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"A backhoe operator was fatally injured in a construction accident at a Bonneville Power Administration substation on the Hanford nuclear reservation. BPA spokesman Doug Johnson says Kelly Loyd of Castle Rock was doing some excavation work Monday at the White Bluffs substation when he was injured. He was taken to Kadlec Medical Center in Richland where he died. Loyd was employed by Christenson Electric Inc."

"65 years ago, US army general Leslie Groves came to Tonawanda, the year was 1940. The spring of that year I was fishing at the foot of Sheridan Dr. with my Dad. It was Blue Pike Run time. I was 8 years old and old enough to experience wars realities and fears. All one needed for fishing gear was a bamboo pole a feather and a hook. An hours fishing would fill a large basket and would feed many families / (Sadly here in 2009 those days are over.) Air raid wardens came every night with flashlights in hand so as to ensure peoples lights were turned off."

"Russian scientist Igor Sutyagin, who was serving 15 years following a wrongful conviction on espionage charges, was Friday delivered together with three other convicted spies to Vienna and exchanged, in what appears to be the biggest US-Russian "spy swap" since the Cold War, for ten Russian individuals who have admitted earlier in New York to have been acting as agents of the Russian Federation. Maria Kaminskaya, 09/07-2010 Information that Sutyagin, an innocent man who was imprisoned at the height of what became known as "spymania" in Russia, will be part of an exchange by which Russia will repatriate ten US-based agents has earlier been confirmed by his lawyer Anna Stavitskaya. His release became joyful news for Bellona, which is all too familiar with the dismal situation with human rights and the workings of the justice system in Russia, though the fact that Sutyagin was forced to sign a confession of guilt in order to walk free was another testimony that little has changed for the better."

"A nuclear explosion was set off 37 years ago, near Krestishche village in Krasnograd district, Kharkiv Region. It was the first in Ukraine and probably the only one in the European part of the Soviet Union. Scientists had determined that a large gas condensate field in the area which was discovered in 1970 could hold up to 300 billion cubic meters of fuel. In 1971, 17 wells were already operating in the Krasnograd district. But an accident occurred when drilling a new well at the field in July 1971. Gas came to the surface before the well reached its planned depth and the force of the spewing gas condensate reached 400 atmospheres, throwing two workers into the air. Engineers took days deciding what to do to stop the well. The nearest village was just 500 meters away. Residents were told to not light any fires and to stay out of their homes and not turn on any lights. Unable to stop the gas, the engineers decided to light it. By the next day, the burning flare was tens of meters high. Several attempts were made during the next year to put out the fire. Filling the well with tons of concrete slabs did not work - they flew apart like toys. Such flares are normally put out by capping the well. But for this case, specialists from Moscow offered an original solution - an underground nuclear explosion."

"July 16, 1945 marked the beginning of the Nuclear Age. On that day, the United States conducted the first explosive test of an atomic device. The test was code-named Trinity and took place at the Alamogordo Test Range in New Mexico's Jornada del Muerto Desert. The bomb itself was code-named "The Gadget." The Trinity test used a plutonium implosion device, the same type of weapon that would be used on the city of Nagasaki just three and a half weeks later. It had the explosive force of 20 kilotons of TNT. The names associated with the test deserve reflection. "The Gadget," something so simple and innocuous, was exploded in a desert whose name in Spanish means "Journey of Death." Plutonium, the explosive force in the bomb, was named for Pluto, the Roman god of the underworld. The isotope of plutonium that was used in the bomb, plutonium-239, is one of the most deadly radioactive materials on the planet. It existed only in minute quantities on Earth before the US began creating it for use in its bombs by the fissioning of uranium-238. "

"An Iranian who claimed he was "abducted" by US spies last year denied upon his arrival in Tehran Thursday that he was a nuclear scientist, but said he was questioned by Israelis during his captivity. Shahram Amiri, who vanished from Saudi Arabia in June 2009 while on a pilgrimage, arrived in Tehran on Thursday after surfacing in Iran's Interest Section in washington two days ago. Immediately after his arrival he told reporters that he was just a "simple researcher", refuting earlier claims by Iranian officials that he was a nuclear scientist. "I had nothing to do with Natanz and Fordo sites," Amiri said referring to Iran's two uranium enrichment plants."

