August 29, 2016 – 81 FR 59251 – NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION – Information Collection: NRC Form 277, Request for Visit – The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has recently submitted a renewal of an existing collection of information to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review. The information collection is entitled, “NRC Form 277, Request for Visit.”

August 29, 2016 – 81 FR 59250-59251 – NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION – Information Collection: Criteria and Procedures for Determining Eligibility for Access to or Control Over Special Nuclear Material – The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has recently submitted a request for renewal of an existing collection of information to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review. The information collection is entitled, “Criteria and Procedures for Determining Eligibility for Access to or Control Over Special Nuclear Material.”

August 29, 2016 – 81 FR 59249-59250 – NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION – Information Collection: NRC Form 237, Request for Access Authorization – The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has recently submitted a renewal of an existing collection of information to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review. The information collection is entitled, “NRC Form 237, Request for Access Authorization.”

August 29, 2016 – 81 FR 59203 – DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY – Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Hanford – This notice announces a meeting of the Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB), Hanford. The Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463, 86 Stat. 770) requires that public notice of this meeting be announced in the Federal Register. CATES: Wednesday, September 14, 2016, 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. Thursday, September 15, 2016, 8:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m. ADDRESSES: Red Lion Hanford House, 802 George Washington Way, Richland, WA 99352. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kristen Holmes, Federal Coordinator, Department of Energy Richland Operations Office, 825 Jadwin Avenue, P.O. Box 550, A7-75, Richland, WA 99352; Phone: (509) 376-5803; or Email: Kristen.L.Holmes@rl.doe.gov. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Purpose of the Board: The purpose of the Board is to make recommendations to DOE-EM and site management in the areas of environmental restoration, waste management, and related activities.

August 29, 2016 – Science Alert – US physicists just revealed plans to build the most viable nuclear fusion devices ever – Physicists around the world have been racing to build a nuclear fusion machine that can replicate the atom-fusing process that’s fuelled our Sun for the past 4.5 billion years, in a bid to provide humanity with clean, safe, and practically limitless energy. And now the US government has just backed plans for physicists to build a new kind of nuclear fusion device that could be the most viable and efficient design yet.

August 29, 2016 – Mexico Star – IAEA Director General Focuses on Cancer at Kenya Conference – In three separate speaking engagements at the sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD), which was held in Africa for the first time, he highlighted the work of the IAEA in making nuclear technology available for development. Mr Amano focused in particular on cancer, noting that breast and cervical cancer are an important focus of IAEA technical cooperation in many African countries. TICAD is an initiative launched by the Japanese government in 1993 to bring the world’s attention to Africa’s development needs and promote high-level policy dialogue between African leaders and development partners. This year, for the first time, health was one of the main themes.

August 29, 2016 – The Advertiser – Nuclear industry forum for SA students’ held in secret over safety fears – SAFETY concerns over potential anti-nuclear protests have forced a student forum on the industry’s future in South Australia to be staged in secret. More than 150 students from across the state will take part in the forum, organised by the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission Consultation and Response Agency and the Education Department. When asked where the debate was being held, agency director of engagement John Phalen would only say that “safety of the students is our No. 1 priority”. He said the youth voice was an important part of the consultation program being run across the state. The safety concerns come after anti-nuclear protests in June. During a Citizens’ Jury, Premier Jay Weatherill had to walk through a group of noisy anti-nuclear protesters chanting “no dump” outside the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute on North Terrace.

August 29, 2016 – Pharmabiz.com – Radiologists to stop use of ultrasound from Sep 1 citing lack of clarity in PCPNDT Act – Radiologists from across the country are planning to stop using ultrasound machines from September 1, 2016 onwards citing lack of clarity in Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act. Since ultrasound examinations can help to diagnose a variety of clinical conditions and to assess organ damage following illness, stopping use of ultrasound will hamper diagnostic services for millions of patients. Ultrasound is a painless procedure to produce pictures of the inside of the body using sound waves. Also called ultrasound scanning or sonography, it involves the use of a small transducer (probe) and ultrasound gel placed directly on the skin. This comes in the wake of government’s hesitation to modify PCPNDT Act which has led to harassment of radiologists by the authorities for minor administrative lapses and not actual sex selection in violation of the Act. Radiologists explain that the violation of the said Act amounts to equal punishment for sex determination and clerical errors.

August 29, 2016 – EIN News – Four Brookhaven Lab Projects Selected as R&D 100 Award Finalists – Four projects from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have been selected as finalists for the 2016 R&D 100 awards, which honor the top 100 proven technological advances of the past year as determined by a panel selected by R&D Magazine. “This was a very strong year for research and development across various markets, led by many outstanding technologies that broadened the scope of innovation,” said R&D Magazine Editor Anna Spiewak in a press release announcing the finalists. “We are honored to recognize these products and the project teams behind the design, development, testing, and production of these remarkable innovations and their impact in the field.”

