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WASHINGTON (AP) - The Nuclear Energy Institute spent $570,000 lobbying the government in the second quarter on legislation designed to reduce pollution linked to global warming and create clean energy jobs, according to a recent disclosure report. The institute, the policy organization of the nuclear energy and technologies industry, also lobbied on legislation that would certify the Yucca Mountain site in Nevada would remain the designated site for the development of a repository for the disposal of high-level radioactive waste. It also lobbied on legislation that would prohibit importing certain low-level radioactive waste into the U.S. and on a bill to improve the a loan guarantee program to help finance the development of energy technology. For the April-June period, the group lobbied Congress, the departments of Commerce, Defense, Homeland Security and State, as well as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Office of Management and Budget, Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, according to the disclosure filed with the House clerk's office on July 20.

Human error helped worsen a nuclear meltdown just outside Los Angeles, and now human inertia has stymied the radioactive cleanup for half a century. "During an inspection of fuel elements on July 26 at the Sodium Reactor Experiment, operated for the Atomic Energy Commission at Santa Susana, California by Atomics International, a division of North American Aviation, Inc., a parted fuel element was observed.

Nuclear material to be 'down-blended,' prepared for disposal OAK RIDGE - The Department of Energy and its contractor team are moving forward with a controversial $384 million project that will "down-blend" a stockpile of uranium-233 to remove its fission capability and prepare the highly radioactive material for disposal at the Nevada Test Site. DOE has scheduled a major design review in September that will look at the evolving plans for how to deal with the radioactive material, which currently is stored in a heavily shielded, high-security facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The United States maintains a hardline policy opposing countries' use of civilian nuclear reactors to produce material for weapons, including Iran and North Korea. But that is what the U.S. Department of Energy has been doing at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Watts Bar reactor in East Tennessee since 2003, and now the department has signaled its intention to start additional production of tritium at TVA's Sequoyah plant, near Chattanooga. Tritium, which is a radioactive form of hydrogen, is needed to boost the explosive power of nuclear warheads. The DOE's 2010 budget proposal includes plans to make tritium at the two Sequoyah reactors, and TVA spokesman Terry Johnson confirmed that the electricity-generating plant is being prepared for the production of the weapons material.

The next generation of nuclear reactors is on its way, and supporters say they will be safer, cheaper and more efficient than current plants. Here's a look at what's coming -- and when. If there ever were a time that seemed ripe for nuclear energy, it's now. For the first time in decades, popular opinion is on the industry's side. A majority of Americans thinks nuclear power, which emits virtually no carbon dioxide, is a safe and effective way to battle climate change, according to recent polls. At the same time, legislators are showing renewed interest in nuclear as they hunt for ways to slash greenhouse-gas emissions.

Israel was linked to the interception of the missing cargo ship Arctic Sea last month, a senior figure close to Israeli intelligence has told the BBC. The source said Israel had told Moscow it knew the ship was secretly carrying a Russian air defence system for Iran. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has dismissed speculation that S-300 missiles were on board the ship. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, has denied making a secret visit to Moscow on Monday.

At the start of the Cold War, Stalin chose one of the furthest outposts of his empire to test the Soviet Union's first nuclear bombs. Sixty years on, their cancerous legacy is still being felt. Jerome Taylor reports from Kurchatov Nemytov Oleg, a radiologist at the National Nuclear Centre checks is Geiger meter at the epicentre of the first nuclear test conducted by the Soviets on 29 August 1949. Walking through the flat and endless Kazakh steppe, Nemytov Oleg suddenly stops, fumbles in his desert camouflage trousers and pulls out a Geiger counter. The device bleeps into life. He peers pensively at the reading. When we got out of the car it read 3. Now, within a couple of hundred yards, it has jumped to 10. He unwraps breathing masks and two pairs of disposable shoe coverings. "If we want to go any further we will have to wear these," he says. Further along the dusty road he checks his device once more. "You see, the meter is now reading 21," he says. "If we were in a city far away from here it would read about 0.1. The radiation increases very quickly."