It wasn't all that long ago that supporting nuclear power as a Democrat in New York State was an easy way to lose an election. "In 1992 I was in a three-way race for the State Assembly," said Assemblyman Kevin Cahill, whose opponents in that race were a high school math teacher in his fifties and a "self-described '50's housewife," according to Cahill. "We sat before the active Democrats of our community. And the question came up about nuclear power. And the moment it came up, I knew I was going to be the last person standing. Because they both said they were O.K. with it. And my community was definitely not." Mr. Cahill, who represents much of Ulster County and the area around Rhinebeck, in Dutchess County, stressed that his win was "coincidental." Even so, the sentiment remains powerful: supporting nuclear power did not earn votes. That's changing somewhat-although it should be said, not much in the Hudson Valley, which is home to numerous environmental groups and represented by one of Indian Point's most visible opponents, Representative John Hall.

On Dec. 18, 1950, President Truman approved establishment of a facility on the Las Vegas-Tonopah Bombing and Gunnery Range in Nye County. At first the site encompassed 350 square miles. Subsequent expansions led to its present size of 1,375 square miles. Dina Titus suggests in her book, "Bombs in the Backyard: Atomic Testing and American Politics," that the Nye County location was selected for several reasons: It was the largest of the proposed sites; it was under the jurisdiction of the federal government, meaning less conflict with local governments; it was supported by Nevada's powerful Sen. Pat McCarran; it was a sparsely populated area, with the nearest residents 25 miles away; and it had low rainfall and predictable winds.

ON October 17, 1956, the Queen threw a switch to connect Calder Hall nuclear power station to the grid. It was the world's first commercial nuclear power station and had been built from scratch in three years. It continued to operate well for the next 47 years, and became the first of a series of 11 Magnox nuclear power stations. Next year, the last of those will close, leaving Britain at the mercy of fossil fuel, much of it imported, to meet a growing demand for electrical power. The Magnox stations and their successors - a generation of bigger, more modern pressurised-water reactors (PWRs) - were a triumph for sophisticated, British engineering. Sizewell B PWR was built and opened in 1995. It was intended to be the first of a series of 10 PWR stations but it was to be the last one to be built in the UK - even though, at its opening, nuclear power was providing a crucial 20% of UK electricity.

The Indo-US civil nuclear cooperation allows the South Asian country access to US civil nuclear fuel and technology. The cooperation initiated by President Bush during his visit to New Delhi in July 2005 that formed its concrete shape on October 10, 2008. In the last these three years both New Delhi and Washington had to face some opposition at home as well as obligations by IAEA, Nuclear Supplies Group (NSG) and the congressional approval to overcome these obligations. Some laws were amended that posed a question for global non proliferation efforts. There are certain facts on which it became obvious that the Indo-US agreement undermined the non proliferation regime. The 1974-Indian Pokhran test Was a result of diversion from civil facilities to military. India Was the first country to convert illegally a civilian nuclear facility which Was provided by the US for peaceful purposes. The 1974 test Was a challenge to the US non-proliferation policy. The US supplies for nuclear power plant were ceased immediately after that. Even Canada suspended work on Rajasthan Atomic Power Plant and left it half way. Officially the cooperation Was stopped and President Jimmy Carter signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Act 1978 restricting nuclear trade with that states that did not agree to safeguards.

Only the older folk among us can remember the headline in the Aiken Standard and Review on Nov. 29, 1950, "AEC To Construct Huge Plant Near Aiken." That headline heralded a permanent change in the economy and culture of Aiken and the whole area. More importantly, that event greatly benefited the history of the planet by making it clear to the Soviet Union that their brutal expansionist plans would not be tolerated. President Truman had become convinced the Soviet Union was rapidly developing their nuclear weapons program, perhaps including a "super" bomb, now called the hydrogen bomb. America had no choice but to do the same because the survival of the free world was at stake. So, a new facility was needed to make tritium (the heaviest isotope of hydrogen) and plutonium. The Savannah River Plant was born. The end result was that freedom-loving countries, led by the U.S., stopped the expansion of the Soviet Union, and made it possible to win the Cold War.

