nuke.news

"A Foreign Ministry investigation into a secret Japan-U.S. pact on U.S. nuclear-armed ships' port calls has ended together with the administration of former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama. In closing the investigation, Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada commented, "To lose diplomatic documents is to lose history." Normally this would be regarded as a wise saying, but in light of the Foreign Ministry's investigation into the secret pact, it is a stray comment. The reason is that the secret pact is not yet "past history"; it is Japan's nuclear strategy today."

"Although the contents of the two documents are not yet revealed, the US Department of Energy and the Center for Disease Control (CDC) have retrieved data on the Huntington Pilot Plant (HPP) from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory vault. The US Department of Energy operated the Huntington Pilot Plant on the same ground as International Nickel (INCO) in Huntington from the mid-50s until the early 60s performing various activities in conjunction with one or more of the DOE's gaseous diffusion plants in Portsmouth (Ohio), Oak Ridge (Tennessee) and Pad (Ky). After remaining in a state of readiness until 1978, the DOE ordered that the plant be demolished. By 1979, all but the ground floor of the plant (now used as a Waste Water Treatment facility by INCO's successor, Special Metals), were demolished and buried in a classified and secret ditch at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon, Ohio, including even the railroad cars and trucks used to transport the debris. Based on their exposure to such radioactive contaminants as uranium, nickel, plutonium and other metals, workers at the former DOE plant are eligible for compensation. "

"Environmental regulators have approved another expansion of DOE's CERCLA landfill in Oak Ridge, which will push the disposal capacity to 2.2 million cubic yards and apparently be the final addition to the facility that opened in 2002. Cell 5, which brought the capacity to 1.7 million cubic yards (the previous cap under the original Record of Decision) was completed in May. Bechtel Jacobs Co., DOE's environmental manager in Oak Ridge, said work is already underway on Cell 6, which will be constructed by Avisco -- the same woman-owned company that built Cell 5."

"The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is proposing a rule change that would allow hotter radioactive waste to be mixed with less hazardous waste so it could be disposed of in Utah. Utah is home to the only low-level radioactive waste facility available to 36 states. But it only disposes of Class A waste, considered the least hazardous. NRC regulators are proposing the blending of hotter Class B and C waste with Class A waste so that it can legally come to Utah. Much of the nation's class B and C waste has had no place to go in the past two years since a South Carolina facility was closed to all but three states. An NRC paper cites industry estimates that blended waste could slash the volume of orphaned Class B and Class C waste by two-thirds, from 12,000 cubic feet a year to about 4,000 cubic feet."

"The right wing revolt in the Utah Republican Party that denied renomination to incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Robert Bennett has now produced an issue affecting Nevada. The two Republicans contending in the primary election to replace Bennett have both talked about reviving nuclear testing in Nevada. "We need to always have our eye on the ball for developing new weapons systems, and that is going to require new testing," candidate Mike Lee told the Salt Lake Tribune. His opponent Tim Bridgewater agreed. "I would support that," he said. "I would prefer that we don't have to move down that road, but … we shouldn't give up our strong position in the world because more nations are becoming nuclear powers, and the greater the deterrent, the less likely we ever have to use them.""

"Russian state-controlled miner ARMZ wants to become one of the world's top 3 uranium producers after buying a controlling stake in Canada's Uranium One , General Director Vadim Zhivov said. "We view Uranium One as a company to ensure global growth for ARMZ and therefore as a platform for mergers and acquisitions," he told reporters on Wednesday. ARMZ added it had no plans to further increase its stake in Uranium One after closing the transaction, which will see the Russian firm own at least a 51 percent share."

"India's opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Wednesday asked the government to withdraw the nuclear liability bill in the wake of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy verdict which only gave light penalty to the accused, reported the Indo-Asian News Service. A spokesman for the BJP said the Congress-led government should withdraw the nuclear liability bill as "the aim of the bill is to please Americans". The BJP had earlier demanded a revision of the civil nuclear liability legislation in the light of the Bhopal gas disaster, in which a gas leak from the U.S.-based Union Carbide killed at least 20,000 people 25 years ago in the central Indian city."

