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No community will be forced into becoming the site for a nuclear waste repository, says the organization struck to put in place a long-term plan for the used fuel. At an information session in Regina on Monday, the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) asked for public input on the proposed process that will be used to select a potential location for underground storage of spent fuel. That process won't be finalized until sometime next year. But NWMO communications manager Michael Krizanc said one thing that's already certain is that only communities willing to host the project will be considered candidates.

No community will be forced into becoming the site for a nuclear waste repository, says the organization struck to put in place a long-term plan for the used fuel. At an information session in Regina on Monday, the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) asked for public input on the proposed process that will be used to select a potential location for underground storage of spent fuel. That process won't be finalized until sometime next year. But NWMO communications manager Michael Krizanc said one thing that's already certain is that only communities willing to host the project will be considered candidates.

After making plans for more than 20 years, the first ton of radioactive dirt will be removed from the nuclear waste dump in Parks this summer for the much anticipated 3-year, $76 million cleanup by the Army Corps of Engineers. The removal of 50,000 tons of nuclear-contaminated soil at what is officially known as the Shallow Land Disposal Area is the last vestige of the nuclear legacy from two former nuclear fuel plants in Apollo and Parks that operated from 1957 to mid-1980s. The plants, owned by the Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp. (NUMEC) and later the Atlantic Richfield Co. and Babcock & Wilcox (B&W), produced nuclear fuel for submarines and power plants as well as a range of nuclear products for the U.S. government and others. Moving on hasn't come quickly or cheaply. Lawsuits for personal injury and contamination, cleanups and government payments to contaminated workers have topped $267 million in more than two decades.

After making plans for more than 20 years, the first ton of radioactive dirt will be removed from the nuclear waste dump in Parks this summer for the much anticipated 3-year, $76 million cleanup by the Army Corps of Engineers. The removal of 50,000 tons of nuclear-contaminated soil at what is officially known as the Shallow Land Disposal Area is the last vestige of the nuclear legacy from two former nuclear fuel plants in Apollo and Parks that operated from 1957 to mid-1980s. The plants, owned by the Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp. (NUMEC) and later the Atlantic Richfield Co. and Babcock & Wilcox (B&W), produced nuclear fuel for submarines and power plants as well as a range of nuclear products for the U.S. government and others. Moving on hasn't come quickly or cheaply. Lawsuits for personal injury and contamination, cleanups and government payments to contaminated workers have topped $267 million in more than two decades.

Kazakhstan's uranium production will hit 13,500 metric tons in 2009, or up 58% from last year, making the ex-Soviet state the world's leading uranium producer, Kazatomprom said on Tuesday. "Consolidated revenue from the sale of Kazatomprom's output in 2009 will exceed last year's level by 53%," the country's nuclear holding company said in a statement. Kazatomprom earlier said it expected to receive a net income of 49 billion tenge ($326.6 million) in 2009. The company is currently developing areas like natural uranium conversion and enrichment, fuel production for reactors, and the creation and operation of small and medium-sized reactors. Kazatomprom is the national operator for the import and export of uranium, rare metals, nuclear fuel for power plants, special equipment and duel-purpose materials. The company is wholly owned by the government of Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan's uranium production will hit 13,500 metric tons in 2009, or up 58% from last year, making the ex-Soviet state the world's leading uranium producer, Kazatomprom said on Tuesday. "Consolidated revenue from the sale of Kazatomprom's output in 2009 will exceed last year's level by 53%," the country's nuclear holding company said in a statement. Kazatomprom earlier said it expected to receive a net income of 49 billion tenge ($326.6 million) in 2009. The company is currently developing areas like natural uranium conversion and enrichment, fuel production for reactors, and the creation and operation of small and medium-sized reactors. Kazatomprom is the national operator for the import and export of uranium, rare metals, nuclear fuel for power plants, special equipment and duel-purpose materials. The company is wholly owned by the government of Kazakhstan.

