Radioactive sludge heads for landfill sites in US

Thanks to James McGinnis reporting for the Bucks County Courier Times and found on the Phillyburbs web pages for the following.  Federal and state regulators have agreed to let Waste Management accept low-activity radioactive waste (which originated at the Limerick Nuclear Power Plant, Pennsylvania) at its landfills in Tullytown and Falls.

The landfill operator said it would transport 750 tons of sludge laced with radioactive Cesium-137 and Cobalt-60 in special “super sack, polyethylene bags.” That's enough to fill about 55 transport trucks.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission senior health physicist Betsy Ulrich said the “extremely small quantities” of radiation in the sludge pose an “extremely small risk” to the public. “It is highly unlikely that this would affect anyone.”

Environmental groups were nonetheless disturbed by the plan to import the radioactive materials to a municipal landfill along the Delaware River. “Agreeing to store nuclear waste is a slippery slope,” said James Browning, state director of the Public Intoerest Research Group.

Scottish beach contaminated by nuclear waste

Chris Haslam, writing for The Times online web pages this week, brings us a cautionary tale should you be considering a holiday by the sea in Scotland. A beach contaminated by nuclear waste is a “radioactive minefield” that should be closed immediately, say worried locals.

Sandside beach, an attractive bay two miles west of the decommissioned fast-breeder reactor at Dounreay, is a popular stopping off site for tourists on the Highland coastal route – but campaigners say that thousands of tiny but potentially lethal radioactive fuel particles have contaminated the sand.

The Dounreay Particles Advisory Group (DPAG) has estimated that 5,000 particles have been accidentally discharged from the reactor’s crumbling storage shafts, with many being washed ashore at Sandside and the popular surf spots at Dunnet Bay and Murkle, east of Thurso.

The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) says that just 27 particles were found on Sandside beach in 2007, eight of which were large enough to pose a significant health risk. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) is required to scan the beach for particles every month and say the risk is minimal.

Sydney properties built on site of uranium smelter

Thinking of buying property in Australia? Well, best read this report from the pages of The Age news site, then. New South Wales Health has been accused of failing to effectively clean up at least four Sydney properties at the site of a former uranium smelter that operated from 1908-1915. Some years after it closed the land was acquired by the state health department and subdivided.

NSW Health still owns the now vacant lots at numbers 7 and 9 Nelson Parade in Hunters Hill, but neither it nor the DECC could tell a recent inquiry where contaminated materials from the sites were sent after being removed in 1987.

"The records talk about it being removed and placed elsewhere but we don't know precisely where it went to," DECC regulation director Craig Lamberton said. When challenged about the disposal of the waste, he said: "Well, it was (more than) 17 years ago."

Navajo reservation due for major clean-up

This emotive story comes courtesy of Ginger Richardson, reporting for The Arizona Republic and found on the azcentral web pages. The U.S. government will spend tens of millions of dollars to assess and clean up uranium contamination across the vast Navajo Reservation, but the effort is unlikely to erase decades of frustration over what has been characterized as a slow and sporadic federal response.

The exploration scarred the three-state Navajo Reservation's landscape and resulted in what tribal officials call a public-health tragedy on the reservation. The premature deaths of Navajo miners, cancer clusters and passed-on genetic defects are all thought to be the result of prolonged uranium exposure.

Today, the Navajos say the new federal response effort, which includes testing of water sources and the review of hundreds of homes and buildings for radioactive materials, is a "good step forward." But they also have grave concerns about the proposal, which is short on specifics in several key areas.

"It's a significant step, but there's still a long road ahead of us," said Steve Etsitty, executive director of the Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency.

Alberta residents risk radioactive exposure  

This environmental story comes via Jeremy Loome, reporting for the Edmonton Sun. Albertans could face a significantly higher risk of radioactive exposure due to storage transportation, say opponents of a proposal to build a nuclear power station in Canada.

Canada is still 20 to 30 years away from completing a national storage facility which (according to the Nuclear Waste Management Organization) would see spent fuel rods from across the country being shipped to one central underground storage location.

According to environmental activists, a study out of the University of Calgary shows there is nowhere geologically appropriate at the proposed location that would suit an underground, temporary, on-site storage chamber.

With the Peace Country facility expected to take 12-15 years to be approved - if at all - that would mean transporting it to a storage facility elsewhere in the province. The risk from transportation will increase, says environmentalist and municipal councillor Trudy Keillor, when the federal facility is built some 15 years later. "Any time you're putting a lot more of this material on the roads, you are increasing the risk of public exposure," she said.

Texas waste buried near Mexican border

Here’s something from deep in the heart of Texas, courtesy of Enrique Rangel writing for the Lubbock Online web pages.  Starting next year, residents of Andrews County and south-eastern New Mexico will live with nuclear waste buried in their large but sparsely populated area.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality agreed to let Dallas-based Waste Control Specialists dispose of radioactive waste in a dumping site 3.5 miles from the Texas-New Mexico border and 30 miles from the town of Andrews, the county seat.

"We're very pleased. We're very excited," Rod Baltzer, president of Waste Control Specialists told reporters after the commission voted 2-1 to authorise his company to dispose of the nuclear waste.

Andrews Mayor Bob Zap said after the hearing that he and other residents in the community of 9,652 were supportive of the company.

"Our town, from the very beginning, looked at this and asked questions. ... We studied it. We worked closely with them. "We're really supportive of everything that's being done and supportive of the way WCS has handled it and will continue to handle it. We don't have any questions or doubts."

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White Man speaks with forked tongue at Vermont Yankee

This environmental tale is brought to you thanks to Susan Smallheer reporting for the Rutland Herald news pages.  The recent spate of advertisements promoting the electric power generated at the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant as "clean and green" doesn't tell the true story, said two Native Americans whose lands are severely affected by the nuclear power industry.

Lorraine Rekmans, of the Northern Ojibwa people from Elliot Lake, Ontario, and Ian Zabarte, from Mercury, Nev., secretary of state of the Western Shoshone National Council, spoke in Brattleboro  recently,  their last stop in a weeklong visit to Vermont.

Rekmans' home, which is located on the north shore of Lake Huron, was devastated by the pollution from 11 different uranium mines, which she said had turned 10 lakes in the area into radioactive waste sites. For every pound of uranium, she said, there is a ton of mine waste, and the waste was dumped into lakes.

"People who get their power from nuclear plants should know that uranium doesn't just fall out of the sky," she said.  Much of the Western Shoshone's tribal lands are now operated as the Nevada test site.

Development prospects at Ohio waste dump

Looking for a bit of land to develop?  Bob Downing, reporting for the Ohio.com web pages, may have the answer.

A cleaned-up Ohio toxic waste dump is seeking a new owner: The Industrial Excess Landfill, a Superfund site that has been in the headlines for three decades, will soon be for sale under proposed consent decrees in U.S. District Court in Youngstown.

Negotiating terms of the sale will be up to potential buyers and Industrial Excess Landfill Inc., the Akron-based company that owns the 30-acre site.

But the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has imposed restrictions on what can be done with the land: No houses, apartments, excavating or wells for drinking water. Potential buyers, Lake Township, are proposing to use the site as either green space, or a nature preserve.

Calvert Cliffs could be site of new power plant in Maryland

Gwen DuBois, writing for the Baltimore Sun’s web pages, brings us this environmental story from Maryland.

With the recent settlement between the state of Maryland and Constellation Energy Group, the power company is once again championing Calvert Cliffs as the site of a new nuclear power plant. This is not a cause for celebration.

