Nuclear Waste Policy Act."

"Agency Is Refusing to Adhere to an Order to Release Document That Would Help Determine Safety of New Nuclear Reactors WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) should stop balking and provide a critical document that would reveal how the owners of a Texas nuclear plant expansion project plan to deal with a fire or explosion, three public interest groups told the commission late last week. Three administrative judges of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board have ordered the agency to provide at least a redacted version, but NRC staffers have refused. The NRC's lack of transparency could impact the ability to get adequate safety-related information not only about the South Texas Project (STP) but about other proposed reactors around the country as well. Late Friday, the groups - the Sustainable Energy and Economic Development (SEED) Coalition, Public Citizen and the South Texas Association for Responsible Energy - filed a brief with the NRC. It noted that the NRC staff's refusal to provide the information violated President Barack Obama's new transparency policy. The groups also said the NRC is acting arbitrarily and trying to shut the public out of NRC proceedings."

"The state's plans for stricter depleted uranium controls has sparked a war of words, with EnergySolutions Inc. calling the proposal a violation of state law and the company's critics saying Utah should close the gates to the stuff forever. "Please keep a rein on EnergySolutions and other pollutant companies who want to take advantage of Utah," wrote Carolyn Potter of Sandy. "This is our state not the world's dumping ground." Potter's was one of more than three dozen letters that arrived by the Feb. 2 deadline at the Utah Division of Radiation Control on its pending DU regulation. The regulation, when finalized, would block more DU until EnergySolutions develops a technical report telling why its low-level radioactive waste site in Tooele County is suitable for large quantities and the state signs off on it. "

"A federal court judge Wednesday ordered a stop to all activity in the $32 billion nuclear lawsuit while he decides if the case belongs under federal jurisdiction. Judge Xavier Rodriguez of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas is expected to rule today on whether a citizens group that is trying to intervene has standing to get the case moved to federal court. Until then, the opponents in the suit - CPS Energy and NRG Energy - have had to halt depositions they were conducting for a trial that was set to start Monday in state court. The citizens group, the Ratepayer Protection Coalition, argues CPS has violated the coalition's constitutional rights, which would make this a federal case."

"Federal regulators warned the Tennessee Valley Authority on Thursday about "apparent violations" involving fire safety at the utility's Browns Ferry nuclear plant in north Alabama. Officials from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said the findings don't pose an immediate safety risk but are urging TVA to fix the three-reactor plant, which suffered a nearly disastrous fire in 1975 and later had to shut down for more than two decades due to problems. The latest concerns were raised in an NRC inspection report and accompanying letter to TVA that said equipment necessary for shutting down the plant in case of a fire was not properly protected. The NRC said the plant also had flawed procedures that could delay fire response. "

"The ACLU has filed a suit against the Brattleboro Police Department on behalf of four protestors arrested last March. During an economic stimulus conference the protestors silently held up a banner calling for the closure of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon. All four were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, but the charges were later dismissed. However, the ACLU says the police violated the protesters' First Amendment right to peacefully protest. They're seeking damages, costs and fees."

"In a rare 90-minute session, the Supreme Court heard arguments Monday on whether North Carolina violated a radioactive waste storing agreement when it abandoned the deal but kept the investment amount of $80 million. "That's the deal. They can run away. But in addition, take $80 million?" asked a skeptical Justice Stephen Breyer. Justice Sonia Sotomayor also appeared concerned about the financial losses suffered from the other states. "The compact expressly says that none of the contracting states have any liabilities" North Carolina in 1999 pulled out of a deal with other southern states to cooperate in the storing of radioactive material. South Carolina had the only previously existing facility of the group, but North Carolina was next in line to develop and host a site, receiving almost $80 million in assistance over the course of 9 years."

"Nuclear waste that's been buried in Utah's west desert for several years likely includes some material that's not allowed under state law, according to an environmental group's report released Wednesday. The U.S. Department of Energy has been disposing of depleted uranium from a nuclear weapons complex near Aiken, S.C., since 2003 at EnergySolutions Inc.'s facility about 70 miles west of Salt Lake City. It also has disposed of some material at the Nevada Test Site, about 65 miles north of Las Vegas. The report commissioned by Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah says that out of the original 33,000 drums from the Savannah River Site, as many as 5,600 could include material that violates state standards for the disposal of low-level radioactive waste."

