Group items matching

in title, tags, annotations or url

The company submitted a proposal Wednesday to the Florida Public Service Commission to increase base power rates by $1 billion in 2010 and $1.25 billion in 2011. Florida Power & Light proposes increasing electric rates by at least $1 billion a year starting next year. The company submitted a proposal Wednesday to the Florida Public Service Commission to increase base power rates by $1 billion in 2010 and $1.25 billion in 2011. FPL, the state's largest utility with 4.5 million customers, said the increase would allow it to earn a "fair" profit, while making its infrastructure stronger, more efficient and less likely to emit greenhouse-gas emissions.

The IAEA's 53rd General Conference of Member States concluded today in Vienna, with over 1 400 delegates from IAEA Member States attending the week-long event. Following discussion, the General Conference adopted resolutions on the following items: the Agency's Programme and Budget for 2010-2011; measures to strengthen international cooperation in nuclear, radiation,transportation and waste safety; nuclear security - measures to protect against nuclear terrorism; strengthening of the Agency's technical cooperation activities; strengthening the Agency´s activities related to nuclear science, technology and applications; strengthening the effectiveness and improving the efficiency of the safeguards system and application of the Model Additional Protocol; implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement between the Agency and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea; application of IAEA safeguards in the Middle East; and Israeli nuclear capabilities. The item on the prohibition of armed attack or threat of attack against nuclear installations, during operation or under construction was included in a Presidential statement. The full texts of adopted resolutions and the Presidential statement will be posted on the IAEA website as they become available. Story » :: DG Statement to Conference

Germany's economy minister on Friday ruled out building new nuclear power stations but said the life of some reactors might be extended and the development of alternative technologies stepped up. "We need limited extensions until we are able to work with sensible alternative technologies in an economical and environmentally friendly manner," Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily in an interview. "That includes the possibility of equipping existing nuclear power stations with state-of-the-art technology in order to make them even safer and more efficient," the conservative minister said. "But I see no need to build new nuclear reactors."

Waste Control Specialists LLC said Tuesday that it will begin storing low-level radioactive waste from Studsvik Inc., an Erwin, Tenn.-based waste processor. Interim storage at WCS' facility in Andrews County of this thermally processed Class B and Class C low-level radioactive waste will greatly reduce the risk and administrative burden of generators when compared to the use of multiple storage facilities across the United States, a news release said. "Studsvik provides a valuable national service because its process transforms the low-level radioactive waste into a safer form for storage and ultimate disposal. At the same time, Studsvik's processing reduces the volume of low-level radioactive waste by more than 80 percent, which allows for the efficient use of valuable landfill space," WCS President Rod Baltzer said. "WCS is proud to participate in this innovative program to increase the safety and to reduce the volume of low-level radioactive waste."

Advocates of nuclear power in Japan, having long struggled to convince a skeptical populace of the need for more and new forms of nuclear power, have certainly had their run of bad luck. Or maybe it isn't luck. On Monday 13 April Hitachi admitted that data related to the heat-treatment process used for pipe welding on moisture-separator heaters, which increase thermal efficiency by removing moisture from steam, had been falsified.

It is only logical that safety, security and the management of radioactive waste would concern local residents as we learn of Bruce Power's plans for our region. These are issues which are of concern to people around the world, particularly those living in close proximity to nuclear facilities. With regard to potential terrorist attacks, Monte Sonnenberg noted in Friday's article, "Bruce Power takes the occasion of these meetings to boast of its readiness in the face of all threats." Bruce Power's informational literature includes a photo of a security team and vehicle deployed at their Tiverton plant. While the swat team and armoured vehicle may inspire confidence today, let's remember that these paramilitary commandos must keep this radioactive material secure for thousands of years. Bruce Power's own Fact Sheet #5 informs us that "The required isolation period may be for tens, hundreds or even thousands of years depending upon the radioisotopes present in the waste and their concentration." Last week, Britain's Oxford Research Group think tank released a paper for the Institute for Public Policy Research warning that the new generation reactors, like the three models short-listed for Nanticoke, risk proliferation that could lead to "nuclear anarchy." The report notes that the new type of reactor produces large amounts of plutonium as a by-product. Plutonium is used to make the most efficient nuclear weapons.

