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"It could cost between $4 billion and $8 billion to supply Vermont's electric needs from renewable sources, according to a report issued by the Coalition for Energy Solutions, a loosely associated group of energy professionals who study and evaluate energy options. The report was an evaluation of a study released by the Vermont Public Interest Group, which stated renewable energy sources and energy efficiencies could make unnecessary the continued operation of Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon past its original license expiration date of 2012. "Our Evaluation makes the same assumptions about total electric demand, total purchases from the grid, and complete use of renewables (no extensive gas-fired back-up) as (VPIRG's) Repowering Vermont (report)," wrote Howard Shaffer and Meredith Angwin, the authors of "Vermont Electric Power in Transition." "

"Nuclear facilities and power plants are contaminating local Canadian food and water with radioactive waste that increases risks of cancer and birth defects, says a new report to be released on Friday. The report, Tritium on Tap, produced by the Sierra Club of Canada, warned that radioactive emissions from various nuclear plants across the country have more than doubled over the past decade. The figures were based on statistics compiled by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission which measured pollution coming from the plants."

"After it was revealed that Tepco had falsified inspection reports at three of its nuclear power plants for years (see WISE/NIRS Nuclear Monitor 573.5436, "Japan: whistleblowing turns into tornado"), other utilities began to investigate if they too had failed to mention defects in reports. Soon, two utilities, Chubu Electric and Tokohu Electric, reported that they too had left out details of faults in their inspection records. Chubu Chubu is Japan's third largest power company, and halted all its reactors after admitting it had failed to report signs of cracking in water pipes of reactors 1 and 3 at its Hamaoka plant to the authorities. The largest of these, in Hamaoka-3, was 60 millimeters long and 3 millimeters deep, in a pipe around 40 millimeters thick. The failure of Chubu to notify the authorities of the crack indications in water pipes is all the more worrying because of recent incidents involving pipes at Hamaoka. Last year, a water pipe at Hamaoka-1 exploded, releasing radioactive steam into the containment building (see WISE News Communique 558.5339, "Japan: a 'grave situation' at Hamaoka BWR"). This year, sixteen workers were irradiated after a water pipe leak at Hamaoka-2 (see WISE/NIRS Nuclear Monitor 569.5411, "Japan: More problems at Hamaoka")."

The Vermont Public Service Board should not have given the OK for the storage of spent nuclear fuel produced by Vermont Yankee on the banks of the Connecticut River, according to a report that was discussed Monday in the Statehouse in Montpelier. Testimony that was given during hearings conducted by the PSB were "affected by insufficient data to have reached a conclusion of acceptability of the site and granting of a permit," stated William Steinhurst, who holds a Ph.D. in geology. Steinhurst presented the report on behalf of Synapse Energy Economics, which hired Prof. Michael Wilson of SUNY-Fredonia to evaluate the geological characteristics of the plant's spent fuel storage site. The Public Service Board issued a certificate of public good in 2006 allowing Entergy, which owns and operates Yankee, to store nuclear waste in dry casks on a concrete pad just to the north of the plant's reactor building.

The Vermont Public Service Board should not have given the OK for the storage of spent nuclear fuel produced by Vermont Yankee on the banks of the Connecticut River, according to a report that was discussed Monday in the Statehouse in Montpelier. Testimony that was given during hearings conducted by the PSB were "affected by insufficient data to have reached a conclusion of acceptability of the site and granting of a permit," stated William Steinhurst, who holds a Ph.D. in geology. Steinhurst presented the report on behalf of Synapse Energy Economics, which hired Prof. Michael Wilson of SUNY-Fredonia to evaluate the geological characteristics of the plant's spent fuel storage site. The Public Service Board issued a certificate of public good in 2006 allowing Entergy, which owns and operates Yankee, to store nuclear waste in dry casks on a concrete pad just to the north of the plant's reactor building.

Watchdog warns £20bn programme faces delay unless reactor designers improve performance The UK's £20bn nuclear programme is facing delays because of a failure to tackle design problems with their reactors, the Health and Safety Executive has warned. A report by the HSE, seen by Building, said the two firms in the running to build the reactors had to put more resources into dealing with the safety assessment process if it was to be completed on time. One of them, Japanese-owned Westinghouse, came in for particular criticism for failing to provide a report on external hazards such as flooding.

Watchdog warns £20bn programme faces delay unless reactor designers improve performance The UK's £20bn nuclear programme is facing delays because of a failure to tackle design problems with their reactors, the Health and Safety Executive has warned. A report by the HSE, seen by Building, said the two firms in the running to build the reactors had to put more resources into dealing with the safety assessment process if it was to be completed on time. One of them, Japanese-owned Westinghouse, came in for particular criticism for failing to provide a report on external hazards such as flooding.

