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GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy said on Wednesday it has submitted the revised design documents for its Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR) to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. GE Hitachi said the submission marks a milestone in the company's effort to move forward with the 1,520-megawatt design which two U.S. utilities have selected to use for two new nuclear plants, some of the first reactors proposed after a three-decade lapse in U.S. nuclear expansion. Two other U.S. utilities dropped the ESBWR design fearing that the time needed to obtain NRC certification would slow their efforts to pursue construction of new reactors.

As part of the Reuters Summit on global climate and alternative energy, Reuters.com asked Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club and Ian Hore-Lacy, director of public communication for the World Nuclear Association to discuss the role of nuclear energy. Here are their responses.

Ban Ki-Moon, the secretary general of the United Nations, on Wednesday called for more nuclear free zones, modeled on the Latin America wide area created in Mexico in the late 1960s, at the opening session of a disarmament conference here. "We are hoping to see progress on this topic, especially in the Middle East," Ban told the opening session of the 62nd United Nations conference on disarmament which began on Wednesday in Mexico City. He praise Central Asian nations for putting such a zone in place in 2006, and Latin America for pioneering the trend with the Tlalteloco agreement, signed in Mexico City in 1967.

Article Highlights * Advancements in nuclear power should help the world move beyond fossil fuels. * In particular, spent fuel recycling with fast reactors would solve some of the most vexing problems facing conventional nuclear power. * Other benefits include reducing weapons proliferation risks and excess plutonium and uranium stockpiles. When you combine the country's addiction to oil to its mounting concern over global warming you have a clear-cut case for expanded nuclear power. The issue has been clouded, however, by the recent decision to stop work on the Yucca Mountain permanent spent fuel repository in Nevada, so far the only real solution the United States has for its accumulating spent fuel from its 104 light water reactors (LWR).

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 panel of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has recognized councils of the Shoshone and Paiutes as having standing for the purpose of being a party to the Yucca Mountain case. The NRC's Atomic Safety Licensing Board Panel Construction Authorization Board found that Native Americans will be directly affected by the proposed waste dump for high level wastes and are therefore entitled to be parties to the case. The tribes have been opposed to the dump on grounds that it would be built on Native American lands. The Board found this a "viable" claim that the tribes can argue in the case.

Workers at the nation's most contaminated nuclear site have finished excavating a leaky pool built in the 1950s to hold spent fuel from nuclear reactors. Successful demolition of the K East Basin at south-central Washington's Hanford nuclear reservation allows workers to begin digging up soil laced with some half-dozen contaminants, some of them radioactive, just 400 yards from the Columbia River. The basin was one of the biggest environmental risks at Hanford, and it's almost historic that it's gone, said Dave Brockman, manager of the U.S. Department of Energy's Richland Operations Office, which oversees Hanford cleanup.

The Department of Energy is taking a look at building a new landfill in central Hanford to hold uncontaminated waste that's now being trucked 110 miles for disposal off-site. "We're looking for greener ways to go," said Jim Butner, project manager for DOE contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. The landfill could save taxpayer money and have environmental benefits, said Kevin Leary, a DOE environmental engineer. The proposal is in early stages of development and a cost study has yet to be done. But Leary estimates that building a new landfill at Hanford could save $2 million over the life of the project just in the cost of fuel for transporting waste to the Roosevelt Regional Landfill. That doesn't consider the reduction in the site's carbon footprint by eliminating the carbon dioxide production from 3.3 million miles of driving back and forth to Roosevelt. "I don't think shipping it to Roosevelt is in the government's best interest," Leary said at a committee meeting of the Hanford Advisory Board.

The federal agency that regulates the transport of explosives, toxic chemicals, fireworks and other hazardous materials has for years quietly waived safety regulations because of its cozy relationship with industry, according to a congressional report. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, which regulates shipment of potentially dangerous cargo by land, sea and air, also has ignored whether shippers have been involved in accidents or cited for violating regulations before granting or renewing the waivers, the report said. The report was based on an investigation by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which has scheduled a hearing for Thursday on whether PHMSA is doing its job. The chief witness scheduled to testify at the hearing is Transportation Department Inspector General Calvin Scovel, who warned administration officials in late July that a separate investigation by his office had uncovered significant concerns.