On July 13, Constellation submitted the first new application to build a nuclear power plant in the U.S. since Three Mile Island. But the company threatened to go elsewhere if Maryland lawmakers re-established state regulatory control on new power plants.

Fear of a growing energy shortage is leading to calls for more nuclear power plants. With wind power already more economical than nuclear power, and solar power soon to be, one critic predicts nuclear power plants will be economically obsolete before they are built.

No uranium mining in Colorado, please

Here’s something that probably passed you by, courtesy of the Associated Press and Colorado’s Summit Daily web pages.

Jean Hediger can stand at the edge of her organic wheat farm in Nunn, Colorado and look west to the Rockies, east toward this speck-in-the-road town and straight ahead into what she sees as her worst nightmare.

A Canadian company’s plans to establish a uranium mine just across the two-lane county road from Hediger’s farm has triggered a bitter tug-of-war with residents of this fast-growing region about 70 miles north of Denver who fear the risk of contaminated water and other health problems.

“How do you farm organically next to a uranium mine?” Hediger asks. “It’s pretty darned scary, isn’t it?”

Powertech Uranium Corp. Chief Executive Officer Richard Clement insists the firm’s closed-system mining process, in which a solution of oxygen and sodium bicarbonate is injected to recover the uranium, is safe. “There’s a lot of misinformation out there about nuclear, about uranium, about radiation, about the effects of mining,” he said.

5,304 fish killed at Oyster Creek plant (who counted those?)

With thanks to Tristan J Schweiger, writing for the APP web pages. A total of 5,304 fish were killed as a result of the unplanned shutdown of the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in Lacey, New Jersey, a company official confirmed recently.

Operators manually shut down Oyster Creek's reactor after one of the three pumps that feed water into the reactor tripped, according to a report on the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Web site.

A final root cause will likely take several weeks to determine.  Elaine Makatura, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Protection, said the determination of whether to impose any fines on the operator would be made after the cause of the incident is known.

1.4m Carolina residents to receive nuke pills

This report comes from Kathryn Thier, at The Charlotte Observer, found on the News & Observer website. Plans are under way to distribute pills to 1.4 million people in North and South Carolina to protect them in a nuclear disaster, replacing ones distributed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Officials are urging the public not to throw away their old potassium iodide pills as the Food and Drug Administration has extended their shelf life for two years.

Despite the shelf life extension, Carolinas officials are ordering new doses now. State health officials have said new pills are on order with the federal government to replace the outdated medication for residents living near nuclear reactors: The pills are expected to arrive around October 2008.

US visitors to be checked for radiation particles

Here’s something to make you think whilst packing your suitcases for your annual jaunt to foreign climes; a little gem found in yesterday’s Guardian. Apparently, there is a chance that future visitors to the USA and, possibly, Europe may find themselves being scanned for traces of radioactive materials! 

Because there are so many radioactive materials and articles going ‘missing’ every year (as we have mentioned in this section before) officials fear that it would be very easy to get hold of some of it for nefarious uses!! Our friends at the IAEA report that there have been 16 confirmed cases of illegal trafficking of enriched uranium of the past 10 years and also that incidents involving material with the potential to make a dirty bomb run into 100s.

People who have had radioactive iodine treatment (been there, done that!) are advised not to travel too soon after treatment as this, too, can set machines buzzing and bleeping and, in one instance back in 2003, led a bus in a New York tunnel to be stopped by the State Police as a passenger on board had had similar treatment earlier in the day!!

White powder causes alert in Whitehaven

A man who sent a white powder to a nuclear agency (the NDA) in Whitehaven, Cumbria, sparking a security alert will not face any charges, as police have now decided there was "no criminal intent".

At least 20 firefighters, along with police and two ambulance crews were on standby for more than five hours after mailroom staff alerted them over the package. Cumbria Police suspected the powder was toxic, but laboratory tests proved it was harmless.

The NDA said it was reviewing security procedures as a result of the alert

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Radioactive materials released to landfills

According to a recent report released by the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, radioactive materials are being released from nuclear weapons facilities to regular landfills and could get into commercial recycling streams.

Diane D’Arrigo, NIRS’ Radioactive Waste Project Director, said "People around regular trash landfills will be shocked to learn that radioactive contamination from nuclear weapons production is ending up there, either directly released by DOE or via brokers and processors.  Just as ominous, the DOE allows and encourages sale and donation of some radioactively contaminated materials."

And, just in case you were thinking about moving to Tennessee (well, you might) the report found that the State of Tennessee is a leader in licensing processors that can release radioactive materials for the nuclear waste generators. "Tennessee is serving as a funnel to bring in nuclear weapons and power waste from around the country to disperse into the landfills and recycling without public knowledge," D'Arrigo said

Going batty at Capenhurst

Roosting bats have caused a four-month delay to the UK's leading clean-up program. A colony of protected Pipistrelle bats has colonized the structure of the former Capenhurst plant, which is currently being demolished by British Nuclear Group (BNG). After hibernating over the winter, the tiny flying mammals are now fully active and there is a possibility they may begin to breed. BNG is hoping to stick to its 2009 completion date and is currently consulting with local conservationists. They are also investing in new roosting boxes to encourage the bats to live elsewhere

Wildlife flourishes at Chernobyl

The exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power station is teeming with life. It may be the most contaminated place on earth, but in fact it is a perfect place for wildlife. As humans were evacuated from the area, animals and birds moved in, including Przewalski’s horses. Existing populations multiplied and species not seen for decades, such as the lynx and eagle owl, began to return.

There have even been tantalising footprints of a bear, an animal that has not trodden this part of the Ukraine for centuries, and birds have been seen nesting in the steel and concrete shield that was placed over the reactor.

EPA investigates buried waste at Camp Lejeune

Here’s something that may have passed you by, thanks to the Chicago Sun Times: The Environmental Protection Agency is investigating whether cancer-causing radioactive material was buried in the 1980s near a rifle range at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, the Marine Corps' primary base on the Atlantic Ocean.

A recently recovered Navy document dated 1981 said the material included 160 pounds of soil and two animal carcasses laced with strontium-90, an isotope that causes cancer. The document said the dirt, carcasses and other materials containing strontium-90 originated at a naval research lab near the base and were buried in a remote area.

According to the paperwork, the waste was later recovered, ''safely stored'' and was awaiting shipment to an approved disposal site in South Carolina

DTE customers to contribute to new nuke build

Tina Lam writing for the Detroit Free Press brings us this environmental tale.

DTE Energy submitted 17,000 pages of documents last week to apply for the first new nuclear plant in Michigan in 20 years. If approved by the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the utility proceeds, the new plant would be built next to the existing Fermi 2 nuclear plant near Newport. The application won't be approved for at least four years, and the construction would take at least six.

The expected cost is about U$10 billion -- most of which consumers will pay as the plant is built. Those costs will be on top of charges that will add 15% to customers' bills over five years.

The plant's cost depends on uncertainties, such as future costs of steel and copper as well as recent problems in the financial markets. "Obviously, financing a $10-billion plant is a challenge," a spokesman said.

There has been a debate for several years over whether and how fast electricity demand is rising in Michigan and whether any new power plants are needed. DTE projects demand will grow enough to need a new plant by 2020

Hanford cleanup nears completion

This is a follow-up on a story we ran earlier this year, regarding the massive cleanup operation in Richmond. Annette Cary reporting for the Tri-City Herald continues with this report.  Hanford workers digging up the final trench at a burial ground north of Richmond are finding huge stainless steel tanks (one with radioactive powder inside) measuring around 10x 8 ft., and approximately 100 drums of potentially flammable zircaloy chips. They also found processing equipment and pipes. 

