August 19, 2016 – 81 FR 55455 – DEFENSE NUCLEAR FACILITIES SAFETY BOARD – Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board Memberships – This notice announces the membership of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) Senior Executive Service (SES) Performance Review Board (PRB). DATES: August 19, 2016. ADDRESSES: Send comments concerning this notice to: Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, 625 Indiana Avenue NW., Suite 700, Washington, DC 20004-2001. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Deborah Biscieglia by telephone at (202) 694-7041. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 5 U.S.C. 4314(c)(1) through (5) requires each agency to establish, in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Office of Personnel Management, one or more performance review boards. The PRB shall review and evaluate the initial summary rating of a senior executive’s performance, the executive’s response, and the higher level official’s comments on the initial summary rating. In addition, the PRB will review and recommend executive performance bonuses and pay increases.

August 19, 2016 – 81 FR 55459-55460 – DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES – Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health Subcommittee for Dose Reconstruction Reviews, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Meeting – In accordance with section 10(a)(2) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), announces the following meeting for the aforementioned subcommittee: Time and Date: 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m., EDT, September 13, 2016. Place: Audio Conference Call via FTS Conferencing. Status: Open to the public, but without a public comment period. The public is welcome to submit written comments in advance of the meeting, to the contact person below. Written comments received in advance of the meeting will be included in the official record of the meeting. The public is also welcome to listen to the meeting by joining the teleconference at the USA toll-free, dial-in number at 1-866-659-0537 and the pass code is 9933701. Background: The Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health (ABRWH or the Advisory Board) was established under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 to advise the President on a variety of policy and technical functions required to implement and effectively manage the new compensation program. Key functions of the Advisory Board include providing advice on the development of probability of causation guidelines that have been promulgated by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as a final rule; advice on methods of dose reconstruction, which have also been promulgated by HHS as a final rule; advice on the scientific validity and quality of dose estimation and reconstruction efforts being performed for purposes of the compensation program; and advice on petitions to add classes of workers to the Special Exposure Cohort.

August 19, 2016 – Nevada Appeal – Heller: Don’t force Yucca on Nevada – Sen. Dean Heller says the nation needs a program to dispose of and store nuclear fuel and radioactive waste but Yucca Mountain isn’t the answer. In a letter to House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee chairman John Shimkus, the Nevada Republican urged him not to try to revive the defunct Yucca Mountain repository project. Shimkus is holding hearings focused on doing just that. “I fully appreciate the importance to Illinois, which is home to more nuclear power plants than any other state in the nation, that progress is made,” he said. “With that said, that solution is not forcing the burden on Nevada, a state that has never had a nuclear power plant.” Heller pointed out the Department of Energy last year began an initiative to find communities willing to host a waste storage and disposal facility. He said that program is “the only viable long-term solution to our nation’s nuclear waste problem.”

August 19, 2016 – New Baltimore Voice – Cause of massive fire at St. Clair Power Plant under investigation – Authorities are investigating the cause of a massive fire that raged for more than 10 hours at the St. Clair Power Plant in East China Township Thursday and Friday. The fire broke out at the DTE plant on Recor Road at about 6:30 p.m. Thursday. Fire crews extinguished the blaze at about 4:45 a.m. Friday and continue to monitor the facility for rekindling. All employees were evacuated from the building with no injuries reported. Small radioactive sources used in level gauges are present in piping inside the facility, but pose no threat to first responders or the public, St. Clair County officials stated in a press release. Monitoring of all hazardous materials that could pose a threat will continue throughout the response.

August 19, 2016 – Blackburn News – Opposition Growing Against Trucking Radioactive Waste – A proposal to truck highly radioactive liquid waste 1,000 miles through the United States and Canada isn’t sitting well with many environmentalists. The US Department of Energy wants to transport the material from Chalk River, near Ottawa, to the Savannah River site in South Carolina. Beyond Nuclear Radioactive Waste Specialist Kevin Kamps believes this has never been done via truck and says it would set a dangerous precedent. “We’re worried about the Bluewater Bridge, Sault St. Marie, and Interstate 75 traversing much of Michigan as well as Interstate 69,” says Kamps.

August 19, 2016 – PhysOrg – Method to entangle thousands of atoms could lead to record clock stability – Physicists have proposed a method for entangling hundreds of atoms, and then entangling a dozen or so groups of these hundreds of atoms, resulting in a quantum network of thousands of entangled atoms. Since small bundles of these entangled groups can function as atomic clocks, this design is the first detailed proposal for a quantum network of atomic clocks. The scientists estimate that, if realized, these clocks will have an order of magnitude greater stability than today’s best atomic clocks. Superstable clocks are critical for measuring astronomical effects such as gravitational waves and, potentially, dark matter.

August 19, 2016 – Santa Fe New Mexican – Navajo Nation gets federal funds for mine cleanup – The Navajo Nation will receive more than $300,000 for cleanup work at abandoned uranium mines through a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The $328,847 will cover the costs of cleanup work for the next 14 months, and additional grant funding may be available after that, the EPA has said. More than $100 million has been spent remediating the mine sites, but the work likely will require hundreds of millions of dollars more. Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye said in a statement that the mining occurred decades ago, and companies that mined the sites have become difficult to identify and hold accountable.

August 19, 2016 – KYForward.com – Public health researchers, geologists combine to create radon risk potential maps for state, 15 counties – University of Kentucky health researchers and geologists combined their research on radon and created a map that shows which parts of Kentucky have the highest risk of radon exposure, and most recently created maps that focus on 15 counties, according to a UK news release. Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer. “It is a collaboration between two disciplines that might not traditionally be seen as related,” Ellen Hahn, a professor in the UK College of Nursing, said in the release. “There is a new and emerging emphasis on geology as we think about other disciplines, in this case, nursing and public health.”