August 29, 2016 – Time – Why the International Day Against Nuclear Tests Is Special This Year – The Aug. 29 date marks 25 years since a major Soviet Union nuclear test site in Kazakhstan closed. he Soviet Union detonated hundreds of nuclear devices over a period of 40 years at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in Kazakhstan—but all of that stopped when the test site closed 25 years ago, on Aug. 29, 1991. Fallout from the mushroom clouds above ground and explosions below ground did severe damage over time on the surrounding populations, especially in the town of Semipalatinsk (now Semey) almost 100 mi. east of the site. Radiation levels are still as much as ten times higher in the soil and water near the town, and babies were born with deformities during and after the period of testing. Cancer leveled the population so that, according to a 2016 report, more than half of the town does not live to 60.

August 29, 2016 – Radio Free Asia – North Korea Sets Up Special Force for Radioactive Bomb Attacks – Top soldiers from North Korea’s military are being selected to serve on new “nuclear pack” attack units under each corps of the People’s Army, North Korean sources said. “Outstanding soldiers were selected from each reconnaissance platoon and light infantry brigade to form the nuclear pack unit the size of a battalion,” said a source from North Hamgyong province who declined to be named. The special units have been formed since March this year, he said. The nuclear pack of the 9th corps stationed in North Hamgyong province was organized as a battalion affiliated with the 45th division, which is located in Munhwa-dong, Chongam-district in Chongjin city, he said. The formation of the new squads of soldiers came at around the same time that the members of the U.N. Security Council unanimously agreed to impose a new round of sanctions on North Korea, following the country’s fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6 and the launch on Feb. 7 of a satellite-bearing rocket that the world viewed as a disguised ballistic missile test.

August 29, 2016 – Copenhagen Post – Danish particle therapy cancer patients to be treated in Sweden instead of the US – Cancer patients in the Capital Region now have a shorter distance to travel for radiation treatment using particle therapy. The Capital Region has signed an agreement with Region Skåne to send cancer patients to Sweden’s Skandionkliniken in Uppsala. Previously, Danish patients had been sent to the United States. “It is very gratifying we now have the agreement in place,” Sophie Hæstorp Andersen, the regional chairman of the Capital Region, told News Øresund.

August 29, 2016 – PRNewswire – Importance of Myocardial Perfusion Positron Emission Tomography Recognized in New Joint Position Statement by the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology and the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging – Bracco Diagnostics Inc. (BDI), the U.S. subsidiary of Bracco Imaging S.p.A., a global leading company in the diagnostic imaging business, announced today that the American Society for Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC) and the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) have e-published a Position Statement to explain why myocardial perfusion positron emission tomography (PET) is most useful in the diagnosis and management of coronary artery disease (CAD), and to provide guidance as to when it should be considered for optimal patient care.

August 29, 2016 – tctmd.com – Optical Coherence Tomography Improves Stent Placement, Ups FFR in NSTE ACS – The addition of optimal coherence tomography (OCT) to standard fluoroscopy can influence physician decision-making and quantitatively improves post-PCI vessel function in patients with non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndromes, results from the DOCTORS trial show. The study, said lead author Nicolas Meneveau, MD, PhD (University Hospital Jean Minjoz, Besançon, France), is the first randomized controlled trial to support a role for OCT in this setting, although hard clinical endpoint studies are warranted. “We need additional data,” he acknowledged in a morning press conference. “We need additional studies with clinical endpoints before considering incorporating OCT as the standard to use in ACS patients. But this is an important first step—the first randomized controlled trial showing the potential positive effect by FFR on the results of PCI in ACS patients.”

August 29, 2016 – International Business Times – Nuclear Fusion: US Physicists Examine The Viability Of Spherical Tokamaks In Producing Clean, Limitless Energy – Nuclear fusion has been powering our sun for the past 4.5 billion years. Unlike fission — the process that powers our current nuclear facilities — fusion generates energy by fusing the nuclei of lighter atoms into heavier ones, and produces no long-term radioactive waste. Imagine if we manage to replicate and miniaturize the process taking place in the core of stars. This would not only provide us a low-cost, clean and virtually limitless source of energy, it would also end our unsustainable reliance on polluting fossil fuels. In a recent paper published in the journal Nuclear Fusion, a team of physicists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), has detailed the design of a viable and efficient fusion device — one that already exists in an experimental form.

August 29, 2016 – WRVO Public Media – Exelon purchase of FitzPatrick will save its jobs, but how many? – Local IBEW 97 labor union president Ted Skerpon said the past year has been a roller coaster for the employees he represents at the FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant and the nearby Nine Mile Point Nuclear Facility. Both were on the brink of closure at one point because of economic losses. But now that New York will subsidize the state’s nuclear industry, Exelon says it will continue operating Nine Mile Point and take over at FitzPatrick. So the next step for the union regarding jobs, Skerpon said, is negotiations. “We will sit down with Entergy and Exelon for the transition and basically determine what’s needed,” Skerpon said. “But everybody should be good. hopefully we can do this all through attrition, and obviously looking at the efficiencies now that you have three plants what’s really needed.”