"Mixing politics with radioactive waste is never a good idea. But that's what President Barack Obama did when he decided to end construction of the nation's nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev. In an effort to block that move, three Tri-City business leaders last week sued Obama in federal court, claiming he violated the law when declaring Yucca Mountain would no longer be under consideration. The lawsuit claims that when Congress named Yucca Mountain in 2002 as the nation's repository, certain steps were required to be followed under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. But that didn't happen when Obama abruptly pulled the plug, the Tri-City business leaders argue."

"We are writing to express our deep concern regarding the Department of Energy's (DOE's) lack of transparency in managing the Title XVII Loan Guarantee Program. DOE's continuing refusal to disclose even the most basic information about the program stands in gross violation of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and is inconsistent with President Obama's January 21, 2009, Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government and Memorandum on the Freedom Information Act; and the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) December 8, 2010 Open Government Directive. DOE has been authorized to issue a total of $51 billion in loan guarantees under Section 1703 with $18.5 billion earmarked for nuclear reactors, $2 billion for uranium enrichment, $8 billion for coal projects and $18.5 billion for renewable energy and energy efficiency. These guarantees could expose taxpayers to tens of billions of dollars in default risk; yet DOE's lack of transparency regarding this program means that taxpayers will have little, if any, ability to evaluate the feasibility of the projects they are being asked to underwrite. "

"Uranium mining, banned on the Navajo Nation, advanced closer to tribal boundaries when the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's licensing of in situ leach uranium mining at four sites near Crownpoint and Church Rock in New Mexico. The split decision by a three-judge panel March 8 also denied a request for review of one of the sites near Church Rock where Hydro Resources, Inc., whose parent company is Uranium Resources Inc., has a joint venture with Itochu, a Tokyo-headquartered transnational, to begin producing an estimated six to nine million pounds of uranium annually from New Mexico. Eastern Navajo Dine Against Uranium Mining, a Navajo community organization; Southwest Research and Information Center, a nonprofit environmental education organization; and two local ranchers were joined by the Navajo Nation in a friend-of-the-court brief asserting that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission violated atomic energy and environmental laws in granting the license."

"A proposal to stiffen state requirements for cleaning up uranium processing facilities and notifying area residents of groundwater contamination passed on second reading in the state House Thursday. No one spoke in opposition to HB 1348, which will have its third and final reading on the House floor Monday, and two Republicans - Reps. Marsha Looper and Tom Massey - spoke in favor of the bill, which has bipartisan sponsorship and widespread support in the Arkansas River Valley and along the southern Front Range. Officials at the Cotter uranium mill in Cañon City, a facility with a history of water contamination violations, are considering refurbishing the plant to process ore from New Mexico beginning in 2014. Local activists want the EPA Superfund site fully cleaned up before such plans are considered. In other mining waste storage news, environmentalists Thursday condemned an Obama administration filing Tuesday supporting Bush administration rules allowing the mining industry greater latitude in disposing mining waste on public lands."

"With the nation considering more nuclear energy, a bill that requires mill operators to clean up as they go is a smart move. Given the atrocious environmental record of uranium mills in Colorado and the West, a bipartisan effort in the General Assembly designed to keep mill operators from leaving behind costly piles of toxic waste makes good sense. Legislation that easily passed in the state House last week would keep mills from gaining permits to expand their operations until operators cleaned up existing waste. The bill attempts to keep these operations accountable to the public and make environmental violations few and far between. It also would tighten regulation of accepting out-of-state waste, or so-called "alternate feed" material, that can be processed at the mills."

"In a major victory for environmental advocates, New York State has ruled that outmoded cooling technology at the Indian Point nuclear power plant kills so many Hudson River fish, and consumes and contaminates so much water, that it violates the federal Clean Water Act. The decision is a blow to the plant's owner, the Entergy Corporation, which now faces the prospect of having to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to build stadium-size cooling towers, or risk that Indian Point's two operating reactors - which supply 30 percent of the electricity used by New York City and Westchester County - could be forced to shut down. Entergy officials said that they were "disappointed" in the ruling and that they might fight it in court. The original federal licenses for the two 1970s-era reactors expire in 2013 and 2015, and a water quality certificate is a prerequisite for a 20-year renewal by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission. But a prolonged appeal in New York could delay a shutdown, Diane Screnci, a spokeswoman for the commission, said late Saturday. An Entergy spokesman said that converting Indian Point's cooling system would cost $1.1 billion and would require shutting both reactors down entirely for 42 weeks. "