August 19, 2016 – Tasnim News Agency – Over-The-Counter Laser Pointers A Threat to Eyesight – Some laser pointers that can be bought over the counter are unsafe to the point that they can cause blindness, report researchers. Laser pointers bought legally for less than $AU30 are a threat to eyesight — with one pointer found to be 127 times over the Australian legal limit. RMIT University researchers in Melbourne, Australia, found that green lasers were most dangerous, with all four models tested failing Australian standards. Now they are calling on government to consider banning green lasers. In the meantime, they are recommending authorities to implement stringent testing and quality control.

August 19,2016 – Tecake.in – Hawking Radiation studied and proved in a new study, for the first time – Black hole remained a mystery as knowing anything about it was quite difficult, until now. A virtual hole has been created in a lab and studied, showing that some particles can escape black holes. Scientists believed that black hole traps whatever enters it, the reason that the name is ‘black hole’, and nothing can come out of it. In 1975 Stephen Hawking, the popular physicist came up with the theory that black holes are not completely black and that some particles known as ‘Hawking Radiations’ can escape through it, this can happen only when a particle and its antimatter are situated at the edge of the hole, in this case either of them escapes the black hole along with its energy. The energy loss results in shrinking the black hole. Jeff Steinhauer, a physicist at the Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa chilled atoms in a test-tube to create black hole, phonons were created inside it, which are pairs of sound particles that were made to move very fast inside the liquid which was Bose-Enistein condensate of rubidium-87 atoms. This resulted in moving away of one particle when the liquid was sped up to the speed of light, other particles escaped. The same experiment was repeated for 4600 times and conclusion was made, though it did not show anything about light but sound works just fine with it.

August 19, 2016 – Standardmedia.co.ke – How phones can actually cause cancer – The debate whether cell phone use can cause cancer and other tumors has been ranging for some time now. Though medical experts worldwide differ on this, some like Ruchira Misra are convinced of the effects of prolonged cell-phone usage. Dr. Misra, a consultant Pediatric Hematologist and Oncologist at Fortis Memorial Research Institute in India, believes that prolonged use of mobile phones exposes the user to radio frequency radiation which can cause cancer. “There are not enough studies to prove this; but we have seen that there is radiation exposure from the batteries that can cause cancer, and so should not be held close,” said Misra. The doctor wrote to the family of a 15-year-old girl fighting for her life for the past three years with T cell Rich B cell Lymphoma, saying the condition was as a result of exposure to cell phone radiation.

August 19, 2016 – Nature World – NASA Van Allen Probe Glimpses How Radiation Belts Become ‘Supercharged’ – On March 17, 2015, the Earth was under attack from the Sun. A great solar flare caused an interplanetary shockwave that rippled through the Earth’s magnetic field, creating one of the greatest solar storms in the last decade. The solar flare, which is called coronal mass ejection of CME, resulted in a geomagnetic storm that shook the Earth’s Van Allen radiation belts – the region in the Earth’s outer atmosphere held in place by the magnetic field. Fortunately, NASA’s Van Allen Probes were there to capture the rare phenomenon on their instruments, which were detailed in a paper published in the Journal of Geophysical Research. “We study radiation belts because they pose a hazard to spacecraft and astronauts,” David Sibeck, the Van Allen Probes mission scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, who was not involved in the research, said in a statement.

August 19, 2016 – ForexTV.com – Order from two customers in Belgium for C-RAD systems – C-RAD has secured an order for a Catalyst HD™, a Catalyst™ system and a Sentinel 4DCT™ system for two radiation therapy centers in Belgium. The order has a total value of 6.1 MSEK. The Catalyst HD™ and Catalyst will be delivered with the complete software configuration containing modules for Respiratory Gating, Patient Setup and Positioning, and Motion Monitoring, as well as interfaces to Varian and Elekta linear accelerators and the respective CT imaging modality. The customers also selected C-RAD’s unique audio-visual couching functionality, which supports an interactive gating mode. Delivery and installation are expected to start in September 2016. Sales and marketing for the C-RAD products in Belgium and the Netherlands is carried out by the Dutch company AEP International B.V. AEP International has more than 35 years of experience marketing and selling high-quality linear accelerator components, as well as representing many renowned RT brands in the Benelux area.

August 19, 2016 – Asahi Shimbun – Panel: TEPCO’s ‘ice wall’ failing at Fukushima nuclear plant – Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s “frozen wall of earth” has failed to prevent groundwater from entering the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, and the utility needs a new plan to address the problem, experts said. An expert panel with the Nuclear Regulation Authority received a report from TEPCO on the current state of the project on Aug. 18. The experts said the ice wall project, almost in its fifth month, has shown little or no success. “The plan to block groundwater with a frozen wall of earth is failing,” said panel member Yoshinori Kitsutaka, a professor of engineering at Tokyo Metropolitan University. “They need to come up with another solution, even if they keep going forward with the plan.”

August 19, 2016 – Mondaq Review – Canada: The Unlikely Intersection Of Nuclear Fallout And Green Energy – Will the world’s largest atomic fallout exclusion zone one day host the world’s largest solar farm? The infamous nuclear disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, near Pripyat in Soviet Ukraine, occurred 30 years ago. A fire and series of explosions in one of the plant’s reactors caused the largescale release of radiation across parts of Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, and other parts of Europe. Despite extensive containment and decontamination efforts, lingering radiation in the area immediately surrounding the site of the meltdown has rendered the land uninhabitable for humans, likely for centurties. Other uses of the land, such as forestry or farming, have also been deemed too risky. As a result, a large swathe of once-viable land in northern Ukraine sits unused.

