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Energy Secretary Steven Chu told a group of state officials this morning he favors moving forward toward licensing a nuclear waste repository in Nevada, although whether it would ever be built is another thing altogether, according to officials familiar with the meeting. Nuclear waste was one of the topics on the agenda when Chu met with 12 to 15 state public service leaders attending an annual conference of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. Regarding the Yucca Mountain Project, "it sounds like what he said was positive in that (DOE) wants the process to continue. It made our guys happy," said Rob Thormeyer, the association's communications director. But according to several people who were in the 20-minute session, Chu stressed that President Obama doesn't want the Yucca repository, "and I work for the president."

The Department of Energy has dropped a proposal for a less expensive alternative to treating and disposing of some of Hanford's radioactive tank waste. The alternative could have saved as much as $459 million, according to figures in an earlier Government Accountability Office report, but Hanford officials were unable to win the regulatory support of the states of Washington and New Mexico. About $40 million has been spent on the project. Less than two months ago, DOE released a draft environmental impact study that included the less expensive option of sending some of Hanford's tank waste to a federal repository in New Mexico rather than glassifying it at the $12.2 billion vitrification plant being built at Hanford.

The Department of Energy has dropped a proposal for a less expensive alternative to treating and disposing of some of Hanford's radioactive tank waste. The alternative could have saved as much as $459 million, according to figures in an earlier Government Accountability Office report, but Hanford officials were unable to win the regulatory support of the states of Washington and New Mexico. About $40 million has been spent on the project. Less than two months ago, DOE released a draft environmental impact study that included the less expensive option of sending some of Hanford's tank waste to a federal repository in New Mexico rather than glassifying it at the $12.2 billion vitrification plant being built at Hanford.

"AN £80m loan to support the civil nuclear supply chain has been cancelled as part of spending cuts announced by the government. The loan to Sheffield Forgemasters was announced by the former Labour government before the election, but has fallen victim to the review of spending decisions taken since January. Copeland MP Jamie Reed said: "This is a very serious blow for the UK nuclear industry and begs the question does the new government actually know what its doing and does it want nuclear ? "The signs are not good, confusing at best."

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Wednesday that the government is moving "aggressively" to try to get nuclear-power loan guarantees going. "I believe that nuclear power has to be part of the energy mix in this century," Chu said at a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing. He cited differences with the White House's Office of Management and Budget and said that "we're certainly moving as aggressively as we possibly can to work out the differences with OMB to try to get those initial loan guarantees going." He also said that the Obama administration is planning to appoint a blue- ribbon panel to "take a fresh look" at how to deal with nuclear waste. The Obama administration earlier this year reversed U.S. policy and said that storing waste at Yucca Mountain was "no longer an option." For years, the U.S. has planned to begin hauling spent fuel from the nation's nuclear plants and burying it at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Chu also cited "serious proliferation issues" associated with nuclear power.

In early April 2009, on his first trip to Europe as president, Barack Obama made good on his campaign promises and took the first steps toward fundamentally reshaping U.S. nuclear weapons policy. On April 1, the president and Russian President Dmitri Medvedev released a joint statement in which both nations agreed to "demonstrate leadership in reducing the number of nuclear weapons in the world." On April 5, President Obama gave a groundbreaking speech on nuclear weapons in Prague, Czech Republic, which signaled his administration's intent to significantly reduce the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. national security strategy and laid out a bold yet pragmatic plan to reduce the threat of nuclear weapons. He also stated that the United States was committed to the visionary goal of "the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons."

U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman today transmitted The Report to the President and the Congress by the Secretary of Energy on the Need for a Second Repository to the President and the Congress. The report was submitted in accordance with section 161 of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, as amended (NWPA). Section 161 requires the Secretary to report to the President and to Congress on or after January 1, 2007, but not later than January 1, 2010, on the need for a second repository for the Nation's spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste (HLW).

"While officials in Washington continue to pass the political hot potato of nuclear waste production and disposal, the Palmetto State has been left holding the bag. The issues on the ground surrounding the nuclear industry in South Carolina are as perplexing as the national policies at the heart of the debate. On one hand, the Savannah River Site and the two new slated nuclear reactors in Jenkinsville and Cherokee County provide jobs and utilities; on the other hand we face the necessary evil of nuclear waste production and storage, a prospect made grimmer after the federal government recently backpedaled on plans to open the Yucca Mountain Repository in Nevada. The good news: the four new nuclear reactors slated to be built in our state will be constructed using a state of the art, efficient design, but the bad news: a recent (still disputed) study found a potential flaw in the design that could spew radioactive particles to the four winds. Good news: the U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) has rescinded an order to triple waste canister density at SRS, but the bad news: the waste that was supposed to be temporary is still there indefinitely… sort of a black mushroom cloud with a silver lining."

