Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff is seeking public comments on its preliminary conclusion that there are no environmental impacts that would preclude renewal of the operating license for the Three Mile Island Nuclear Station, Unit 1 (TMI-1) in Middletown.
As part of TMI-1's license renewal application, dated Jan. 8, AmerGen Energy Company, LLC, submitted an environmental report. The NRC staff reviewed the report and performed an on-site audit. The staff also considered comments made during the environmental scoping process, including comments offered at public meetings held May 1, 2007. Based on its review, the NRC staff has preliminarily determined that the environmental impacts of the license renewal for TMI-1 are not so great that they preclude license renewal.
The draft supplemental environmental impact statement (EIS) is open for public comment until March 4, 2009, and will be the subject of two public meetings to be held on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2009.
Last Friday, Nuclear Weapons and Materials Monitor's Todd Jacobson reported that that National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) reduced by 30 percent Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC's award for the FY 2008 management of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) from a possible $53.7 million to $37.7 million.
Part of the reason NNSA cut $16 million was LLNL's disastrous performance in an April security test by the DOE Office of Health, Safety and Security (HSS). In a fee recommendation memo, NNSA's Principal Deputy Administrator for Military Application Brig. Gen. Jonathan George found "the Contractor's performance in the area of protective force operations and information security to be 'unsatisfactory' based in large part on the Contractor's security failures surrounding the HSS audit."
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff is seeking public comment on its preliminary conclusion that there are no environmental impacts that would preclude renewal of the operating license for the Beaver Valley Power Station in Shippingport, Pa.
The information is contained in a draft supplemental environmental impact statement on the proposed license renewal issued last month. As part of its license renewal application, First Energy submitted an environmental report. The NRC staff reviewed the report and performed an on-site audit. The staff also considered comments made during the environmental scoping process, including comments offered at public meetings held last Nov. 22 in Pittsburgh. Based on its review, the NRC staff has preliminarily determined that the adverse environmental impacts of license renewal for Beaver Valley are not so great that preserving the option of license renewal for energy planning decision-makers would be unreasonable.
The draft supplemental environmental impact statement is open for public comment until Dec. 17, and will also be the subject of public meetings on Oct. 30th at the Embassy Suites Pittsburgh-International Airport, 550 Cherrington Parkway, in Pittsburgh. There will be two identical sessions, at 1:30 p.m., and at 7:00 p.m.
The company behind a $4.5 billion nuclear power plant proposed for southern Elmore County has lost so much money that it risks going out of business, according to a recently released audit.
The report adds to the perceived financial woes of Alternate Energy Holdings Inc. of Eagle, which recently moved its proposed site from Owyhee County, citing high development and infrastructure costs.
The oversight panel, whose task is to review an audit for Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, wants to know how Entergy's management style and philosophy is affecting operations at the power plant in Vernon.
To get to the heart of that matter, the oversight panel is asking that whichever contractor is assigned to conduct the review of Yankee also look at the operations of similar plants around the nation to see how the power plant in Vernon stacks up.
A team of outside experts audited beryllium work at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory last month and federal regulators are set to follow up with their own review in September.
Some of the incidents involved workers being unknowingly exposed to beryllium dust, which if inhaled can lead to beryllium sensitivity and chronic beryllium disease, an incurable and potentially fatal lung condition.
In one of the incidents, the lab failed for five months to notify 178 contract workers
We have long argued that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's approval process for nuclear power plant license extensions is a charade. The agency's inspector general continues to provide support for that thesis.
Six months ago, an audit of the license renewal process by the inspector general found that information provided in some NRC safety evaluation reports was identical, or nearly identical, to the corresponding applications, casting doubt on whether the NRC independently reviewed the applications.
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 Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued its final safety evaluation report (SER) for the proposed renewal of the operating licenses for the Susquehanna Steam Electric Station, Units 1 and 2, and concluded that there are no open items that would preclude license renewal for an additional 20 years of operation.
The report documents the results of the NRC staff's review of the license renewal application and site audits of the plant's aging management programs to address the safety of plant operations during the period of extended operation. It represents the culmination of NRC's comprehensive review of the application and inspection of the plant to verify license renewal implementation is consistent with the application. Overall, the results show that the applicant has identified actions that have been or will be taken to manage the effects of aging in the appropriate safety systems, structures and components of the plant and that their functions will be maintained during the period of extended operation.
Issuing the final SER is a significant milestone in the license renewal review process. This process proceeds along two tracks - one for review of safety issues and another for environmental issues. The SER marks the completion of the NRC staff's safety review that is published and subsequently reviewed and publicly discussed by the agency's Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS). The staff concluded its environmental review in March of this year when it issued the final supplemental environmental impact statement.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued its final safety evaluation report (SER) for the proposed renewal of the operating licenses for Indian Point Nuclear Generating Unit numbers 2 and 3, and concluded that there are no open items that would preclude license renewal for an additional 20 years of operation.
The report documents the results of the NRC staff's review of the license renewal application and site audits of the plant's aging management programs to address the safety of plant operations during the period of extended operation. It represents the culmination of NRC's comprehensive review of the application and inspection of the plant to verify license renewal implementation is consistent with the application. Overall, the results show that the applicant has identified actions that have been or will be taken to manage the effects of aging in the appropriate systems, structures and components of the plant and that their functions will be maintained during the period of extended operation.
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]
President Obama plans deep new cuts in the U.S. nuclear arsenal at a time when the government faces a 15-year backlog of warheads already waiting to be dismantled and a need for billions of dollars in new facilities to store and dispose of the weapons' plutonium.