August 19, 2016 – Business Review – Romanian politicians react to US nuclear weapons transfer reports – The report by Euractiv.ro that the United States has started the transfer of nuclear weapons from Turkey’s Incirlik Air Base to the Deveselu air base in Romania has triggered numerous reactions from Romania’s politicians. The country’s Ministry of Defense denied yesterday the reports, which he dismissed as “speculations.” According to Euractiv.ro, the weapons are being transferred due to the worsening of relations between Washington and Ankara. The Incirlik Air Base is located 10 km east of Ankara. “What I can tell you is that there were no talks, neither at political level, nor at specialized level to this end. There is no thinking, no plan in this direction. Therefore, absolutely, we can only call such reports speculations,” Romanian Defence Minister Mihnea Motoc spoke from Buzau, where he attended Romania’s 2nd Army centennial celebrations.

August 19, 2016 – Hartford Courant – Kevin Rennie: Our Bipartisan Battle Against Nuclear Waste Dump – Last week, I wrote about the treachery accompanying the passage of the income tax I witnessed as a state representative 25 years ago this month. It was not, however, the only issue that commanded my attention that year. At a time when cynicism is flourishing, it’s important to hear this story of citizens and their representatives defeating a government plan thought to have been unstoppable. On June 10, 1991, a state agency announced that it had chosen three prospective sites in East Windsor, Ellington and South Windsor for a nuclear waste dump. John Larson, Ed Graziani and I were the legislators for the three towns. With nearby representatives Joe Courtney and Nancy Wyman, we became an unlikely and united bipartisan quintet in fighting this disorienting move by a government agency, the Low Level Hazardous Management Service. An ill-considered federal law required states to take more responsibility for disposing of the radioactive waste generated within their borders. Connecticut and New Jersey had entered into an agreement that required each state to build a facility for storing certain types of radioactive waste.

August 19, 2016 – Nature World News – ‘Secret Clocks’ In Tree-Rings Could Date Events From Thousands of Years Ago – Trees that grew during intense radiation bursts hold “secret clocks” that could pinpoint historical events in world history, scientists said. According to researchers at Oxford University, massive solar storms caused intense radiation bursts to impact the Earth sometime in 775 and 994 AD, which caused large concentrations of radiocarbon to be trapped inside the trees growing during that period. “Variations in atmospheric radiocarbon concentration are largely the result of carbon dioxide emissions from activity from volcanoes and the ocean, but they are also influenced by changes in solar activity,” Michael Dee from the School of Archaeology at the University of Oxford and lead author of the study said in a press release. “The spikes in 775 and 994AD were almost vertical and of comparable magnitude all around the Earth. Such markers can be easily identified in known-age tree-rings and are fixed in time.

August 19, 2016 – Democracy & Freedom Watch – Georgian drivers can now check if their car is radioactive – Georgian drivers can now get their car examined for radioactivity. But why would they want to do that? The new radiation control service became available on Wednesday and will be handled by the agency for nuclear and radiation security of the Environment Ministry. The ministry’s unusual concern for radioactive cars is related to the fact many of the vehicles seen driving along Georgian roads have been imported from Japan, which experienced a nuclear disaster at the Fukushima power plant in 2011. Vasil Gedevanishvli, head of the agency, told DFWatch that even though cars are examined at the border control, it will now be possible for drivers to voluntarily approach the agency and re-check their car. Checking the car for nuclear radiation cost 50 laris and takes 15-20 minutes.

August 19, 2016 – Express Tribune – How well prepared are we to deal with any possible fallout of a radioactive disaster – August marks the anniversaries of the United States (US) attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. The World War II nuclear bombing killed 90% of Hiroshima’s population while tens of thousands died later due to radiation exposure. In Nagasaki, an estimated 40,000 people were killed. Today, despite consistent rise in nation states’ interest in building and expanding their nuclear capability, a combination of stringent safeguards and international diplomacy has largely reduced the threat of a repeat of a Hiroshima/Nagasaki. However, bombing is not the only way for toxic levels of radioactivity to make its way to common people’s lives. In the past 70 years, 440 radiation accidents have occurred worldwide, largely linked to nuclear power plants. A critical nuclear plant accident not only demand intensive disaster response in terms of addressing the radiation contamination, but states are required to undertake massive operations for evacuation and resettlement, while also dealing with psycho-social impacts of the disaster, and resurrect of a shattered economy.

August 19, 2016 – The Conversation – Nuclear power deserves a level playing field – In one of the courses I teach at Penn State, we discuss the characteristics of an ideal electricity production portfolio for the United States and consider what form of energy policy would best achieve it. The class typically identifies the most important factors as cost, reliability of supply, public safety and environmental impact. Students also cite other characteristics, such as national security, domestic availability of fuels and technologies, and electric grid stability. Because no real-world energy source fulfills all of these characteristics, we have to make compromises to find an optimal combination of energy sources. Ideally a well-designed national energy policy would give us a framework for making these choices by balancing short-term goals, such as cost, against long-term goals, such as environmental protection. However, there really is no coherent long-term energy policy in the United States. What exists instead is an ad hoc hodgepodge of subsidies, taxes and regulations differing across regions of the country, that, along with the free market, end up determining what energy sources are used for the production of electricity. In particular, we have no carbon tax to penalize carbon-emitting technologies.

