ECA Update: October 18, 2011
Published: Tue, 10/18/11
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Washington, DC October 20th, 9:00 am-4:30 pm
Note: BRC has arranged to provide (one-way) call-in service for the October 20th meeting in Washington. Due to the meeting format there two call-in sessions--one for the morning sessions and one for the afternoon. We hope this helps those who cannot participate in person.
The call in number is: 1- 866-906-7447
Morning Session
(9:00 am-noon, Eastern Standard Time)
The access code for the morning session is: 3909151
Afternoon Session
(1:00-4:30 pm, Eastern Standard Time)
The access code for this afternoon session is: 5258171
Keith Rogers, Las Vegas Review-Journal
October 17, 2011
October 17, 2011
A Monday report from government auditors dashed hopes that the shuttered Yucca Mountain nuclear waste site could be used in future for energy research, first responder training or even as a ground-control station for unmanned aircraft systems.
The main reason, the U.S. Government Accountability Office report said, is that legal battles over the site's intended use as a burial ground for the nation's nuclear waste would hamper any alternative use proposals.
Global Security Newswire
October 13, 2011
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Thursday testified on Capitol Hill that he opposes "any reductions" to President Obama's budget for nuclear warhead and infrastructure modernization, despite some pending legislative proposals to raid perhaps billions of dollars in coming years to help pay for other projects or reduce the federal deficit (see GSN, Oct. 12).
"This is too important," he told the House Armed Services Committee during a hearing on U.S. defense requirements 10 years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. "We have always been at the cutting edge of this technology and we have to stay there."
Representative Michael Turner (R-Ohio), chairman of the panel's Strategic Forces Subcommittee, asked the Defense secretary to respond to recent action by the Senate and House Appropriations committees to reduce Energy Department funds for warhead modernization and nuclear-sector infrastructure improvements.
At a dinner in Washington celebrating his mother's birthday on March 26, Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko received an urgent phone call: The nuclear crisis besetting Japan required him to be at Dulles International Airport in two hours to fly across the Pacific Ocean.
Jaczko proceeded to work for more than 24 hours on little sleep with NRC teams helping stabilize the post-tsunami nuclear emergency at the Fukushima plant. Then he flew 14 hours back to Washington in time for a March 30 congressional hearing.
Remaining Savannah River Site layoffs postponed till December
Rob Pavey, The Augusta Chronicle
October 13, 2011
Savannah River Nuclear Solutions will wait until December to proceed with its last round of layoffs under a workforce restructuring plan launched in the final weeks of 2010.
The reductions, expected to affect about 50 people, were to occur this month, but the company's new president and CEO, Dwayne Wilson, told employees in a memo this week the actions would be postponed because of "oepreviously announced plans to reorganize our company in early November."
The company, which employs about 5,500 at the site, was given Department of Energy clearance Dec. 31 to cut as many as 1,400 jobs.
Georgia awaits federal funding for radiation monitoring near SRS
Rob Pavey, The Augusta Chronicle
October 11, 2011
The U.S. Department of Energy still hopes to help Georgia finance its own radiation monitoring program for counties near Savannah River Site, but with less money and for a shorter period.
Georgia officials accepted an April 2010 DOE offer of funding to restore Georgia's independent monitoring program, which was administered through the state's Environmental Protection Division. DOE supported that program from 2001-04 but discontinued funding in 2005.
Recent discussions for restoring federal funding included an initial allocation of $750,000, but that sum has been reduced in light of leaner budgets.
Community copes with 2,000 Hanford layoffs
Annette Cary, Tri-City HeraldOctober 16, 2011
Editor's note: Hanford started this year with 12,000 workers and nine months later about 2,000 positions have been cut. Herald reporters and photographers take a closer look at what this means to Tri-Citians and our economy with a daily series of stories that begins today.
The day after the last of almost 2,000 workers were told they were losing their jobs at Hanford, Twigs Bistro and Martini Bar opened at the Columbia Center mall in Kennewick.
Business has been excellent, said general manager Will Willingham. Customers have been filling its 267 seats, with waits of up to 30 minutes on some nights.
Bob's Burgers and Brew has drawn so many diners since opening in Kennewick less than a year ago, that it's preparing to open a second restaurant in Richland.
Hanford ground water cleanup huge challenge, new pumps helping
Jake Ellison, Northwest Public Radio
October 12, 2011
RICHLAND, Wash.--Workers at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation are trying to flush and clean contaminated groundwater that runs deep under southeast Washington.
The massive plumes of radioactive and toxic chemicals are leftovers from plutonium production during World War II and the Cold War.
Decontaminating all that groundwater is a monumental task. And as correspondent Anna King found out, it will only get harder over time.
Some of the groundwater pumped up from Hanford near the Columbia River is so contaminated it looks like flat Mountain Dew.
Ex-NNSA chief says, 'I screwed up personally'
Frank Munger, Atomic City Underground
October 12, 2011
On my blog, "Atomic City Underground," I've posted a few things from a recent interview with Ambassador Linton Brooks, former head of the National Nuclear Security Administration.
Brooks was in town for a talk on 21st-century nuclear challenges at the University of Tennessee's Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy.
I asked Brooks for his thoughts on the growth of contractor fees at NNSA sites and the price tag on the proposed Uranium Processing Facility at Y-12.
IAEA urges Japan to be less conservative in nuclear cleanup
October 14, 2011
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan should be less conservative in cleaning up vast areas contaminated by radiation from the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, a team of visiting U.N. nuclear experts said on Friday.
Japan is burdened with the task of cleaning up the tsunami-hit Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima, located 240 kilometres (150 miles) northeast of Tokyo, and the surrounding regions.
The plant, crippled by a devastating earthquake and tsunami in March, has spread radiation, stoking public concerns and forcing some 80,000 people to leave their homes after the government banned entry within a 20 km radius of Daiichi.
China Marches on With Nuclear Energy, in Spite of Fukushima
Keith Bradsher, The New York Times
October 10, 2011
Meltdowns of three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan last March have put a chill on much of the world's nuclear power industry--but not in China.
The German Parliament voted this summer to close the country's remaining nuclear power plants by 2022, while the Swiss Parliament voted this summer to phase nuclear power out by 2034. Economic stagnation in the United States and most other industrialized economies since 2008 has produced stagnant electricity demand, further sapping interest in nuclear power.
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