"Expanding our Nation's capacity to generate clean nuclear energy is crucial to our ability to combat climate change, enhance energy security, and increase economic prosperity. My Administration is undertaking substantial steps to expand the safe, secure, and responsible use of nuclear energy. These efforts are critical to accomplishing many of my Administration's most significant goals. An important part of a sound, comprehensive, and long-term domestic nuclear energy strategy is a well-considered policy for managing used nuclear fuel and other aspects of the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle. Yet the Nation's approach, developed more than 20 years ago, to managing materials derived from nuclear activities, including nuclear fuel and nuclear waste, has not proven effective. Fortunately, over the past two decades scientists and engineers in our country and abroad have learned a great deal about effective strategies for managing nuclear material. My Administration is committed to using this advanced knowledge to meet the Government's obligation to dispose of our Nation's used nuclear material."

"Russia will provide by the end of 2010 the first batch of low-enriched uranium for an international nuclear fuel reserve bank under control of the UN nuclear watchdog, the head of Russia's state-run nuclear power corporation Rosatom said. Russia has earlier proposed to establish international reserves of low-enriched uranium (LEU) to ensure stable fuel supplies to IAEA member countries in case of emergency, including "insurmountable political difficulties." "I believe that the first part of these reserves could be formed by the end of this year," Sergei Kiriyenko said at an international conference on nuclear energy in Paris on Monday. "We want to initially build LEU reserves that would ensure the operation of at least one 1,000 MW reactor," he said. Russia proposed in 2007 the creation of a nuclear center with LEU reserves in Angarsk, 5,100 km (3,170 miles) east of Moscow, to enable countries including Iran to develop civilian nuclear power without having to enrich their own uranium."

"Twenty concrete vaults sit side-by-side, like self-storage containers, next to the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant. These concrete tombs hold fuel cells, each containing 12-foot rods of enriched uranium. The rods are toxic and radioactive and were never intended to be stored here indefinitely, among Ocean County's 560,000 residents. Nationwide, about 70,000 tons of fuel rods wait for long-term storage - the very long term. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that spent fuel stored at New Jersey's four nuclear power plants will remain dangerous to humans for at least 10,000 years and harmful to the environment for 1 million years more. The industry generates about 2,200 tons more of the waste each year, and many companies have plans to expand nuclear power in the United States - PSEG wants to build a new plant in Salem County's Lower Alloways Creek Township."

"A setup has been prepared for processing in the United Kingdom to turn spent fuel from nuclear power stations in Japan into uranium-plutonium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel. More specifically, on May 13, the ten Japanese electric power companies reached an agreement with the UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) on the basic framework for consignment of such fuel processing. Of the ten utilities, Chubu Electric Power concluded a processing contract on the same day, but the others want to see whether the processing operations will proceed smoothly before contracting."

HIGH-LEVEL radioactive waste built up at Sellafield from fuel reprocessing over the years will soon be sent back to foreign customers. This is a milestone for both the nuclear industry and the British government, who hope the move will dispel claims that Sellafield was destined to become "the world's atomic dustbin". The waste comes from the fuel Sellafield has reprocessed over 30 years after removing the plutonium and uranium energy products. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority says it will reduce the stockpile of high level waste stored at Sellafield. All UK reprocessing contracts with foreign customers since 1976 have included an option for the waste to be returned to "country of origin" and 10 years later the British government decided the option should be taken up.

HIGH-LEVEL radioactive waste built up at Sellafield from fuel reprocessing over the years will soon be sent back to foreign customers. This is a milestone for both the nuclear industry and the British government, who hope the move will dispel claims that Sellafield was destined to become "the world's atomic dustbin". The waste comes from the fuel Sellafield has reprocessed over 30 years after removing the plutonium and uranium energy products. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority says it will reduce the stockpile of high level waste stored at Sellafield. All UK reprocessing contracts with foreign customers since 1976 have included an option for the waste to be returned to "country of origin" and 10 years later the British government decided the option should be taken up.