August 19, 2016 – The Daily Caller – Report: Nuke Commission Improperly Stores Classified Info, Jeopardizes Govt Secrets – U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) officials are jeopardizing sensitive government secrets by processing and storing classified information on seven unauthorized systems, according to a new NRC Inspector General (IG) report. “NRC has national security systems that were operating without the required authorizations to operate, contrary to federal and internal requirements,” the IG said. The problem developed because of unclear or confusing policies and procedures for operating national security systems. As a result, the commission — which licenses, inspects and enforces regulations for commercial nuclear power plants and other uses of nuclear materials — violated Committee on National Security Standards (CNSS) rules requiring authorization for all national security systems.

August 19, 2016 – The Conversation – Compete or suckle: Should troubled nuclear reactors be subsidized? – Since the 1950s, U.S. nuclear power has commanded immense taxpayer and customer subsidy based on promises of economic and environmental benefits. Many of these promises are unfulfilled, but new ones take their place. More subsidies follow. Today the nuclear industry claims that keeping all operating reactors running for many years, no matter how uneconomic they become, is essential in order to reach U.S. climate change targets. Economics have always challenged U.S. reactors. After more than 100 construction cancellations and cost overruns costing up to US$5 billion apiece, Forbes Magazine in 1985 called nuclear power “the greatest managerial disaster in business history…only the blind, or the biased, can now think that most of the money [$265 billion by 1990] has been well spent.” U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) Chair Lewis Strauss’ 1954 promise that electric power would be “too cheap to meter” is today used to mock nuclear economics, not commend them.

August 19, 2016 – WBFO 88.7 – Legal fight underway to keep nuclear waste out of WNY – Radioactive liquid nuclear waste may soon be shipped across the Peace Bridge and through Western New York. As that reality looms, several organizations have joined forces to block the plan. The plan includes shipping nearly 6,000 gallons of liquid nuclear across the Peace Bridge. Experts say people in vehicles next to the trucks would be exposed to radiation. The groups, including the Sierra Club, have filed a lawsuit in federal court to stop the nuclear waste shipments. Under the U.S. Department of Energy’s plan, about 150 tractor-trailer loads of highly radioactive waste would travel a thousand miles from Chalk River, Ontario through Buffalo to a DOE processing site in South Carolina. Highly radioactive material from Chalk River, Ontario would be shipped through Buffalo in casks like this on tractor trailers. “This weapons-grade uranium is essentially the same kind of material that was in the Hiroshima bomb,” said Dr. Gordon Edwards with the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility.

August 19, 2016 – Sputnik News – Radioactive Waste Leak at New York Nuke Plant Left Unrepaired for Years – An unrepaired New York nuclear power plant has been leaking highly-radioactive waste for at least four years, and those responsible will likely evade prosecution. According to a quarterly inspection report by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the leak at the Fitzpatrick plant is of “very low safety significance” in the immediate future, as it is in a contained area, but regulators warn that it will make the site far more difficult to decontaminate when the reactor is shut down. The NRC has stated that plant owner Entergy Corp. has not repaired the leak, despite knowing about it for four years and considering the uncontrolled radioactivity to be a “more than minor significance.”

August 19, 2016 – NY Newsday – Right move to save nuclear plants – The recent passage of a new Clean Energy Standard makes New York a leader in recognizing nuclear power’s crucial role in our energy portfolio and in the protection of our environment [“Cash to aid nuke plants,” News, Aug. 2]. The Public Service Commission’s support for nuclear plants means that we’re one step closer to achieving the ambitious and important goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent (from 1990 levels) by 2030. The new CES is a win because billions of dollars in economic activity and state and local taxes are provided by our nuclear fleet. Our workers, families, and communities win because they benefit from thousands of good-paying jobs. Our environment wins because nuclear generation in New York prevents the emission of 15.5 million metric tons of carbon each year. One important step remains: The state should drop its opposition to the relicensing of the Indian Point nuclear plant, which produces fully 20 percent of New York’s clean power and prevents the emission of 6.5 million metric tons of carbon annually.

August 19, 2016 – Odessa American – Andrews County judge appointed to state nuclear waste commission – Gov. Greg Abbott reappointed Andrew County Judge Richard Dolgener and a Waco health physicist to a state commission charged with managing and disposing of low level radioactive waste while maintaining public welfare. The governor announced the appointments to the the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact Commission on Wednesday. Dolgener was reappointed with Linda Kay Morris, an associate professor at the Texas State Technical College Environmental Health and Safety Technology Department. Their terms expire on Sept. 1, 2021.

August 19, 2016 – Las Vegas Sun – Metro Police seek help finding 2 gauges with radioactive material – Authorities seek the public’s help finding two missing bright-yellow cases carrying gauges with radioactive material. According to Metro Police: The cases, which contain gauges with two radioactive isotopes, went missing last week in the Las Vegas Valley. They’re safe when handled by a trained technician, but others should “use extreme caution.”

August 18, 2016 – 81 FR 55235-55237 – NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION – Revisions to Design of Structures, Components, Equipment, and Systems Guidance for NRC Staff – The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing a final revision to two sections in Chapter 3, “Design of Structures, Components, Equipment, and Systems,” of NUREG-0800, “Standard Review Plan for the Review of Safety Analysis Reports for Nuclear Power Plants: LWR Edition.” The revisions to these Standard Review Plan (SRP) sections reflect no changes in staff position; rather they clarify the original intent of these SRP sections using plain language throughout in accordance with the NRC’s Plain Writing Action Plan. Additionally, these revisions reflect operating experience, lessons learned, and updated guidance since the last revision, and address the applicability of regulatory treatment of non-safety systems where appropriate.