"The Skull Valley Band of Goshutes asked a federal judge Monday to throw out two U.S. Interior Department rulings that killed their proposal to use their Tooele County reservation as a parking lot for high-level nuclear waste. U.S. District Judge David M. Ebell is expected to decide in coming months whether Interior Department officials violated their own requirements when, in September 2006, they issued one ruling rejecting a right-of-way request and a lease agreement for the temporary storage site. "

"The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has called a special meeting next week to discuss three apparent violations involving a spent fuel pool at Turkey Point - a critical issue as the long-held plans for storing waste in Nevada have completely collapsed. Technically, the meeting in Atlanta on Wednesday involves the degradation of "a neutron-absorbing material called Boraflex in the Unit 3 spent fuel pool." Used nuclear fuel has been building up at Turkey Point for the 35 years of its operation. The degradation involves systems intended to cram more spent fuel into the pools, according to Lawrence King, a former NRC inspector. More than two million pounds of waste now sit at the South Miami-Dade site in pools of water - although Florida Power & Light Co. spokesman Michael Waldron says it's more accurate to think of the spent rods as occupying a 16-foot cube if bunched together."

"Until FirstEnergy Corp. implements measures to ensure Davis-Besse nuclear plant's reactor does not violate federal health and safety regulations, the Oak Harbor nuclear plant should not be allowed to restart, the Union of Concerned Scientists said. The science group Monday asked the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to keep Davis-Besse idle until it solves problems with leaking cracks in its reactor. Federal regulations require reactors be shut down immediately whenever such leakage occurs, it noted. FirstEnergy does not yet have a time line for when Davis-Besse - which was idled Feb. 28 for normal refueling and maintenance - is expected to be repaired and restarted, spokesman Todd Schneider said. Several of Davis-Besse's 69 control-rod drive mechanism nozzles were found to be cracked or otherwise damaged, and some had leaked. A repair plan is to be submitted to the NRC."

"A drum of highly enriched uranium ended up at the right place, but it got there the wrong way, according to a report confirmed by a spokeswoman at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant. The incident, which involved a violation of technical safety requirements, took place in mid-March during the first phase of loading uranium into the new $549 million Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility. It apparently occurred just a few days before Energy Secretary Steven Chu and other dignitaries arrived to dedicate the new storage facility for bomb-grade uranium. Ellen Boatner, a plant spokeswoman, said workers "inadvertently" shipped a container that was not certified to be on board the SST-E truck -- a high-security vehicle that was being used to transfer the special nuclear materials from the plant's old warehouse to the new storage facility. Boatner said there were plans for the drum of HEU to be transferred to the facility but not aboard the SST-E."

"The Nuclear Regulatory Commission was criticized for being a watchdog with no bark - and less bite - Monday when it comes to nuclear reactors leaking radioactive tritium. The NRC was in Brattleboro to discuss the radioactive leak at the nearby Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor with the community, first in an afternoon open house and later with a three-hour public meeting. Residents and local officials told the NRC during the evening session that the NRC was ineffective because there were few - if any - regulations to hold nuclear companies accountable. Paul Blanch of West Hartford, Conn., a nuclear consultant and former industry whistleblower, said nuclear companies were taking advantage of the situation. "Regulations are nonexistent or never enforced," said Blanch, who said that Vermont Yankee could have discharged "10,000 times" the tritium that it did and still not violate any NRC regulations."

"As the crow flies, the Indian Point nuclear power plant is just 30 miles south of Vassar. Opposition to nuclear power plants runs deep-images of Chernobyl and memories of Three Mile Island are tritely commonplace. Is opposition to Indian Point driven by "not in my backyard" arguments? The plant should be decommissioned for many reasons: With the Nuclear Regulatory Commission currently reviewing Indian Point for a 20-year license renewal, compelling evidence is emerging that the plant is a threat to both human populations and the environment. Nuclear power is important to the future of energy, but Indian Point is not a safe and effective example of this promising power source. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) thinks so, too-on April 3, The New York Times reported that the DEC found Indian Point in violation of the federal Clean Water Act. This is a major setback for Indian Point's operator, Entergy Corporation, as the DEC's approval is a vital step in the relicensing process. The DEC found that Indian Point's "once-through" cooling system, which draws billions of gallons of Hudson River water daily to cool the reactors, kills billions of fish every year. This is due to the fact that the system discharges heated water from the plant, which increases the temperature of the Hudson's fragile estuarine environment. This increase in temperature reduces the amount of oxygen that can dissolve in the water, which causes aquatic life to suffocate."