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South Korea has taken the lead in talks to sell Jordan a nuclear power plant through a private deal without a formal bidding process, which would be its first such export deal, local media reported on Wednesday citing a top executive. "Jordan's No.1 nuclear power plant (project) is leaning towards a private deal with South Korea without a public bid," Kim Ssang-soo, the chief executive officer of state-run Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO) (015760.ks), was quoted as saying during his trip to Amman.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved the operating license renewal of the Wolf Creek Generating Station in Kansas for an additional 20 years. The Wolf Creek nuclear power plant is located about 4 miles northeast of Burlington, Kans. The operator, Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corp., submitted its license renewal application Sept. 27, 2006. With the renewal, the license is extended until March 11, 2045. The NRC's environmental review for this license renewal is described in a site-specific supplement to the NRC's "Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Power Plants" (NUREG-1437, Supplement 32), issued in May. The review concluded there were no environmental impacts that would preclude renewal of the license for environmental reasons. Public meetings to discuss the environmental review were held near the plant Dec. 19, 2006, and Nov. 8, 2007.

Modern military bullets are all but unstoppable. At their core is a penetrator made of depleted uranium, a substance nearly twice as dense as lead. On impact they ignite, vaporizing as they burn through steel. They can punch through six inches or more of armor plating.

Local workers who may have earned illnesses dating back to the Cold War were able to learn more about possible compensation Wednesday and Thursday. The U.S. Department of Labor visited Pittsburg, to provide information about a new class of former employees at Spencer Chemical Co./Jayhawk Works recently added to the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act's (EEOICPA) Special Exposure Cohort (SEC). The department's Traveling Resource Center staff was also available to assist individuals with filing claims under the EEOICPA.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A tornado damaged the building housing a nuclear research reactor at Kansas State University, the university told the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in an event report early Thursday.

TOPEKA | Legislation allowing utilities to recover the cost of planning for a nuclear generating facility from ratepayers has been sent to Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. The House approved it 101-22 and the Senate endorsed it a few minutes later 29-3. Supporters say the bill is needed if utilities are going to seriously consider nuclear power. Opponents said it will mean higher bills for utility customers.

The Kansas City, Kan., Fire Department responded to a case of "hazardous material release" Wednesday afternoon at the City Cemetery at 38th and Bryant Circle. When arriving on the scene, crews discovered a container with a label of "radioactive." "Haz Mat crews located a container with labeling indicating contents were Radioactive," said Craig Duke, spokesperson. "Crews using monitoring equipment confirmed contents had a low level Radioactive material. On scene command contacted company listed on container and identified contents as a Nuclear Density testing machine which is used in highway and bridge construction to test the compactness of the soil during bridge construction."

The Planned Industrial Expansion Authority on Friday adopted four resolutions advancing a proposed new 1.5 million-square-foot plant for the National Nuclear Security Administration at Missouri Highway 150 and Botts Road. The motion to adopt the resolutions cut short public comments, which nuclear-disarmament advocates had dominated. The motion was made after security was asked to remove Maurice Copeland, a retiree who worked at the NNSA's aging plant in the Bannister Federal Complex, which the new plant is designed to replace. "People are sick and dying" from exposure to beryllium and other substances at the plant, Copeland said. Copeland, who thinks his wife developed cancer as a result of contaminants he brought home on his clothing, also charged that polluted pools were paved over with parking lots at the current plant and that employees received the equivalent of hazardous-duty pay for working in certain parts of the building.

The nuclear industry provides just 19.7 percent of America's electrical power, a remarkably small share for a country with our industrial capacity and energy needs. There were 112 reactors operating in the United States in 1990. Today, there are just over 100. There are signs that America's nuclear Dark Age is ending. Some former critics of nuclear power embrace it as an alternative to fossil fuels. Plus, the political winds may be shifting. The Bush administration promoted nuclear power, opening the way to 22 nuclear plant applications for the period 2007-2010. President Barack Obama acknowledges that nuclear power should be "part of the energy mix."