Workers have about 60 percent of the trench dug up, which Washington Closure expected might have different materials. The approximately 500-foot-long trench has been called the thoria trench (a reference to a white, powdery oxide of radioactive thorium that's sometimes used in gas mantles for lanterns). At Hanford thorium was used in a program to research a new type of nuclear weapon.

The zircaloy, a metal alloy of zirconium and a small amount of beryllium, has been in pieces large enough so far not to present a fire danger: the drums have been well marked with a sticker that indicated it contained beryllium

Chilling figures from Yucca Mountain

For years, Nevadans have successfully beaten back plans to build a massive nuclear waste storage facility at Yucca Mountain, just 90 miles from Las Vegas, writes Lydia Ball for the Reno Gazette Journal’s web pages.

As Americans find themselves sinking deeper into an energy crisis, the nuclear energy industry is pushing to build more plants around the country. There is one very big problem with this: It would also double the production of nuclear waste and right now the only plan for dealing with that waste is to ship it all to Nevada.

The high-level nuclear waste that would be transported is nasty stuff. Under the latest proposals, 15,638 casks of nuclear waste would travel to Nevada. Each cask would carry between 2 and 15 tons of high-level waste.

On its way to Nevada, the nuclear waste would travel through more than 703 counties in 45 states. More than 123 million people live along the proposed truck routes alone and, as if that wasn’t scary enough, more than 10 million people live within a half-mile of the proposed routes. Ultimately, Nevadans will be most vulnerable to a disaster.

A return to Uranium mining on cards for Colorado? Locals concerned.

Thanks to the pages of the Salt Lake Tribune web site for this one. Cattleman George Glasier sees the next nuclear era amid the blood-orange mesas of the Paradox Valley, Colorado; the same western lands that hold a darker legacy from the last rush to pull uranium from the ground.

Glasier, the one-time mining executive-turned-rancher, wants to build a uranium mill on cattle grazing land near his spread. It would be the first in decades for America. The land is not far from the toxic uranium mines, now mostly abandoned, that serve as a reminder of an industry born of the Cold War.

As the third global energy shock begins to drastically alter national economies, a potential shift in U.S. energy policy has moved to the forefront of the upcoming presidential election. Glasier also believes the time to return to nuclear power is now and thinks Paradox Valley, about 300 miles southeast of Salt Lake City, is well placed to reap the rewards.

The proposed uranium mill would cost as much as U$150 million to build, money that Glasier is still trying to raise. The company hopes to begin construction by 2010.

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Contaminated water shuts down plant in Florida

Our thanks to Donna Wright, reporting for the Bradenton Herald’s web pages.

A broken pipe caused the accidental release of contaminated water in Tallevast, Florida, over the weekend, Lockheed Martin Corp. said this week. The alarm system that should have been triggered by the leak and shut down the system failed to go off.

Local residents want answers: For months residents’ groups have been repeatedly asking for a detailed safety response plan should an accident occur.

While a safety plan is under development, Lockheed has repeatedly said that its systems are designed to protect the community and pose no risk. All that changed Sunday when the water treatment system failed and waste water from the most contaminated source of the plume spilling out of a storage tank. The water treatment system pumps contaminated groundwater from the source area of the toxic plume stemming from an old beryllium (illustrated here and Be, 4 on the Periodic Table) plant and into storage tanks where it’s sent through to a treatment system prior to being discharged into the county sewage system.

For now, the treatment centre is shut down whilst investigations continue.

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Getting careless down in Boulder, Colorado

Found on the World Net Daily web pages. A glass bottle of plutonium powder that probably cracked when a federal employee tapped it up against a piece of marble later fell apart, releasing the radioactive material into a Boulder, Colorado lab, according to a new federal report on the June 9 spill.

The report on the accident at the National Institute of Standards and Technology campus also confirmed the substance that makes up a key component of a nuclear bomb trigger was obtained without managers' approval. When the powder spilled the worker washed his hands at a sink connected to the municipal sewer system and left the lab, thus spreading the contamination. Boulder City officials have complained to Congress about the mis-management of the spill and possible contamination.

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Three strikes and you're out - trouble at Tricastin

With thanks to Angelique Chrisafis, reporting for the Guardian for the following. A nuclear treatment centre next to the Tricastin nuclear plant in Provence run by a subsidiary of Areva, is causing problems for local people. Last month an accident at the treatment centre during a draining operation saw liquid containing untreated uranium overflow out of a faulty tank. About 75kg of uranium seeped into the ground and into the Gaffiere and Lauzon rivers. Locals’ homes are plumbed into the local groundwater from the now contaminated wells. After the incident there was a ban on using the groundwater for washing, drinking and watering gardens: however, since the official ban was lifted recently, locals still won’t drink water from their taps.

Here’s a little footnote to this story found thanks to The Guardian. Last week, 100 workers at the Tricastin plant were contaminated with a low dose of radiation last week and it was also reported that there was a further ‘incident’ at this plant on Tuesday – an alarm was accidentally triggered and 120 workers had to be evacuated. The French safety authority, ASN, played down this latest incident and insisted that there was no leak and that the traces of radiation found on workers were from the previous incident! Well, no worries there, then…

Shall we go awandering in California?

Fancy Californian hike?  Well, thanks to David Sneed, writing for The Tribune/Mercury News, there’s an unusual one for you to try out.

Hikers now have access to three miles of coastline north of Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. Pacific Gas and Electric Co., which owns the plant and surrounding property, opened the entire length of the Point Buchon Trail to the public in June.

The trail, which is open from 8 am to 5pm Thursday to Monday, goes from the southern boundary of Montana de Oro State Park to Crowbar Canyon, a point just north of Diablo Canyon Power Plant. Hikers must sign in but do not need to be accompanied by docents (that’s volunteer guides to you and me).

The California Coastal Commission required that PG&E build the trail (which winds through part of a security buffer zone around the plant) in exchange for permission to install an above-ground storage facility for the plant's highly radioactive used reactor fuel. This is the first time the public has had access to this part of the Californian coastline in years. So, still fancy this, do we??

Texan's favour new nuke plant

Here’s a recent report from Allison Miles, writing for the Victoria Advocate in Texas. More than half of area residents surveyed favour a proposed nuclear energy plant coming to Victoria County, according to a recent Nuclear Energy for Texans poll.

The organization, a group dedicated to raising awareness about nuclear energy’s benefits, found 52% of the 601 respondents favoured a build in the area. In December, Exelon Nuclear selected Victoria County as the primary site for a proposed nuclear plant. The company is researching an area, but has not made a decision to build.

18% of respondents who favoured the plant said it was because of economical issues. Others cited the need for energy, environmental issues and efficiency.

Towards the end of the survey, the public received bits of information regarding the specifics of Victoria’s proposed plant, such as waste storage, safety records and inspections. They were asked to gauge their opinions, based on the information.

Tom Forbes, NET’s president, said: “ As respondents’ knowledge increased, their support also increased. ”

Safety training in Reno

Our grateful thanks goes to Lenita Powers, reporting for the Reno Gazette-Journal, for this gem: Members of two National Guard Civil Support Teams and the Reno Fire Department are in Reno this week, training with the city’s Hazardous Materials Response Team.