"A whistleblower has accused Olympic Dam of exposing its workers to dangerous radiation levels - a claim BHP Billiton has denied. The Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has backed the company, saying it was not an issue. But Greens MP Mark Parnell says the levels of polonium-210 are above the company's health standards and the whistleblower told him workers are being put at risk, with too few safeguards at Olympic Dam. Mr Parnell said the substance was a dangerous toxic by-product of uranium production that could kill an 80 kilogram person with one microgram."

"Exelon will get incentives from the American Power Act and the bill will increase the company's earnings in five years, if it passes. John Rowe, chief executive officer of nuclear firm Exelon, saw the writing on the wall about government penalties and rewards for producers of greenhouse gases. Rowe considers himself the "senior chief executive in the utility industry" having served in those positions since 1984. He presided over Exelon's formation from the merger of Chicago utility Unicom and Philadelphia utility Peco. During his time at Unicom predecessor Commonwealth Edison, Rowe changed the course of the company's future to focus on nuclear power instead of dirtier coal and oil-fired plants."

"Virginia's Homeland Security Capital Corp. has received two task orders for environmental cleanup and facility demolition support services. Homeland Security Capital announced its Safety and Ecology Corp. subsidiary was selected by the U.S. Energy Department to provide environmental remediation services at the New Brunswick Laboratory. The $1.2 million hazardous material cleanup task order includes dismantling, removal and decommissioning of contaminated nuclear material at the laboratory in Argonne, Ill."

"The possibility that depleted uranium could be stored at the Milan Army Ammunition Plant has parents like Stacey Moody worried for their families' safety. Moody lives on Salem Road, about two miles from the arsenal, with her husband and 2-year-old daughter Elizabeth. She said storing depleted uranium at the arsenal would pose a threat to people and wildlife if a truck accident or explosion exposed people to the element that is classified as nuclear waste. "It would be very easy for a truck to turn over or have an accident," Moody said. "What kind of sickness would it cause if there was an accident? That's something we don't know." The Milan Arsenal is being used by American Ordinance to manufacture 40-millimeter munitions, 60mm and 81mm mortars and other munitions for the U.S. military, primarily the U.S. Army. The company has proposed moving that manufacturing to Iowa. It would then use Milan as a place to store depleted uranium shipped from Iowa and from weapons sent to the local arsenal for destruction. American Ordnance's plan must first be approved by the military. The plan can be found at www.jmc.army.mil/milan-ea.pdf."

"MONTROSE " Uranium mill opponents dominated a sparsely attended public hearing in Montrose Tuesday, urging state regulators to proceed with caution or even deny a license to the proposed Piñon Ridge Mill. On the same day Gov. Bill Ritter inked a law requiring mill owners to comply with cleanup orders before expanding or restructuring, many Piñon Ridge opponents invoked the ongoing British Petroleum oil leak as proof that things can go terribly wrong, despite an industry's insistence to the contrary. They also questioned the financial viability of Energy Fuels, the Canada-based company that hopes to build the mill near the West End communities of Nucla and Naturita. "They're mining for investors," Hilary White of the Sheep Mountain Alliance alleged to members of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment."

"Utah, say federal regulators, can help solve a big problem for the nuclear industry: the pileup of low-level radioactive waste at many of the nation's reactors. Much of the hottest low-level waste -- though far less radioactive than used fuel rods -- is stored at 90 power plants because nuclear companies have nowhere to dispose of it. So, staff at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has proposed changing federal rules to make that waste permissible at the EnergySolutions Inc. disposal site in Utah through "blending." By allowing more hazardous "Class B and C waste" to be mixed with lower-hazard "Class A" waste, regulators would make the blend legal for disposal at EnergySolutions, the only commercial site open to low-level radioactive waste from 36 states. The blending proposal reflects a big shift in NRC policy, and it directly contradicts the public positions of Gov. Gary Herbert, the Utah Division of Radiation Control and the state's Radiation Control Board. The Utahns object to blending "when the intent is to alter the waste classification for the purposes of disposal site access." Five years ago, Utah banned "Class B and Class C" low-level radioactive waste. "

"We have seen the decades of suffering by the Palestinian people at the hands of the apartheid government of Israel and yet little has been said about another unseen problem that lies buried beneath the ground. Over a long period of time the Israeli Government has secretly been dumping highly radioactive waste from their Dimona Nuclear Facility on Palestinian land. What is ironic is the basis as to why they have dumped their waste at such locations. Many years ago I started up an environmental action group to safeguard the region I was living in at the time. This would cover all aspects of potential pollution from Gas Turbine Power Stations - Agricultural Pesticides - Air and Water Quality etc."

