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CPS Energy of San Antonio, a 50-50 partner with a unit of NRG Energy (NRG.N) in a plan to build two new nuclear reactors in Texas, asked a state court to "clarify" its liability should it pull out of the project, the company said on Monday. Stocks The San Antonio municipal utility said it filed a petition in state district court late Sunday "to clarify the roles and obligations" of CPS Energy and Nuclear Innovation North America (NINA), a partnership of NRG and Toshiba Corp (6502.T). NINA is developing a two-unit expansion plan at the South Texas Project, Texas largest nuclear station, expected to cost more than $10 billion. Rising cost estimates for the project have created concern among San Antonio's city leaders.

CPS Energy of San Antonio, a 50-50 partner with a unit of NRG Energy (NRG.N) in a plan to build two new nuclear reactors in Texas, asked a state court to "clarify" its liability should it pull out of the project, the company said on Monday. Stocks The San Antonio municipal utility said it filed a petition in state district court late Sunday "to clarify the roles and obligations" of CPS Energy and Nuclear Innovation North America (NINA), a partnership of NRG and Toshiba Corp (6502.T). NINA is developing a two-unit expansion plan at the South Texas Project, Texas largest nuclear station, expected to cost more than $10 billion. Rising cost estimates for the project have created concern among San Antonio's city leaders.

CPS Energy has received the contractually mandated cost estimate for proposed South Texas Project (STP) Units 3 and 4 from contractor Toshiba, however the utility will make no decisions on the project until rigorous analysis of price and methodology is completed. The cost estimate is structured in a range, and it will take CPS Energy staff several days to analyze the methodology behind the numbers and perform the necessary due diligence, said Jelynne LeBlanc-Burley, CPS Energy's acting general manager. "We are well aware of the confidentiality provision contained in our contract with Toshiba and NINA (Nuclear Innovation North America, a limited liability company comprised of Toshiba and NRG Energy)," said LeBlanc-Burley. "If the cost estimate is disclosed prematurely, it places our customers at risk. Our staff will evaluate the information from Toshiba, put it into context and brief our Board of Trustees as soon as possible. In turn, we will properly notify other key stakeholders including the San Antonio City Council."

CPS Energy has received the contractually mandated cost estimate for proposed South Texas Project (STP) Units 3 and 4 from contractor Toshiba, however the utility will make no decisions on the project until rigorous analysis of price and methodology is completed. The cost estimate is structured in a range, and it will take CPS Energy staff several days to analyze the methodology behind the numbers and perform the necessary due diligence, said Jelynne LeBlanc-Burley, CPS Energy's acting general manager. "We are well aware of the confidentiality provision contained in our contract with Toshiba and NINA (Nuclear Innovation North America, a limited liability company comprised of Toshiba and NRG Energy)," said LeBlanc-Burley. "If the cost estimate is disclosed prematurely, it places our customers at risk. Our staff will evaluate the information from Toshiba, put it into context and brief our Board of Trustees as soon as possible. In turn, we will properly notify other key stakeholders including the San Antonio City Council."

The U.S. Forest Service is developing an environmental cleanup plan for the San Mateo Uranium Mine under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act. The site is located on the Mount Taylor Ranger District of the Cibola National Forest, Cibola County, approximately 12 miles northeast of Grants. * The Forest Service prepared an Engineering Evaluation/Cost Analysis (EE/CA) to identify and evaluate several cleanup alternatives to address the waste rock piles associated with past uranium mining. The recommended cleanup alternative is to consolidate the waste rock piles and place them in an on-site repository. A geomembrane would be placed above the waste rock in the repository and would be covered with clean soil, re-vegetated, and armored with rock. Rock armoring would reduce the potential for erosion during heavy storm events and reduce the potential risk of exposure to gamma radiation and direct contact, inhalation, or ingestion of waste rock. The agency is requesting public input and comments on the EE/CA and the recommended cleanup alternative. The EE/CA and the Administrative Record are available for review at the Southwestern Regional Office in Albuquerque and the Mount Taylor Ranger District Office, 1800 Lobo Canyon Rd., in Grants and also available at the following link: http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/cibola/projects/index.shtml.