The 92nd and 95th Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team, from Hayward, California and Las Vegas, respectively, are training how to deal with chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear events. This will hopefully prepare them for any emergencies enabling them to assist local emergency services in the less-populated areas of their home states.

Here are some facts and figures: Each Civil Support Team has seven officers and 15 enlisted members. The emergency vehicles include a command vehicle, operations van, a communications vehicle that has satellite communication capabilities and an Analytical Laboratory System van that can detect more than 84,000 organic chemicals, toxic industrial chemicals, explosives, biological agents and other hazardous materials. Impressive, or what?

Tennessee Valley recycling programme

The following was filed by Mary Orndorff, writing for the Birmingham News/al.com web pages recently. New government-sponsored research into recycling spent nuclear fuel will be done in the Tennessee Valley under an agreement announced by the U.S. Department of Energy.

The deal between the Tennessee Valley Authority and the energy department will explore ways to reprocess fuel that leaves less waste with lower levels of radioactivity. The announcement also prompted Senator Jeff Sessions, a nuclear power advocate, to prepare legislation that would encourage the construction of the nation's first reprocessing facility.

The research agreement was announced by Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy, Dennis Spurgeon and TVA Chief Operating Officer William McCollum. TVA operates six nuclear reactors, including the recently restarted unit at Browns Ferry. 

Take your geigers to Spain

As our thoughts turn to what to pack for our Summer hols (bucket and spade, bikini, Geiger counter) here’s a little gem courtesy of Expatica’s web pages in Spain.

Two ditches containing radioactive material dug 42 years ago during the clean-up operation after two US air force planes collided midair in 1966, spilling their nuclear payloads over southern Spain have been found, according to Teresa Mendizábal of the government-run environmental studies agency Ciemat.

"Two ditches have appeared, each 1,000 cubic metres in size, which have radioactive material that the US army left behind at the last moment and which appear in confidential reports of the [US] Department of Energy," said Mendizábal.


The US army said then that it had cleaned up the sites, claiming to have shipped 1.6 million tons of radioactive soil to the United States. Mendizábal said that while hundreds of US soldiers camped at the sites during the clean-up operation, they had left nuclear waste behind.

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800 people being tested for contamination

There is a lot of traffic about the following incident at the moment, so we thought we’d join in. Our thanks, therefore, go to Martin Roberts, reporting for the Guardian’s web pages, for picking this up via Reuters.

Up to 800 people are being examined for contamination after a leak of radioactive material at a nuclear plant in northeast Spain last November, the nuclear watchdog said on recently.

The Nuclear Safety Council (CSN) said it had so far examined 579 out of between 700 and 800 people who had been through the Asco I nuclear plant in Tarragona since the leak and none had   been contaminated. The CSN said it was considering sanctions against the plant's operators for not providing it with enough information about the leak, which it considered to be more serious than originally classified.

The CSN was not advised until April 4 of the leak, which occurred during refuelling at the 1,000 megawatt Endesa-owned Plant and was first made public by environmental group Greenpeace on April 5. CSN confirmed this shortly afterwards and sent inspectors to the site. In a statement the CSN said it had raised its rating of the leak to 2 on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES)

Australia to expand uranium mining?

Pip Hinman has filed the following report on the Green Left Weekly web pages in Australia. The federal ALP government intends to proceed with plans to extend uranium mining. The Uranium Industry Framework (UIF), which was set up by the previous government of John Howard and has never been disbanded, has been given a new lease of life. Resources minister Martin Ferguson was quoted in the April 2 Age newspaper as saying: “Some countries see nuclear as part of their commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions”.

Uranium exploration is underway all around Australia and Ferguson wants Australian uranium to power nuclear reactors in other countries, and predicts substantial growth in nuclear power outside Australia. The UIF committee will shortly be churning out publicity putting the “case” for the nuclear industry, to be paid for by the uranium industry.

Dr Jim Green, anti-nuclear campaigner for Friends of the Earth, recently told Green Left Weekly: ‘Labour is using widespread concern about climate change to push nuclear energy.’

Florida's future - more power plants

The following article was found on the Tallahassee Democrat web pages recently and filed by Bruce Ritchie.

Florida's energy future, as envisioned by Gov. Charlie Crist and put forward in sweeping House and Senate energy bills, means more nuclear power plants and more power lines across state conservation lands.  For environmental advocates it represents a trade-off: the earth-friendly ends are important enough that some are willing to accept the means to get there.

Environmental opposition has been muted after Crist came out against proposed coal-fired power plants in 2007 and made climate change fixes a state priority. But some groups say Florida should do much more to conserve energy before heading into a nuclear future.

Crist signed executive orders last summer directing Florida to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Along with using solar panels to produce electricity and hybrid cars to save gasoline, Crist says nuclear energy will play a key role in reducing the emissions linked to climate change. After all, 'You have to have juice', he said…

Turkey Point great place to be a croc!

This is a follow-on to Friday’s nugget, found whilst searching for images of Turkey Point. It's a shame not to share this with you especially as it is Easter and if you think nuclear power is a bad thing.

Florida Power & Light's (FPL's) Turkey Point nuclear power plant has played a crucial role in saving the endangered American crocodile (crocodylus acutus). The plant, thanks to its cooling system, has become the main breeding ground for the crocodiles, which were on the brink of extinction 30 years ago. The plant's cooling system, consisting of over 100 km of canals, has created the ideal breeding environment for the animals, which can grow up to 14 feet (4.25 m) long and live for 50-60 years. The reptiles prefer the plant's cooling water canals because the constant water level within the system eliminates the problem of nest flooding and protects the nest from predators. Turkey Point has become home to one-quarter of the USA's entire population of American crocodiles.

NDA markets site development

Grateful thanks go to Anika Bourleyand, Chris Story and Cumbria’s News and Star web pages. In an announcement made on Thursday it was revealed that the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is marketing its sites in West Cumbria to developers who could secure the sprawling atomic complex’s future.

The creation of a new power station forms the backbone of the Britain’s Energy Coast Masterplan – a bid to use Ł2bn of public and private sector cash to transform the west Cumbrian economy by Ł800 million and create 16,000 jobs.

Agencies charged with revitalising the area’s economy believe it is a major move towards attracting firms interested in creating a new station in west Cumbria – fuelled by waste already stored there.

NDA officials have started a process to gauge interest from firms interested in developing its land, including Sellafield, Calder Hall, Windscale and the low level waste repository at Drigg.

US to become worlds' nuclear dump?

Found on the Christian Science Monitor’s web pages and filed by Mike Clayton. The US federal government is considering a Utah company's request to import large amounts of low-level radioactive waste from Italy – a step critics, such as Friends of the Earth, say could lead the United States to become a nuclear garbage dump for the world.

If approved, the company would ship up to 20,000 tons of metal piping, sludge, wood, contaminated clothing, and other mildly radioactive material from Italian nuclear-power plants to Tennessee, process most of it, then dispose of the remainder in Utah. It would be by far America's largest import of nuclear waste.

Tom Clements, Southeast nuclear campaign coordinator for Friends of the Earth in Washington, said: "The NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) has an obligation to deal with the waste generated in this country first and not accept foreign waste that fills up existing sites."

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Twin Falls drill project approved

Here’s an interesting report found via the Magic Valley web pages, part of the Times News group based in Twin Falls, Idaho.

A Canadian company's request to drill 21 exploratory cores on 2 acres of central Idaho's Salmon River Mountains to search for uranium (originally submitted in 2007) has been approved by the U.S. Forest Service.