A typically dusty drive 25 kilometres south of central Australia's Alice Springs brings you to an unlocked gate beside the old Ghan railway line. Behind the fence, among the rolling red desert hills, drilling workers are boring 120 holes into an area of earth said to contain about 12,000 tonnes of uranium oxide. The ore is worth up to $2.5 billion. The uranium deposits, named Angela and Pamela, were first discovered in the 1970s and '80s, but lay dormant until a new exploration licence was granted by the Northern Territory government late last year. Canadian company Cameco and Australian-owned Paladin, the two businesses involved in the joint venture, hope to build Australia's fifth uranium mine - well inside the Alice Springs water catchment boundary.

As the Obama administration contemplates major reductions to its nuclear arsenal, Japan's commitment to nuclear disarmament is being tested as never before. In his Prague speech on April 5, President Barack Obama said, "We will reduce the role of nuclear weapons in our national security strategy and urge others to do the same." He went on to say, "we will begin the work of reducing our arsenal." But in between these two landmark pledges he said, "as long as these weapons exist, we will maintain a safe, secure and effective arsenal to deter any adversary, and guarantee that defense to our allies."

Another split has emerged in the coalition, this time over nuclear power. Nationals Senate leader Barnaby Joyce told his party's annual federal council meeting in Canberra at the weekend that a referendum should be held asking voters if they want nuclear power in Australia. When asked if nuclear power was a Liberal Party policy, the opposition's environment spokesman Greg Hunt said it was not. 'It's not on our plans, it's not on the table at the moment, and it won't be until such time as there is bipartisan support,' Mr Hunt told ABC Radio on Monday.

The £1.99 household product Cillit Bang is being used to help clean plutonium stains at the defunct Dounreay nuclear power plant in Caithness. Dounreay Site Restoration Limited (DSRL) said it would help reduce the £2.6bn cost of dismantling the site. The cleaner's use has also drawn interest from operators of other nuclear sites in the UK. A different domestic product has already been applied in the cleaning of contaminated glass tubes.

FIFTEEN fires or coolant leaks have been reported in Cumbrian nuclear installations - accounting for almost 10 per cent of the total across the country, according to the government. Information released by the Department for Energy and Climate Change shows there have been 81 coolant leaks and 80 fires recorded at UK nuclear installations since 2001 - with almost one in ten in Cumbria. Four fires are listed for Barrow, including two from earlier this year when there was a fire on the submarine Ambush during welding/grinding operations and another on the bridge fin of Astute.

A small amount of nuclear waste described as a 'shovel full' has been uncovered on the Scottish coast. The waste was found during clean up works to pave the way for the planned Dounreay low level waste facility on the northern tip of Scotland. It's the first and, so far, only nuclear waste to be dug up at the site, which is currently undergoing a remediation by Dounreay Site Restoration Limited (DSRL). The site was formerly a centre of fast reactor research and development, which was used for various nuclear testing between the mid 1950s to the mid 1990s.

Energy Department officials did not follow established policies and procedures for using purchase cards at the Yucca Mountain Project, the proposed storage facility for spent nuclear fuel 90 miles west of Las Vegas, according to a review of transactions between January 2007 to February 2009 by the department's watchdog. In a report released on Tuesday, Herbert Richardson, Energy's principal deputy inspector general, found that a key official did not approve or review purchase card transactions in advance and did not always review cardholders' account statements in a timely manner. Another approving official was not certified for the role, despite acting in that capacity, and two purchase cardholders shared account numbers and allowed others to make purchases using those numbers -- all violations of federal requirements. Such weaknesses "could expose the department to the risk of fraud, waste or abuse," Richardson wrote, although he noted that the audit did not uncover any improper purchases.