August 29, 2016 – MehrNews.com – Iran joins stable isotope producers – AEOI deputy Zarean has announced the setting up of a pilot plant for production of stable isotopes which adds Iran to the short list of global producers. Deputy Head of the Atomic Energy Organization Asghar Zarean made the remarks asserting “only countries like Germany, Russia or Ireland could produce stable isotopes while Iran has also joined them.” “The pilot plant to produce raw material for stable isotope was put into operation today in Uranium Conversion Facility (UCF) of Isfahan,” said the official Sunday, congratulating the Iranian nation on the great achievement.

August 29, 2016 – Construction.RU – Worker dies at Belarus NPP construction site – On the 26th of August, one of the workers died in performing his duties at a construction site of the nuclear power plant in the Republic of Belarus. As the Information & Public Relations Department of the Belarussian NPP enterprise announced on Monday, the fatal accident occurred in a Russian sub-contract group. At present, investigation into the worker’s death has been opened. Unconfirmed reports suggest that the builder’s death was caused by the fall of an oxygen container upon him. We should remind you that the Belarussian nuclear power plant, being constructed with the participation of Russia in the vicinity of the town of Ostrovets, will consist of two VVER-type power units with a total capacity of up to 2400 MW.

August 29, 2016 – Financial Express – Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant Unit-2 synchronised with southern grid – The 1000 MW second unit of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) was test synchronised with the southern power grid today, marking generation of electricity from the unit and its supply to the grid, a top KNPP official said today. “Unit two of KNPP was test synchronised with the southern power grid today at 1117 hours. Presently the unit is supplying 245 MW to the southern grid,” KNPP Site Director R S Sundar said. He said clearance was obtained from Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) for the first synchronisation of the unit with the southern grid. Sundar said the unit would be shut down for mandatory inspection of turbine-generator after a few days of operation.

August 29, 2016 – BDlive – Outa appeals for signatures on nuclear plants – PEOPLE opposed to Eskom’s “surreptitiously slipping” requests in regional government gazettes to approve Thyspunt and Duynefontein as locations for nuclear plants are urged to sign an online petition by the deadline at midnight on Monday, August 29. The online petition is at www.outa.co.za/nuclear (http://www.outa.co.za/site/comment-eskoms-nuclear-license-applications/Organisation) and was set up by Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa). It said it had attracted 17,000 individual submissions by Sunday.

August 29, 2016 – The Mirror – Russians fear nuclear doomsday as giant mushroom cloud appears over skies in Siberia – An enormous mushroom-shaped cloud rises ominously above a Siberian town – sparking fears among witnesses that doomsday has arrived. The terrifying sight could be seen for miles around and was captured on video from the city of Kemerovo, in Russia’s Kemerovo Oblast region. Emergency services were inundated with calls from worried onlookers that a nuclear bomb had been dropped and that annihilation was imminent. The terrifying cloud formation led many to believe Judgement Day was upon them. Others feared there had been an explosion at the coal mines in the nearby Kuzbass region. In fact, the terrifying-looking spectacle was in reality a rather beautiful, naturally occurring thunderstorm cloud.

August 29, 2016 – PhysOrg – Lab team uses pulsed ion beams to probe radiation defect dynamics in nuclear materials – Materials scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have developed a novel experimental method to access the dynamic regime of radiation damage formation in nuclear and electronic materials. Their approach is based on using pulsed ion beams for measurements of defect lifetimes, interaction rates and diffusion lengths. The creation of stable radiation damage in crystalline solids often occurs during migration and interaction of radiation-generated point defects—lattice vacancies and interstitials. Such dynamic damage formation is a complex phenomenon that could span the spatial range from atomic to macroscopic and the temporal range from femtoseconds to years. Due to this complexity, a full predictive capability of radiation damage accumulation still does not exist even for the simplest and best studied materials.

August 29, 2016 – The Telegraph – Iran deploys air defence system around its nuclear facility – Iran has deployed a Russian-made S-300 air defence system around its underground Fordo nuclear facility, state TV reported. Video footage posted late Sunday on state TV’s website showed trucks arriving at the site and missile launchers being aimed skyward. It did not say whether the system was fully operational. Gen. Farzad Esmaili, Iran’s head of air defence, declined to comment on the report in an interview with another website affiliated with state news. “Maybe if you go to Fordo now, the system is not there,” he was quoted as saying Monday. He added that the S-300 is a mobile system that should be relocated often. Russia began delivering the S-300 system to Iran earlier this year under a contract signed in 2007. The delivery had been held up by international sanctions over Iran’s nuclear program, which were lifted this year under an agreement with world powers.

August 29, 2016 – Sputnik International – Tehran Allocates Funds for Bushehr-2 Nuclear Plant Project – Behrouz Kamalvandi, the deputy head of the Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization (AEOI) stated that Tehran allocated money for the construction of two new nuclear reactors at the site of the Bushehr nuclear power plant.MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Iran has allocated money for the construction of two new nuclear reactors at the site of the Bushehr nuclear power plant, known as the Bushehr-2 project, the deputy head of the country’s Atomic Energy Organization (AEOI) was quoted as saying by local media. © Sputnik/ Valeriy MelnikovIran’s Bushehr Nuclear Plant 2nd Unit’s Start-Up Planned for October 2024Behrouz Kamalvandi did not reveal the amount allocated by Tehran to fund the project when speaking on the matter on Sunday but noted that President Hassan Rouhani gave the go-ahead for construction to commence, Iran’s state news agency IRNA reported.