The Yankee Fork Ranger District of the Salmon-Challis National Forest last month approved the Big Hank Exploration Project proposed by Vancouver, British Columbia-based Magnum Minerals USA Corp., a scaled-back version of the 3.5-square-mile, 71 holes the company had originally requested.

The exploration northeast of Stanley in central Idaho was approved as a "categorical exclusion" under the National Environmental Policy Act, meaning no thorough environmental study will be required.

Yankee Fork District Ranger, Ralph Rau said the drilling would not harm federally listed species, or cause harm to riparian areas, road-free areas, natural areas, or culturally significant sites. Friends of the West, an environmental group based downstream on the Salmon River in Clayton, called the proposal "totally irresponsible."

IAEA response team set up

An IAEA-based international nuclear emergency response network has become operational through receipt of its first pledges of assistance from four Member States. Finland, Mexico, Sri Lanka and the United States have stepped forward to make the initial commitments to the Response Assistance Network (RANET), a global response arrangement designed to coordinate international assistance in case of a radiation incident or emergency.

Warren Stern, Head of the Incident & Emergency Centre said: "With these initial registrations, we have successfully launched the first phase of RANET. When designing the system, we worked with a group of countries to make sure that RANET was interoperable and responsive to a State´s needs in the event of an emergency.”

The backbone of RANET´s capabilities consists of technology and trained experts which could be made available for on-site emergency response assistance.

Cleanup due at Richland, Washington State

Cleanup is due to begin on a dangerous burial ground just a mile north of Richland, Washington sate, according to a report found on the KNDO web site.

The US Department of Energy says this site poses the usual radioactive risks, but in this case, they also think the buried materials may spontaneously ignite once they're exposed to the air. Alicia Boyd, spokesperson for the EPA said: "It's good for the environment to go ahead and move this stuff to someplace we can have a better feel for where it is and that it's in a safe and secure location."

Records show workers could encounter pyrophoric chips of uranium.  That means flammable, in case you were wondering…

Government to announce new plant builds

Never let it be said that we don’t bring you up to date news stories.  This comes from the BBC’s web pages: The British government's decision on whether to build new nuclear power stations will be announced on Thursday.

A Number 10 spokesman said Business Secretary John Hutton would reveal the decision in a Commons statement to MPs. Ministers have already indicated they back new nuclear power on environmental and energy security grounds.

Speaking to the Sunday Observer newspaper, Gordon Brown said: "When North Sea oil runs down, both oil and gas, people will want to know whether we have made sure that we've got the balance right between external dependence on energy and our ability to generate our own energy within our own country.”

Yankee site released for public use

The NRC has approved releasing most of the 210-acre Connecticut Yankee (Nothing to do with Bing Crosby!) site for unrestricted public use, but said that the company's licence for the Haddam Neck plant site will still apply to the spent fuel dry cask storage facility.

Residual contamination on the land is below the NRC's limit of 25 millirem per year for maximum radiation dose, it said. Well, no worries there, then...

The 616-MW Westinghouse PWR started commercial operation in 1968, and was decommissioned and dismantled earlier this year.

How we gonna clear this up, then?

The following gem was found via the North Texas Star-Telegram web pages. Spokane, Washington State: Workers are trying to determine how to clean up one of the worst radioactive waste leaks in years at the Hanford nuclear reservation, officials said.

No workers were contaminated during this accident, and the spill was contained within a tiny area, posing no threat to the public, officials said.

The leak was estimated at 50 to 100 gallons, although officials are not yet sure how big it was, Delmar Noyes of the federal Energy Department told reporters during a conference call. The spill area has been capped to prevent the waste from becoming airborne. A plan to safely dispose of the spill is being developed.

"The release to the environment of this waste material is not acceptable," Noyes said.

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Rocket engine site added to cleanup list

Found this on the LA Times web pages, written by Gregory Griggs. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has determined that a former nuclear and rocket engine testing facility at Boeing's Santa Susana Field Laboratory near Simi Valley should be added to the national Superfund cleanup list.

In a letter sent to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the EPA's San Francisco office recapped the history of chemical and radioactive contamination at the 2,850-acre hilltop lab that first began operations as a nuclear research facility in 1948. Later, it also became a rocket engine testing facility.

According to the EPA, soil and water poisoned with trichloroethylene, estimated at more than 500,000 gallons, forced the closure of on-site drinking wells in 1980. 32 years of nuclear testing at the lab produced radioactive pollutants that have tainted water at the location and could affect municipal drinking water supplies in the future

Waste to go by road to Diablo Canyon

Here’s a report written by David Sneed for the Tribune newspaper. The latest plans for transporting highly radioactive waste from Diablo Canyon, California, nuclear power plant to a proposed underground disposal site in Nevada (Yucca Mountain) allow for the possibility that the waste could be shipped by truck over local roads to San Luis Obispo to be loaded onto trains.

However, officials with the federal Department of Energy say the exact method of transport will be made on a case-by-case basis for each nuclear power plant. This leaves open the possibility that Diablo’s waste could be taken by barge from the plant to Port Hueneme, where it could be loaded directly onto trains, thereby bypassing local roads.

“If a utility has the crane capacity and other infrastructure to load a rail cask but does not have access to a railhead, then a barge or heavy-haul truck will be used to move the cask to a railhead,” said Allen Benson, a spokesman for the Yucca Mountain Project.

Understandably, San Luis Obispo residents are voicing their concerns about this turn of events.

East Anglian sites to be redeveloped

With thanks to the EADT news pages for this one. Two nuclear power station sites in East Anglia have been earmarked for redevelopment, it was announced recently.

A new generation of nuclear power stations moved a step closer after British Energy said Sizewell in Suffolk and Bradwell in Essex were the most likely sites for new reactors.

A final Government decision on the future of nuclear power is expected in 2008 and British Energy has commissioned geological, environmental and marine studies to assess the impact of building new stations at its existing eight nuclear plants. The company also published details of extra flood defences needed to protect its power stations - all of which are on the coast - from the impact of climate change.

50th Anniversary of worst Windscale accident

Never let it be said that we are not paying attention here at anythingradioactive! The subject of today’s nugget is being featured a lot this coming week with a programme on Radio 4 plus, tonight, a documentary on BBC2 at 9pm. This report was filed by Russell Jenkins on the Times Online pages.

On the 50th anniversary of Britain's worst nuclear accident, physicists believe that they have a workable plan to dismantle the damaged core of the Windscale Pile 1 reactor with the aim of starting to clear away the damage left behind by the accident. The hope is that they can do this safely without having to immerse the core in water. This dirty relic of an early nuclear age has remained entombed behind its concrete bioshield since fire raged for two days in October 1957 and now, hopefully,  they will be able to find out how the accident happened

You can't keep waste at Sellafield - probably 'illegal'

We found this article by Terry Macalister via the WorldNews Network. The UK government has been warned that it would be "wrong" and possibly illegal to use Sellafield in West Cumbria for long-term nuclear waste disposal.

David Smythe, emeritus (that’s retired, to you and me) professor of geophysics at the University of Glasgow and a nuclear waste expert, said ministers should have ruled out Sellafield - assumed to be the favoured site - long ago after spending millions over previous decades on research that proved the area was unsuitable because of its rock formations. "There is clear evidence, after the expenditure of some Ł400m, mostly directed to the Sellafield area, that West Cumbria possesses no suitable rocks in which to site such a repository.”