Residents steamed that once-pristine water from Site 41 now appears tainted WYEVALE -- The red flag now being waved over Site 41 -- no longer as a warning but as a sudden downward turn of events -- was the colour of dirty dishwater. What was once some of the most pristine water in the world, coming from a natural "flow" on the edge of a farmer's cornfield no more than 500 metres from the controversial Simcoe County landfill notoriously known as Site 41, was now loaded with grey sediment. A harbinger? Or merely an aberration? Dairy farmer Art Parnell, whose permission has allowed a First Nations' protest encampment to be erected on that 80 hectares of North Simcoe land he owns across from Site 41, has never seen water coming from that "flow" that has been anything but crystal clear. But not anymore. At mid-week, it was the colour of dark silt. In fact, scrape the bottom of the steel trough where the water has flowed clean for years on end and, what was clinically pure and 100% pure no more than a week ago, has since been replaced with dark black sediment. All in only a matter of days.

(Host) State regulators may levy fines against Vermont Yankee for its failure to monitor radiation that comes from its high-level nuclear waste. The company was required to report the temperature and radiation from storage containers that hold spent nuclear fuel. State officials say they're concerned about the apparent violation. VPR's John Dillon reports: (Dillon) The monitoring was required as part of a state license that allows Yankee to store spent fuel in five steel and concrete casks near the reactor. It was supposed to begin last year, but Yankee spokesman Larry Smith said the company didn't discover until late June that it had never established the monitoring protocol. (Smith) "And it's an oversight by us. We did not catch that until an engineer who was assigned to the dry fuel storage project was going through a checklist."

The House of Representatives defeated an amendment July 17 to the fiscal 2010 energy and water appropriations bill that would have eliminated funding for the Yucca Mountain waste repository project. Representative Mike Simpson, an Idaho Republican, offered the amendment but voted against it, saying his goal was to put his colleagues on the record about taking away Yucca's funding. Simpson said in a floor statement that President Barack Obama's decision to suspend the Yucca Mountain program was "a political bow" to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, not a decision "that is based on sound science and sound policy." The amendment was defeated overwhelmingly. Overall, the bill, which was approved by the House 320-97, would provide DOE with $26.9 billion in fiscal 2010, $1.52 billion below the Obama administration's budget request. The Senate Appropriations Committee passed a $27.4 billion measure on July 8, but it was unclear July 17 when it would receive a floor vote.

A ship wreck discovered off the coast of Italy two weeks ago may contain bodies, as well as radioactive waste, the mayor of Longobardi says. An underwater camera revealed orange barrels marked "toxic" and what may be two bodies. Authorities say the vessel was sunk in 1993 by a criminal organization to conceal toxic waste, the Italian news agency ANSA reported. It remains underwater 12 miles off the coast and by Thursday calls for government action to deal with the possible pollution were mounting. "This terrible threat from the bottom of our sea calls for more than just good intentions," Calabrian Member of Parliament Jole Santelli said. "Serious situations like the one we have now in Calabria should be examined in depth to ensure the right tools are available to clean the polluted sea swiftly and efficiently." The Environment Ministry promised to send the Astrea, an oceanographic survey ship, to look into the problem. However, Calabrian Environment Councilor Silvestro Greco said Wednesday the Astrea was not up to the task. Greco said the council of regional governments would petition the European Commission to assist. The ship was found after a mafia turncoat told prosecutors he was involved in the 1993 sinking of the Cunsky to hide 120 containers of radioactive waste. A robot was sent down to investigate the vessel.

