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A bill designed to keep foreign countries from disposing their nuclear waste in the United States is taking a small but significant step toward getting a U.S. House committee vote for the first time. On Thursday, the Radioactive Import Deterrence Act will undergo a process known as markup, where members of a House subcommittee will debate and recommend changes to the bill before it advances. The bill to ban the importation of low-level radioactive waste was drafted in response to a Utah company's plan to import up to 20,000 tons of low-level radioactive waste from Italy's shuttered nuclear power program through the ports of charleston, S.c., or New Orleans. After processing in Tennessee, about 1,600 tons would be disposed of in EnergySolutions Inc.'s facility in the western Utah desert.

A bill designed to keep foreign countries from disposing their nuclear waste in the United States is taking a small but significant step toward getting a U.S. House committee vote for the first time. On Thursday, the Radioactive Import Deterrence Act will undergo a process known as markup, where members of a House subcommittee will debate and recommend changes to the bill before it advances. The bill to ban the importation of low-level radioactive waste was drafted in response to a Utah company's plan to import up to 20,000 tons of low-level radioactive waste from Italy's shuttered nuclear power program through the ports of charleston, S.c., or New Orleans. After processing in Tennessee, about 1,600 tons would be disposed of in EnergySolutions Inc.'s facility in the western Utah desert.

Accounts by controversial scientist assert china gave Pakistan enough enriched uranium in '82 to make 2 bombs In 1982, a Pakistani military c-130 left the western chinese city of Urumqi with a highly unusual cargo: enough weapons-grade uranium for two atomic bombs, according to accounts written by the father of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program, Abdul Qadeer Khan, and provided to The Washington Post.

Accounts by controversial scientist assert china gave Pakistan enough enriched uranium in '82 to make 2 bombs In 1982, a Pakistani military c-130 left the western chinese city of Urumqi with a highly unusual cargo: enough weapons-grade uranium for two atomic bombs, according to accounts written by the father of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program, Abdul Qadeer Khan, and provided to The Washington Post.

Nuclear power plants are being pushed as part of climate-change legislation. But the focus should be on renewable power sources, which are getting cheaper and don't produce radioactive waste. As the Senate debates climate legislation that could reinvent the country's energy infrastructure, it is richly ironic that lawmakers who consider themselves rock-ribbed fiscal conservatives are among the strongest backers of nuclear plants -- a vastly expensive, inefficient and dangerous source of energy that requires massive taxpayer bailouts. Senate Republicans and many moderate Democrats are seeking to lard up prospective climate and energy bills with billions of dollars in loan guarantees and other subsidies for nuclear power, even though it makes no sense as a solution to climate change and is a terrible option from an economic, environmental and national-security standpoint. Sens. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.c.), whose bipartisan effort to restructure the cap-and-trade climate bill (which Republicans like to deride as "cap and tax") offers its only hope of passage in the Senate this year, signaled their intent to add more nuclear pork to the bill in a recent Op-Ed article. Meanwhile, Sens. Jim Webb (D-Va.) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) recently introduced their own alternative climate bill calling for up to $100 billion in clean-energy loan guarantees, most of which would end up going to nuclear plants.

Nuclear power plants are being pushed as part of climate-change legislation. But the focus should be on renewable power sources, which are getting cheaper and don't produce radioactive waste. As the Senate debates climate legislation that could reinvent the country's energy infrastructure, it is richly ironic that lawmakers who consider themselves rock-ribbed fiscal conservatives are among the strongest backers of nuclear plants -- a vastly expensive, inefficient and dangerous source of energy that requires massive taxpayer bailouts. Senate Republicans and many moderate Democrats are seeking to lard up prospective climate and energy bills with billions of dollars in loan guarantees and other subsidies for nuclear power, even though it makes no sense as a solution to climate change and is a terrible option from an economic, environmental and national-security standpoint. Sens. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.c.), whose bipartisan effort to restructure the cap-and-trade climate bill (which Republicans like to deride as "cap and tax") offers its only hope of passage in the Senate this year, signaled their intent to add more nuclear pork to the bill in a recent Op-Ed article. Meanwhile, Sens. Jim Webb (D-Va.) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) recently introduced their own alternative climate bill calling for up to $100 billion in clean-energy loan guarantees, most of which would end up going to nuclear plants.

"House Democrats choose preemptive bailout for nuclear industry over preventing teacher layoffs WASHINGTON, D.c.-- This week, the House of Representatives is expected to vote on supplemental appropriations for the war in Afghanistan and several domestic programs. The domestic program funding preserves $9 billion in loan guarantees for nuclear reactors, while cutting $13 billion in funds to prevent teacher layoffs. Friends of the Earth's climate and energy tax analyst, Ben Schreiber, had the following response: "This week congress will vote on whether to take teachers away from students so that they can give nuclear reactors a $9 billion preemptive bailout. We continue to be shocked that congress brazenly puts the interests of corporations above the needs of regular Americans, including teachers and children. This is further proof our political system has been corrupted by corporate influence and special interests."

