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Brazil's vice president says in an interview published Friday that his country should develop nuclear weapons. Other officials stressed that his comments were not government policy. Jose Alencar, who also served as defense minister from 2004 to 2006, said in an interview with journalists from several Brazilian news media that his country does not have a program to develop nuclear weapons, but should: "We have to advance on that." "The nuclear weapon, used as an instrument of deterrence, is of great importance for a country that has 15,000 kilometers of border to the west and a territorial sea" where oil reserves have been found, Alencar said.

Nuclear power could help meet growing oilsands energy needs, but won't likely happen before 2025, a study released late Friday said. Petroleum Technology Alliance Canada, which looked at alternatives to natural gas in oilsands development, said nuclear energy still poses many challenges. Existing technology can't produce required pressurized steam for in-situ oilsands development, the study found, while high costs, a lack of commercial development or regulatory approvals would mean emerging options wouldn't be ready for nearly a decade.

HEATHGATE Resources wants to build a uranium conversion plant at its Beverley mine to add greater value to the raw material it mines at the site. Heathgate president David Williams said it was time to consider conversion, which is the stage before uranium is enriched in preparation for use as a nuclear fuel. "You are still not into the contentious stage. Why couldn't we do a conversion in Australia?" Mr Williams says in an interview in today's SA Weekend magazine. "Why couldn't we do that value add in Australia? "I think that will be an interesting debate to go forward. Are we simply going to stay as an exporter of the raw material or are we going to do a bit more?"

The feasibility study for the Aktau nuclear power plant (NPP) is currently being appraised by the state regulators, while the first block of the power plant is scheduled for launch in 2016, Kazatomprom vice president Sergei Yashin said. "The feasibility study has been completed and currently being appraised by the authorized state agencies," Yashin said at the forum of Kazakhstan Energy Week on Friday in Astana. Yashin reminded that the design and building of VBER-300 reactor and the NPP was the prerogative of the Russian-Kazakh joint venture established in October last year.

nuclear power plant in Mersin's Akkuyu district requires further evaluation, which is to set to conclude in two months, and the final decision will be announced on Nov.24, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yıldız said on Friday. Speaking at press conference at the Mining Exploration Institute (MTA) in Ankara on Friday, Yıldız emphasized that the government's determination to construct a nuclear power plant continues and that they are striving to reach a satisfactory agreement.

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.

It is among the nastiest substances on earth: more than 14,000 tons of highly radioactive waste left over from the building of the nation's nuclear-weapons arsenal. As the Obama administration and Senate leaders move to scuttle a proposed repository for the waste in Nevada, the Hanford nuclear reservation in Washington state, along with federal facilities in Idaho and South Carolina, could become the de facto dump sites for years to come. After spending $10 billion to $12 billion over the past 25 years studying a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain, President Barack Obama is fulfilling a campaign promise to kill it as a site for the repository. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada also stands to benefit, as he faces re-election next year and Nevada residents adamantly oppose the project.

Gov. Gary Herbert rebuffed a challenge Friday from an environmental group to impose an immediate moratorium on shipments of depleted uranium to Utah. "I'm not prepared to that," Herbert told The Tribune in an interview. While he said the issue is worth further exploration, the governor said, "I don't want to respond with a knee-jerk reaction. We want to study the pros and cons." Herbert on Thursday had said during a news conference that he worries about depleted uranium coming to Utah because of its long period of radioactivity. "It's forever," he said. "And the thing that causes most of us concern with depleted uranium is it gets hotter over time." Those comments and the state Radiation Control Board's rejection earlier this week of a proposed moratorium, prompted the group HEAL Utah on Friday to challenge the governor to action. HEAL Executive Director Vanessa Pierce publicly released a letter to Herbert urging him to recognize the proposed shipments of thousands of tons of depleted uranium to the EnergySolutions' landfill in Tooele County as a "clear and present danger" to the health and well being of Utahns.

Utah: the guinea pig state. And now for the latest federal experiment with our public health, the curious case of depleted uranium, a radioactive waste that keeps getting hotter as time goes by. But first, some background. Our state constitution might as well read: "Give us your chemical weapons incinerator, your biological weapons testing facility, your nuclear fallout, your radioactive waste." Utah has it all. Now, we're being told to take another one for the country. Federal regulators have yet to determine where and how depleted uranium should be disposed, yet 49,000 metric tons of the material have already been buried at EnergySolutions' low-level radioactive waste disposal facility at Clive. And, even as the NRC holds hearings to start writing rules for safe disposal of this growing waste stream, another 14,000 metric tons await shipment to Utah from South Carolina beginning next month.