Energy Northwest must pay an $80,000 fine to the state for waste management violations after a penalty against the Richland-based power supplier was recently upheld. The state Pollution Control Hearings Board upheld the 2007 complaint, filed by the state Department of Ecology after waste management violations were found at the Columbia Generating Center nuclear power plant outside Richland. But the board reduced the amount of the penalties from $120,000 to $80,000. Jane Hedges, Department of Ecology Nuclear Waste Program manager, said the violations were discovered during six weeks of inspections between July and August 2007. According to an administrative order issued to Energy Northwest in early October 2007, the Department of Ecology's findings included the discovery of two 55-gallon drums partially full of unknown liquids and 17 partially full plastic bags containing soil contaminated by petroleum products. Also found were a 10-gallon drum partially full of "dark sludge," and 12 five-gallon pails full of liquid waste, some of which was labeled paint.

Energy Northwest must pay an $80,000 fine to the state for waste management violations after a penalty against the Richland-based power supplier was recently upheld. The state Pollution Control Hearings Board upheld the 2007 complaint, filed by the state Department of Ecology after waste management violations were found at the Columbia Generating Center nuclear power plant outside Richland. But the board reduced the amount of the penalties from $120,000 to $80,000. Jane Hedges, Department of Ecology Nuclear Waste Program manager, said the violations were discovered during six weeks of inspections between July and August 2007. According to an administrative order issued to Energy Northwest in early October 2007, the Department of Ecology's findings included the discovery of two 55-gallon drums partially full of unknown liquids and 17 partially full plastic bags containing soil contaminated by petroleum products. Also found were a 10-gallon drum partially full of "dark sludge," and 12 five-gallon pails full of liquid waste, some of which was labeled paint.

Montrose County commissioners delayed a decision on a controversial uranium mill proposal Wednesday after nearly six hours of public testimony that underscored deep divisions between longtime mining families and residents of neighboring Telluride and San Miguel County. The Pinon Ridge Mill would be located on the far western edge of Montrose County, in the Paradox Valley near the Utah border, but the uranium and vanadium processing mill - capable of producing enough fuel rods to power a city one and half times the size of Denver - has been meeting with stiff opposition from residents of Telluride and Ridgway. They argue the mill will re-stigmatize the area once known as the capital of the global uranium industry, irreparably damaging the region's new reputation as an outdoor recreation mecca and international tourism destination. Proponents counter the western end of Montrose County has been severely depressed for decades, struggling for jobs and a sustainable economy since the last big uranium boom tapered off in the 1970s and '80s in the wake of nuclear power-plant disasters at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. They also say technology has changed dramatically since the days when Uravan produced uranium for the first atomic weapons but is now a toxic ghost town.

Valhi, Inc. (NYSE: VHI) announced that the Executive Director of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has signed and declared effective a license for the near-surface disposal of Class A, B and C low-level radioactive waste ("LLRW") to Waste Control Specialists LLC ("WCS"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Valhi, following WCS completing its last administrative requirement of acquiring 100% of the mineral rights at its west-Texas facility. "Since the final LLRW license was granted in January of this year, we have worked diligently to complete all of the necessary requirements so the license could be signed and declared effective," said William J. Lindquist, Chief Executive Officer of WCS. "The process is now complete and we are ready to begin constructing the LLRW disposal facility, after recently completing construction of the byproduct material disposal facility. Following the anticipated opening of our LLRW disposal facility in late 2010, WCS will provide the industry with a 'one-stop shop' for its waste needs by having the broadest range of capabilities of any commercial enterprise in the U.S. for the storage, treatment and permanent disposal of hazardous, toxic, low-level and mixed LLRW and radioactive byproduct material. We believe our Texas-based solution will provide WCS with a significant competitive advantage in this multi-billion dollar industry since the only U.S. commercial facility currently authorized to accept low-level and mixed LLRW is limited to disposing of Class A waste, while WCS will be able to permanently dispose of Class A, B and C LLRW."

Concerns center on water usage, cost and spent fuel disposal. The future of San Antonio's ever-growing power needs was addressed Aug. 26 in McAllister Fine Arts Center during KSTX's Town Hall forum on energy. While the topic of the forum was all things energy, most of the evening's questions centered on CPS' proposed $10 billion-$13 billion expansion of the South Texas Project nuclear power plant in Bay City, which intends to add two additional nuclear reactors, as well as conversation on use of alternative and renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power. Construction for the new reactors, dubbed STP 3 & 4, is slated to begin in 2012. CPS' use of renewable resources, including solar, wind and natural gas, equals over 11 percent of the city's peak energy demand, according to the company's Web site. The Web site also lists a goal to increase that percentage to 20 percent by 2020.

Federal researchers are still looking for that silver bullet that will enable them to clean up contaminated and radioactive waters beneath so many toxic heaps, the result of decades of dumping of atomic weapons and nuclear power waste. One of the technologies gaining federal attention is also getting treatment from researchers at Texas A&M, Kingsville. In a partnership with Uranium Resources, Inc., which operates the Kingsville Dome uranium mine a couple miles south of the city, Lee Clapp, associate professor of environmental engineering (left, with imported radioactive waste) is leading a team of students in a study of the ability of hydrogen to clean up shop.