Workers at the Hanford nuclear reservation have removed a 1.2 million gallon basin that once held 1,100 tons of spent uranium fuel roads, the U.S. Department of Energy says, and are beginning to clean up contaminated soil underneath the basin. Contractor CH2M Hill's Plateau Remediation Company started excavating the contaminated soil on Sunday, meeting a deadline under DOE's agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state of Washington. Earlier this month, workers finished years of work removing the K East Basin that once stored highly radioactive materials underwater, one of the greatest hazards at the former plutonium production site. The basin held spent nuclear fuel from Hanford's nine reactors beneath 20 feet of water for shielding. Soil underneath the concrete basin was contaminated by leaks in the 1970s and 1990s, DOE says.

Workers at the Hanford nuclear reservation have removed a 1.2 million gallon basin that once held 1,100 tons of spent uranium fuel roads, the U.S. Department of Energy says, and are beginning to clean up contaminated soil underneath the basin. Contractor CH2M Hill's Plateau Remediation Company started excavating the contaminated soil on Sunday, meeting a deadline under DOE's agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state of Washington. Earlier this month, workers finished years of work removing the K East Basin that once stored highly radioactive materials underwater, one of the greatest hazards at the former plutonium production site. The basin held spent nuclear fuel from Hanford's nine reactors beneath 20 feet of water for shielding. Soil underneath the concrete basin was contaminated by leaks in the 1970s and 1990s, DOE says.

Uranium from the Grants Mineral Belt running under rugged peaks and Indian pueblos of New Mexico was a source of electric power and military might in decades past, providing fuel for reactors and atomic bombs. Now, interest in carbon-free nuclear power is fueling a potential resurgence of uranium mining. But Indian people gathered in Acoma, N.M., for the Indigenous Uranium Forum over the weekend decried future uranium extraction, especially from nearby Mount Taylor, considered sacred by many tribes. Native people from Alaska, Canada, the Western United States and South America discussed the severe health problems uranium mining has caused their communities, including high rates of cancer and kidney disease.

Uranium from the Grants Mineral Belt running under rugged peaks and Indian pueblos of New Mexico was a source of electric power and military might in decades past, providing fuel for reactors and atomic bombs. Now, interest in carbon-free nuclear power is fueling a potential resurgence of uranium mining. But Indian people gathered in Acoma, N.M., for the Indigenous Uranium Forum over the weekend decried future uranium extraction, especially from nearby Mount Taylor, considered sacred by many tribes. Native people from Alaska, Canada, the Western United States and South America discussed the severe health problems uranium mining has caused their communities, including high rates of cancer and kidney disease.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's most recent round of inspections at the U.S. Energy Department's mixed oxide fuel facility yielded four notices of violation for mostly minor infractions, according to a copy of the report made public today. Inspectors who conducted extensive reviews at the construction site from July 1 to Sept. 30 also noted that many programs-including the placement of concrete and steel-were adequate and in complete compliance. The $4.8 million MOX facility, scheduled to open at Savannah River Site in 2016, is designed to dispose of 34 metric tons of surplus, weapons-grade plutonium by using small amounts to make fuel for commercial reactors. The inspections involved evaluation of construction of principle structures and included quality assurance activities related to design verification and documentation control; problem identification, resolution, and corrective actions; structural steel and support activities; structural concrete activities; and geotechnical foundation activities, the report said.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's most recent round of inspections at the U.S. Energy Department's mixed oxide fuel facility yielded four notices of violation for mostly minor infractions, according to a copy of the report made public today. Inspectors who conducted extensive reviews at the construction site from July 1 to Sept. 30 also noted that many programs-including the placement of concrete and steel-were adequate and in complete compliance. The $4.8 million MOX facility, scheduled to open at Savannah River Site in 2016, is designed to dispose of 34 metric tons of surplus, weapons-grade plutonium by using small amounts to make fuel for commercial reactors. The inspections involved evaluation of construction of principle structures and included quality assurance activities related to design verification and documentation control; problem identification, resolution, and corrective actions; structural steel and support activities; structural concrete activities; and geotechnical foundation activities, the report said.

