Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:
Pakistan to 'tap' on nuclear energy
‘Washington may consider a civilian nuclear energy package for Pakistan at a major bilateral conference scheduled for the end of the week, U.S. officials said. Pakistan is on the verge of a major energy crisis. Energy officials said recently that the national energy grid faced shortfalls of more than 4,000 megawatts during peak hours, leaving several parts of the country prone to blackouts. U.S. and Pakistani officials meet Friday in Washington to discuss what Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. special envoy to the region, described at a U.S. State Department briefing as "a very broad and complex agenda." U.S. diplomats in Islamabad said the talks could include Pakistan's "desire to tap nuclear energy," The Times of India reports. The move is likely to unsettle strained ties between nuclear foes India and Pakistan. Nuclear security in the region is also a concern as Pakistan struggles to control a Taliban insurgency.’
Training support for emerging nuclear energy nations
‘While US organizations have agreed to help the United Arab Emirates (UAE) establish an institute for training its nuclear energy workers, Russia has signed an agreement to help Vietnam train its nuclear workforce. A letter of intent has been signed by organizations from the UAE and the USA to establish the Gulf Nuclear Energy Infrastructure Institute (GNEII). The GNEII will initially provide classroom instruction and hands-on experience in nuclear energy safety, security, safeguards and non-proliferation for the UAE's civil nuclear energy program. It could later be expanded to provide nuclear energy training for programs throughout the Middle East, UAE state news agency WAM reported. Meanwhile, Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom has signed a memorandum of intent with Vietnam's ministry of education and training related to the training of workers for the Southeast Asian country's nuclear power program. The agreement was signed on 17 March by Sergei Kiriyenko, director general of Rosatom, and Nguyen Thien Nyan, Vietnam's deputy prime minister and minister of education and training.’
One Bruce worker 'potentially' over dose limit
‘One of the workers exposed to contamination during refurbishment of Canada's Bruce A nuclear power plant in November could potentially exceed the annual regulatory dose limit. Additional information released by Bruce Power to the national regulator, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC), has shown that for one individual, the contamination, combined with the worker's 2009 exposure from other sources, could potentially exceed CNSC's annual regulatory dose limit. The contamination occurred when corrosion products containing cobalt-60 were dislodged during grinding work on reactor feeder pipes. The presence of cobalt-60 and alpha-emitting contamination was confirmed by outside experts in late December. Since then, Bruce Power has been conducting checks on 192 staff that could have been affected by the contamination incident. So far, according to the information released by Bruce Power, preliminary dose assignments have been made for 39 workers.’
Oyster Creek nuclear plant kills 1,000 tons of sea life a year, agency says
‘The Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in Lacey has killed 80 million pounds of aquatic organisms in the past 40 years, a federal agency says. In a March 15 letter to a state Department of Environmental Protection official, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service repeated its support for cooling towers to be built at the plant. In 2005, the service also concluded that closed-loop cooling (cooling towers) is the best technology available at Oyster Creek, according to the letter. A draft DEP permit calls for cooling towers, but Oyster Creek officials have said they aren't necessary and they'll close the plant if required to build them.’
The Tories are fickle and nuclear is too big to fail
‘Launching the Tories' energy policy in July 2006, David Cameron, gave a convincing and well-reasoned argument explaining why nuclear power must be a "last resort". Later that year he described Labour's enthusiasm for nuclear power as "irresponsible". As Cameron rightly pointed out: "The problems of nuclear waste haven't been dealt with. They have got to be dealt with in order to make any new investment possible." Four years on, we're no closer to finding out how to deal with highly toxic nuclear waste and the Tory leader's point stands as strong as ever. But unfortunately, the Tories no longer seem to care. Indeed, the Tories' new green paper on energy security shows remarkable dexterity in rewriting history, now criticising the Labour government for dragging its feet before finally coming round to support new nuclear. This political journey neatly epitomises the Conservative's new energy policy: confused, incoherent and lacking in credibility. Nuclear power has always required huge amounts of public money and David Cameron's signal that the Tories are ready to turn on the taps of taxpayer support risks billions which we simply can't afford. Both Labour and the Tories claim that they will not provide any public subsidy, but both know that this cannot be true when the nuclear industry that has never been able to survive without it.’
Russia Conquers Market of Nuclear Power
‘"I think Russia has the capacity to handle 25% or even more of the world's nuclear plant construction and operating needs," Vladimir Putin stated during the launch of the second power unit of Rostov nuclear power station. The unit is the first reactor launched under the program for the development of nuclear energy production adopted in 2006. "Everything was done on the highest possible level and in time," the Prime Minister emphasized. The station's story is not a simple one . Its construction was started in late 1980, and suspended in 1991. At the end of 1999 we decided to resume works. This is an obvious success for the Russian nuclear energy sector," Putin said. According to the federal program "The development of Russia's nuclear power generation complex for 2007-2010 and in the long term until 2015," the launch of the second unit of Rostov nuclear power station was planned for 2009. Yet , the official launch just happened . Two other power unites are to be launched in 2014 and 2017.’
Pakistan asks court to let it reopen probe of nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan
‘The Pakistani government on Monday sought a court's permission in Lahore to reopen its probe into scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan and his role in nuclear weapons-related discussions and transactions with Iran and Iraq. If the court agrees, the inquiry could create new headaches for Khan, who has been under a form of house arrest since detailed information about Pakistan's exports of nuclear gear first became public in 2004. Khan, who is widely considered the father of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program, now is shepherded everywhere by security personnel and generally prohibited from meeting with foreigners or traveling abroad, restrictions that have caused him to protest to the court. The government cited two recent articles in The Washington Post about Khan in making its request. Although a Pakistani aid bill approved by Congress in September calls for some funds to be withheld until President Obama certifies that Islamabad has provided "relevant information from or direct access to Pakistani nationals" involved in past nuclear commerce, the Pakistani government has so far blocked U.S. experts from interviewing Khan.’