A Watchdog’s Warning on Nuclear Waste
‘When President Obama said he wanted to discontinue work to develop a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, one of the entities that filed suit to protect the project was Washington State, where vast amounts of nuclear waste accumulated at the Hanford nuclear reservation, a weapons site. As I reported on Sunday, a new report suggests that Hanford has a lot more plutonium waste that the Energy Department had acknowledged. This week, a blue-ribbon commission on nuclear waste established to seek alternatives to Yucca will hold two days of hearings near Hanford. And one of the experts giving testimony will be Gerry Pollet, executive director of Heart of America Northwest, which describes itself as a watchdog group focused on Hanford. Mr. Pollet’s prepared testimony argues that Hanford has deeper problems than the possible demise of Yucca Mountain. Even if Yucca had opened as planned 10 years ago, it would not have enough space for all of Hanford’s wastes, he argues. The Energy Department is trying to build a factory at Yucca that will take liquid wastes and mix them with molten glass to produce a solid, as a factory at another bomb plant in South Carolina is already doing. But at the moment, there is no final resting place for these ‘vitrified’ wastes.’
DOE nuclear loan guarantees reborn in House appropriations bill
‘A US House of Representatives Appropriations subcommittee has reinserted authorization for billions of dollars in loan guarantees for nuclear power projects in a draft fiscal 2011 funding bill for the Department of Energy after some members complained and delayed a markup of the bill last month when that authorization was removed, Platts has learned. President Barack Obama asked for an additional $36 billion in loan guarantee authority for 2011, but the House Appropriations' Energy and Water Development subcommittee June 24 postponed a markup of the bill when some subcommittee members learned that authorization was not in the draft bill. The subcommittee has rescheduled the markup for Thursday and, according to a congressional aide familiar with the process, the draft bill now will contain authorization for $25 billion in loan guarantees for nuclear power projects. Appropriations rules require that Congress appropriate 1% of loan-guarantee authority that DOE sought--$250 million in this case. While $25 billion is not the total the Obama administration requested for FY 2011, the House passed another $9 billion in nuclear loan guarantee authority in a supplemental 2010 appropriations bill June 1. The Senate must still act on it.’
Vilnius Hopes to Persuade Minsk to Abandon Nuclear Power Plant
‘Lithuania hopes to persuade Belarus to abandon the construction of its own nuclear power plant on the border with Lithuania in return for cooperation in the sphere of nuclear energy. On July 12, it was declared by Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius. "Seeking this cooperation, Lithuania could convince Belarus in that it is "not wise" to build power plant on Belarus-Lithuania border, When we implement our plans to construct our own plant in decisive way, and do not hesitate, we will consult with our neighbors, go forward with our plans step by step, perhaps, our neighbors' plans to change then. But to achieve this, we should not let the misunderstanding of our plans be", Lithuanian prime minister said. In the Baltic region, four states at the time plan to build their own nuclear power plants - Lithuania, Belarus, Poland and Russia. However, Lithuania is sharply against nuclear plant construction in Belarus. Lithuanian authorities, experts and society have expressed their concern that in the case of accident at a future nuclear plant, the territory of Lithuania can be contaminated by 80%, and Vilnius will be destroyed at all.’
Shaw, Toshiba, Exelon Agree to Team Up for Saudi Arabian Nuclear Projects
‘Shaw Group Inc., Toshiba Corp. and Exelon Nuclear Partners, a unit of Exelon Corp., will team up to pursue nuclear power contracts in Saudi Arabia as the kingdom invests to meet energy demand. The group wants to provide engineering, procurement, construction and operations for Saudi nuclear power plants under the terms of the agreement, the companies said today in a statement released through Business Newswire. Saudi Arabia is one of several Arab Gulf countries seeking to develop nuclear energy to meet rising electricity demand. Kuwait and France signed a civil nuclear-energy accord in April and the United Arab Emirates awarded a $20 billion contract in December to a group of companies led by Korea Electric Power Corp. to build four nuclear plants. Saudi Arabia’s Cabinet gave permission on July 7 for a draft cooperation agreement with France for the development of peaceful uses of nuclear energy, the Saudi Press Agency reported, without giving more details.’
Mayor concerned about nuclear steam generators
‘A plan by nuclear generator Bruce Power to ship 16 radioactive steam generators out of Owen Sound Harbour to Sweden has run into opposition by the city's mayor. Ruth Lovell Stanners said storing the school bus-sized, decommissioned generators, considered intermediate-level nuclear waste, next to the harbour and then shipping them on the Great Lakes poses too much of a public health and safety risk to ignore. "What happens if one of these happens to slip into the harbour?," she said Monday in an interview. "We happen to have a water treatment plant just down the way." Bruce Power officials are scheduled to speak to city council Monday night on the company's plan to ship the 100-tonne steel tubes to a recycling facility across the Atlantic Ocean. About 90% of the generator's metal will be melted down for reuse, while the rest will be shipped back to Canada and stored as low-level nuclear waste at Ontario Power Generation. Lovell Stanners said Bruce Power has already secured approvals from the federal government, which owns Owen Sound's harbour, to store the generators on its land and ship them out of its port. Owen Sound only has a say as to whether or not the city's roads can handle the 100-tonne shipments, she said.’
Nuclear power unit shut down after condenser pipe leak
‘A water leak at a 799 MW nuclear unit in Virginia led to its shut down July 11. Unit 2 at the Surry nuclear power plant in Virginia was shut down after a plant employee saw the leak in a pipe that carries water to a condenser that cools steam. There is no word on when the unit will be brought back online. Officials with Dominion Virginia Power, the company that owns the plant, said the leak did not cause any danger to the public.’
Jordan - 'No rift with US over nuclear programme'
‘AMMAN - Jordan-US negotiations on nuclear cooperation are going smoothly, the government said on Monday, dismissing allegations of a disagreement between the two countries over the Kingdom's peaceful nuclear programme. The government was responding to a news report published yesterday by Saudi Arabia's Al Madina daily claiming that the US had threatened to stop its military and economic assistance to the Kingdom if Jordan decides to pursue its plans to obtain nuclear energy without engaging Israel in the project. Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communications and Government Spokesperson Nabil Sharif dismissed the report as baseless, stressing that ties between Jordan and the US are excellent and negotiations over a nuclear cooperation agreement (NCA) are progressing adequately. "What has been published by the paper is irresponsible and false. The negotiations on the Kingdom's nuclear programme are still ongoing and we are confident that we will reach a satisfactory result. Our ties with the US are excellent and strong. We have many joint agreements covering various aspects of cooperation," the minister said.’