What's powering your home appliances? Multiple warhead ballistic missiles like the ones deployed at this site north of Russia's border with Kazakhstan are being dismantled. Some nuclear material goes to the United States. For about 10 percent of electricity in the United States, it's fuel from dismantled nuclear bombs, including Russian ones. "It's a great, easy source" of fuel, said Marina V. Alekseyenkova, an analyst at Renaissance Capital and an expert in the Russian nuclear industry that has profited from the arrangement since the end of the cold war. But if more diluted weapons-grade uranium isn't secured soon, the pipeline could run dry, with ramifications for consumers, as well as some American utilities and their Russian suppliers. Already nervous about a supply gap, utilities operating America's 104 nuclear reactors are paying as much attention to President Obama's efforts to conclude a new arms treaty as the Nobel Peace Prize committee did.

What's powering your home appliances? Multiple warhead ballistic missiles like the ones deployed at this site north of Russia's border with Kazakhstan are being dismantled. Some nuclear material goes to the United States. For about 10 percent of electricity in the United States, it's fuel from dismantled nuclear bombs, including Russian ones. "It's a great, easy source" of fuel, said Marina V. Alekseyenkova, an analyst at Renaissance Capital and an expert in the Russian nuclear industry that has profited from the arrangement since the end of the cold war. But if more diluted weapons-grade uranium isn't secured soon, the pipeline could run dry, with ramifications for consumers, as well as some American utilities and their Russian suppliers. Already nervous about a supply gap, utilities operating America's 104 nuclear reactors are paying as much attention to President Obama's efforts to conclude a new arms treaty as the Nobel Peace Prize committee did.

Probe finds executive drank on duty, faulty report by physician ERWIN, Tenn. - Nuclear Fuel Services is being ordered to correct operational deficiencies after an investigation found a senior executive with the company had consumed alcohol on duty in violation of federal rules and a physician working for the company provided incomplete information on whether the executive was fit for duty. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued orders requiring Nuclear Fuel Services and a physician it contracts with to correct deficiencies in its Unicoi County plant related to the former executive the NRC says violated its fitness-for-duty requirements. The plant also was cited for a failure to administer hearing tests to security officers.

Probe finds executive drank on duty, faulty report by physician ERWIN, Tenn. - Nuclear Fuel Services is being ordered to correct operational deficiencies after an investigation found a senior executive with the company had consumed alcohol on duty in violation of federal rules and a physician working for the company provided incomplete information on whether the executive was fit for duty. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued orders requiring Nuclear Fuel Services and a physician it contracts with to correct deficiencies in its Unicoi County plant related to the former executive the NRC says violated its fitness-for-duty requirements. The plant also was cited for a failure to administer hearing tests to security officers.

Russia's Foreign Ministry welcomed on Saturday the UN nuclear watchdog's resolution on Moscow's initiative to establish a reserve of low-enriched uranium. On Friday, the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency welcomed Russia's offer to establish on its territory a reserve of LEU to the IAEA for its member states. "The adoption of the resolution paves the way for the signing of a relevant agreement between Russia and the IAEA envisaging the establishment on the Russian territory of a reserve of low-enriched uranium," the Russian Foreign Ministry said on its website. The ministry said the reserve would be enough to produce two loads of fuel for the world's most popular 1000MW pressurized water reactor. It said the fuel could be supplied to those IAEA member countries that do not possess nuclear arms and are committed to nuclear non-proliferation. "This [agreement] will help expand the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. The initiative is aimed at strengthening nuclear non-proliferation," the ministry said.

Russia's Foreign Ministry welcomed on Saturday the UN nuclear watchdog's resolution on Moscow's initiative to establish a reserve of low-enriched uranium. On Friday, the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency welcomed Russia's offer to establish on its territory a reserve of LEU to the IAEA for its member states. "The adoption of the resolution paves the way for the signing of a relevant agreement between Russia and the IAEA envisaging the establishment on the Russian territory of a reserve of low-enriched uranium," the Russian Foreign Ministry said on its website. The ministry said the reserve would be enough to produce two loads of fuel for the world's most popular 1000MW pressurized water reactor. It said the fuel could be supplied to those IAEA member countries that do not possess nuclear arms and are committed to nuclear non-proliferation. "This [agreement] will help expand the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. The initiative is aimed at strengthening nuclear non-proliferation," the ministry said.