The logjam of thousands of retired warheads will grow considerably based on a promise made in April by Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to get their stockpiles far below levels set by current disarmament pacts.
Yet much of the infrastructure needed to dispose of those weapons don't exist yet, according to federal audits and other records reviewed by USA TODAY.
Dismantling the retired warheads - not counting the additional weapons that Obama wants to eliminate - will take until 2024, according to the National Nuclear Security Administration, which runs the weapons program. The schedule for disposing of the plutonium cores from those weapons runs past 2030.
Building the necessary plants and storage facilities "is expensive … (and) is going to take a long time," says Linton Brooks, a former arms negotiator who headed the nuclear security administration from 2002 to 2007. "That doesn't stop the president from taking more warheads off missiles and bombers and (adding to) to the backlog. It means the queue gets a lot longer."
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued its final safety evaluation report (SER) for the proposed renewal of the operating licenses for the Beaver Valley Power Station, Units 1 and 2, and concluded that there are no open items that would preclude license renewal for an additional 20 years of operation.
The report documents the results of the NRC staff's review of the license renewal application and site audits of the plant's aging management programs to address the safety of plant operations during the period of extended operation. Overall, the results show that the applicant has identified actions that have been or will be taken to manage the effects of aging in the appropriate safety systems, structures and components of the plant and that their functions will be maintained during the period of extended operation.
Beaver Valley Power Station units are pressurized-water reactors, located in Shippingport (Beaver County), Pa., and operated by FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co. The current operating licenses for Beaver Valley, Units 1 and 2 are due to expire on Jan. 29, 2016, and May 27, 2027, respectively. On Aug. 28, 2007, FirstEnergy submitted an application for a 20-year license extension for each unit.
In a letter dated June 8, Brian Holian, director of the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation's Division of License Renewal, provided FirstEnergy with the SER. The SER will be available on the NRC's Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applications/bvalley.html. Issuing the final SER is a significant milestone in a license renewal review.
"The Department of Energy's Inspector General this week released an audit report critical of the agency's management of the uranium-233 down-blending and disposition project in Oak Ridge. The report cited the project's growing cost and continuing uncertainties.
The project, which is still in the design phase, is supposed to process about 1.4 metric tons of uranium stored at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The uranium stockpile contains significant quantities of fissionable U-233 - a strategic nuclear material - with highly radioactive decay products that make the project complex and potentially dangerous. The current cost estimate is about $477 million."
"BRITISH taxpayers may have to foot the bill for a new generation of nuclear power stations that will be run for profit by a foreign firm.
Billions of pounds of public cash could be needed to build the plants and put old ones out of action, an official report warned yesterday.
French-owned EDF bought the Government's stake in British Energy last year. But ministers did not seek binding guarantees that EDF would fund new nuclear stations itself, the National Audit Office spending watchdog said. "
"Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) commented today on the findings of a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report he requested on the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (EEOICPA). The EEOICPA provides compensation to workers and their survivors for occupational diseases arising from toxic and radiation exposure in the government's nuclear weapons program. Several Iowans who worked on the Department of Energy's Line 1 are currently pursuing claims with the Department of Labor (DOL) through the EEOICPA.
"I requested an audit of this program after constituents reported delayed compensation, difficulty navigating the program and inconsistencies with the adjudication process," Senator Harkin said. "Some claimants had to wait three years just for the government to rule on their case, and that's unacceptable. The recommendations the GAO makes in this report will help the DOL be more responsive to affected workers, and I am currently looking at the best way to implement these fixes." "
"Three years.
That's the wait time for medical claim decisions from a Department of Labor program that compensates former federal nuclear workers who developed illnesses related to their work, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Monday.
The report reflects concerns claimants have had for years about the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act. The GAO's performance audit covered the program from November 2008 to March 2010.
Signed into law in 2000, the program was designed to compensate former nuclear workers with lump sum payments and medical benefits for illnesses linked to their exposures to radiation and toxic substances."
"With the end of the nuclear security summit in Washington, it is time to do an audit of President Obama's nuclear weapons agenda set out in Prague a year ago."
"I want to correct the false impressions your readers may have been left with regarding radioactive waste.
The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission's (CNSC) mandate is to protect the health, safety and security of Canadians and the environment. It includes the licensing, monitoring and inspection of radioactive waste management facilities. Licence conditions state numerous requirements, including rigorous reporting requirements that are in place for the operators of nuclear waste management facilities.
CNSC staff verify overall compliance with safety requirements through site inspections and audits to ensure that waste owners and those possessing radioactive wastes treat, handle, manage and store these materials safely and securely."
"A declassified Government Accountability Office report entitled "Nuclear Diversion in the U.S.? 13 Years of Contradiction and Confusion" reveals serious flaws hampering investigations into diversions of US weapons grade uranium to Israel. The report and related correspondence totaling 62 pages released on May 6, 2010 are now publicly available for download at: http://www.irmep.org/co1162251.pdf.
The report examines the Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation (NUMEC) between 1957 and 1967 when it received over 22 tons of Uranium-235 -- the key material used to fabricate nuclear weapons. NUMEC's founder and President Zalman M. Shapiro was a sales agent for the Defense Ministry of Israel in the US and head of a local Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) chapter. In the early 1960s the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) began documenting suspicious lapses in security at NUMEC's plant in Apollo, Pennsylvania. In 1965 an AEC audit found NUMEC could no longer account for over 200 pounds of highly enriched uranium. Subsequent estimates spiraled to almost 600 pounds."