Switzerland needs waste depositry

Asked what might happen if storing nuclear waste above ground becomes a major problem— particularly if Swiss voters continue to reject proposals to bury nuclear waste permanently at a deep underground site — Walter Heep, chief executive of Zwilag (a company that safeguards waste from Switzerland’s five reactors) is blunt about the problems that a lack of such a site will present for the future of the nuclear industry in Switzerland.

“We are not planning on a Plan B,” said Mr. Heep. “We need a final repository in Switzerland.” But a huge obstacle remains: more than a half century after the opening of the first commercial reactor, there is still no permanent disposal site anywhere for highly radioactive waste of the kind overseen by Mr. Heep

Ontario residents want proof of contamination

Residents of Port Hope, Ontario, home to two nuclear industries, held up their own self-funded research today as proof their lives are being threatened by uranium contamination.

After their pleas for federal government study and research went nowhere, the community of about 16,000 raised the C$11,000 that was needed to send some test samples overseas for analysis.

The group now says the worst fears have been confirmed and the results show their picturesque town is being plagued by an invisible killer — uranium contamination. Faye More, chairwoman of the Port Hope Community Health Concerns Committee, said Port Hope was home to two nuclear industries that have been there for decades operating without a buffer zone from the people, emitting uranium to air and to water every day.

Port Hope is also the site of the largest cleanup of radioactive soil in North American history and is currently home to the Cameco (TSX:CCO) uranium refinery.

Just mark the dates for testing days

With thanks to Brian Lawson writing for the Huntsville Times

On the second Tuesday morning of each month 100 sirens within 10 miles of the Browns Ferry nuclear plant will go off.

Tennessee Valley Authority wants people to be aware that there can be an occasion - with three operating reactors at Browns Ferry - in which a problem at the Athens plant prompts an evacuation.

In preparation for this, TVA mailed out 42,200 calendars this year to residents who live inside a 10 mile radius of the plant. Residents who hear the siren, outside the normal testing period, should tune in to their radios or TV to find out if emergency information is being broadcast, TVA officials said.

Residents in Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone and Morgan counties are all included in TVA's emergency plans. Because Madison County is considered a host county, it would offer shelter to residents if shelter needs prove too great for the affected counties.

Capenhurst decommissioning wins accolade

This one probably passed you by.  Work to safely decommission a redundant nuclear enrichment facility and associated buildings at Capenhurst, near Chester, has won a top accolade.

The site has come out top of all UK decommissioning sites for its safety record, progress against schedules and costs.

Capenhurst, which is bidding to become the first UK decommissioning site to complete its clean-up in 2009, was judged to have attained this accolade by the site's owner, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, in its quarterly review.Phil Malem, head of Capenhurst's decommissioning site, said: “This is a big endorsement of the effort and diligence of everyone on site”

Ontario could eliminate new plant needs

Ontario could eliminate the need for two planned new nuclear plants by counting on inter-provincial energy imports, stepping up renewable power generation and encouraging energy conservation, two national environmental groups say.

The Pembina Institute and World Wildlife Fund want to make the proposed plants an issue in this Autumn’s election and opened a recent debate by presenting a computer modelling study showing how Ontario could meet future energy needs without the new plants and how it could shut down its two coal plants before the current 2014 deadline.

Spokespeople for both the Ontario Chamber of Commerce and the Ontario Energy Association have called the plan impractical.

"The province's industrial plants, potential new automotive investments, new high tech investments, the millions of jobs these industries support - they all need to know Ontario has clean, reliable and competitively priced baseload power," said Shane Pospisil, head of the OEA.

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Dounreay workers monitored for contamination

Here's a recent news item, found on the Scotsman web pages:Ten workers were monitored for possible plutonium contamination after a surprise find at the

Dounreay nuclear plant.  A team of four was carrying out an inspection at a manhole where plutonium was not expected and so were not wearing respiratory gear.

Readings showed suspected plutonium and work was stopped. Three of the four were being monitored as a precaution, as were another seven workers who have had reason to work there before. The UK Atomic Energy Authority suspended all work of a similar nature at the complex until it identified the cause of the contamination.

Safety measures in place for US power stations

Measures at the 104 US nuclear power stations to mitigate the effects of large fires and explosions that could result from a terrorist attack, including the impact of a large commercial aircraft, are now mostly in place and, with minor exceptions, will be completed by the end of 2007, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) reported recently.

In early 2002 the NRC ordered a sweeping series of nuclear plant security upgrades in the wake of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks. Nuclear plant operators have been working since then to implement site-specific measures to increase security. Nuclear plants are already recognised as robust, with the very design features that protect against external hazards such as tornadoes and hurricanes, as well as nuclear accidents, providing protection against potential acts of terrorism.

Russian Arctic waste dump could explode

Found recently on the Fox News web site from Oslo, Norway: A nuclear waste dump in the Russian Arctic may be in danger of exploding because of corrosion caused by salt water in enormous storage tanks, the Norwegian environmental group Bellona warned Friday. The three tanks are used to store spent nuclear fuel rods at Andreeva Bay, on the Kola Peninsula of northwestern  Russia, just 28 miles from the Norwegian border, the Oslo-based group said in a statement.

Alexander Nikitin, one of Bellona’s nuclear experts was quoted as saying:" We discover now that we are sitting on a powder keg, with a fuse that is burning, but we don't know how long that fuse is."

Muckaty Station waste dump 'safe'

Here’s a little gem found on the Australian ABC web site: The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) says the nuclear waste dump proposed for Muckaty Station in the Northern Territory will be completely safe. The Northern Land Council has nominated the site, 120 kilometres north of Tennant Creek, for a low- and intermediate-level repository.Traditional owners from the region visited ANSTO's Lucas Heights facility in New South Wales to see the type of waste that could be delivered to the dump.

ANSTO chief of operations Dr Ron Cameron said that the waste includes plastic gloves and contaminated clothing and is, therefore, completely innocuous. He was also quoted as saying: "I think some people want to use misinformation to try and get up a scare campaign. We want to let people know the type of waste that this really is.”

No public risk over Thorp leak

UK safety authorities recently completed their analysis of the internal leak of radioactive liquor at Sellafield's Thorp facility. Although the leak at Thorp was contained by design and did not put workers or the public at risk, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has concluded that the failure to promptly detect it was down to the "inadequate monitoring arrangements and management oversight"  Mike Weightman, the Chief Inspector of Nuclear Installations, called for sustained excellence in nuclear operation, saying that "High standards are expected."

Energy Alberta looks for host communities

Energy Alberta is searching for communities to host the province's largest power station, which would provide emission-free power for oil sands projects. The company plans to build a C$6.2 billion twin Candu reactor plant in northern Alberta, and is looking at various communities as potential hosts.

Canada has huge reserves of oil sands -extracting it requires huge amounts of heat and steam. The associated greenhouse gas emissions are a further barrier to economic oil extraction. According to Alberta Energy President Wayne Henuset, "I believe nuclear is the best way to produce the power the province needs."

German waste disposal site gets go-ahead

Germany's first disposal site for low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste is set to go ahead after the Federal Administrative Court ended years of legal argument and delay. The plan to convert the Konrad site,a former iron ore mine in Lower Saxony, and to use it as a final repository, was first approved by the state environment ministry in 2002 after almost 20 years of proceedings. The Konrad site will hold up to 303,000 cubic metres of waste - some 95% of the waste volume with 1% of the radioactivity from Germany's nuclear industry.