August 29, 2016 – Aljazeera – Fukushima’s surfers riding on radioactive waves – On 11 March 2011, at 2:46 pm, Japan was hit by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake which generated a tsunami along the coast. The casualties of the disaster included 18,500 dead, 90 percent of whom drowned in the tsunami wave. The bodies of 2,561 people were never recovered. The tsunami hit the Daaichi nuclear power plant as well, a level-7 catastrophe that was the equivalent of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant meltdown disaster. Over the course of five years, nearly 50,000 people have worked to decontaminate the plant and stop leaks according to government press releases. They remove between 5 and 30 cm of contaminated soil every day and place them in plastic bags, which are stored on the outskirts of town, pending a better solution. In Tairatoyoma beach, a prefecture of Fukushima and some 50km from the nuclear plant, was among the most popular areas for Japanese surfers prior to the nuclear accident.

August 29, 2016 – Deutsche Welle – Problems persist at Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear reactors – It has been five years and five months since three of the reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant were crippled by the biggest earthquake and tsunami to strike Japan in living memory. Work continues at the site to clean up the radioactivity that escaped into the atmosphere and to regain control of the reactors. In its press releases, the Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) insists that steps taken since the accident are slowly but surely having an effect. But not everyone accepts their assurances – or those of the wider nuclear industry as it seeks public support to restart reactors across the country that have been mothballed since March 2011.

August 29, 2016 – WRVO Public Media – Environmentalists point to FitzPatrick safety incidents in new report – Environmental critics of nuclear power are seizing on a few safety incidents at the FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant detailed in a report from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The report notes multiple mishaps, like the oil leak into Lake Ontario that was connected to a temporary shutdown of the plant, and another event when two FitzPatrick employees were unintentionally exposed to radiation. The starkest finding is that solid nuclear waste which had spilled onto the floor of a contained room in the plant has been left untreated for at least four years. NRC spokesperson Neil Sheehan said that spill did not leave the site. “This is a locked, highly shielded portion of the plant,” Sheehan said. “Certainly no one from the public can get access to that, but even plant employees can only get in there after they’ve been fully approved to do so.”

August 29, 2016 – Aiken Standard – First Cycle unit at Savannah River Nuclear Solutions’ H Canyon revitalized – On Aug. 5, Savannah River Site’s H Canyon restarted the First Cycle unit operation for the first time in more than five years, giving the uranium from spent nuclear fuel currently stored at SRS a pathway out of South Carolina. In First Cycle, uranium from spent nuclear fuel is separated from aluminum, fission products and other impurities. This is the fourth out of five unit operations to restart since the Department of Energy’s Amended Record of Decision in 2013, allowing SRS to process 1,000 bundles of spent nuclear fuel and 200 High Flux Isotope Reactor, or HFIR, cores.

August 29, 2016 – WPLG 10 – Turkey Point workers prepare nuclear power plant for possible rough weather – The Turkey Point nuclear power plant is gearing up for the coming storm as workers prepare for bad weather. “Should a storm come like the one that is approaching now, we make sure the site is ready,” emergency preparedness manager Kevin O’Hare said. “As a result of Fukushima, (we) needed another level of protection,” Sergio Chaviano, project manager of the Flex Building, said. Inside a box are backup systems that can deliver power to the entire plant. “We have a pump here to the right, a smaller pump to the left. We have trailers that can carry hoses throughout the plant,” Chaviano said. The hoses can carry water to cool reactors in the event of an emergency, but crews said they’ve been preparing for hurricane season since March.

August 29, 2016 – Richmond Times-Dispatch – Siren test at North Anna station to be repeated – The North Anna Power Station Early Warning Siren test on Aug. 17 revealed an anomaly in the siren duration and the test will be done again at 11:10 a.m. on Thursday. The quarterly tests, which are required by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, occur on the third Wednesday of February, May, August and November to ensure the public will be properly notified in the unlikely event of a radiological emergency. Sixty-eight sirens are sounded and heard within a 10-mile radius of the station in Louisa County. If the primary siren system failed during an actual emergency, there is also a back-up siren panel system that can be activated.

August 29, 2016 – The Oak Ridger – Historic day: Last wall to be demolished at last of big five uranium-enriching buildings at ETTP (K-25) – The last wall of the last of the big five buildings once used to enrich uranium at the former K-25 site will be demolished Tuesday. Demolition on the last building, the K-27 Building, started in February. The other four buildings—K-25, K-29, K-31, and K-33—were demolished between 2006 and 2015. All five of the huge buildings once used a process called gaseous diffusion to produce highly enriched uranium for atomic weapons and commercial nuclear power plants, starting during World War II and continuing through the Cold War. The largest was K-25, a mile-long U-shaped building. When K-27 demolition is complete, it will be the first time that all of a site’s uranium-enriching gaseous diffusion buildings will have been cleaned up anywhere in the world, officials said.