In 1991, facing obvious limits to growth from meager water resources, Las Vegas power brokers decided to bring the drama of high stakes gambling from the casinos to the board room of the Southern Nevada Water Authority headed by the Bernie Madoff of Western water, Pat Mulroy. The strategy was even proudly Ballyhooed in public. Las Vegas would just keep building beyond the capacity of its Colorado River allocation and dare other states or the federal government to stop them. At the time, a spokesman for Nevada's Colorado River Commission even announced, "The federal government will never let Nevada go dry."

The EPA will drill test holes looking for uranium-contaminated waste that villagers fear is a threat to their downstream springs. A dump near Tuba City that has been leaching low levels of radioactive waste into the shallow aquifer finally is getting some federal attention, if not an actual cleanup yet. The Environmental Protection Agency plans to fence off a remaining section of an old dump, near two Hopi villages, and test for hot spots of radioactivity close by. This includes one area where the agency says uranium levels in the water exceed what's federally considered safe for drinking water by eight times. Local villagers who believe their downstream springs are threatened have long sought a total excavation of the dump. Uranium-related waste found in the testing will be removed with heavy equipment beginning in October, and 263 new testing holes will be dug to search for more.

A 160-acre site in the northern area of the city known for introducing a perchlorate plume into the local ground water supply has been added to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund National Priorities List. When the listing was announced Wednesday, officials declared it as a landmark victory for Rialto residents. "This is a very victorious day for the city of Rialto, after spending $28 million to try to get these guys to do the right thing," Councilman Ed Scott said. The Superfund designation represents a commitment by the EPA to clean the site while making it eligible for government funding, said Wayne Praskins, Superfund project manager. The EPA has been developing an initial cleanup proposal that should be ready at the beginning of the year, Praskins said Friday. It will cost between $10 million and $15 million to construct the facilities needed to conduct a cleanup at the site, and $1 million per year to operate them, Praskins said.

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu could remove Grand Junction from the list of potential mercury-storage sites and he should do just that, Colorado's senators and a congressman said. "We believe there is abundant evidence to characterize this proposal as unreasonable and respectfully urge that you eliminate from further review the alternative for storing mercury in Mesa County," the Colorado officials said. Sens. Mark Udall and Michael Bennet and U.S. Rep. John Salazar, all Democrats, sent the letter on Thursday. DOWNLOAD THE LETTER.

Gail Richards says NRC trying to intimidate her for reporting lax security Gail Richards thought her nightmare was over. In April, the Tennessee Valley Authority whistle-blower reached a settlement over her firing, which came after she reported security lapses in the power producer's nuclear energy program. But now the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission - the group that oversees TVA's nuclear facilities - has started its own investigation of Richards for potential infractions, including whether she improperly took private documents that she used to defend herself in a series of workplace allegations. Richards said NRC investigators grilled her for several hours this month in a Washington, D.C., hotel, threatening to get the Department of Justice involved in her case - a prospect that the wife and grandmother worries could lead to prison. She and her lawyer say the NRC is guilty of the same intimidating retaliation tactics that it's supposed to protect whistle-blowers from.

There's still nowhere to put that toxic waste Nuclear electricity is affordable and emission free People opposed to nuclear energy applications point to the high initial price tag of enormous nuclear generating facilities that can … read more provide enough reliable electricity for several million people; they often overlook the resulting low cost per unit of power when spread over that large market. There are 104 nuclear plants operating in the US today. Many of us who are old enough to remember the controversies surrounding their construction can remember how many times we were told that nuclear power plants are frighteningly expensive and that they always cost more than predicted. We even remember that electrical power prices often increased immediately after the plants went into operation due to the effect of adding those big, expensive plants into the utility rate base. What many people who consider "news" media to be their only information sources rarely understand, however, is that the 104 plants currently operating provide the US with 20% of its electric power at an average production cost of about 1.8 cents per kilowatt hour. They also do not understand that after a few decades of operation and revenue production, the initial mortgages on those plants are largely paid off. The best information of all, which is not really "news" and does not get regularly published on the front page, is that the plants still have at least 20 years of life remaining during which they can produce emission free, low cost power. The companies that own the plants and their stock holders understand the economics pretty well; that is why 18 applications for 25 new plants have been turned into the Nuclear Regulatory Commission already with more in the pipeline. All of the used fuel - what some people call waste - is being carefully stored in a tiny corner of the existing sites, just waiting to be recycled into new fuel. It still contains 95% of its initial potential energy, but