There has been significant publicity about the use of Depleted Uranium (DU) munitions, its ability to travel very long distances and the consequences to our health. So where does DU come from, why is it used in munitions, what do such weapons look like, and what is their application in today's warfare? Although it was widely believed that DU munitions were used extensively during the Balkans War (1991-2001) it didn't show its true face until the occurrence of an accident at a military camp in Kuwait. in 1991. Events prior to this accident had started intense US military activity in the region as a result of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait on the 2nd of August 1990. Iraq forces had occupied Kuwait for seven months and in February the following year saw Operation Desert Storm liberate Kuwait. At the request of the Kuwaiti Government the United States sent re enforcements to the region in order to stabilise Kuwait and secure its borders. It was obvious at the time that this build up was showing clear signs of some other hidden agenda in the build up to an attack on Iraq. It was reported in the NY Times on the 19th of May 1991 that Dick Cheney had emphasized that the move was temporary and said: "It is our objective to get them out as quickly as possible. And the president's made it clear we don't want a permanent long - lasting ground presence in the gulf." It is ironic that 18 years later US Forces are still deeply emended in Iraq with clear intentions of permanent bases within Iraq.

I am writing to you to make you aware of a little-known tragic mistake that was made by the medical community and physicists like myself during the early years of the Cold War that has been playing a major role in the enormous rise of the incidence chronic diseases such as cancer and diabetes, and thus the cost of healthcare in our nation. The mistake was to assume that the radiation exposure to the public due to the small amount of fallout from distant nuclear weapons tests or the operation of nuclear reactors would have no significant adverse effect on human health. This assumption was based on our experience with a half-century of studies that showed no detectable increase in cancer rates for individuals given one or two diagnostic X-rays. What was not understood at the time was that the radioactive elements created in the fission of uranium did not just produce a small increase in the external dose as received from the natural background sources. Instead, the particles and gases produced in the fission process released into the environment would lead to vastly greater radiation damage than from diagnostic X-rays or the gamma rays in background sources because the radioactive fission products and uranium oxides were inhaled and ingested with the milk, the drinking water and the rest of the diet, concentrating in critical organs of the body.

RADIOACTIVITY leaking from a pipe, which was first spotted on the day of the Prime Minister's visit to Sellafield, had been escaping into the open for 14 months, it has been revealed. The incident has been raised to level two on the International Event scale - the highest at Sellafield since the major leak in Thorp four years ago. Sellafield Ltd said: "There is no relation between the two. The amount of radioactivity involved in this incident was very low." The leak was discovered on January 23 - the day the Prime Minister made his announcement about new reactors. The radioactivity came from an overhead ventilation duct carrying water vapour (condensate) from the Magnox reprocessing plant for dilution treatment before authorised discharge to the sea. There was a steady drip from a faulty valve flange contaminating a two metre square concrete slab. A walkway had to be cordoned off to prevent access. No workers are said to have been harmed and no contamination was found above normal background levels.

Thursday's discovery of a small hole in the steel lining of the reactor containment building of Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Station's Unit 1 wasn't the first time a breach has been found there, a Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman said Saturday. Before Thursday's discovery, no radiation was released from the building, and there was "no impact to the public health or safety of any employees," FirstEnergy spokesman Todd Schneider said Friday evening. NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said that in 2006, corrosion was found in the lining of the same containment building when the reactor was shut down so that FirstEnergy could replace the reactor lid and three steam generators. The Unit 1 reactor has been shut down since Monday for scheduled refueling and maintenance. As part of that routine work, the containment building around the reactor was inspected, Schneider said.

THE Bataan nuclear power plant, which never produced a single watt of electricity but cost taxpayers $155,000 a day for more than 30 years, has been sold for scrap for $2.859 million. A project of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, the plant in Morong, Bataan, was completed in 1984 at a cost of $2.3 billion on a debt of $1.06 billion. The plant-which later was found to have been overpriced and unsafe-was mothballed after Marcos was overthrown in 1986, but the debt payments on it continued until April 2007. The Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp., which sells off state-owned power plants, said the Bataan facility was sold through a negotiated sale to Rubenori Inc., a local scrap dealer.