August 29, 2016 – The Chattanoogan – Environmental Group Opposes Increase Of Output At TVA Nuclear Plants – The Tennessee Valley Authority has asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a license amendment to allow an extended power uprate (EPU) for the three nuclear power reactors at Brown Ferry Nuclear Plant. This would amend its already-licensed steady-state reactor core levels and allow a power level increase of approximately 20 percent for all three units, according to an environmental group that is opposed. BEST/MATRR, a Scottsboro-based chapter of Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, alleges that TVA “has presented analyses that under-predicts the reaction of zirconium and steam that would occur in a loss-of-coolant accident at higher temperatures.”

August 29, 2016 – KRCU 90.9AM – State wins approval to test groundwater near radioactive waste at West Lake Landfill – A special master has allowed the state to proceed with groundwater testing at wells in the portion of the West Lake Landfill where World War II-era radioactive waste has been detected. The decision Wednesday in a circuit court of St. Louis County comes after landfill owner Republic Services tried to stop the testing from moving forward. The tests were scheduled to begin Aug. 22, but the work was delayed when Republic Services attorney Peter Daniel wrote Assistant Attorney General Thais Folta to inform her the company would not permit the sampling. Daniel argued that the Missouri Department of Natural Resources has no jurisdiction over the northern portion of the landfill. The Environmental Protection Agency presides over that section of the landfill, labeled as Operating Unit 1, which contains radioactive waste. The state only has jurisdiction over the southern portion, Operating Unit 2, where there is an underground smoldering fire. But the EPA did not object to MDNR’s plans to sample groundwater wells in Operating Unit 1.

August 29, 2016 – Santa Fe New Mexican – Criticism mounts after PRC decides to reopen PNM rate case – The state Public Regulation Commission is facing criticism over its decision this week to reopen hearings for an electric rate increase proposed by the Public Service Company of New Mexico after a hearing officer in the case recommended a drastically reduced rate hike. Commissioners said Wednesday that the PNM rate case could be extended through December if the utility decides to submit more evidence showing that its energy investments are prudent. Reopening the proceedings, which began in April, would undermine a determination earlier this month by hearing officer Carolyn Glick. On Aug. 15, Glick recommended a 6 percent rate increase, a total of $42 million, rather than the 15.8 percent PNM was seeking to cover some $123.5 million in costs. PNM should not be allowed to include in its rate base a $153 million nuclear power investment, she said, because the company failed to show any evidence that the purchase was the utility’s most cost-effective choice.

August 19, 2016 – Business Insider – A typo and a bag of kitty litter might cost US taxpayers billions in nuclear waste cleanup – A typo and a bag of organic kitty litter may end up costing United States taxpayers more than $2 billion in nuclear waste cleanup, according to a new report by Ralph Vartabedian at the Los Angeles Times. Back in February 2014, a drum of nuclear waste burst open inside the cavernous Waste Isolation Pilot Project (WIPP), which is drilled out of a salt deposit nearly half a mile below the deserts of Carlsbad, New Mexico. The US Department of Energy (DOE), which funds the company that runs the nuclear waste dump, quickly suspended operations and launched an investigation to figure out the cause. In their 277-page report, investigators determined the blast vaporized nearly 7.5 lbs of the material inside a single barrel, labeled “Drum 68660.” That material included some radioactive isotopes of americium, plutonium, and uranium — byproducts of Cold War-era nuclear weapons production.

August 25, 2016 – 81 FR 58540-58542 – NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION – South Carolina Electric & Gas Company and South Carolina Public Service Authority; Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Station, Units 2 and 3; Piping Line Number Additions, Deletions and Functional Capability Re-Designation – The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is granting an exemption to allow a departure from the certification information of Tier 1 of the generic design control document (DCD) and is issuing License Amendment No. 39 to Combined Licenses (COL), NPF-93 and NPF-94. The COLs were issued to South Carolina Electric & Gas Company (SCE&G), and South Carolina Public Service Authority (the licensee) in March 2012, for the construction and operation of the Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Station (VCSNS), Units 2 and 3, located in Fairfield County, South Carolina. The granting of the exemption allows the changes to Tier 1 information requested in the amendment. Because the acceptability of the exemption was determined in part by the acceptability of the amendment, the exemption and amendment are being issued concurrently.

August 25, 2016 – 81 FR 58522-58523 – DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES – National Institutes of Health; Submission for OMB Review; 30-Day Comment Request Study To Estimate Radiation Doses and Cancer Risks From Radioactive Fallout From the Trinity Nuclear Test–National Cancer Institute (NCI) – In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the National Cancer Institute, the National Institutes of Health, has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request for review and approval of the information collection listed below. This proposed information collection was previously published in the Federal Register on May 13, 2016, p 29875 and allowed 60-days for public comment. One public comment was received. The purpose of this notice is to allow an additional 30 days for public comment.

