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As the nation settles in for a long and increasingly contentious health care debate, residents of the CSRA are starting to draw battle lines of their own regarding the future of the Savannah River Site (SRS). According to the Department of Energy's Strategic Plan for the Savannah River Site, the 310-square-mile site is poised to become the DOE's premier location for new energy initiatives. It's got the land, the infrastructure, the brainpower and the workforce. All it needs are the initiatives. Skeptics of such an energy park, however, suspect the only real initiative the DOE is interested in involves prolonging its involvement in nuclear activities. "I think it's all a big ruse," says the Sierra Club's Susan Corbett. "What they really want are more nuclear missions."

As the nation settles in for a long and increasingly contentious health care debate, residents of the CSRA are starting to draw battle lines of their own regarding the future of the Savannah River Site (SRS). According to the Department of Energy's Strategic Plan for the Savannah River Site, the 310-square-mile site is poised to become the DOE's premier location for new energy initiatives. It's got the land, the infrastructure, the brainpower and the workforce. All it needs are the initiatives. Skeptics of such an energy park, however, suspect the only real initiative the DOE is interested in involves prolonging its involvement in nuclear activities. "I think it's all a big ruse," says the Sierra Club's Susan Corbett. "What they really want are more nuclear missions."

As the nation settles in for a long and increasingly contentious health care debate, residents of the CSRA are starting to draw battle lines of their own regarding the future of the Savannah River Site (SRS). According to the Department of Energy's Strategic Plan for the Savannah River Site, the 310-square-mile site is poised to become the DOE's premier location for new energy initiatives. It's got the land, the infrastructure, the brainpower and the workforce. All it needs are the initiatives. Skeptics of such an energy park, however, suspect the only real initiative the DOE is interested in involves prolonging its involvement in nuclear activities. "I think it's all a big ruse," says the Sierra Club's Susan Corbett. "What they really want are more nuclear missions."

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued its final safety evaluation report (SER) for the proposed renewal of the operating licenses for the Susquehanna Steam Electric Station, Units 1 and 2, and concluded that there are no open items that would preclude license renewal for an additional 20 years of operation. The report documents the results of the NRC staff's review of the license renewal application and site audits of the plant's aging management programs to address the safety of plant operations during the period of extended operation. It represents the culmination of NRC's comprehensive review of the application and inspection of the plant to verify license renewal implementation is consistent with the application. Overall, the results show that the applicant has identified actions that have been or will be taken to manage the effects of aging in the appropriate safety systems, structures and components of the plant and that their functions will be maintained during the period of extended operation. Issuing the final SER is a significant milestone in the license renewal review process. This process proceeds along two tracks - one for review of safety issues and another for environmental issues. The SER marks the completion of the NRC staff's safety review that is published and subsequently reviewed and publicly discussed by the agency's Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS). The staff concluded its environmental review in March of this year when it issued the final supplemental environmental impact statement.

Will they or won't they? And if they do, for how long? The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) will decide whether 1.2 million cubic metres of low-level radioactive and historic waste from around Port Hope will be excavated and contained in an encapsulated mound south of Highway 401. The commission is expected to decide whether to grant a licence to Atomic Energy Canada Ltd. (AECL) to proceed with the cleanup project within the next two months. There was a lot of ground and a lot of history to cover at the one-day public hearing Wednesday. Everyone was on best behaviour as the televised and webcast proceedings, complete with English/French translators, transcript stenographers and large-screen monitors for better in-house viewing got underway at the Town Recreation Centre. As the licence requester, Atomic Energy Canada Ltd. (AECL) outlined its plans for the estimated $150-million chore ahead. The CNSC, as safety overseer of the project, had its staff there, too, formal presentations and answering questions of panel members. With 96 intervenors registered -- 43 of them with oral presentations -- it was a full day and evening for all concerned.