Does it matter-in military, political, or economic terms-how much the United States has spent, and continues to spend, to develop and sustain its nuclear arsenal? Many observers would say no. The Cold War is long over, the United States won without having to use its nuclear weapons, they argue, so whatever the cost was, it was "worth it." But for those interested in accountability and reexamining history in light of new evidence, what the United States spent on nuclear weapons along with the justifications for that spending can shed light on the pace and scale of the U.S. effort and offer important lessons for the United States and for other countries that have or seek to have nuclear weapons. This issue brief, based on the 1998 book Atomic Audit: The Costs and Consequences of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Since 1940, examines how and why key decisions were made, what factors influenced those decisions, and whether alternatives were considered.[1]

A trainload of depleted uranium was already set to begin rolling toward Utah Tuesday when a letter from Gov. Gary Herbert arrived at the U.S. Energy Department asking the agency to hold off on the shipment. The DU, as depleted uranium is often called, is highly concentrated waste from the cleanup of atomic-weapons making at the government's Savannah River site in South Carolina. And Herbert told Energy Secretary Steven Chu that Utah regulators need more time to make sure the EnergySolutions site in Tooele County can safely contain it. "As governor, my duty is to ensure the public health and safety of all Utahns," Herbert said in the letter. "As such, I ask that you immediately halt this and any future DU shipments from the Savannah River site until Utah completes its rule-making process."

A trainload of depleted uranium was already set to begin rolling toward Utah Tuesday when a letter from Gov. Gary Herbert arrived at the U.S. Energy Department asking the agency to hold off on the shipment. The DU, as depleted uranium is often called, is highly concentrated waste from the cleanup of atomic-weapons making at the government's Savannah River site in South Carolina. And Herbert told Energy Secretary Steven Chu that Utah regulators need more time to make sure the EnergySolutions site in Tooele County can safely contain it. "As governor, my duty is to ensure the public health and safety of all Utahns," Herbert said in the letter. "As such, I ask that you immediately halt this and any future DU shipments from the Savannah River site until Utah completes its rule-making process."

A trainload of depleted uranium was already set to begin rolling toward Utah Tuesday when a letter from Gov. Gary Herbert arrived at the U.S. Energy Department asking the agency to hold off on the shipment. The DU, as depleted uranium is often called, is highly concentrated waste from the cleanup of atomic-weapons making at the government's Savannah River site in South Carolina. And Herbert told Energy Secretary Steven Chu that Utah regulators need more time to make sure the EnergySolutions site in Tooele County can safely contain it. "As governor, my duty is to ensure the public health and safety of all Utahns," Herbert said in the letter. "As such, I ask that you immediately halt this and any future DU shipments from the Savannah River site until Utah completes its rule-making process."

Date: July 7, 2010 The Blue Ribbon Commission on American's Nuclear Future (the Commission) was established in accordance with the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), as amended, 5 U.S.C. App. 2, and as directed by the President's Memorandum for the Secretary of Energy dated January 29, 2010: Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future. This charter establishes the Commission under the authority of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

"The U.S. government is looking for even a temporary storage site for 10,000 drums of depleted uranium from a South Carolina nuclear plant, Utah officials said. The waste was supposed to have been stored permanently in Utah by EnergySolutions Inc. But the state intervened as the first shipment arrived, seeking more information from the Salt Lake City company and a review of the site. Now the U.S. Department of Energy is searching for sites outside of Utah where the waste can remain for up to seven years, The Salt Lake Tribune reported Thursday. Temporary storage bids are being accepted until next Thursday."

Oak Ridge-area companies in the nuclear services business have come together for their common good and formed the Tennessee Radioactive Material Processors and Brokers Association. According to a statement distributed by EnergySolutions, one of the members, the association was created "to provide a public forum for discussing national, state and local policies that may affect the nuclear industry."

Energy Department officials did not follow established policies and procedures for using purchase cards at the Yucca Mountain Project, the proposed storage facility for spent nuclear fuel 90 miles west of Las Vegas, according to a review of transactions between January 2007 to February 2009 by the department's watchdog. In a report released on Tuesday, Herbert Richardson, Energy's principal deputy inspector general, found that a key official did not approve or review purchase card transactions in advance and did not always review cardholders' account statements in a timely manner. Another approving official was not certified for the role, despite acting in that capacity, and two purchase cardholders shared account numbers and allowed others to make purchases using those numbers -- all violations of federal requirements. Such weaknesses "could expose the department to the risk of fraud, waste or abuse," Richardson wrote, although he noted that the audit did not uncover any improper purchases.