August 25, 2016- Trend News Agency – Turkey ratifies agreement with China on atomic energy – Turkey has ratified an agreement with China on use of atomic energy for peaceful purposes, the Official Gazette (Resmi Gazete) reported Aug. 25. The agreement signed in Beijing between Turkey and China in 2012, has been ratified by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Earlier, Turkey’s Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources said that three nuclear power plants will be built in the country.

August 25, 2016 – Bloomberg – FBI Files Say China Firm Pushed U.S. Experts for Nuclear Secrets – A state-owned Chinese power company under indictment in the U.S. pressed American nuclear consultants for years to hand over secret technologies and documents they weren’t supposed to disclose — and in some cases it got them, several of the consultants have told the FBI. Summaries of the consultants’ interviews with agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation were filed this month in a federal court where the company, China General Nuclear Power Corp., has been charged with conspiring to steal nuclear technology. The FBI documents surfaced shortly after the same company became a focus of concerns across the Atlantic: The U.K. last month delayed approval of the country’s biggest nuclear power station in a generation as questions swirled about whether China General Nuclear’s investment in the plant poses a security risk.

August 25, 2016 – Unioversity of California – MRI scans may be able to diagnose CTE in living patients – UCLA doctors have found what may be an earlier and easier way to diagnose chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a disorder that is thought to affect some former football players and others with a history of repetitive brain trauma. Using a new software tool for analyzing MRI scans, the researchers detected the shrinkage of several key brain regions in a former football player with cognitive problems. The same pattern of brain changes is commonly seen in CTE cases that have been confirmed by autopsies after a person’s death. While the findings from this single case report are preliminary, they raise the possibility that MRI scans could be used to diagnose CTE and related conditions in living people. At present, CTE can be diagnosed only by direct examination of the brain during an autopsy.

August 25, 2016 – News24 Nigeria – The link between uranium from the DRC and Hiroshima: a story of twin tragedies – On August 6 – Hiroshima Day – I participated in a groundbreaking event at the South African Museum in Cape Town entitled The Missing Link: Peace and Security Surrounding Uranium. The event had been organised by the Congolese Civil Society of South Africa to put a spotlight on the link between Japan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC): that the uranium used to build the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima came from the Shinkolobwe mine in the province of Katanga. This was the richest uranium in the world. Its ore had an average of 65% uranium oxide compared with American or Canadian ore, which contained less than 1%. The mine is now closed, but its existence put it at the centre of the Manhattan Project in the second world war. The Congo was a Belgian colony at the time and the Congolese suffered from the harsh colonial reality of racism, segregation and extreme inequities.

August 25, 2016 – Space Daily – NIST’s compact gyroscope may turn heads – Shrink rays may exist only in science fiction, but similar effects are at work in the real world at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). After successfully miniaturizing both clocks and magnetometers based on the properties of individual atoms, NIST physicists have now turned to precision gyroscopes, which measure rotation. The NIST team has demonstrated a compact atomic gyroscope design that could, with further development, be portable, low power, and accurate enough to be used for navigation. Gyroscopes, traditionally based on mechanical components that spin or vibrate, are common in navigation applications and are increasingly used in consumer electronics such as smartphones. The new NIST device might find uses in applications requiring ultra-precise navigation with extreme size, weight and power limits, such as on spacecraft or submarines.

August 25, 2016 – Independent Enterprise – Idaho home to outstanding nuclear research – I had the opportunity recently to join with fellow Idaho Senator Jim Risch in honoring Idaho National Laboratory (INL) researchers Dr. Terry Todd and Dr. Mark DeHart, who were recently recognized as Fellows by the American Nuclear Society. Senator Risch and I submitted a Congressional Record Statement acknowledging this achievement in the official record of the U.S. Senate. Their accomplishments are a reminder of the excellent work conducted at the lab, and the exemplary Idahoans working daily, in a broad range of occupations, to make important advancements.

August 25, 2016 – KOLO TV 8 – Nevada radon poster contest open to students – Nevada students are invited to showcase their artistic talents and promote radon awareness by entering the 2017 Nevada Radon Poster Contest, offered by University of Nevada Cooperative Extension’s Radon Education Program. The contest ends Oct. 31. The contest is open to all children ages 9 to 14 years old enrolled in public, private, territorial, tribal, Department of Defense and home schools. Children can also enter through a sponsoring group, such as art, computer, library, reading, science, scouting, youth or 4-H clubs.

August 25, 2016 – Deccan Chronicle – Mumbai safe from mobile tower radiations: DoT – In a recent joint effort to analyse electromagnetic frequency emissions (EMF), noted telecom experts and doctors found out mobile towers in Mumbai were safe from radiation, and well within prescribed limits in India. A team of experts led by officials from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) tested telecom tower sites at Baldota Bhawan, Jolly Bhawan 2 and Haji Ali Juice centre and measured EMF emission levels across these areas and stated that all towers were safe, substantiated by the low levels of radiation that showed up in the tests. The average radiation from three towers inspected in Mumbai was 9.14 per cent of the limits set by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT); well within the prescribed limits.