Date: July 7, 2010 The Blue Ribbon Commission on AmeriCan's NuClear Future (the Commission) was established in aCCordanCe with the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee ACt (FACA), as amended, 5 U.S.C. App. 2, and as direCted by the President's Memorandum for the SeCretary of Energy dated January 29, 2010: Blue Ribbon Commission on AmeriCa's NuClear Future. This Charter establishes the Commission under the authority of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

"A public hearing on Duke Energy carolinas' plan for a third cooling water pond at its proposed Lee Nuclear Station quickly devolved into pro- and anti-plant factions talking past each other. Not that the people did not have important things to say. But in the two-hour hearing Thursday night in Gaffney, S.c., only a few of the presentations involved the proposed pond and the plant's impact on the Broad River, which will provide the cooling water. Instead, the discussion tended to be about the pros and cons of nuclear energy. Supporters contended Duke has a strong nuclear safety record and the plant is needed to provide power and jobs for the carolinas."

"A competition between nuclear waste dumps has pulled the Nuclear Regulatory commission into an unusual reconsideration of its rules to allow moderately radioactive materials to be diluted into a milder category that is easier to bury. At issue is whether a site in Utah that is licensed to accept only the mildest category of radioactive waste, called class A, could accept far more potent materials, known as class B and c wastes, by blending the three together. Even low-level radioactive waste is a growing problem, with few licensed repositories to dispose of it. The problem dates from the early 1980s, when congress said that the federal government would take care of high-level waste, like spent fuel from nuclear power plants, but that the states would have to find sites for low-level material, like the radiation sources used in cancer treatments and industrial X-rays, and filters used in nuclear plants."

"The Nuclear Regulatory commission announced today that an application for a 20-year renewal of the operating license for Seabrook Station is available for public review. Seabrook Station is a pressurized-water nuclear reactor, located 13 miles south of Portsmouth, N.H., and the plant's current operating license expires on March 15, 2030. The licensee, NextEra Energy Seabrook, submitted the renewal application June 1. The application is available on the NRc Web site at this address: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applications/seabrook.html. The NRc staff is currently conducting an initial review of the application to determine whether it contains enough information for the required formal review. If the application has sufficient information, the NRc will formally "docket," or file, the application and will announce an opportunity to request a public hearing. For further information, contact Rick Plasse or Jeremy Susco at the Division of License Renewal, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory commission, Mail Stop O11-F1, Washington, D.c. 20555; telephone (301) 415-1427 for Rick Plasse or (301) 415-2927 for Jeremy Susco."

"The Disaster Hazard Mitigation Project for the Kyrgyz Republic aims to: (a) minimize the exposure of humans, livestock, and riverine flora and fauna to radionuclides associated with abandoned uranium mine tailings and waste rock dumps in the Mailuu-Suu area; (b) improve the effectiveness of emergency management and response by national and sub-national authorities and local communities to disaster situations; and (c) reduce the loss of life and property in key landslide areas of the country. There are three project components. component 1, Uranium Mining Wastes Isolation and Protection, finances interventions in the Mailuu-Suu area to increase the condition of abandoned uranium tailings and waste dumps, and decrease the instability of large landslide areas. component 2, Disaster Preparedness and Monitoring, (1) carries out a program of capacity building to improve the national system for disaster management, preparedness and response that can be administered effectively by national and sub-national authorities, as well as local communities; (2) establishes real-time monitoring and warning systems at about major landslides areas to detect and warn against active landslide movements and establish seismic stations and sensors to detect and warn against seismic events in key hazard areas; and establish a comprehensive monitoring system in Mailuu-Suu. component 3 supports project management."

Work has halted to empty the only Hanford tank on which work has been under way to retrieve radioactive waste, but the Department of Energy and its contractor have ambitious plans for the remainder of the year. "Washington River Protection Solutions is going to be working very hard this summer to pull this off," said Steve Pfaff, DOE project director for tank waste retrieval. Work started in January to remove 260,000 gallons of solids from Tank c-104, one of 142 leak-prone single-shell tanks at Hanford that still hold radioactive waste from the production of plutonium during World War II and the cold War. But this spring the pump lowered into the tank to help remove waste hit an obstruction hidden in the sludge. It was a broken piece of an old pump that Washington River Protection Solutions had removed from the tank to make way for the pump used for waste retrieval."

"Resource will help workers more accurately determine chemical exposure level, get compensation faster Thursday, July 15,2010 WASHINGTON, D.c. - Today, Senators Maria cantwell (D-WA) and Patty Murray (D-WA) announced that a new online database is available for former Hanford workers whose health has been adversely affected on the jobsite to help them determine the extent of their exposure to toxic chemicals and get more information about related illnesses. compiled by the U.S. Department of Energy, the online database, called the Site Exposure Matrix (SEM), is available to former nuclear weapons facilities employees covered by Part E of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness compensation Program (EEOIcP). After its May 10 announcement of the database's planned launch, DOE released the SEMs for 48 nuclear sites quickly but did not immediately release others, including one for the Hanford site. On June 25, 2010, Senators cantwell and Murray sent a letter to DOE and the Department of Labor requesting the speedy release of a Site Exposure Matrix for Hanford. Within days, DOE responded that it has approved the release of the Hanford SEM along with matrices for 20 other sites."