There's still nowhere to put that toxic waste Nuclear electricity is affordable and emission free People opposed to nuclear energy applications point to the high initial price tag of enormous nuclear generating facilities that can … read more provide enough reliable electricity for several million people; they often overlook the resulting low cost per unit of power when spread over that large market. There are 104 nuclear plants operating in the US today. Many of us who are old enough to remember the controversies surrounding their construction can remember how many times we were told that nuclear power plants are frighteningly expensive and that they always cost more than predicted. We even remember that electrical power prices often increased immediately after the plants went into operation due to the effect of adding those big, expensive plants into the utility rate base. What many people who consider "news" media to be their only information sources rarely understand, however, is that the 104 plants currently operating provide the US with 20% of its electric power at an average production cost of about 1.8 cents per kilowatt hour. They also do not understand that after a few decades of operation and revenue production, the initial mortgages on those plants are largely paid off. The best information of all, which is not really "news" and does not get regularly published on the front page, is that the plants still have at least 20 years of life remaining during which they can produce emission free, low cost power. The companies that own the plants and their stock holders understand the economics pretty well; that is why 18 applications for 25 new plants have been turned into the Nuclear Regulatory Commission already with more in the pipeline. All of the used fuel - what some people call waste - is being carefully stored in a tiny corner of the existing sites, just waiting to be recycled into new fuel. It still contains 95% of its initial potential energy, but

Orange liquid swirled and pulsed in a clear acrylic tank just outside the Hanford nuclear reservation. The iron oxide that gave the tank's contents its bright color was one of several materials in the tank being used to simulate the heavy particles in radioactive waste that tanks at the Hanford vitrification plant will need to keep mixed. Once the vitrification plant begins operating to turn some of Hanford's worst radioactive waste into a solid glass form, some tanks will be in "black cells" that will be so radioactive after operations begin that humans cannot enter again. That means the mixing system that's been developed with no moving parts and is being tested now must work nearly perfectly for 40 years without the help of human hands.

As Energy Fuels Resources (EFR) awaits Montrose County BOCC approval for a special use permit for the Pinon Ridge Mill and prepares to submit a permit application to Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment (CDPHE), it lacks capitalization to build the mill, faces a very tight uranium market with surplus uranium production capacity, a dropping uranium market price and production costs higher than market value. Today's market bears little resemblance to the first uranium boom and bust in the Colorado-Utah borderlands when the federal government paid a guaranteed base price for uranium ore to miners to feed nuclear weapons production programs. "Yellowcake," uranium oxide produced by uranium mills is a global commodity widely available at a volatile market-based price for commercial purchase for use in nuclear reactor fuel. Advertisement 1. The Uravan belt uranium is not a significant fraction of U.S. nor global uranium resources. Uranium resources at permitted uranium production sites in Wyoming, Nebraska and Texas dwarf the potential of this district.

NASA is running out of the special kind of plutonium needed to power deep space probes, worrying planetary scientists who say the U. S. urgently needs to restart production of plutonium-238. But it's unclear whether Congress will provide the $30 million that the administration requested earlier this year for the Department of Energy to get a new program going. Nuclear weapons use plutonium-239, but NASA depends on something quite different: plutonium-238. A marshmallow-sized pellet of plutonium-238, encased in metal, gives off a lot of heat.

China has already begun adding refined fuel to its state reserves as part of a larger plan to enhance the country's energy security, a top economic planner said on Sunday. In May, an industry official told Reuters China planned to stockpile 10 million tons of fuel reserves by 2011, equivalent to about two weeks' of current consumption of gasoline, diesel and kerosene combined. "We are doing this already," Zhang Guobao, head of the National Energy Administration, told Reuters when asked how much refined fuel China intends to stockpile this year. He did not elaborate.

IN A gigantic leap in the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, the United States has assured India that irrespective of New Delhi's reservations, they would be moving ahead with the deal. The government has held the position that the deal is flawed and discriminatory in nature. US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton had talks witht the Indian Foreign Minister SM Krishna in their meeting on Friday in New York, and the decision was conveyed, said Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake. He also stated that the UN Security council's plea urging all states to join the NPT was not the topic of discussion when Clinton and Krishna met.