The U.S. Forest Service is developing an environmental cleanup plan for the San Mateo Uranium Mine under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act. The site is located on the Mount Taylor Ranger District of the Cibola National Forest, Cibola County, approximately 12 miles northeast of Grants. * The Forest Service prepared an Engineering Evaluation/Cost Analysis (EE/CA) to identify and evaluate several cleanup alternatives to address the waste rock piles associated with past uranium mining. The recommended cleanup alternative is to consolidate the waste rock piles and place them in an on-site repository. A geomembrane would be placed above the waste rock in the repository and would be covered with clean soil, re-vegetated, and armored with rock. Rock armoring would reduce the potential for erosion during heavy storm events and reduce the potential risk of exposure to gamma radiation and direct contact, inhalation, or ingestion of waste rock. The agency is requesting public input and comments on the EE/CA and the recommended cleanup alternative. The EE/CA and the Administrative Record are available for review at the Southwestern Regional Office in Albuquerque and the Mount Taylor Ranger District Office, 1800 Lobo Canyon Rd., in Grants and also available at the following link: http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/cibola/projects/index.shtml.

"A controversial Indian law protecting companies from having to pay out major sums of compensation in the event of an accident at a nuclear power plant is pandering to foreign investors at the expense of the Indian people, say critics. The Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill - which the government says is crucial for many foreign companies to tap into energy-starved India's emerging nuclear power market - was slammed by critics last month, forcing the government to postpone its introduction in parliament."

"The human-caused oil gusher on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico illustrates a point about low-probability, high-cost industrial disasters: The industry will pay some; the public will pay the rest in cash and trauma. The nuclear power industry is a lot like that. On one hand, utility companies assure us that nuclear technology is exceedingly safe. On the other hand, it's clear that they don't think a serious accident is out of the question, since they refuse to build nuclear power plants unless the government limits their liability, as it has done since the 1950s. How safe is nuclear energy? Judging from the actions of those in the industry, it's not safe enough for them to bet their own companies' measly futures on it unless they have government backup (that's us). A major accident is improbable, but a nuclear catastrophe would make BP's spill in the gulf look like a paper cut. "

Turkey on Friday scrapped a 2008 tender won by a Russian-led consortium to build the country's first nuclear power plant -- a process that had been under threat of being invalidated by a court decision. In a brief statement, the state-run electricity wholesaler TETAS said its board of directors decided "unanimously" to cancel the tender, citing an article in the bid specification that gave it the authority to scrap the process without any liability. A consortium led by Atomstroyexport, Russia's state nuclear giant, had been the only bidder in the tender to build four nuclear reactors with a total capacity of 4,800-megawatts at Akkuyu, in the Mediterranean province of Mersin. TETAS's decision comes ten days after a top administrative court suspended parts of the regulation governing the tender before moving on to review a demand by a civil society of engineers to cancel the process.

Turkey on Friday scrapped a 2008 tender won by a Russian-led consortium to build the country's first nuclear power plant -- a process that had been under threat of being invalidated by a court decision. In a brief statement, the state-run electricity wholesaler TETAS said its board of directors decided "unanimously" to cancel the tender, citing an article in the bid specification that gave it the authority to scrap the process without any liability. A consortium led by Atomstroyexport, Russia's state nuclear giant, had been the only bidder in the tender to build four nuclear reactors with a total capacity of 4,800-megawatts at Akkuyu, in the Mediterranean province of Mersin. TETAS's decision comes ten days after a top administrative court suspended parts of the regulation governing the tender before moving on to review a demand by a civil society of engineers to cancel the process.