August 18, 2016 – 81 FR 55237-55240 – NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION – South Carolina Electric & Gas Company and South Carolina Public Service Authority; Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Station Units 2 and 3 – South Carolina Electric & Gas Company (SCE&G) and South Carolina Public Service Authority (Santee Cooper) are the holders of Combined License (COL) Nos. NPF-93 and NPF-94, which authorize the construction and operation of Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Station, Units 2 and 3 (VCSNS 2 & 3), respectively.\1\ The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing an exemption from the requirement that applicants for an operator license at VCSNS 2 & 3 provide evidence that the applicant, as a trainee, has successfully manipulated the controls of either the facility for which the license is sought or a plant-referenced simulator (PRS). Applicants will instead use a Commission-approved simulation facility for VCSNS 2 & 3.

August 18, 2016 – 81 FR 55174-55175 – DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE – International Trade Administration – This notice sets forth the schedule and proposed agenda for a meeting of the Civil Nuclear Trade Advisory Committee (CINTAC). DATES: The meeting is scheduled for Friday, September 2, 2016, from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held via conference call. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Jonathan Chesebro, Office of Energy & Environmental Industries, International Trade Administration, Room 4053, 1401 Constitution Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20230. (Phone: 202-482-1297; Fax: 202-482-5665; email: jonathan.chesebro@trade.gov). SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Background: The CINTAC was established under the discretionary authority of the Secretary of Commerce and in accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.), in response to an identified need for consensus advice from U.S. industry to the U.S. Government regarding the development and administration of programs to expand United States exports of civil nuclear goods and services in accordance with applicable U.S. laws and regulations, including advice on how U.S. civil nuclear goods and services export policies, programs, and activities will affect the U.S. civil nuclear industry’s competitiveness and ability to participate in the international market.

August 18, 2016 – 81 FR 55185 – DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY – Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Oak Ridge Reservation – This notice announces a meeting of the Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB), Oak Ridge Reservation. 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. DATES: Wednesday, September 14, 2016, 6:00 p.m. ADDRESSES: Olive Garden Meeting Room, 7206 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, Tennessee 37919. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Melyssa P. Noe, Alternate Deputy Designated Federal Officer, U.S. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, P.O. Box 2001, EM-942, Oak Ridge, TN 37831. Phone (865) 241-3315; Fax (865) 241-6932; E-Mail: Melyssa.Noe@orem.doe.gov. Or visit the Web site at www.energy.gov/orssab. 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 18, 2016 – KLAS 8 – Metro searching for stolen nuclear density gauges – The Metro Police Department is assisting the Division of Public Health in investigating the whereabouts of two stolen nuclear density gauges. According to Metro, the density gauges, which are used to determine soil compaction and contain two radioactive isotopes, were stolen from the 4000 block of Meadow Valley Lane on Aug. 11. Geotechnical engineer Chris Guertin does his work out of a laboratory built in his garage. Guertin tests concrete while gathering research to make sure casinos, homes and other buildings don’t topple over on soil. Guertin’s research requires the right tools and says he went inside his home for only a few minutes. “I come in and out of the office a lot and then at one point the gauges are gone,” Guertin said. “This is a no-nonsense situation, this is hazardous material.” Two nuclear density gauges containing radioactive isotopes are now missing. The gauges were stored in cases the size of an icebox and aren’t dangerous inside of them. If opened, the consequences could cause immediate long-term health problems.

August 18, 2016 – Daily Mail – Something fishy? Bizarre four-eyed creature baffles experts after being reeled in by an angler in Australia – A bizarre four-eyed fish has baffled scientists after being caught by a fisherman in the Northern Territory. The bizarre specimen, which has a set of eyes on the front of its head as well as the side, bears a striking resemblance to ‘Blinky’ the radioactive fish from the Simpsons. Simon Merefield took to social media to unravel the mystery of the creature, caught in Darwin’s Buffalo Creek, before scientists debated exactly what it was.

August 18, 2016 – DNA India – Radiologists threaten another strike from September 1 – Radiologists have threatened to go on an indefinite nationwide strike from September 1 against actions taken by state health officials for technical errors under the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act. Associations of gynaecologists and radiologists have also come together against the same. In June, the radiologists had gone on a week-long strike after one in Pune was suspended for technical mistakes under the Act.

August 18, 2016 – defenseWeb – Egypt orders airport security systems from Smiths Detection – The Egyptian Ministry of Defence has awarded Smiths Detection contracts to provide advanced detection systems for passenger checkpoint, hold baggage and cargo screening to airports across Egypt. The contracts were awarded via Egyptian security company Falcon Group and are worth almost £19 million, Smiths Detection said on 10 August. The award for X-ray scanners, people screening systems and trace detectors is part of national programme to provide an additional layer of security to existing equipment at airports. Smiths Detection systems were chosen by the Egyptian Ministry of Defence for their lifetime high performance and quality, as proven by earlier contracts, the company said.

August 18, 2016 – The Atlantic – How 4-Year-Olds Learn Particle Physics – “The game actually doesn’t teach you anything,” Lauri Järvilehto told me over lunch in Helsinki, Finland. I scratched my head, because Järvilehto, 39, is a co-founder and the CEO of a Finnish education gaming company called Lightneer, which is poised to launch its first app, “Big Bang Legends,” in the coming months. I thought “teaching”is what these learning apps are supposed to do. Järvilehto’s road to co-founding Lightneer is as intriguing as his clothing style. (The day we chatted, he wore a black T-shirt with a huge Batman logo, a yellow hooded sweatshirt, yellow sneakers, and an Apple Watch with a yellow band.) At the age of 17, Järvilehto began a 10-year career as a pop-music producer in Finland, but eventually burned out, moved to France, and started reading philosophers like Plato. Then he returned to Helsinki to pursue a master’s degree in philosophy (just for fun), after which he received a Ph.D., got hired to consult Rovio’s video-game franchise Angry Birds on education issues, and eventually wrote a 2014 book called Learning as Fun. Then in October 2015, Järvilehto founded Lightneer with another Rovio alum.