August 25, 2016 – Community Financial News – ViewRay Inc. (VRAY) Director David P. Bonita Buys 1,138,074 Shares – ViewRay logoViewRay Inc. (NASDAQ:VRAY) Director David P. Bonita purchased 1,138,074 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 22nd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $2.95 per share, for a total transaction of $3,357,318.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. ViewRay, Inc designs, manufactures and markets MRIdian, the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-guided radiation therapy system to image and treat cancer patients simultaneously. The Company offers radiation therapy technology combined with magnetic resonance imaging. MRIdian integrates MRI technology, radiation delivery and the Company’s software to locate, target and track the position and shape of soft-tissue tumors while radiation is delivered.

August 25, 2016 – Asharq Al-Awsat – Rouhani Hit by Arrest of Official in Nuclear Negotiations Team – London-Doubts gathered steam on Wednesday concerning the arrest of the financial official in the Iranian nuclear negotiation team, Abdol Rasul Dori Esfahani, who is accused of spying for western states, at a time when the Iranian Foreign Ministry had denied for the second time in the past 72 hours “claims” about his detention. Numerous websites close to the Revolutionary Guards had spoken about the details of the arrest and the identity of Esfahani, confirming he holds a second nationality of Great Britain. Local reports also revealed that the detainee was an employee at the U.S. Treasury Committee, who had returned from the U.S. in 1979 to work at the Iranian Defense Ministry, and had become responsible of the Iranian money seized in the U.S.

August 25, 2016 – All Africa – South Africa: Nuclear Site Licence Applications Above Board – Eskom says it has complied with the set regulations in its application for nuclear plants in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape. “Eskom has complied with the process of the National Nuclear Regulator (NNR) in its application for the Nuclear Installation Site Licence (NISL) in Thyspunt [in the Eastern Cape] and Duynesfontein [in the Western Cape]. “Eskom takes exception to OUTA’s misinformed campaign that alleges Eskom is trying to rush through the process,” said the power utility on Wednesday.

August 25, 2016 – Plymouth Herald – Plymouth scientist warns of radiation risk to sea life – Radioactivity and warming seas could make the seas near the proposed Hinkley Point nuclear power station more dangerous for marine creatures, a Plymouth scientist warns. EDF, which will build the Somerset power station if Theresa May, the Prime Minister, gives the green light, already has an Environment Agency permit to release water containing tritium into the seawater. Tritium is a radioactive form of hydrogen, found naturally in small doses, and at much higher levels in nuclear power stations’ cooling water.

August 25, 2016 – Real Clear Energy – Nuclear Waste: Human Danger or Hidden Opportunity – Some day in the near future, the first of many loads of the most toxic industrial waste ever known will be transported secretly by truck or rail, inevitably past populated areas, to a facility buried deep in a dry, geologically stable rock formation. Once filled, the facility itself – along with others to follow around the world – will have to be kept off-limits to humans and animals for at least 100,000 years. For decades, chlorine-36, neptunium-237, and other nuclear energy byproducts – some with a half-life of over 2 million years – have been accumulating at power plants and temporary holding depots on almost every continent, with responsible officials knowing something more permanent would eventually have to be done. The New Mexico-based Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, for the disposal of weapons-related radioactive material, became operational in 1999, and pressure is growing to similarly confine civilian waste.

August 25, 2016 – Daily Tar Heel – Q&A with joint professor David McNelis on using nuclear energy – How is nuclear energy currently used in North Carolina? DAVID MCNELIS: We have five nuclear plants in North Carolina and they produce about 36 percent, roughly, of the electricity that we use. RELATED CONTENT Hearing delayed in Duke Energy coal ash settlement BENJI SCHWARTZ 5 HOURS AGO Trump campaign switches North Carolina director amid controversy CAROLINE METZLER 5 HOURS AGO Graduate assistants at Duke, other universities granted collective bargaining rights DANIELLE CHEMTOB 6 HOURS AGO NC scientists pitch in to help fight spread of Zika virus KENT MCDONALD 08/24/16 12:52AM NC Senate race heats up with challenger Deborah Ross SAM KILLENBERG 08/24/16 12:57AM DTH: How does North Carolina compare to other states in using and developing nuclear energy? DM: So about 20 percent of the electricity (in the U.S.) comes from nuclear power. And like I said, in North Carolina we’re about 35 percent so, on the average, we have more electricity coming from nuclear power.

August 25, 2016 – Aiken Standard – MOX responds to Nuclear Regulatory Commission about construction violations – AREVA MOX Services, project management contractor for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, or MOX, delivered a response letter after receiving official notification of construction violations. In a letter dated July 25, 2016, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or NRC, notified MOX of violations connected to installation of ledgers. They were said to be undersized, less than specified length, undercut and had code prohibited joint design. The ledgers are structural installations designed to support floor panels in a number of operations rooms. Due to the sensitive nature of MOX operations, details about operations were not made available. The MOX plutonium disposition project has been a hot-button item for politicians and nuclear watchdogs and is the crux of a lawsuit filed by South Carolina against the U.S. Department of Energy. In attempts to shutter the project, the Obama Administration has called construction past deadline and over budget.