Watchdog warns £20bn programme faces delay unless reactor designers improve performance The UK's £20bn nuclear programme is facing delays because of a failure to tackle design problems with their reactors, the Health and Safety Executive has warned. A report by the HSE, seen by Building, said the two firms in the running to build the reactors had to put more resources into dealing with the safety assessment process if it was to be completed on time. One of them, Japanese-owned Westinghouse, came in for particular criticism for failing to provide a report on external hazards such as flooding.

Residents living in counties in close proximity to the Indian Point nuclear power plant in Westchester have the highest cases for thyroid cancer, a startling new report revealed Monday. According to the article published in the International Journal of Health Services, the rate of residents in the area diagnosed with the disease is the highest in New York State and among the highest in the United States. The 2001-2005 rate for the four counties surrounding the plant - Orange, Putnam, Rockland and Westchester - was 66% above the U.S. Average, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The rates of local residents with thyroid cancer have significantly increased since the late 1970s, when the two Indian point reactors were installed, the report revealed.

Residents living in counties in close proximity to the Indian Point nuclear power plant in Westchester have the highest cases for thyroid cancer, a startling new report revealed Monday. According to the article published in the International Journal of Health Services, the rate of residents in the area diagnosed with the disease is the highest in New York State and among the highest in the United States. The 2001-2005 rate for the four counties surrounding the plant - Orange, Putnam, Rockland and Westchester - was 66% above the U.S. Average, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The rates of local residents with thyroid cancer have significantly increased since the late 1970s, when the two Indian point reactors were installed, the report revealed.

Controlled Ottawa River leak OK, AECL says Nuclear facilities and power plants are contaminating Canadian food and water with radioactive waste that increases risks of cancer and birth defects, says a new report to be released today. The report, Tritium on Tap, produced by the Sierra Club of Canada, warned that radioactive emissions from various nuclear plants across the country have more than doubled over the past decade. The figures were based on statistics compiled by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, which measured pollution coming from the plants.

Controlled Ottawa River leak OK, AECL says Nuclear facilities and power plants are contaminating Canadian food and water with radioactive waste that increases risks of cancer and birth defects, says a new report to be released today. The report, Tritium on Tap, produced by the Sierra Club of Canada, warned that radioactive emissions from various nuclear plants across the country have more than doubled over the past decade. The figures were based on statistics compiled by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, which measured pollution coming from the plants.

Hair samples of disabled children contains Uranium and other dangerous heavy metals BATHINDA: The high level of Uranium and other dangerous heavy metals present in water samples from the region is responsible for retarded children, mainly from southern Malwa region. It is crippling children's brain. This was confirmed by Germany's Microtrace Mineral Lab which revealed that hair samples taken from 80% of the neurologically disabled children, and thier drinking water contains high levels of uranium, a radioactive element. The report also confirms the presence of dangerous heavy metals in water, questioning high use of chemicals to support state's green revolution. The possible source of uranium is the depleted uranium used by US nuclear warheads that were deployed in its war against Iraq. There were high level of uranium in the drinking water sources and nearly all kinds of heavy metals in the hair samples of 149 children and a few adults at the Baba Farid Centre for Special Children in Faridkot, confirms the report.

An extensive federal report released in November concludes that roughly one in four of the 697,000 U.S. veterans of the 1990-91 Gulf War suffer from Gulf War illness. Advertisement GWI is a condition now identified as the likely consequence of exposure to toxic chemicals, including pesticides and a drug administered by the military to protect troops against nerve gas. The 452-page report states that "scientific evidence leaves no question that Gulf War illness is a real condition with real causes and serious consequences for affected veterans." The report, compiled by a panel of scientific experts and veterans serving on the congressionally mandated Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses, fails to identify any cure for the malady. It also notes that few veterans afflicted with GWI have recovered over time.

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).

The United States spent at least 52 billion dollars on nuclear-related programs last year, most of it to maintain and refurbish its arsenal of nuclear weapons, a report said Monday. The report by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said the estimate was pieced together from publicly available documents because the government does not track overall spending on nuclear-related programs. "Total appropriations for nuclear weapons and weapons-related programs in fiscal year 2008 were at least 52.4 billion dollars, according to the best available data," the report said.

Neither the former workers at a nuclear weapons plant in Largo nor Sen. Bill Nelson are buying into a recently released Inspector General report. The report by the Inspector General for the federal Labor Department says claims for benefits under a program for sick plant workers are being processed according to law. Congress passed a program in 2000 to compensate sick workers at the General Electric plant and pay their medical bills.