August 18, 2016 – WhaTech – New report examines the medical radiation shielding market report on geographical analysis, key player profiles and future trends from 2016 to 2021 – The report “Medical Radiation Shielding Market – Global Forecasts to 2021”, report provides a detailed overview of major drivers, restraints, challenges, opportunities, current market trends, and strategies impacting the medical radiation shielding market along with estimates and forecasts of the revenue and market share analysis. Medical radiation shielding market is expected to reach USD 1330.0 Million by 2021 from USD 989.2 Million in 2016, at a CAGR of 6.1%. Complete report on Medical Radiation Shielding Market spread across 125 Pages, Profiling 10 Companies and Supported with 66 Tables and 25 Figures is now available at http://www.rnrmarketresearch.com/medical-radiation-shielding-market-by-products-x-ray-shields-booths-sheet-lead-bricks-curtain-solution-radiation-therapy-cyclotron-multimodality-pet-spect-ct-mri-end-user-hospitals-diagnostics-cen-ts-to-2021-market-report.html.

August 18, 2016 – (e) Science News – Isotope research opens new possibilities for cancer treatment – A new study at Los Alamos National Laboratory and in collaboration with Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource greatly improves scientists’ understanding of the element actinium. The insights could support innovation in creating new classes of anticancer drugs. “The short half-life of actinium-225 offers opportunity for new alpha-emitting drugs to treat cancer, although very little has been known about actinium because all of its isotopes are radioactive and have short half-lives,” said Maryline Ferrier, a Seaborg post-doctoral researcher on the Los Alamos team. “This makes it hard to handle large enough quantities of actinium to characterize its chemistry and bonding, which is critical for designing chelators.”

August 18, 2016 – Counter Punch – Helen Caldecott: “America Still Thinks It Can Win a Nuclear War” – I just attended the 31st annual national Veterans for Peace convention here in Berkeley and was truly inspired by the hundreds of vets who attended it, and by their organization’s heroic stand for peace. As one vet put it, “Been there, done that — war doesn’t work.” And while wandering around the grounds of the convention center before the festivities began, I ran into Helen Caldecott, an Australian doctor who has bravely spoken out against the use of nuclear weapons ever since the terrible days of America’s Cold War. I’m not sure what I was expecting that she would look like — perhaps Super Girl in a cape? But she was just an ordinary-looking person, like someone you would meet on the street. Until she started speaking to an audience of 300-plus veterans. And then her eyes flashed, her voice rang out like a warning bell and her passion came alive. “I am a pediatrician,” she told us, “and if you love this planet, if you love the next generation of babies, you will change the priority of your lives — because right now, America’s top priority seems to be for us to come as close to nuclear war as we possibly can.”

August 18, 2016 – themedialine.org – Israelis Gear Up for Annual Assault on its Nuclear Program – There is potentially good news about Israel’s annual battle against those seeking to dismantle Jerusalem’s nuclear program amid the usual plethora of doomsday scenarios. The daily Haaretz is reporting that it obtained a secret communication sent to those who will represent the Jewish state at the International Atomic Energy Agency’s conference informing them of the decision by Arab leaders to forego a vote on a resolution demanding international oversight on Israel’s nuclear activity. In addition to a heads-up warning that the situation could turn on a dime, it was explained that a decision had been made by Arab leaders to focus on what should be an easier goal: challenging the safety of Israeli nuclear facilities. Haaretz says the Israeli diplomatic corps will be gracious toward Arab diplomats for their decision but offer a stern warning that if they change their minds, Israel will fight to prevent the resolution’s passage.

August 18, 2016 – DailyStar.co.uk – Spine-chilling ritual ‘human sacrifice’ filmed on nuclear research campus – A VIDEO has surfaced online purporting to show a ritual human sacrifice being carried out inside the secure complex of a mysterious nuclear research facility. The minute-long clip, shot at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland, shows several figures dressed in long black robes performing the gruesome ceremony in front of a statue of Shiva – the Hindu god of destruction. While the incredible footage has been circulated on numerous conspiracy websites, officials at CERN denied any murder had taken place. It is now thought that the ritual sacrifice was an elaborate hoax, conducted by scientists working at the secretive science facility – home to the Large Hadron Collider.

August 18, 2016 – Riverhead Local – Letter: N.Y. needs its nuclear power plants – Despite the protests of anti-nuclear activists (“N.Y. Public Service Commission OKs multi-billion dollar nuclear industry bailout,” August 12), true environmentalists who value New York’s Mail_Envelope_lettercarbon reduction goals recognize that maintaining our nuclear fleet is critical to achieving the 40 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 projected in the Clean Energy Standard (CES). Nuclear energy is New York’s largest source of clean, emission-free energy. New York’s nuclear plants annually prevent over 21.4 million metric tons in carbon emissions annually, the equivalent of keeping 4.8 million gasoline-powered cars off the road. Nuclear opponents herald wind and solar as the primary energy sources of the future, but these can only produce power when the wind blows and the sun shines. Nuclear power plants produce safe, clean, zero carbon energy 24/7, 365 days a year. If we lose our statewide nuclear facilities, that void in our electric grid would be largely filled by natural gas – which emits carbon.