Faulty reactor start-up allowed

Internal documents seen by the Independent on Sunday, Britain's nuclear watchdog last month allowed a faulty nuclear reactor to start up even though it had not been fitted with an important safety system

The documents also show that the Nuclear Installation Inspectorate (NII) judged that the reactor, at Oldbury nuclear power station in Gloucestershire, was not safe enough to operate for the next 18 months, but allowed it to go on-stream until November anyway.

The revelations - described as "deeply alarming" by top nuclear expert John Large - are bound to fuel concern at a time when ministers are encouraging the building of a new generation of reactors.

Exelon receives Early Site Permit

Exelon have received the first Early Site Permit (ESP) to be issued in the new US nuclear licensing scheme. It certifies the Clinton site in Illinois as suitable for a nuclear power plant, to be built sometime in the next 20 years. The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has voted to approve the ESP and should formally issue the permit shortly. An ESP confirms that in principle the site is suitable for a new nuclear plant: should Exelon go ahead with a new nuclear plant at Clinton, its next steps would be to select a reactor design and submit a combined Construction and Operating Licence (COL) application to the NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission)

Two year delay at Cigar Lake due to rock fall

Following a dramatic rock fall and water inflow at the Cigar Lake uranium mine in October 2006,  developers Cameco have announced a two-year delay to the project. Led by Cameco, a consortium of Areva Resources Canada, Idemitsu Canada Resources and Tepco Resources have been developing the deposit in the north of Canada's province of Saskatchewan. In October 2006 a rock fall in the underground production area of the mine led to flooding which was not stopped by the closure of bulkhead doors. Cameco managers decided to evacuate the mine and allow the water to overtake it.

Uranium mining could return to Spain

Uranium mining could return to Spain. Mawson Resources of Canada has submitted two applications to explore for uranium in the La Haba district of Extremadura in southwestern Spain.  Spain currently has no front-end nuclear fuel cycle facilities: operation of the Saelices el Chico (Salamanca) uranium mine ended in 2000, and a previous operation at La Haba was shut down in 1990. The La Haba project includes the historic open pit uranium mine and existing resources, which are overlain by a 3865 ha State Reserve to which Mawson presently has no entitlement.

EPA fines Energy Dept $1.1m over 'violations'

Richland, Washington:  The Environmental Protection Agency fined the federal Energy Department $1.1 million over violations of an agreement to clean up the Hanford nuclear reservation, America's most polluted nuclear site.  The federal government created Hanford in the 1940s as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project to build the atomic bomb. 

This fine involved operations at a landfill that is the primary repository for contaminated soils, debris and other hazardous and radioactive waste from cleanup operations across the site. 

UKEA lodges planning application for new plant

The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) has lodged a planning application to construct an integrated plant to treat and store intermediate-level radioactive waste at Dounreay. The waste to be handled by the facility includes the raffinates from the recycling of used nuclear fuel from the site's two fast reactors which account for 50% of radioactive inventory and 80% of the radioactive hazard at Dounreay and are currently stored in underground tanks that are set to be cleaned out for decommissioning.

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Finland embarks on 'final' waste solution

Finland is one of a handful of countries to embark on the journey towards a "final" waste solution. Investigators will be the first to go down the Onkalo tunnel, aiming to demonstrate that the rock is structurally sound enough to proceed with the disposal of spent fuel rods containing plutonium and other unpleasant materials.

If they were to turn up a positive result, and if government agencies grant the necessary licences, the first canisters of spent fuel would begin rolling down the tunnel about 15 years from now 

WNA claims world needs 20x current nuclear plants

Environmentalists have rejected a claim by the World Nuclear Association that the world needs 20 times as many nuclear power plants to avoid the disastrous effects of global warming.

Using more nuclear power was not only environmentally damaging but would also risk increasing nuclear proliferation, the head of Greenpeace Australia said. .

20 Ontario plants store radioactive material in mine

There are 20 plants in Ontario, each producing 100 tons of radioactive material presently stored in tanks filled with water. They are now planning on storing it in a mine near the Great Lakes. We hope it’s a pretty deep mine

.

Scotland's watchdog plays down contamination risk

Scotland’s green watchdog played down the risks of radioactive contamination at a popular coastal resort in Fife following an 11th-hour intervention by government spin - doctors. Internal emails revealed the Scottish Environment Protection Agency delayed and then altered a news release after it had been described as "not entirely helpful"…

Carlsbad plant to receive high-level waste

More stuff to keep you awake at night: The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad in SE New Mexico is going to be receiving waste that is much more radioactive than the waste it has been storing. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson is scheduled to sign what ‘s being called a major permit modification for the plant that will allow it to receive the hotter waste.

Swiss nuclear bunker - doors don't shut

LUCERNE, Switzerland: For 30 years, tourists speeding south through the Sonnenberg tunnel to Italy have had no idea they are driving through one of the world's biggest nuclear bunkers. It takes two weeks to prepare in an emergency – oh, and by the way, the doors don’t shut!!

Homeland Security to up port defences with radiation scanners

San Francisco -- The Department of Homeland Security announced plans last month to bolster U.S. port defences with radiation scanners. The program, primarily aimed at detecting nukes smuggled by terrorists in shipping containers, will cost an estimated $1.15 billion, but won't be completed until 2011

Areva after US nuclear recycling project

PARIS (Reuters) - France's Areva (CEPFi.PA) is among several companies interested in vying for a nuclear recycling project in the United States, the world's largest maker of nuclear reactors said. Areva, however, declined to confirm that the investment would amount to between $10 and $15 billion.

Russian tanker looking for dump site for spent fuel

Heard on the news today (29th Sept) about the Russian tanker cruising the Arctic Circle carrying spent nuclear fuel and how its transportation is an environmental accident waiting to happen in this very busy sea lane. If you know any more, drop us a line and we may visit this topic again.

Radioactive material found in drinking water

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. - High levels of a radioactive material — nearly three times the amount permitted in drinking water — were found in groundwater near the Hudson River  beneath a nuclear plant although the owner, Entergy Nuclear Northeast, said it didn’t intersect drinking supplies

70 years since protection recommendations began

It’s been 70 years since international organizations began establishing recommendations for the protection of people and the environment from any harmful effects of radiation.

Cooling ponds safe haven for baby crocs

As most of the world’s nuclear power plants are clean, the areas around cooling ponds are often developed as environmentally rich wetlands, providing a safe environment for all kinds of wildlife. In Florida, for example, 160 miles of dredged cooling canals now provide a safe haven for newly-hatched crocodiles  

Nuclear energy produces no greenhouse gas

 Found in Cosmos magazine: Nuclear energy produces no greenhouse gases, but it has many drawbacks. Now a radical new technology based on thorium promises what uranium never delivered: abundant, safe and clean energy - and a way to burn up old radioactive waste.

Here, kitty, kitty!

Radioactive Kitty Litter  found amongst 20 tons of rubbish at a US nuclear power station sparked a safety alert. This was traced to a pet cat that had been treated with the radioactive substance iodine-131 - yes, really!! 

Jelly fish close Japan plant

A nuclear plant in central Japan was forced to slash its power generation after a swarm of jellyfish blocked off its pipes. 

We don't want refugee traffic around here

NEW YORK - A terrorist attack on a nuclear power plant and the panic that would ensue is a nightmare that has kept many Americans up at night since Sept. 11.