During the public subcommittee meetings of the Portsmouth Site Specific Advisory Board at the Endeavor Center concerning cleanup and possible future uses for the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant site, a definition clarification led to a volatile exchange between an EPA worker and the survivor of a plant worker. Joni Fearing, whose parents died from plant related contamination, objected to the Portsmouth/Piketon site not technically qualifying as a "superfund" cleanup site, which in the determination of certain attorneys triggers certain benefits to survivors. After challenging criteria for "superfund" classification, Brian Blair, Ohio EPA Division of Emergency and Remedial Response, attempted to explain the process. Sites designated under superfund qualify for the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) environmental law. The Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant is on the list in Kentucky.

During the public subcommittee meetings of the Portsmouth Site Specific Advisory Board at the Endeavor Center concerning cleanup and possible future uses for the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant site, a definition clarification led to a volatile exchange between an EPA worker and the survivor of a plant worker. Joni Fearing, whose parents died from plant related contamination, objected to the Portsmouth/Piketon site not technically qualifying as a "superfund" cleanup site, which in the determination of certain attorneys triggers certain benefits to survivors. After challenging criteria for "superfund" classification, Brian Blair, Ohio EPA Division of Emergency and Remedial Response, attempted to explain the process. Sites designated under superfund qualify for the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) environmental law. The Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant is on the list in Kentucky.

An inquiry into Britain's role in the Iraq war kicked off Tuesday with top government advisers testifying that some Bush administration officials were calling for Saddam Hussein's ouster as early as 2001 - long before sanctions were exhausted and two years before the U.S.-led invasion. Critics hope the hearings, which will call ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair and are billed as the most sweeping inquiry into the conflict, will expose alleged deception in the buildup to fighting. However, they won't establish criminal or civil liability. As the inquiry began, a small group of anti-war protesters gathered near Parliament. Three wore face masks of George Bush, Blair and Prime Minister Gordon Brown - their hands and faces covered in fake blood. "Five years we've waited for this, and finally we're getting somewhere," said Pauline Graham, 70, who traveled from the Scottish city of Glasgow to see the hearings. Her grandson Gordon Gentle, 19, was killed in the southern Iraqi city of Basra in 2004.

An inquiry into Britain's role in the Iraq war kicked off Tuesday with top government advisers testifying that some Bush administration officials were calling for Saddam Hussein's ouster as early as 2001 - long before sanctions were exhausted and two years before the U.S.-led invasion. Critics hope the hearings, which will call ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair and are billed as the most sweeping inquiry into the conflict, will expose alleged deception in the buildup to fighting. However, they won't establish criminal or civil liability. As the inquiry began, a small group of anti-war protesters gathered near Parliament. Three wore face masks of George Bush, Blair and Prime Minister Gordon Brown - their hands and faces covered in fake blood. "Five years we've waited for this, and finally we're getting somewhere," said Pauline Graham, 70, who traveled from the Scottish city of Glasgow to see the hearings. Her grandson Gordon Gentle, 19, was killed in the southern Iraqi city of Basra in 2004.

Your utility bills have carried a surcharge of $27 billion for nuclear power. The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 required nuclear power providers to contribute to the Nuclear Waste Fund, which funds were to build a Nuclear Waste Repository by 1998. This repository is yet to open, leaving our government open to lawsuits. Our government has spend $94 million defending itself against breach of contract resulting in a $420 million judgment for the plaintiffs. Outstanding liabilities are in the billions. Should the repository at Yucca Mountain become operational it could hold existing and future wastes from the nukes already built. Yucca Mountain could not hold the wastes from an expanded nuclear power industry. Wait! That's not all folks!

The post-World War II Atoms for Peace program failed to convince the electric utilities to invest in nuclear power. Insurance companies would only cover $250 million of potential damages from an accident. The government brought the utilities cooperation with the Price-Anderson Act requiring each atomic plant to buy the maximum commercial insurance and provided a second level of coverage from a pool funded by a potential assessment of up to $10 million against each plant. Under the protection of this act about 109 nuclear plants were built, and licensed for 30 years. The act limited the industries liability to $10 billion with the public to absorb anything over that amount.