August 18, 2016 – Reuters – Nuclear developers have big plans for pint-sized power plants in UK – A range of mini-nuclear power plants could help solve Britain’s looming power crunch, rather than the $24 billion (18 billion pounds) Hinkley project snarled up in delays, companies developing the technology say. So-called small modular reactors (SMRs) use existing or new nuclear technology scaled down to a fraction of the size of larger plants and would be able to produce around a tenth of the electricity created by large-scale projects, such as Hinkley. The mini plants, still under development, would be made in factories, with parts small enough to be transported on trucks and barges to sites where they could be assembled in around six to 12 months, up to a tenth of the time it takes to build some larger plants. “The real promise of SMRs is their modularisation. You can assemble them in a factory with an explicable design meaning consistent standards and predicable costs and delivery timescale,” said Anurag Gupta, director and global lead for power infrastructure at consultancy KPMG.

August 18, 2016 – News-Sentinel – Dismantling Parkview Randallia incinerator reveals low-level radioactivity in bricks – About two weeks ago, a load of scrap from an incinerator at Parkview Hospital Randallia was rejected by metal dealer OmniSource because it triggered a radiation detector. The reason, hospital officials said later, was refractory bricks that were part of the incinerator. Those bricks, specially made to resist high temperatures, were radioactive enough to be flagged by a radiation detector, but their radioactivity was negligible, compared to more familiar sources of radiation. “The bricks did not pose a risk to anyone, at any time. All of the bricks have been removed from the property and disposed of properly. A significant majority of the incinerator has been removed. The remaining few pieces will be disposed of within days,” Parkview spokesman Eric Clabaugh wrote in an email on Tuesday. Clabaugh said that the radiation level in the bricks was measured in microrems, 1/1000 the strength of the more familiar measure of radiation exposure, the milliRem.

August 18, 2016 – HealthCanal – Ocean radiation levels finally returning to normal after Fukushima – Five years after the accident at Fukushima that saw the largest release of nuclear material in the world’s oceans research has shown radiation levels across the Pacific Ocean are rapidly returning to normal. Edith Cowan University environmental radiochemistry expert Professor Pere Masqué will discuss the affects of one of the world’s worst nuclear disasters in The West Australian ECU Lecture Series on Friday, 19 August. While hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated from towns and cities around the Fukushima plant, it’s believed more than 80 per cent of radioactive material from the stricken reactors ended up in the ocean. Immediately following the devastating 9.0 magnitude Tohoku earthquake in 2011 radioactivity levels off the coast of Japan were tens of millions of times higher than normal.

August 18, 2016 – Wise Bread – The 10 Coolest Things That Come in a Can – The humble can is making a comeback, and with good reason. When it comes to storing food, the aluminum can not only keeps out air, but also light, which can degrade the product within. It’s also lightweight, and easier to recycle, with the average aluminum can containing three times more recycled content than either plastic or glass bottles (plastic bottles contain only 3% recycled materials). That all adds up to great sustainability, and less impact on the environment. So it’s hardly surprising that so many cool things in cans are popping up on shelves. Here are 10 of the most noteworthy… which have you tried? 9. Uranium Ore – Planning to build your own nuclear reactor, or maybe a time machine like the one Doc Brown made in Back to the Future? Well, this won’t get you very far, but it is genuine. The uranium in this can is called NORM (Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials) and is useful for science labs, and for testing Geiger counters. As it has low radioactivity, it’s safe, and gives off alpha, beta, and gamma radiation types. Once again, if you’re looking to find a gift for someone who has everything, it’s certainly unique.

August 18, 2016 – Eco-Business – Indigenous Australians fight nuclear dump plan on “sacred land” – Enice Marsh remembers the black clouds of “poison stuff” that billowed from the northwest after British atomic bomb tests in the 1950s spread fallout across swathes of South Australia. Now a new kind of radioactivity could head to her ancestral home in the remote Flinders Ranges – a nuclear waste dump. “To me, it feels like a death penalty,” said Marsh, 73, standing in the cemetery of the outback town of Hawker, where many of her relatives are buried under red earth. “We are one big family and the land also is family to us. We care for the land just in the same way we care for our family.”

August 18, 2016 – KDAL – Beach Find Determined Not To Be Dangerous – A small container found on a beach near Poplar has been determined not to be a hazard to the public. A person walking on the beach Wednesday came across the item, about the size of a deck of cards, that had radioactive markings on it. Initial responders from the Superior Fire Department and the U-S Coast Guard determined that the object was not emitting any radioactivity. A follow up investigation ensured that the surrounding area was also clear of radiation. The container was removed by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services for proper disposal.

August 18, 2016 – The Recorder – Rowe seeks money for nuke waste storage – The Yankee Atomic Electric Co. nuclear power plant in Rowe shut down its 185-megawatt reactor in 1992, leaving in place 15 dry casks of radioactive spent fuel, along with one cask of higher-level nuclear waste, until the federal government finds a permanent home for waste like this. Now, Rowe and other U.S. communities with “de facto” interim spent nuclear fuel storage sites are seeking annual compensation for this storage from the federal government. Congressman Richard E. Neal, D-First District, has agreed to co-sponsor the “Interim Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage Site Compensation Act of 2016,” which would require annual payments of $15 per kilogram of spent nuclear fuel stored at the sites of former nuclear power plants built for electricity generation. For Rowe, this would generate about $1.9 million for every year the town applies for this funding, says Selectmen’s Chairwoman Marilyn Wilson. “We wrote to Congressman Neal saying we wanted his support, and he has signed on as a co-sponsor,” she said. “He will be visiting Rowe in the fall.”