"The US Department of Energy is looking for a temporary home for two thirds of a shipment of low level nuclear waste that was headed to Utah. Waste containing depleted uranium from the Savannah River site in South Carolina has had its storage here delayed after the Department of Energy and Governor Gary Herbert agreed more information was needed to ensure the safety of nearby residents. The highly populated Salt Lake Valley is just 75 miles east of Energy Solution's Clive Storage Facility in the Tooele Valley. Depleted uranium is low level radioactive waste at this time. The problem is, as it breaks down, its radiation levels increase, with radon emissions peaking after one million years. Energy Solutions is currently working on a report confirming the Clive site can successfully store large quantities of depleted uranium, but it is not expected to be complete before the end of the year. "

After 35 years, New Mexico's senior senator - Pete Domenici - is retiring for health reasons. Domenici was a power broker in Washington who got results for Clovis and New Mexico. He was instrumental in stopping Defense Department plans to close Cannon Air Force Base in 2005 and in landing a new mission with Air Force Special Operations Command. Domenici sits on the powerful Defense Appropriations Commitee and is the ranking member for the Senate's Committee on Energy and Nautral Resource.

US Energy Secretary Steven Chu backed a new generation of nuclear power Wednesday, and said a panel of experts would report back this year on the best long-term storage of radioactive waste. The Nobel laureate scientist, chosen by President Barack Obama to lead an ambitious drive for renewable energy, said nuclear power was also an "essential part of our energy mix" along with cleaner coal and carbon capture. Chu said he was convening a "blue-ribbon panel" of experts to "develop a long-term strategy that must include the waste disposal plan," after Obama's budget ruled out a proposed national repository at Nevada's Yucca Mountain.

"A panel weighing the Energy Department's license application for building a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain wonders what will happen to 80 million pages of supporting documents if funding to keep track of them is slashed after September. "If the system doesn't work and those documents can't be retrieved, that's roughly akin to tossing it in the waste basket," said Administrative Judge Thomas Moore of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Construction Authorization Board. His comment Wednesday during a hearing in Las Vegas was aimed at preserving more than two decades of scientific work about the site, 100 miles northwest of the Las Vegas Valley. That's where the Department of Energy had planned to bury 77,000 tons of highly radioactive waste and used reactor fuel. After the license application was submitted in the waning months of the Bush Administration, the Obama administration and Energy Secretary Steven Chu have said the site now is not an option for a national nuclear waste repository. Nevertheless, the agency's effort to seek a license is continuing, at least through the end of the 2010 fiscal year."

"Weak management of the National Ignition Facility is being blamed for more cost overruns and delays to experiments at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory project, according to a recently released report by congressional auditors. The cost of NIF's experimental program has already grown by 25%, or $400 million, to an estimated $2 billion through fiscal year 2012, and the scheduled completion of ignition experiments has been pushed back by a year, to September 2012, says the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The 192-laser NIF was officially completed more than a year ago, at a cost of $3.5 billion-$1.4 billion above the estimate when construction began in 1997. But GAO said that LLNL had been allowed to put off "major aspects of NIF's safety infrastructure," including installation of concrete doors and other target-area shielding to protect personnel from neutron radiation. Funding for those safety items, totaling around $50 million, has had to come from the National Ignition Campaign, and NIF's preliminary experimental program, which includes "nonignition" experiments producing temperatures and pressures below the ignition threshold, had to be suspended for several months while their installation was completed. That stoppage could delay attainment of NIF's experimental objective-ignition, the point at which the energy from fusion exceeds the energy needed to initiate the reaction-beyond the already postponed 2012 deadline."

Answering some of the most commonly asked questions about nuclear power plants. To read part I of Peak oil and nuclear energy, click here. What are we going to do with all of the spent fuel? Let's start with the saddest observation of all. There is no need to have this problem. France, which produces 79% of its electricity with nuclear plants, does not. France, and almost everyone else, reprocesses their fuel. We do not because Jimmy Carter (a nuclear engineer, for Lord's sake) decided in 1977 that it was too "dangerous" because of the fear of nuclear proliferation (which has continued nonetheless). Reagan reversed Carter in 1981 but reprocessing has never been initiated. Nonsense. Read this to learn the reality of proliferation.

The annual meeting of the South Australian Liberal Party has supported a motion to debate the use of nuclear power technology to reduce carbon emissions. The motion was carried by a narrow majority despite strong opposition from senior state and federal Liberal MPs. Opposition Leader Isobel Redmond says though she is not worried about having the debate, she does not support the motion.