"Belarus seems to be finding it increasingly hard to sell its nuclear energy plans to European nations, both near and far. This time, Minsk's desire to build a nuclear power plant (NPP) close to the Lithuanian border was thwarted by vigorous objections from Austria: representatives of Austrian NGOs and federal authorities expressed a strong disapproval of Belarus's intent at a hearing in Vienna in mid-May. Hearings similar to the one that took place in Vienna have previously been held in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius and Kiev, the Ukrainian capital. Ever since it first brought up the subject of building a nuclear power plant to a controversial Russian project, Belarus has been finding itself more and more hard-pressed to convince its neighbours that they have nothing to fear from the future site. For its location, Belarus has settled on the town of Ostrovets, in Grodno Region, just 23 kilometres off the Lithuanian border, and Lithuania has already made its position known, both as a matter of public opinion and on a state level: No, thank you, Minsk."

"Germany's government has proposed a new nuclear fuel tax as part of a wider austerity package, without linking this explicitly to the expected extension of nuclear run-times. According to a statement posted on the government's website, extra profits generated by nuclear plant operators in the wake of higher power prices because of extra CO2 certificates justifies the next tax, which also will contribute to financing nuclear waste storage solutions. From 2011, the government expects Eur2.3 billion ($2.8 billion) a year until 2014 from nuclear plant operators through the planned new measures. E.ON, RWE, EnBW and Vattenfall Europe, which run Germany's 17 operational reactors, are hoping their plants' life spans will be extended beyond the start of the next decade, when nuclear power should be phased out, according to a still valid law. "

"PROBLEMS at the Sizewell B nuclear power plant could see the reactor remain closed until September - potentially costing tens of millions of pounds in lost electricity sales. Sizewell's owner EDF Energy has confirmed that the facility is not expected to be up and running until the third quarter of 2010. It means the power station, which has been shut since the end of March and employs more than 500 people, could be closed until September while engineers carry out repairs. Commentators suggest the power station could lose around £350,000 a day in electricity sales. Working on the basis that it will remain shut until September - about 180 days - it could see losses in the region of £63m. "

"The government today sought to end the debate on the civil nuclear liability Bill by agreeing to "periodically review" the Rs 500-crore cap fixed for operators of nuclear power plants as damages in the event of an accident, and increase it, if necessary. At the same time, it has tried to make it easier for the nuclear operator to demand compensation amount from a foreign supplier in case the accident happens due to a fault in equipment. This has been done by removing a provision in the original Bill that gave the operator the right of recourse only if the accident had resulted from "wilful act or gross negligence" on the part of the supplier. "

"As the recent national news headlines make clear every day, finding and developing new sources of energy has been and will continue to be a national priority and will encompass both traditional and new energy sources for the foreseeable future. Regrettably, as the headlines from the Gulf of Mexico also make clear, energy development activities are not free either from risk or environmental consequence, particularly if they are pursued without adequate attention to safety. As a regulator, whose job it is to enable commercial energy activities to proceed, provided that safety, environmental, security or other applicable requirements are met, I can assure you that this regulatory role is neither easy nor at times popular, but it is a necessary and vital role that contributes to the ultimate success of energy development activities and, if performed well, diminishes the likelihood of adverse consequences."

"Some links on this page are to documents in our Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS), and others are to documents in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). ADAMS documents are provided in either PDF or Tagged Image File Format (TIFF). To obtain free viewers for displaying these formats, see our Plugins, Viewers, and Other Tools page. If you have questions about search techniques or problems with viewing or printing documents from ADAMS, please contact the Public Document Room staff. Date: Wednesday, June 23 and Thursday, June 24, 2010 Location: NRC Headquarters Two White Flint Auditorium"