The United Kingdom is nearing a crucial decision as it tries to tackle the climate crisis -- whether to make a major push into new nuclear power or to proliferate coal-fired power plants constructed so their carbon emissions are captured and safely stored. A blog about energy, the environment and the bottom line. While U.S. officials and America's utility industry continue to mull this question, Britain's decisional clock is ticking much faster. At stake are not just the government's pressing legal commitments to slash the country's contribution to global emissions of climate-changing carbon gases, but also a stated policy goal of reducing dependence on energy imports from unstable regions.

PROPOSALS to put low-level radioactive waste in ordinary landfill sites are being resisted by Cumbria County Council. At present all low-level waste goes to a repository at Drigg in west Cumbria. But the Environment Agency is considering applications to allow very-low-level waste from Sellafield to be buried at Lillyhall and Keekle Head. Meanwhile, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is consulting on a national strategy that could see such waste sent to landfill sites almost anywhere.

Article Highlights * With the nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain seemingly dead, reprocessing again is being proffered as a way to deal with U.S. nuclear waste. * But the reality is that reprocessing neither solves the waste problem nor reduces safety risks. * Research should continue into next-generation reactors that can burn spent fuel, but until then, dry casks and repositories must be pursued. There are 104 commercial nuclear power reactors in the United States, which supply about 20 percent of the nation's electricity. These are light water reactors (LWR) fueled with low-enriched uranium (LEU), containing initially about 5 percent of the fissile isotope uranium 235. Each nuclear plant receives about 25 tons of LEU fuel annually, in the form of long pencil-thin rods of uranium oxide ceramic enclosed in thin metal "cladding", that are bundled together (in bunches of 300) to form fuel elements. Each year, nearly the same amount of spent fuel is removed from each reactor, but it's now intensely hot, both thermally and radiologically. In fact, even after five years of cooling in the "swimming pool" associated with each reactor, a fuel element would soon glow red-hot in the atmosphere because of the continuing radioactive decay of the products of nuclear fission. At this point, spent-fuel elements can be loaded into dry casks and stored at reactor sites on outdoor concrete pads with two casks added each year per reactor.

A group of scientists, military officials and government bureaucrats signed an informal pact with the devil. The contract became public in August 1945, when U.S. bombers nuked Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Since then, no other nation has used a nuclear weapon, but thousands of radiation-emitting tests have occurred and nuclear energy plants mushroomed, with promises of cheap, safe and clean power. Over the decades, however, "the nuclear industry" has faced repeated cost over-runs, and serious "accidents." Thousands died at the Chernobyl power plant (Ukraine) and a near catastrophe occurred at the Three Mile Island (Pennsylvania) facility. Air Force planes dropped H bombs in the ocean off the Spanish coast and innumerable leaks, fires and "mishaps" occurred routinely at military and civilian nuclear installations.

Utah's court fight over who controls the flow of radioactive waste is turning into a national test case, as the state and its allies formally launched their appeal on Thursday and waste agencies representing eight more states prepared to join the fray. Attorneys for Utah, the Northwest Interstate Compact on Low-level Radioactive Wastes and the Rocky Mountain Compact filed their initial arguments Thursday at the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. Representing 11 states, the three want the Denver court to overturn U.S. District Court Judge Ted Stewart's May ruling in favor of the Salt Lake City nuclear waste company EnergySolutions Inc. Rocky Mountain Compact attorneys said Stewart's decision puts the nation's entire waste oversight system at risk. "The District Court's ruling unravels the long-standing solution to the problem of low-level radioactive waste disposal -- which was crafted by the compact states and Congress over 20 years ago," attorneys wrote. Stewart ruled that EnergySolutions is not subject to the authority of the Northwest Compact because it was not created by the compact. The state's appeal says that ruling is an error because it relied heavily on a law that Congress repealed in 1986 and because it undermines Congress' intent in creating compacts to encourage new low-level waste disposal sites.