While it will cost taxpayers billions to clean out dangerous radioactive waste from a defunct nuclear fuel reprocessing plant, storing it there would cost billions more over the centuries - and risk contamination of Lake Erie. That was the conclusion of a state-funded report on the 3,300-acre West Valley nuclear site, closed since the early 1970s and once the nation's only commercial center for reprocessing spent nuclear fuel. Released Tuesday, the report comes during a growing national debate about stepping up nuclear power as a way to cut the greenhouse gases that cause global warming. Critics continue to question the fate of spent fuel, which is dangerous for thousands of years. The report by Cambridge-based Synapse Energy Economics claimed it will cost nearly $10 billion to clean radioactive waste from West Valley over the next 60 years and ship it to a federal dump that does not exist yet.

Thousands of containers of lethal nuclear waste are likely to fail before being safely sealed away underground, a devastating official report concludes. The unpublicised report is by the Environment Agency, which has to approve any proposals for getting rid of the waste that remains deadly for tens of thousands of years.

The California Energy Commission, in conjunction with doing a status report on nuclear power, put together a workshop on nuclear Power in late June of 2007.

This workshop consists of some of the most current documentation of nuclear power in the county.

Nuclear energy research, development, demonstration, and deployment can help the U.S. reduce carbon emissions and bolster energy security, a new report coauthored by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and the Idaho National Laboratory has shown. The report, "A Strategy for Nuclear Energy Research and Development," outlines the research necessary to create options for the deployment of nuclear energy in the decades ahead. The report also examines nuclear energy's relevance to nonproliferation and the need for the U.S. to maintain international leadership in developing nuclear energy-issues that must be addressed for nuclear energy to have a prominent role in meeting the nation's future energy needs.

The federal agency that regulates the transport of explosives, toxic chemicals, fireworks and other hazardous materials has for years quietly waived safety regulations because of its cozy relationship with industry, according to a congressional report. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, which regulates shipment of potentially dangerous cargo by land, sea and air, also has ignored whether shippers have been involved in accidents or cited for violating regulations before granting or renewing the waivers, the report said. The report was based on an investigation by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which has scheduled a hearing for Thursday on whether PHMSA is doing its job. The chief witness scheduled to testify at the hearing is Transportation Department Inspector General Calvin Scovel, who warned administration officials in late July that a separate investigation by his office had uncovered significant concerns.

It took three days to respond, but the government has challenged a report in the Star that pegged the cost of building a new nuclear plant in Ontario at between $23.6 billion and $26 billion. Infrastructure Ontario, the agency responsible for procuring a reactor technology for the multibillion-dollar project, issued a statement Friday calling the Star report "inaccurate" because it "does not reflect the evaluation and/or analysis of the bids performed by Infrastructure Ontario." When asked about the degree of inaccuracy - for example, whether the reported bids were off by $1 million, $1 billion or more - agency spokeswoman Diane Flanagan would not say. "We're far from getting close to the end of the process, where there is a finalization of a deal. To comment specifically on a hypothetical number or numbers really wouldn't serve anyone's interest at this point," she said. Shawn-Patrick Stensil, a spokesman for Greenpeace Canada, asked how a figure could be called inaccurate if there's nothing accurate with which to compare it.

Turkey's plans to buy missile systems from the US should not be interpreted as a willingness to host missile defence shield components on its territory, Turkish daily Today's Zaman said on September 21. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has denied media reports that Turkey is buying missile interceptors against a threat posed by Iran, the daily said. Iran was the main target of the missile defence shield initiative of former US president George W Bush, to be deployed in Poland and the Czech Republic, scrapped by Barack Obama on September 17. Having rebuffed the Bush administration on the plans to put missiles on its soil, Turkey re-inforced its stance that it would host Nato equipment, but not join US initiatives outside the alliance's framework. With reports in the US saying that the department of defence notified congre

This is the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff's report of its monitoring of U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) non-high-level waste disposal actions in calendar year 2008, pursuant to Section 3116(b) of the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005 (the NDAA). Section 3116 of the NDAA requires that DOE consult with the NRC on its non-high-level waste determinations and plans and that the NRC, in coordination with the covered States of South Carolina and Idaho, monitor disposal actions that DOE takes to assess compliance with NRC regulations in Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Part 61, "Licensing Requirements for Land Disposal of Radioactive Waste," Subpart C, "Performance Objectives." The NRC has prepared this report in accordance with NUREG-1854, "NRC Staff Guidance for Activities Related to U.S. Department of Energy Waste Determinations," issued August 2007.