DOE announced today that Savannah River Remediation, a limited-liability group headed by URS, won a liquid-waste contract valued at about $3.3 billion. The contract takes effect April 1, 2009 and has a base of six years, with a potential for two more years. The team consists of URS Washington Division; Babcock & Wilcox Technical Services; Bechtel National; CH2M Hill; and AREVA Federal Services. Designated subcontractors include EnergySolutions Federal EPC and Washington Safety Management Solutions.

A WELSH Labour MP has accused the UK Government of covering up a deal that will land taxpayers with a multi-billion- pound liability in the event of a nuclear accident while a private consortium will reap the profits. Newport West MP Paul Flynn discovered that details of a contract to privatise the management of waste from the controversial Sellafield nuclear power station in Cumbria should have been placed in the House of Commons library in July. If they had been, MPs would have had 14 days in which to raise questions about the deal.

ONE of the most important factors in the future fate of Sellafield is to be the subject of a top-level debate next week. The debate as to whether the UK's stockpile of plutonium - most of which is held at Sellafield - should be considered an asset or a liability could have a major impact on the economic future of region. The government, through the NDA, have yet to decide on what should be done with the stockpile, which is currently considered an asset of no value on their balance sheets.

The federal government recently suffered two potentially multibillion-dollar blows in long-running breach-of-contract litigation involving oil leases and spent nuclear fuel, and it now faces a third area of possible liability for broken Medicare contracts. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a $1 billion damages award by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims for the government's breach of oil and gas leases held by 11 companies -- what court watchers say may be the largest single award by the claims court in its 150-year history.

A team led by Lockheed Martin Integrated Technology has won a $3 billion contract to provide support services at the Hanford nuclear reservation for up to a decade, the Department of Energy announced Wednesday. The winning team, a limited liability company called Mission Support Alliance, also includes Jacobs Engineering Group and Wackenhut Services.

For those Vermonters not living in the immediate vicinity of Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, it is possible that the issues of safety and liability seem to be someone else's problem. However, with the restructuring plan cooked up by Entergy and supported by Gov. Douglas, this will not be the case in the future.

Uranium Resources, Inc. (NASDAQ: URRE) ("URI" or the "Company") announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement with BHP Billiton to acquire 100% of the ownership of Rio Algom Mining LLC ("Rio Algom"). Under the agreement, URI will pay BHP Billiton $110 million in cash and assume certain retirement benefits and reclamation liabilities of which up to $35 million will be pre-funded at closing. URI will also pay BHP Billiton $16.5 million contingent upon the receipt of a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to construct and operate a conventional uranium mill. The transaction is expected to close on or before June 1, 2008 and is subject to customary closing conditions, financing and regulatory approvals.

The Department of Energy has awarded the new Hanford contract covering cleanup of the central area of the nuclear reservation to CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. It is a limited liability company formed by CH2M Hill Constructors and includes Areva Federal Services, East Tennessee Materials & Energy Corp. and Fluor Federal Services as major subcontractors. The contract is worth $4.5 billion over 10 years, which includes a five-year base period and an option to extend it for five more years, according to DOE. It replaces a portion of an expiring contract now held by Fluor Hanford.

Hanford is one of the two Department of Energy nuclear cleanup sites with employee benefits more than 5 percent higher than comparable organizations, according to the Government Accountability Office. It issued a report last week to Congress providing information on DOE's management of costs and liabilities for pensions and post-retirement benefits for which it must reimburse DOE contractors. DOE is concerned about future costs for pensions and benefits for retirees, such as health care and life insurance, and congressional leaders find budgeting for fluctuating amounts difficult each year.

Nuclear power's skeptics and supporters are advancing measures in the Utah Legislature. Rep. Jay Seegmiller, D-Sandy, introduced his "nuclear responsibility" bill. HB440 is aimed at ensuring reactors built in Utah have disposal available for high-level nuclear waste and that the Public Service Commission sees to it that Utahns don't end up footing the liabilities for energy that benefits only out-of-staters.