Particularly concerned are those who live near the plants: local householder Elise Cooper said ‘It’s beyond enormous: weekday traffic in the area is bad enough even without a catastrophe jamming the streets with fleeing residents.’

Unusual event declared at Nine Mile Point

SCRIBA, N.Y. Officials at Nine Mile Point, declared an "Unusual Event" effectively shutting down the nuclear power plant. The "Unusual Event" is the least serious of four emergency classifications defined by the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In order of increasing seriousness, the classifications are: Unusual Event, Alert, Site Area Emergency and General Emergency. There was no release of radiation or injuries associated with the event; all appropriate local, state, and federal agencies were notified.

Nuclear power gets second look in California

Thanks goes to Janis Mara (Costa Contra Times) for this piece found on the Inside Bay Area / Oakland Tribune web pages. As concerns about greenhouse gases and global warming mount, nuclear energy is getting a second look in California.

Stewart Brand, who created the Whole Earth Catalogue, which covered subjects including alternative energy, recently said: "Global warming is affecting the fisheries in northern California and creating drought to the south. Like a number of other environmentalists, I have had to change my tune,"

Indeed, nuclear is an energy alternative that produces fewer greenhouse gases than coal, generates cheap round-the-clock electricity and creates roughly 1 million times the energy released by the burning of oil.

Despite numerous obstacles, a small group of business representatives are fighting to launch a renaissance of nuclear energy in California and recent comments by Governor Schwarzenegger suggest that he is in agreement with these plans.

Hanford Nuclear awaits clean-up

This little environmental gem comes via Tacoma’s News Tribune web pages. Residents of Washington State once counted on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation being cleaned up in their lifetimes. Due to serious lack of funding it’s looking like not even their great-grandchildren will live to see the day.

The cleanup project long ago veered from the 30-year timeline laid out in 1989 when the federal government committed itself to remedying the toxic legacy of Cold War nuclear production.  President Bush has proposed the lowest level of nuclear cleanup funding since 1997. His budget would put the biggest cleanup challenge on pace for completion somewhere around 2150.

Some of the double-wall tanks due for cleaning are past their design life; none of them is built to last another 150 years. They will eventually fail, and when they do, the leaking waste will join the plume of contaminated groundwater headed toward the Columbia River. Nice one, George…

Hanford in need of clean-up

Our thanks go to Annette Cary writing for the Tri-City Herald web site for this one. Plans are being developed to start cleaning up Hanford's 13-square-mile ‘BC controlled area,’ which is spotted with radioactive caesium 137 and strontium 90 even though none of the work to produce plutonium for the nation's nuclear weapons program was done there.

Just south of the BC cribs and trenches 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.

Matt McCormick, Department of Energy assistant manager for central Hanford cleanup, said "This area has a large spread of contamination on the surface with the ability to move around with our winds,"

An engineering analysis concluded that the surface soil in contaminated spots should be dug up and hauled to a lined landfill for low-level radioactive waste a few miles to the west. Work to dig up an estimated 237,000 cubic yards of dirt could begin later this year.

Ocean County residents risk thyroid cancer

Our thanks to Alan Guenther, writing for the Asbury Park Press. More than 150,000 people in Ocean County are unnecessarily at risk of getting thyroid cancer if there is a radiation release from the oldest US nuclear plant, Oyster Creek, in Lacey, New Jersey.

Local residents are at risk because most have failed to pick up free KI pills that could be taken in the event of an accident at the plant. The KI (potassium iodide) pills originally distributed in 2002 have expired.

New pills were made available in April; but of the 162,951 people living within 10 miles of the power plant, only 4,150 pills were picked up at six free clinics offered by Ocean County last year and approximately 250,000 KI pills are stockpiled, unclaimed by the public.

If you thought that was bad, more than 35,000 KI pills are stockpiled at local schools in case there's a nuclear accident, but, as yet, have not been sent home with the children.

Rockwell man makes mini nuclear reactor

Whilst the Americans are worrying about a potential terrorist threat from Europe (and that includes us, people) here’s a little gem that makes this job worthwhile, courtesy of Jason Trahan and the Dallas News web pages. A 22-year-old Rockwall man's Internet boasts that he had made a mini-nuclear reactor in his garage resulted in a visit from the FBI and Texas Health Services.  They removed science equipment at the request of the man’s parents.

The man, who was not identified by authorities and who could not be reached, was experimenting with Americium-241, a man-made radioactive element common in smoke detectors, and natural radioactive ore that he had bought legally on eBay.

Officials discovered the homemade atomic lab in December, when they found the man's boasts on an amateur science blog. On it, he said that he had produced high amounts of radiation in his house while making Plutonium-239, a component in nuclear weapons.  Tests on the home did not show abnormal levels of radiation, and his neighbours were in no danger.

Robots to clean up offshore sites in UK

With apologies for the picture on the index page – well, we couldn’t resist – and staying in the UK, here is a nice little story from the pages of World Nuclear News. A team of underwater robots could scour the offshore next to the Dounreay nuclear site to remove radioactive particles from the seabed and reduce the number being washed onto the beach if proposals by the UK Atomic Energy Authority are approved.

Radioactive particles escaped into the environment, mainly during the period of reprocessing during the early years of the Dounreay site. The systems in place to minimise particulate release, including a diffuser, were not sufficiently effective to prevent the release of particles.

It is proposed that over the next seven years remotely operated vehicles will scour around 600,000 square metres of seabed.

Drum Thunker leads way in safer storing of nuclear waste

Back to ’97, this time to   Starkville, Miss.--A "drum-thunker" and a high-temperature electric torch were helping a Mississippi State laboratory develop ways for America and the world to reduce and safely store nuclear wastes..

Hurricane more powerful than nuclear weapons

Impress your friends at dinner parties with this little gem: In 10 minutes, a hurricane releases more energy than all the world's nuclear weapons combined.

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Lab coats on for nuke waste disposal

Lab coats on for a trip to the US: Back in ’97, a Dr. Delbert Day from the University of Missouri-Rolla, received a patent to research if glass may be the answer to safely dispose of nuclear waste by encapsulating plutonium in a special type of glass.

Floating nuclear power plant proposed for Russia

With thanks to World Nuclear News: A site selection process has been agreed for another floating nuclear power plant in Russia. At a recent meeting between the Republic of Sakha and Russia's Federal Atomic Energy Agency (Rosatom) the Yakutia region was proposed.

If you know your geography, you will know that Sakha is the largest republic in the Russian Federation. It spans three time zones in the Yakutia region (the proposed new site) but has less than one million inhabitants.

Rosatom said the agreement, signed by Sergei Kiriyenko and Sakha President Vyacheslav Shtyrov, was aimed towards developing an investment project for the construction of a floating nuclear power plant in order to support later infrastructure projects in the Arctic north of Sakha

Gorbachev - 'Look before you leap' when building power stations

Mikhail Gorbachev, the former Soviet leader, has warned countries to "look before you leap" before building more nuclear power stations. The Soviet Union had been forced to spend tens of billions of roubles to combat the radiation danger, he said, but the pollution of the soil, earth and air was still causing long-term damage.

Plutonium is dangerous - do not inhale

Here’s a gem from the department of the blindingly obvious: Plutonium is radiologically hazardous, particularly if inhaled, so must be handled with appropriate precautions.                                               

British Government must act over waste

The government must act now to dispose of Britain's nuclear waste, the Royal Society has said,

because the process itself will take decades. Their solution, based on current scientific knowledge: bury the stuff in deep concrete bunkers!