nuke.news

The Kansas City, Kan., Fire Department responded to a case of "hazardous material release" Wednesday afternoon at the City Cemetery at 38th and Bryant Circle. When arriving on the scene, crews discovered a container with a label of "radioactive." "Haz Mat crews located a container with labeling indicating contents were Radioactive," said Craig Duke, spokesperson. "Crews using monitoring equipment confirmed contents had a low level Radioactive material. On scene command contacted company listed on container and identified contents as a Nuclear Density testing machine which is used in highway and bridge construction to test the compactness of the soil during bridge construction."

Here's an excerpt from President Obama's opening remarks today at the United Nations Security Council summit on nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament. "Just one nuclear weapon exploded in a city -- be it New York or Moscow; Tokyo or Beijing; London or Paris -- could kill hundreds of thousands of people. And it would badly destabilize our security, our economies, and our very way of life." Here's a link to news report from New York Times and below is the full text of Obama prepared remarks:

Savannah River Site officials have taken corrective actions - and fired two workers - after two incidents in H Canyon in which bundles of highly enriched uranium were dropped by a crane. According to a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board report - dated Aug. 21 and made public Thursday - the incidents "had potential criticality safety implications" and halted reprocessing operations for a week. A criticality accident is one in which a chain reaction occurs, said Charles Nickell, the site's nuclear materials disposition manager. "It is something we definitely don't want to happen." The H Canyon area is where highly enriched uranium is loaded by cranes into vats of acid, called "dissolvers," that help purify and convert the material from solid to a liquid form. The liquid is later blended with natural uranium to create low-enriched uranium and shipped off-site for use in the manufacture of fuel rods for commercial reactors.

Sunday's Sun editorial claims the Constellation Energy Group-Electricite de France deal will help ratepayers, in part because EDF might construct a new nuclear reactor that will increase Maryland's supply of electricity ("PSC's power play," Sept. 20). The cost of a new nuclear reactor is in the billions, and the electricity generated by the reactor may not be available for a decade. The problem is that ratepayers are suffering high energy costs now. The best and most immediate solution to our high energy costs is investment in energy efficiency. Instead of investing billions into nuclear, we should invest heavily in weatherizing and retrofitting our homes and businesses. By doing so, we will decrease the amount of electricity needed to turn on our lights and keep us warm in the winter. In fact, studies demonstrate that we can reduce Maryland's electricity use by 15 percent by the year 2015 through basic energy efficiency projects. We owe it to ratepayers to start lowering utility rates today, not in a decade. Fielding Huseth, Baltimore

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Thursday he will push for billions of dollars in new loan guarantee authority to help rejuvenate a domestic industry and cut greenhouse gas emissions. Although companies have submitted 18 new nuclear power plant license applications to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Department of Energy only has authority for $18.5 billion, enough for four to five plants. "If you really want to restart the American nuclear energy industry in a serious way...we (need to) send signals to the industry that the U.S. is serious about investing in nuclear power plants," Chu said in an interview on the sidelines of a conference here. Pressing for new nuclear power plants may help the administration win over the handful of Republican senators needed to help pass a landmark climate bill into law. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., for example, supports a cap on emissions in principle, but said government support for nuclear power is essential for him to consider backing a bill that would cut greenhouse gases. Although it's nowhere near the 100 new nuclear power plants that the GOP has called for, Chu said "there's real interest out there (for) another four to five or more, we could easily do."

U.S. President Barack Obama is chairing an historic meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Thursday that called on nations with nuclear weapons to scrap their deadly arsenals. Here are some details of official and unofficial nuclear powers and their weapon stocks: OFFICIAL NUCLEAR POWERS: * UNITED STATES: According to the counting rules in the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), as of January 2009 the United States had an estimated 5,200 nuclear warheads and 2,700 operationally deployed warheads (2,200 strategic and 500 nonstrategic).

Key elements in the resolution adopted unanimously Thursday by the U.N. Security Council: NUCLEAR-FREE Resolved "to create the conditions for a world without nuclear weapons." COMPREHENSIVE TEST BAN TREATY Urged all states to ratify the treaty, which outlaws all nuclear tests everywhere. Lack of ratification by a handful of nations, including the U.S., has kept the treaty from entering into force. FISSILE MATERIAL CUTOFF TREATY Called for negotiation of a treaty that would ban production of fissile material used for nuclear weapons. STRENGTHENING NONPROLIFERATION TREATY

After a 10-year gap, the United States on Thursday rejoined a biannual conference designed to win more support - including from the U.S. Senate - for the treaty banning all nuclear bomb tests. The session brought together foreign ministers and other envoys from more than 100 nations that have ratified or at least signed the 1996 treaty. A speech by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton scheduled for later Thursday represented the first U.S. participation since 1999. The pact has lingered in a diplomatic limbo since a Republican-dominated Senate rejected it that year, but U.S. President Barack Obama has pledged to now "aggressively" pursue ratification.

US President Barack Obama will on Thursday chair an unprecedented summit at the UN Security Council to rally world support for nuclear non-proliferation and advance nuclear disarmament. The talks come as Iran's suspect energy program has once again been thrust into the spotlight, with world powers warning more sanctions could follow if Tehran refuses to comply with UN demands to rein in its nuclear ambitions. The summit will be the first time the 15-member council will be chaired by an American president, with Obama having set combating nuclear proliferation as a priority of his new administration.