August 25, 2016 – Becker Hospital Review – Power plant tax dispute risks shuttering Texas community hospital: 5 things to know – Efforts by Dallas-based electric company Luminant to drive down its property taxes are putting Glen Rose (Texas) Medical Center at financial risk, according to a report from Texas Observer, an investigative newspaper. Here are five things to know about the situation, based on the Texas Observer report. 1. Luminant is currently embroiled in a legal battle over the valuation of several of its coal and nuclear power plants. The plant nearest GRMC is the Glen Rose-based Comanche Peak nuclear power plant, which was valued at $2.4 billion by the local appraisal district in 2015. Luminant sued, claiming the facility was only worth $450 million. A judge upheld the local appraisal district’s valuation in March, but the electric utility appealed and the case is back in the courts, according to the report. 2. While the dispute is being ironed out in the courts, by state law Luminant only has to pay property taxes on its $450 million valuation of Comanche Peak. Because the nuclear plant accounts for 80 percent of the community’s property taxes, this is putting significant financial strain on Somervell County government, school district and the community hospital, according to the report.

August 25, 2016 – KABCC – Cleanup Bill at Nuke Waste Dump Could Rival Three Mile Island – An explosion at a nuclear waste dump in New Mexico two years ago is now looking like what might be one of the most expensive cleanups in US history, the Los Angeles Times reports. Long-term damage was far greater than federal officials let on after a drum filled with radioactive waste blew up at the nation’s only underground dump near Carlsbad in February 2014, a Times investigation finds, and the bill could top $2 billion-rivaling the cleanup after nation’s worst nuclear accident at Three Mile island in 1979. And with the New Mexico dump still offline, thousands of tons of radioactive waste are sitting in other states, delaying processing and angering local officials. “There is no question the Energy Department has downplayed the significance of the accident,” Don Hancock of the watchdog group Southwest Research and Information Center, told the Times.

August 25, 2016 – Grand Canyon News – Air Quality permit renewals for Grand Canyon uranium mines cause concern – On Aug. 15, environmental groups asked the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) to deny air permits for three uranium mines near Grand Canyon and to continue monitoring an inactive mine. According to the Grand Canyon Trust, Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity, the mines are located within watersheds (surface and ground) that drain directly into Grand Canyon National Park (GCNP) and threaten water, air and resources of the greater Grand Canyon eco-region, including soil, wildlife, sacred American Indian sites and the health of people exposed to the heavy metals.

August 24, 2016 – 81 FR 57945-57946 – NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION – Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS); Meeting of the ACRS Subcommittee on Planning and Procedures; Notice of Meeting – The ACRS Subcommittee on Planning and Procedures will hold a meeting on September 8, 2016, Room T-2B3, 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. The meeting will be open to public attendance with the exception of a portion that may be closed pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552b(c)(2) and (6) to discuss organizational and personnel matters that relate solely to the internal personnel rules and practices of the ACRS, and information the release of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.

August 24, 2016 – 81 FR 57945 – NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION – Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS); Meeting of the ACRS Subcommittee on Metallurgy & Reactor Fuels; Notice of Meeting – The ACRS Subcommittee on Metallurgy & Reactor Fuels will hold a meeting on September 20, 2016, Room T-2B1, 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. The meeting will be open to public attendance.

August 24, 2016 – 81 FR 57944-57945 – NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION – Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) Meeting of the ACRS Subcommittee on Digital I&C Systems; Notice of Meeting – The ACRS Subcommittee on Digital I&C Systems will hold a meeting on September 7, 2016, Room T-2B1, 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. The meeting will be open to public attendance.

August 24, 2016 – 81 FR 57942 – NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION – Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) Meeting of the ACRS Subcommittee on T-H Phenomena; Notice of Meeting – The ACRS Subcommittees on T-H Phenomenon and Metallurgy & Reactor Fuels will hold a meeting on September 19, 2016, Room T-2B1, 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. The meeting will be open to public attendance with the exception of portions that may be closed to protect information that is proprietary pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552b(c)(4).

August 24, 2016 – 81 FR 57941-57942 – NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION – Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) Meeting of the ACRS Subcommittee on Reliability and PRA; Notice of Meeting – The ACRS Subcommittee on Reliability and PRA will hold a meeting on September 7, 2016, Room T-2B1, 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. The meeting will be open to public attendance.

August 24, 2016 – 81 FR 57942-57944 – NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION – Pacific Gas and Electric Company; Diablo Canyon Power Plant, Units 1 and 2; Annual Updates to License Renewal Application – The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing an exemption in response to an August 1, 2016, request from Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), which requested an exemption from the requirement to submit annual updates to its license renewal application (LRA) for Diablo Canyon Power Plant (DCPP), Units 1 and 2. The NRC staff reviewed this request and determined that it is appropriate to grant the exemption while the review of the LRA remains suspended.