"Yesterday we brought you more of the continuing and farcical story of the state of the art European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) being built by AREVA at Olkiluoto in Finland. The many, many diverse delays incompetence in the project have led to it being (at the time of writing) four years behind schedule and 2.3 billion euros over-budget. It's not just in Finland, however, where the reactor that was supposed to relaunch the nuclear 'renaissance' is struggling. In the UK, where the EPR - along with the Westinghouse AP1000 - is being evaluated for possible construction there, the government's Health and Safety Executive has said its design assessment process will miss its June 2011 deadline. More information is required from the reactor vendors in a number of areas: fault studies, fuel design and electrical systems for AP1000; and mechanical engineering, environment and fuel design for the EPR. For both reactors the HSE wants more information on structural integrity as well as higher active waste and used fuel management."

"The Global Nuclear Energy Partnership Steering Group met in Accra, Ghana on June 16-17, 2010 and approved unanimously several transformative changes to reflect global developments that have occurred since the Partnership was established in 2007. The transformation includes a new name - the International Framework for Nuclear Energy Cooperation -- and the establishment of a new Statement of Mission. Participants in this new International Framework agreed that this transformation was necessary to provide a broader scope with wider international participation to more effectively explore the most important issues underlying the use and expansion of nuclear energy worldwide. The Steering Group addressed follow-up actions to the International Framework's Executive Committee Meeting that occurred in Beijing on October 23, 2009, including ways to further enhance its activities, such as exchanges of views on approaches to assurances of fuel supply and cradle-to-grave nuclear fuel management. Jordan formally announced that it will host the next meeting of the International Framework's Executive Committee in the fall of 2010."

"Some of the world's biggest energy companies are stockpiling the nuclear fuel used to power reactors as they try to capitalise on rock-bottom uranium prices. An oversupply of nuclear fuel on international commodity markets has followed five successive years of rapid growth in uranium ore production in Kazakhstan, which has nearly quadrupled its output since 2004. Raw uranium prices have tumbled to around $40 per pound - almost one quarter of the levels of $140 in 2007."

Workers at the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant contained a small spill of fuel oil Monday morning, the second oil spill in the past couple of weeks. Vermont Yankee, the state's largest generator of electricity, actually heats the plant with boilers fired by fuel oil, according to Robert Williams, spokesman for Entergy Nuclear. Williams said the spill of 5 gallons of fuel oil on pavement was immediately contained and cleaned up by the company's spill response team. He said the spill was the result of a simple mistake of failing to hook up the delivery hoses correctly.

The trial operation of a spent nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in the village of Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture, is unlikely to be completed in November as scheduled due to a glitch, Isami Kojima, president of Japan Nuclear fuel Ltd., said Friday. The anticipated delay this time is because the plant operator must file an additional report with the government on a test it restarted in October to produce vitrified waste by mixing high-level radioactive liquid waste with glass raw materials in a melting furnace.

Supplement to the Environmental Impact Statements for a Geologic Repository for the Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste at Yucca Mountain, Nye County, NV SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE or the Department) is announcing its intent to prepare a Supplement to the ``Final Environmental Impact Statement for a Geologic Repository for the Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste at Yucca Mountain, Nye County, Nevada'' (DOE/EIS-0250F, February 2002) (Yucca Mountain Final EIS), and the ``Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for a Geologic Repository for the Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste at Yucca Mountain, Nye County, Nevada'' (DOE/EIS-0250F-S1, July 2008) (Repository SEIS). The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff determined, pursuant to Section 114(f)(4) of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, as amended (NWPA), that it is practicable to adopt, with further supplementation, DOE's environmental impact statements prepared in connection with the proposed repository at Yucca Mountain, Nye County, Nevada. The NRC staff concluded that the Yucca Mountain Final EIS and Repository SEIS did not address adequately all of the repository-related impacts on groundwater, or from surface discharges of groundwater, and therefore requested that DOE prepare a supplement to these environmental impact statements. Based on a review of the NRC staff evaluation, the Department has decided to prepare the requested supplement.