The check stub and a notification letter rest in a file stuffed with Salina resident James Trepoy's military paperwork. The sum -- a whopping $75,000 -- initially made Trepoy afraid to cash the check. Then he kept the money in the bank for a time, fearing someone had made a mistake and he would get a call to send it back. The letter accompanying the check looked official enough, on letterhead from the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Division, in Washington, D.C. "This is to inform you that your claim for compensation under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Program has been approved," the letter read. Trepoy, 88, is among an estimated group of more than 200,000 former soldiers who witnessed above-ground and undersea atomic tests conducted between 1945 and 1963.

"U.S. Sen. Kit Bond on Wednesday called for a new federal investigation of health concerns at a sensitive Kansas City defense plant. In a letter to a federal investigator, Bond noted that he was responding to reports on KSHB-TV that more than 100 former co-workers at the federal complex on Bannister Road fear their illnesses may be linked to toxins at the facility. Bond asked the inspector general for the General Services Administration, which acts as the federal government's landlord, to advise him on "the full extent of the problem and what steps GSA is taking to protect employees deemed at risk.""

"The arrival of men with a Geiger counter, rubber suits and face masks at the homes of former Bannister Federal Complex workers marked the only known residential contamination incident and a health mystery that's lasted two decades. An NBC Action News review of government documents and interviews with witnesses indicates government workers went to not only Ivory Mae Thomas' home, but actually searched the homes of four workers, and found contamination during a 1989 incident where a radioactive material got outside the plant."

"Mexico is saying it will work with the United States and Canada to convert its highly enriched uranium reactor, removing the potential bomb-making materials. The agreement is being announced at the 47-nation Nuclear Security Summit called by President Barack Obama to refocus world attention on the dangers of nuclear materials reaching terrorist hands. The move is a step toward Mexico's conversion to a reactor that operates on low enriched uranium, a lesser danger for weapons use."

"A worker says she suffered permanent respiratory damage from working with a saw containing beryllium, a toxic chemical. Lisa Monahan says she was overcome by toxic fumes from the saw blade that her employer, Richardson Trident Co., bought from Metal Saw Systems. Monahan says in her federal complaint that Metal Saw Systems "installed the saw in the facility at plaintiff's employer and was negligent in failing to install a proper exhaust device when it knew or should have known that using beryllium copper blades would emit fumes throughout the facility."

"A landmark agreement between two federal agencies today will result in a cleanup at part of the Bannister Federal Complex where workers have complained of health problems. The agreement targets the roughly 40 percent of the complex owned by the General Services Administration. The GSA will begin immediately assessing the pollution at its site and will provide a work plan in 60 days, according to the agreement. The Environmental Protection Agency engineered the agreement, which is legally binding and sets up penalties if investigations, analysis and excavation of chemicals are not done properly or within a certain schedule. The agreement states it is not any sort of admission by GSA."

"The top official of Kansas City's General Services Administration wants a cancer investigation to be expanded to include not only current workers but former workers at the Bannister Federal Complex. The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) began a review of current employees who have experienced cancer recently. But Jason Klumb, newly appointed regional administrator of GSA, said the highest number of questions about worker illnesses is coming from the former employees."

Tony Ross' bat connected, sending the softball rocketing to the fence. While the outfielders scrambled after what should have been a home run, Ross stopped at second, doubled over and gasped for breath. Then he sat down on the base. The two teams playing were made up of machinists, custodians and guards from the late shift at the Bannister Federal Complex in south Kansas City. They had met, as usual, around midnight on the baseball diamond at the nearby Hickman Mills High School to play until four or five in the morning.

Tony Ross' bat connected, sending the softball rocketing to the fence. While the outfielders scrambled after what should have been a home run, Ross stopped at second, doubled over and gasped for breath. Then he sat down on the base. The two teams playing were made up of machinists, custodians and guards from the late shift at the Bannister Federal Complex in south Kansas City. They had met, as usual, around midnight on the baseball diamond at the nearby Hickman Mills High School to play until four or five in the morning.