Savannah River Site has been cleared to accept an additional 1.1 metric tons of spent nuclear reactor fuel from foreign research reactors under a program designed to prevent such material from falling into the hands of terrorists. The material -- containing enriched uranium -- would come from reactors in more than a dozen nations and could be shipped to SRS by rail or truck after being offloaded from ships at the charleston, S.c., Naval Weapons Station, according to a notice published Friday in the Federal Register.

Retrieval of radioactive waste resumed at Hanford on Thursday, as the new tank farm contractor began pumping radioactive waste from one of the nuclear reservation's oldest underground tanks. The pumping puts work "back on the road to reducing the risk posed by the waste in these aging tanks," said Bill Johnson, president of Washington River Protection Solutions, or WRPS, in a message to employees. Tank c-110, which has 126,000 gallons of sludge and other radioactive and chemical waste, could be emptied to regulatory standards by late spring.

The purpose of this letter is to request that you consider holding legislative hearings on the problems associated with the Energy Employees Occupational Illness compensation Program Act (EEOIcPA), 42 U.S.c. 7384-7385, as amended.

Along with automobile makers and banks, a number of senators whose districts include U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) contaminated sites are asking for stimulus money to rejuvenate local economies with cleanup work and perhaps, freshly-cleaned land for industrial development. According to the DOE, spending more and completing cleanup would enable the government to decrease the "footprint" or overall size of each site, releasing more property for development. The letter asking for the funding was signed by Sens. Maria cantwell, D-Wash.; Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio; Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M.; Lindsey Graham, R-S.c.; Jim Risch, D-Idaho; and Tom Udall, D-N.M. Sen. Patty Murray, D.-Wash.; is supporting boosting cleanup spending nationally by $6 billion. Since the mid-1990's, the DOE has already spent more than $7.3 billion on environmental cleanup nationally each year.

"Unwittingly and without prior consent or vote of acceptance by the people ... we have become the outhouse of the Eastern Seaboard for dumping ... tons of ... wastes. State law should not have allowed this to happen to us, and it shouldn't ever again allow it to happen to anyone." THE LETTER cOULD have been written by someone from Lee, Union or Anderson county. If we don't do something to change our burgeoning status as the solid-waste destination, it could be written soon by someone from Williamsburg, cherokee or Marlboro county - all eyed by out-of-state waste-hauling companies looking to expand the growing list of rural S.c. homes to megadumps designed with the nation in mind.

The Nuclear Regulatory commission has approved the operating license renewal of the Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant, Unit 1, in North carolina for an additional 20 years. The Harris plant is a pressurized water reactor located about 20 miles southwest of Raleigh, N.c. The operator, Progress Energy, submitted an application for renewal of the license Nov. 16, 2006. Their current license would have expired on October 24, 2026; with the renewal, the license is extended until Oct. 24, 2046. The NRc's environmental review for this license renewal is described in a site-specific supplement to the NRc's "Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Power Plants" (NUREG-1437, Supplement 33). Public meetings to discuss the environmental review were held near the plant on April 18, 007 and Jan. 30. The NRc's review was published in August. The review concluded there were no environmental impacts that would preclude renewal of the license for environmental reasons.

Balkan states are gambling on the nuclear option as the best way to reduce the energy shortage but whether the risks pay off remains to be seen. The three guards stand at the gate in the 40°c afternoon heat, ignoring the bustle around them. Grim-looking barbed wire coils round the top of the tall fence, as if designed to stop convicts escaping from prison.

Former Republican Sen. Pete Domenici, who served as New Mexico's senator for decades before retiring due to health problems, has landed a new gig. He is now a senior fellow at the Bipartisan Policy center (BPc) according to a press release from the Washington D.c.-based think tank. The BPc was created in 2007 by former Sens. Howard Baker, Tom Daschle, Bob Dole and George Mitchell. The BPc, according to its About Us page, "was formed to develop and promote solutions that would attract the public support and political momentum to achieve real progress." The BPc currently is focused on five issues: national security, health care, energy, agriculture and transportation.

Today's topic: U.S. should just say no to imported hazard Our View For a nation that still hasn't found a sure-fire way of storing its own nuclear waste without worry, it certainly shouldn't be taking waste from other nations. U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon, a Democrat, and Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Republican, have teamed on legislation that would ban foreign nuclear waste. The legislation follows efforts by a Utah company, EnergySolutions, to import up to 20,000 tons of nuclear waste from Italy that would go through ports at charleston, S.c., or New Orleans, and through Tennessee on its way to the EnergySolutions site in Utah. The company says it has plenty of room at its site to handle domestic and international waste, although it proposes to reserve a cap of 5 percent of its capacity for foreign material. Advertisement Gordon and Alexander emphasize the need for the U.S. to handle its own waste before taking on the responsibility of handling that of other countries. Gordon says it's about preserving room for domestic waste. He also says with each load that goes through a community, there could be a problem. Alexander says he agrees with Gordon that the U.S. shouldn't become "the world's nuclear garbage dump."