The Florida Public Service Commission took several measures this week aimed at addressing allegations that some agency officials improperly conversed with FPL. Some PSC commissioners and staffers have talked to FPL employees in private meetings and via phone calls and text messages -- conversations that leave no paper trail. State law restricts conversations between commissioners and employees of utilities they regulate. There's debate about whether the law applies to commissioners' chief advisors. Amid the accusations, the PSC took several actions and floated a few proposals: -Four PSC employees stepped down or went on leave -PSC Chairman Matthew Carter ordered the agency to disable both text and instant messaging on state-issued smart phones. -Commissioner Lisa Edgar asked for a review of the agency's policies on retaining public records in light of new technologies such as instant messaging. -Commissioner Nathan Skop proposed blocking agency computers from accessing instant messaging sites on Yahoo, AOL and Twitter during hearings; banning all smart phones from the PSC hearing room; and buying software that allows the PSC to log smart phone use.

The country's sole provider of enriched uranium for nuclear power plants says Exelon Generation Co. has signed a contract valued at nearly $1.2 billion to buy separative work units from its American Centrifuge Plant. Bethesda, Md.-based USEC has been building the plant on the site of a former gaseous diffusion plant about 80 miles east of Cincinnati. The company says Exelon will buy the separative work units to fuel its reactors. Separative work units are a standard measure of processed uranium. USEC Inc. says customers have committed to buying output from the plant valued at more than $3.4 billion.

A reckless energy proposal to provide the nuclear industry with $700 billion in federal loan guarantees was revealed in a recent article, "In Alternative Energy Plan, GOP Calls for 100 New Nuclear Plants in 20 years" by Mosheh Oinounou. Evidence suggests that would expose U.S. citizens to more financial, environmental, and health harm and wouldn't provide additional energy for eight to 10 years at the earliest. Every dollar directed to dangerous, polluting, and costly nuclear power in the energy bill is a dollar that won't be available for safer, more sustainable solar and wind power, which can be produced far sooner. Removing hundreds of billions in nuclear power giveaways (past and present), solar and wind power would be far cheaper without the risks. In this economy it's time to shift the entire financial burden to the nuclear industry where it belongs. This latest nuclear power money grab for $700 billion must be stopped. Enough unlimited tax incentives, loans, loan guarantees, and grants. Potentially a trillion dollars could be wasted on nuclear power that makes things worse, not better.

Editor's note: This is the first installment of Daniel Ellsberg's personal memoir of the nuclear era, "The American Doomsday Machine." The online book will recount highlights of his six years of research and consulting for the Departments of Defense and State and the White House on issues of nuclear command and control, nuclear war planning and nuclear crises. It further draws on 34 subsequent years of research and activism largely on nuclear policy, which followed the intervening 11 years of his preoccupation with the Vietnam War. Subsequent installments also will appear on Truthdig. The author is a senior fellow of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. American Planning for a Hundred Holocausts One day in the spring of 1961, soon after my 30th birthday, I was shown how our world would end. Not the Earth, not-so far as I knew then-all humanity or life, but the destruction of most cities and people in the Northern Hemisphere.

The public will be left in the dark by a rushed schedule of legislative committee hearings on the province's energy future rammed through by the Saskatchewan Party government, the NDP Opposition said Wednesday. The Crown and Central Agencies committee was asked in the spring to "conduct an inquiry to determine how the province can best meet the growing demand for electricity in a manner that is safe, reliable, environmentally sustainable and affordable." But the NDP's Trent Wotherspoon said the government's plan for nine days of committee hearings to be held after the Sept. 21 byelections and before the start of the legislature session on Oct. 21 is woefully inadequate given the scope of the issue.

Anti-nuclear activists in Alice Springs say changes to uranium royalties in the Northern Territory will make way for the exploitation of Aboriginal communities. The bill extends the royalty system so miners pay a fixed rate only if they are making profits, rather than basing the rate on production. The bill was passed in the federal Senate earlier this week. Jimmy Cocking from the Arid Lands Environment Centre says the Federal Government has bowed to industry pressure and Aboriginal people will suffer. "It's going to be easier for companies to get it up so you might find that companies who are more marginal - not the big producers but the more marginal companies - will start digging and then find out that they can't even pay for the rehabilitation costs," he said. "That's of concern because you end up with a big radioactive hole and no money to fill it with."