Where is Congress with appropriations?
Kenneth Chamberlain, National Journal
August 29, 2011

 

When Congress returns September 7 from its August recess, at the forefront of its priorities will be the completion of the annual appropriations bills. This is true in any calendar year, given that the federal government's fiscal year begins October 1, but may be especially pertinent this year with the new congressional super committee scheduled to meet.

 

Where is Congress in passing the 12 major appropriations bills for fiscal 2012 by September 30? They still have a ways to go. So far, the House has passed only six of the bills and the Senate only one.

 

 

CDOD Announces Nuclear Fuel Cycle Summit 2012

Carlsbad Department of Development
August 30, 2011

 

The Carlsbad Department of Development (CDOD) has announced the first annual National Nuclear Fuel Cycle Summit, taking place April 2-5, 2012.  The Summit will be hosted by Carlsbad, New Mexico, and will include renowned experts from the various nuclear-related industries from across the nation.

 

Panel discussions will provide members of the public and policymakers with valuable insights into and strategies addressing our national nuclear fuel cycle policies, our nation's growing energy needs, nuclear waste management, regulation, and funding. A lively discussion on the highly anticipated recommendations from the President's Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future will round out the last day of the summit. Other summit highlights include limited tours of the nation's only permitted and operating geologic nuclear waste repository, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (or WIPP) and an evening dinner and reception on Lake Carlsbad.

 

 

B Reactor moves toward being a museum
Annette Cary, Tri-City Herald
August 30, 2011

 

B Reactor should take the next step this fall toward becoming a museum that anyone can visit.

 

Legislation to make Hanford's historic B Reactor part of the national park system should be introduced then, Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., said Monday. Hastings is chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, which oversees the National Park Service.

 

 

Amodei: No reason to close Yucca Mountain entirely
Karoun Demirjian, Las Vegas Sun
August 30, 2011

 

For three decades, firm opposition to any sort of nuclear development for Yucca Mountain has been a rite of passage for any candidate seeking national political office representing Nevada.

But the past few congressional races, Republicans have been bending that rule.

 

Mark Amodei, candidate for Nevada's 2nd Congressional District seat. told the editorial board of the Las Vegas Sun on Monday that he would be happy to keep funding the development of the Yucca Mountain project through the Energy Department, with the hope of turning it into a bastion of nuclear research and reprocessing.

 

 

Hastings hopeful for less painful Hanford budget
Annette Cary, Tri-City Herald
August 25, 2011

 

There still is hope that the Hanford nuclear reservation budget for fiscal 2012 may not be as grim as proposed layoffs indicate, Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., said Wednesday.

 

He spoke at the Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce lunch in Pasco, also discussing the budget deficit, saving dams, Rattlesnake Mountain and the 2012 race for the presidency.

 

 

DOE prepared to take steps toward Hanford land transfer
Annette Cary, Tri-City Herald
August 26, 2011

 

The Department of Energy is prepared to take the necessary steps to transfer a parcel of Hanford land to the Tri-City Development Council in hopes of eventually creating thousands of jobs.

 

In a recent letter, DOE signals that the agency is looking favorably on the TRIDEC request, although it still is an early step in the process.

 

"That is a very exciting letter for us," said Gary Petersen, vice president of Hanford programs for TRIDEC. "It's like setting a ball on the tee and saying we're going to drive it now."

 

 

SRNS head Flowers to step down
Anna Dolianitis, Aiken Standard
August 31, 2011

 

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions President and CEO Garry Flowers will step down from his position at the Savannah River Site and leave the Aiken area, an SRNS spokesperson confirmed Wednesday afternoon.

 

 

SRS nuclear waste travels in new breed of container
Rob Pavey, The Augusta Chronicle
August 31, 2011

 

It weighs almost 21 tons - empty -- and cost $12 million to design and build.

 

In August, the U.S. Energy Department completed an inaugural nuclear waste shipment from Savannah River Site to New Mexico, using its newest shipping container -- the TRUPACT-III.

 

The reinforced boxes are made with inner and outer stainless steel plates and polyurethane foam. Pre-production tests included hoisting them 30 feet into the air and dropping them.

 

 

Quake shifted nuclear storage containers at Virginia plant
Brian Vastag, The Washington Post
September 1, 2011

 

Last week's central Virginia earthquake jolted huge concrete containers holding spent nuclear fuel at the North Anna power plant in Louisa County, shifting some containers one to four inches, said the plant's operator, Dominion Virginia Power.

 

The containers, called casks, each weigh 115 tons and are filled with bundles of uranium dioxide fuel rods that no longer generate enough heat to produce electricity.

 

The plant houses 53 casks on two concrete pads. Of the 27 casks on one pad, 25 shifted during the magnitude 5.8 earthquake that struck Aug. 23 about 12 miles south of the plant, Dominion spokesman Richard Zuercher said.

 

 

Japan to Spend $2.9 Billion to Clean Up Tepco Radiation Spills, Kyodo Says
Kanoko Matsuyama, Bloomberg
August 26, 2011

 

Japan will allocate 220 billion yen ($2.87 billion) to clean up in areas contaminated by radiation spewed from Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s crippled Fukushima Dai- Ichi nuclear plant, Kyodo News reported.

 

The government aims to reduce the level of radiation exposure to less than 1 millisievert per year soon, Kyodo News reported yesterday, citing Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano. Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who said yesterday he's stepping down from office, will visit Fukushima today to explain the government's decontamination plans for the region, according to a separate Kyodo report.

 

 

Bringing life to a nuclear wasteland [in Kazakhstan]
Louise Gray, The Calgary Herald
September 4, 2011

 

First, Makysh Iskakova saw a bright ball in the sky, "the size of a yurt." Then there was silence. "It smelled, you know, like hair. Like hair burning. The smell came back from the earth every time it rained."

 

Makysh is now 78. When I meet her, she is clad in a traditional brocade waistcoat, with dark glasses to hide eyes shrivelled by exposure to a series of nuclear blasts. "The soldiers told us not to look," she explains, "but I was curious."

 

Between 1949 and 1989, the Soviet Union detonated more than 456 nuclear devices on the Semipalatinsk test site, better known as the "Polygon."

 

 

Closing the Gaping Hole on the Nuclear-fuel Cycle
Robynne Boyd, Scientific American
August 26, 2011

 

Nuclear power has been making headlines recently, largely due to the earthquake and tsunami that triggered hydrogen explosions, the melting of nuclear fuel rods and releases of radiation at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. It has also featured in the news because the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is slated to approve the country's first new nuclear reactor in decades -Westinghouse's AP1000 pressurized water reactor - in the early days of 2012.

 

As the world continues to scrutinize the safety, financials and environmental aspects of nuclear energy, the practice of storing spent nuclear fuel at plant sites across the U.S. remains a pressing problem. It's particularly urgent since many of the temporary containment sites are nearing capacity.

 

 

Nuclear Safety and the East Coast Earthquake
Senator Dianne Feinstein
August 25, 2011

 

As a native San Franciscan, I know firsthand the destructive power earthquakes can have on lives, property and critical infrastructure.

 

Luckily this week's 5.8 magnitude earthquake, with an epicenter in Virginia, caused minimal damage and thankfully no loss of life.

 

The earthquake did cause two nuclear reactors at the North Anna Nuclear Power Plant in central Virginia to lose power, requiring the deployment of back-up diesel generators.

 

The incident was a stark reminder of how vulnerable America's nuclear power plants are to natural disasters.