Dozens of workers diagnosed with cancer after their employment at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory may have more leverage in claiming federal compensation to help with their health care. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health first granted a special designation earlier this month for those assigned to the field lab's 270-acre Area IV, where much of the nuclear work was conducted. The designation applies to those who were exposed to radiation for at least 250 days, between Jan. 1, 1955 and Dec, 31, 1958. On Wednesday, the federal agency broadened the designation to include those who worked at the field lab in 1959, the year of a partial nuclear meltdown at the site. The federal action is the result of a efforts by Bonnie Klea of West Hills, who worked as a secretary for Rocketdyne in the 1960s. A survivor of bladder cancer, she compiled letters, press releases, news articles and documentaries about radioactive and chemical contamination at the site. She delivered the petition in 2007, after learning that the Department of Labor had denied most of the claims for compensation filed by cancer-stricken workers under the 2000 Energy Employees Occupational Illness Program Act. Of the 993 claims filed by Thursday with the Department of Labor, 249 had been denied, 164 had been approved and the rest are pending.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission began its review of the U.S. Army's application to possess depleted uranium this week on the Big Island. The procedure to grant a license - and establishing any conditions to that license - is expected to last into next year. The application covers nine sites across the country, including Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island and Schofield Barracks on Oahu.

Managing lake levels is a delicate balancing act at best, a Duke official said Thursday, but the general outlook calls for levels of some lakes to decline. Lake Jocassee can expect to take the biggest hit, said George Galleher of Duke Energy hydroelectric operations, because of the lake's part in the whole balancing act. Galleher spoke at a forum on the overall health of the Duke Energy lakes and their watershed. The forum was sponsored by the Friends of Lake Keowee Society and held at Duke Energy's World of Energy center north of Seneca.

Managing lake levels is a delicate balancing act at best, a Duke official said Thursday, but the general outlook calls for levels of some lakes to decline. Lake Jocassee can expect to take the biggest hit, said George Galleher of Duke Energy hydroelectric operations, because of the lake's part in the whole balancing act. Galleher spoke at a forum on the overall health of the Duke Energy lakes and their watershed. The forum was sponsored by the Friends of Lake Keowee Society and held at Duke Energy's World of Energy center north of Seneca.

The municipality and public are likely to have continued input on plans to remove historic low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) in Port Hope, after asking the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) that its involvement be a condition of the project moving forward. "We've had an excellent cooperative consultation program and we look to that to continue," said Mayor Linda Thompson. "The comments of the CNSC staff reassured us." The commission spent Wednesday, Aug. 26 and half of Thursday, Aug. 27 listening to local concerns about Atomic Energy of Canada Limited's (AECL) application for a nuclear waste substance license to operate a long-term low-level waste management facility.

Several appeals have been lodged against the planned environmental review of the Yeelirrie uranium mine in Western Australia's Goldfields. The Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) released its environmental review and management program for public comment, which closed on Monday. The Greens joined the Conservation Council and seven others in seeking to change the way the environmental impact of the mine is assessed. Greens MP Robin Chapple says the Environment Minister, Donna Faragher, should conduct a ministerial review of the project.

A senior U.N. disarmament official said Friday it is possible to achieve success at next year's review conference of the parties to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty if countries are flexible and their leaders have firm political will. Hannelore Hoppe, deputy to the high commissioner for disarmament affairs at the United Nations, made the remarks at a closing speech of a three-day disarmament conference, commenting on the next NPT review conference to be held from next May 3 to 28 in New York. Summing up discussions at the disarmament conference that ended Friday in Niigata, Hoppe said the global movement for nuclear disarmament has gained momentum.

ANTI-NUCLEAR campaigners protested outside Carlisle Cathedral at the pro-nuclear stance of the new bishop. The Right Reverend James Newcome succeeds Graham Dow as Bishop of Carlisle in October. He recently endorsed the nuclear industry, telling journalists: "We regard Sellafield as one of the most important institutions in the diocese. "It employs a significant number of people.