Officials with the Idaho National Laboratory say a cylinder that began leaking toxic gas after it was moved has been secured and that no gas escaped from the Materials and Fuels Complex. No employees were injured in the gas leak, which was reported late Tuesday morning. A prepared statement from laboratory officials said that nine workers were given medical evaluations and all were cleared to return to work. The cylinder was suspected to contain a toxic gas that can cause irritation and damage to skin, eyes or lungs. Employees were temporarily evacuated to areas at least 220 yards away, but they were allowed to return to the area after tests by a hazardous materials team found no contamination in the building.

If set off in a place like New York City, a nuclear bomb could "totally disrupt" the United States' economy and society, an Oak Ridge National Laboratory director said. Local employees are working to try to prevent that from happening, said Larry Satkowiak, ORNL director of global security and nonproliferation programs. He said about 150 Oak Ridge National Laboratory employees are involved in a variety of efforts designed to limit the spread of nuclear weapons, including inspections, international negotiations and export controls, and removal of hazardous equipment and materials from countries like Libya and Iraq.

Cleaning up the environment often creates waste, which in turn must be carefully handled, treated and/or disposed to make sure it doesn't hurt the environment again on the back end. Make sense? Anyway, there are seven cleanup projects under way at the Y-12 National Security Complex that are funded by the Recovery Act, and it's estimated those projects will generate something approaching 3 million cubic feet of waste (of various categories). Here's where the waste will be sent for disposal: * 803,708 cubic feet to Y-12's sanitary landfill. This waste is likely to be uncontaminated demolition rubble and the like. * 1,775,029 cubic feet to the Environmental Management Waste Management Facility. This is the CERCLA landfill just down the road from Y-12, and it's set up to receive low-level and mixed low-level radioactive wastes from Oak Ridge cleanup projects. * 222,376 cubic feet to Nevada Test Site. No details here, but the waste typically sent to Nevada is the hotter low-level waste that doesn't meant the waste-acceptance criteria at the Oak Ridge landfill.

Florida Power & Light Co. officials defended a $1.3 billion rate increase despite opponents' objections that it will pad the pockets of high-paid executives and reap bigger profits, even as Gov. Charlie Crist rebuked the hike as "excessive." FPL CEO Armando Olivera insisted that the utility needs to raise customers' rates to make its operations more fuel-efficient and that the hike would keep customers' electric bills from climbing even more in the long run. "We're trying to come forward with what we think is a balanced approach. I think that the fact that our rates are the lowest in the state is a reflection of what we are," said Olivera, who spent all day on the witness stand for the Public Service Commission proceedings. It was the second day of the rate hearings scheduled to last two weeks. Juno Beach-based FPL, which serves 4.5 million customer accounts from northeast Florida to Miami, is asking for its first base rate increase since 1985.

This year's Hiroshima atomic bombing anniversary saw more demands for the abolition of nuclear weapons. It is a worthy goal. But does it make sense? People genuinely keen to rid the world of nuclear weapons need first do something about the hawks and hardliners whose actions often make nuclear weapons inevitable. Japan would be a good place to start. The coming 50th anniversary of the notorious U-2 incident should be reminder. The incident involved a U.S. spy plane that crashed deep in the Soviet Union on the eve of the May 1960 four-power talks that could well have seen an end to the Cold War. The Soviets claimed to have shot the plane down, though it flew well above the range of the best Soviet rockets. Others have a more sinister view - that the crash was triggered by a bomb planted in the plane's rear by CIA hawks determined to disrupt these four-power talks.

* Joint venture to mine Dornod uranium deposit * Uranium reserves of 28,000 tonnes could be doubled * Canada's Khan Resources still owns 58 percent of licence * Investment of "hundreds of millions of dollars" (Adds quotes, details, background) By Denis Dyomkin and Lucy Hornby ULAN BATOR, Aug 25 (Reuters) - Mongolia welcomed Russia as its partner in a uranium mining venture on Tuesday as part of a wider pact to boost co-operation in infrastructure and farming, raising concerns for the Canadian miner that owns the deposit. Russian and Mongolian state-owned companies formed a joint venture to develop the Dornad deposit, which holds seven times as much uranium as Russia produced last year, after the Soviet-era allies settled a $150 million debt owed to Moscow.