* Deal to supply nuclear material, equipment, technology * Cameco Corp to benefit from agreement * Agreement to ensure peaceful nuclear uses only (Adds quotes, details) OTTAWA, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Canada and Kazakhstan have reached a nuclear cooperation agreement to open up Kazakhstan's civil nuclear market to Canadian uranium and technology suppliers, Trade Minister Stockwell Day said on Thursday. In a statement, the government said that one of the Canadian companies that will benefit from the agreement with the Central Asian country is Cameco Corp (CCO.TO), one of the world's largest uranium producers. Cameco owns 60 percent of a venture that operates the Inkai uranium deposit in Kazakhstan.

Bidders for nuclear work are gearing up to fight for a multibillion pound contract to manage the clean-up of the Dounreay site on the northern coast of Scotland On Monday, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority issued a tender seeking a consortium to oversee the restoration operation at the derelict site, which contains three former nuclear reactors. The programme is valued at about £3.6bn. The Pentland Alliance is regarded as the frontrunner for the job. Members of this consortium, which includes Amec, CH2M Hill and the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), have been seconded to senior posts at Dounreay over the past three years. However, in a surprise move last week, the commercial arm of UKAEA chose engineer Babcock International rather than Amec to be its buyer, which raised questions about the future of the Pentland Alliance. However, it is thought that the consortium will continue.

Dounreay today publishes the findings of its investigation into the discovery of a radioactive particle in land adjacent to the licensed site. The investigation report has been distributed to the land-user and nearby residents following its submission to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. It can be downloaded here. An investigation was carried out into the discovery of contamination during a survey last month of the off-site area designated for development as a repository for low level radioactive waste from the site decommissioning. One find was determined to be a 'minor' DFR particle and the second was found to be a disperse area of radioactive contamination containing caesium. From expert advice neither of the finds poses a health risk. Both of the finds were well below the ground surface indicating they have been there for 10 years or longer. The reason for the contamination at this location was not definitively determined.

Areva Inc has announced a five-year deal that will see it become the comprehensive supplier of services and products for Progress Energy's four nuclear power plants. The deal will see Areva provide refuelling and outage services, replace and repair plant equipment, and provide engineering and maintenance support plus other technical services to Progress Energy's plants in North and South Carolina and Florida.

Juice laced with uranium is just one of many clinical trials allegedly conducted at Israel's Negev nuclear plant, claims investigative journalist Yossi Melman. Melman has accused the plant's management of forcing its workers to take part in life-threatening experiments for the sake of nuclear developments.

Critics of planned depleted-uranium shipments to Utah told regulators Thursday that it makes no sense to generate such waste when the country is advocating nuclear nonproliferation. Depleted uranium is a by-product of uranium enrichment for nuclear fuels -- or for weapons -- and its accelerating commercial production in the United States has the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in a three-year process to write rules for its disposal. In the meantime, Salt Lake City-based EnergySolutions is preparing to bury new shipments of it in the Tooele County desert.

A helicopter is scheduled to fly low over the center of Hanford today looking for hot spots where animals have spread radioactive contamination in hundreds of places among the sagebrush. CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. will be conducting an aerial radiological survey of the "BC controlled area," 13.7 square miles that have had little human intrusion. But it is just south of the BC cribs and trenches that 50 million gallons of liquid waste contaminated with radioactive salts were discharged during the Cold War. Animals attracted to the salts spread the waste across miles of the Hanford desert.

Reports are circulating that the cost of completing the K-25 demolition is going up big-time, as in hundreds of millions of dollars. DOE isn't saying much, except to say that's under evaluation by the agency and Bechtel Jacobs, the Oak Ridge cleanup manager. I have heard a specific dollar amount, but won't repeat here because nobody is confirming it. Earlier, of course, I reported on the technetium-99 issue that's getting big attention. Here's what DOE spokesman John Shewairy said in response to questions about the rising cost of K-25 D&D. I'm not exactly sure what it means, but you can read it for yourself:

SUMMARY: The NRC is soliciting comments from members of the public, licensees, and interest groups related to the implementation of the Reactor Oversight Process (ROP). An electronic version of the survey questions and additional information about the ROP are available at http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/index.html. This solicitation will provide insights into the self-assessment process and a summary of the feedback will be included in the annual ROP self-assessment report to the Commission. DATES: The comment period expires on November 6, 2009. The NRC continues to be interested in receiving feedback from members of the public, various public stakeholders, and industry groups on their insights regarding the calendar year 2009 implementation of the ROP. In particular, the NRC is seeking responses to the questions listed below, which will provide important information that the NRC can use in ongoing program improvement. A summary of the feedback obtained will be provided to the Commission and included in the annual ROP self- assessment report. Questions

IAEA Leads Collaborative Project on Nuclear Technology Member States have been briefed on an IAEA project that helps nations chart their way forward in choosing innovative technologies when developing sustainable nuclear energy. The International Project on Innovative Nuclear Reactors and Fuel Cycles (INPRO) brings together technology holders and users so that they can consider jointly the international and national actions required to achieve the desired innovation in nuclear reactors and fuel cycles. Yury Sokolov, IAEA Deputy Director General of Nuclear Energy and INPRO Project Manager, opened the meeting by introducing the scope and goal of the project.

Iran is helping to detect uranium deposits in Venezuela and initial evaluations suggest reserves are significant, President Hugo Chavez's government said Friday. Mining Minister Rodolfo Sanz said Iran has been assisting Venezuela with geophysical survey flights and geochemical analysis of the deposits, and that evaluations "indicate the existence of uranium in western parts of the country and in Santa Elena de Uairen," in southeastern Bolivar state. "We could have important reserves of uranium," Sanz told reporters upon arrival on Venezuela's Margarita Island for a weekend Africa-South America summit. He added that efforts to certify the reserves could begin within the next three years. The announcement came as revelations that Iran has secretly been building a uranium-enrichment plant provoke concerns among countries including the U.S., Russia, France, Britain, Germany and China.