QUARRELSOME NEIGHBOURS: Mary Verney charged Mary M'Greavy with assaulting her. Mr Paitson said both parties lived in the Bird-in-hand-passage, Market-place. On the 5th instant, there had been some disturbance and defendant ran into complainant's house with a pair of tongs in her hand, tearing her dress and otherwise abusing her. Complainant, cross-examined by Mr Paitson, stated that about half-past seven o'clock on Friday morning, she heard a noise in the passage and went to see what was to do when defendant came out, struck her and tore her dress. Mr Halton said complainant had called defendant bad names and upon going past her door complainant said that "for two pins she would split her head!" Defendant was a respectable married woman and lived in fear and trembling of complainant. She laid hold of her by the dress, and that was all; she never struck her. The bench, after a short deliberation, dismissed the case.

On 28 and 29 August the town of Svishtov is hosting the Pan-European Energy Conference. It is organized by the Coalition BeleNE, meaning No to Belene where Belene is the site for a new Bulgarian nuclear plant. The forum seeks to identify the problems of the sector and to suggest a few solutions to them. Central to the conference is the need of a new energy strategy of Bulgaria; energy efficiency; and the future of nuclear energy in Europe. Experts, scientists, environmentalists, journalists and NGO officials from more than 10 European countries will present their analyses of the energy market in the Balkans. They will discuss the opportunities for the development of renewable energy sources in Bulgaria. Another highlight of the meeting will be the Belene NPP and the arguments of environmentalists who have urged authorities to suspend the project. Participants will cast light on the impact that a future Belene NPP could have on the 100 km zone around the reactor in both Bulgaria and neighboring Romania.

Russian activists discuss nuclear plant decommissioning in Portsmouth Few people are as familiar with the inherent complications of shutting down nuclear power plants as Oleg Bodrov. In 2002, the Russian nuclear engineer-physicist was attacked while walking home from his office. He suffered a serious head injury and spent weeks in the hospital. Bodrov believes the attack was motivated by his activism against a Russian plant that was re-smelting radioactive metal. Bodrov is co-founder and chairman of the environmental organization Green World, which is currently focused on determining best practices for decommissioning Russia's aging nuclear reactors. Among the obstacles to shutting down nuclear plants is that they employ thousands of people who are not keen on losing their jobs. The attacker who assaulted Bodrov was trying to send a message, he believes.

Gov. Gary Herbert supports a full palette of energy options for Utah. The clean greens: solar, geothermal, wind. The dirty browns: coal, oil, natural gas. And the chameleon of electricity production, nuclear fission, which provides clean power but carries its own environmental and safety baggage. Nuclear power plants were popular until a near meltdown of a reactor in Pennsylvania in 1979 shocked the nation to its senses. There hasn't been a domestic plant built since. But in the rush to curb climate change, well-founded fears have been forgotten and a nuclear revival is underway. Nuclear power plants emit only water vapor and produce enough power to replace fossil fuels as a base-load provider of electricity. The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission has received applications for 26 new reactors and more are expected, including paperwork for a proposed plant near Green River in Emery County, which would be Utah's first.

Last night the Nuclear Regulatory Commission held a meeting in Hilo, Hawaii on the Army's application for a license to deposit unknown amounts of Depleted Uranium(DU)at the Pohakuloa Training Area on Mauna Kea, considered by many native Hawaiians as a sacred temple. Over 50 concerned citizens confronted the NRC on its checkered past in safeguarding health & safety of citizens from the nuclear industry, as well as its rubber-stamping of the Military's mishandling of DU. It was revealed that the NRC had never turned down an application from the U.S. Military. But the bulk of the citizens' anger was focused on the Army's willful non-compliance of Hawaii County Council's resolution to demand a stop to all live fire exercises at PTA until an assessment and cleanup of DU has been completed. Dozens of citizens from the environmental, kanaka maoli, Peace and scientific communities all testified on the U.S. Military's sordid history of stonewalling, disinformation and illegal dumping of toxic wastes on the revered aina of Hawai'i.