"A would-be competitor to EnergySolutions wants to open a second radioactive waste facility in Tooele County, asserting EnergySolutions' Clive facility is running out of room and that another facility will store the material more efficiently, safely and with more financial benefit to the state. Charles Judd, president of Cedar Mountain Environmental, is slated to make a presentation on his proposal Tuesday before members of the state's Radiation Control Board. His company has been working with officials from the Utah State Institutional Trust Lands to develop a site north of I-80 in Tooele County. Judd in his letter to the board says such a partnership would generate millions of dollars for the fund which could then be funneled to Utah schools."

"The Nuclear Regulatory Commission today launched an Open Government Web page to serve as the gateway for agency activities related to the White House's Open Government initiative. The NRC is actively supporting the open government initiative and encouraging public participation through a new user-friendly citizen engagement tool accessible through this page. The Web page is at: http://www.nrc.gov/open.html. The public, including NRC employees, can use the tool to easily share ideas and comments on how the agency can work better with others inside and outside government, improve the availability and quality of information, and be more innovative and efficient. "

"A public hearing in the Siberian city of Angarsk, the reluctant hometown of a uranium enrichment enterprise, was another testament to the nuclear industry's endless foot-dragging over unsafe practices of storing radioactive waste. City authorities rejected the plant's proposal to leave its uranium tails storage facility on Angarsk's territory, while legally taking it out of city limits. Angarsk is still waiting for its toxic inhabitant to provide more efficient solutions to handle the waste. Below is a comment by Andrei Ozharovsky. Andrei Ozharovsky, 29/01-2010 - Translated by Maria Kaminskaya Radioactive waste next door The uranium enrichment enterprise Angarsk Electrolysis Chemical Combine (AECC), founded in 1954, is located right on the outskirts of Angarsk, a city of 241,000 in Russia's Irkutsk Region in Southeast Siberia. In fact, AECC's production-related sites - including open-air yards housing containers with highly toxic radioactive waste - are within city limits."

"A leading academic predicts that global ( demand for mined uranium will rise ( at least fourfold over the next 30 years, driven by rising electricity demand and scaling back on fossil fuel dependence. Addressing the first day of the Paydirt 2010 Australian Uranium Conference, Professor Barry Brook, who holds the Sir Hubert Wilkins Chair of Climate Change at the University of Adelaide, said that, should the contributing factors be as acute as predicted, the con-(tinuing surge in demand for uranium would be extended by a further 20 years. "Despite rapid advances in more-efficient Generation 4 reactors that can consume all the waste and depleted uranium from thermal reactors, the continuing growth in these thermal reactors would ensure a steady (demand for mined uranium that would continue for many decades.""

"Toshiba is still planning to apply this year for federal approval to test its small-scale nuclear power plant in Galena, according to various reports. The Japanese company is planning reactors known as "4S," meaing "super-safe, small and simple," with hopes of starting construction in 2014. "We aim to get 4S orders in remote areas where it is more cost-efficient to generate power on a local basis than use power grids," spokesman Keisuke Ohmori told Business Week. "A great many people are interested." Toshiba and TerraPower, a company controlled by Bill Gates, have been in talks about engineering and research issues related to what is known as a "traveling wave reactor" that would use depleted uranium."

Having generated electricity as a plant operator, plant manager and vice president in three mid-sized electric power companies for a long career, I wish to express a few facts about using biomass (wood) as a fuel for large boilers ("Trees better alternative to coal" Hattiesburg American, Jan. 6). Advertisement There are several mid-sized boilers in service using biomass fuels. However, the low heat content of such fuels limit the electric output of such units. This causes the cost of such generation to go above the available cost per megawatt, thereby reducing use. The second factor is cost of processing wood into a useable fuel including the disturbing presence of a multitude of trucks on the local highways.