August 18, 2016 – CNYCentral – Feds report violations, including leaks of radioactive waste, at FitzPatrick Nuclear Plant – An inspection report released by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission describes violations at the James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant, including exposing workers to high amounts of radiation and allowing leaks of radioactive material over the past four years. The NRC’s report covers the period of time from April 1, 2016 to June 30, 2016. it was during this period that oil leaked into Lake Ontario from the plant. According to the inspection results, the oil spill wasn’t the only problem at the plant during that time. The report says employees were sent into a high-radiation area without monitoring for it or notifying the radiation protection department, and a failure of an atmospheric control system persisted for over a month and wasn’t shut down after 30 days as required.

August 18, 2016 – Buffalo News – Liquid nuclear waste shipments over Peace Bridge could start in September – Truck shipments carrying high-level liquid nuclear waste over the Peace Bridge and across Western New York’s highways en route to a South Carolina processing facility could start as early as September. A lawsuit that seven environmental organizations filed this week against the U.S. Department of Energy in federal court in Washington, D.C., aims to stop these “mobile Chernobyls on steroids.” “It is terrifying for us to hear that the government is willing to endanger the lives of so many by the shipments of this highly dangerous liquid radioactive waste through our community and those of others,” said Lynda Schneekloth, chairwoman of the Sierra Club’s Niagara Group.

August 18, 2016 – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – Westinghouse shuts down part of S.C. nuclear fuel plant over safety concerns – Nuclear regulators are investigating why Westinghouse Electric Co. ended up with three times the safe amount of uranium stuck inside a scrubber at its nuclear fuel factory in Columbia, S.C., and why it took the company more than a month to notify regulators when the situation should have been reported within 24 hours. When the Cranberry-based company did contact the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in mid-July, federal regulators sent out a team to investigate, and Westinghouse shut down that portion of the plant. The NRC is still piecing together what happened and might be finished with its investigation in several weeks, said spokesman Roger Hannah. In the meantime, the agency has deemed the uranium concentration was high enough that there might have been potential for an uncontrolled nuclear reaction that could have caused a small explosion. Last week, it sent a memo to Westinghouse outlining what the company will need to do before it can apply to restart that portion of the plant.

August 18, 2016 – Bloomberg BNA – Groups Aim to Derail Nuclear Waste Shipments – A nuclear safety advocate alleged that the Energy Department is aiming to profit off liquid nuclear waste shipments heading from Canada to Savannah, Ga., at the expense of public and environmental risk as he announced litigation Aug. 16 to enjoin the project. The department could begin shipping nuclear waste from Chalk River, Ontario, to the Savannah River Site by September as part of a years-long bid to secure authorization, Savannah River Site Watch and Friends of the Earth official Tom Clements told reporters. The project, however, is moving forward without an environmental impact statement and sufficient exploration of alternatives, which necessitates an injunction, Clements and other environmentalists said. The department is set to generate $60 million on the project, Clements said. The complaint says that sum will be used to operate the H-Canyon plant at the Energy Department-owned Savannah River Site, which stabilizes the waste for eventual disposal in a federal facility.

August 18, 2016 – Beyond Nuclear – Kamps’ prepared statement for press conference re: highly radioactive liquid waste truck shipments from Canada to U.S.A. – Kevin Kamps, Beyond Nuclear’s Radioactive Waste Watchdog, delivered a statement to members of the news media on a press conference call sponsored by NIRS. An environmental coalition, including Beyond Nuclear, has filed a lawsuit seeking to block up to 150 unprecedented truck shipments of highly radioactive liquid wastes, from Chalk River Nuclear Labs in Ontario, Canada through multiple states, to Savannah River Site nuclear weapons and radioactive waste complex in Aiken, South Carolina, U.S.A.

August 18, 2016 – Atlanta Business Chronicle – Georgia PSC approves latest Plant Vogtle spending – The Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) signed off Tuesday on Georgia Power Co.’s latest spending report covering the nuclear expansion at Plant Vogtle. Commissioners unanimously approved and verified $160 million the Atlanta-based utility spent on the project during the last half of last year. With that spending, Georgia Power’s share of the project remains within the $6.1 billion the PSC certified when the work was approved back in 2009.

August 18, 2016 – Amarillo Globe News – Pantex Plant to store more nuclear materials produced at Los Alamos lab – The Pantex Plant located 17 miles northeast of Amarillo will store nuclear materials produced at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico after plans to build a 31,000-square-foot storage vault were scrapped in an effort to cut costs, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office released earlier this month. The GAO report called into question the savings stated in the National Nuclear Security Administration’s report on the proposed Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement facility. The facility, which would provide analysis in support of plutonium pit production at Los Alamos, was intended to include underground vaults to store the nuclear material. A plutonium pit, or core, is “the heart” of a nuclear weapon, according to the Pantex website.

August 18, 2016 – Casper Journal – Committee considers nuclear waste storage – In response to a renewed effort by the federal government to find a national nuclear waste repository site, a Wyoming legislative committee has voted to update the state’s laws allowing nuclear storage. The legislature’s Joint Minerals, Business and Economic Development Interim Committee last week reviewed the state’s radioactive waste siting statute, with an eye toward adjusting it to meet new U.S. Department of Energy guidelines. The state’s statute was passed in 1995 and only allows for “temporary” storage facilities – up to 40 years; and while the DOE is primarily seeking a permanent repository, it has considered using temporary facilities as an interim solution.

August 18, 2016 – Idaho Falls Post-Register – INL chooses leader for nuclear innovation program – Idaho National Laboratory has selected a veteran nuclear executive to lead its new Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear program. Rita Baranwal, an executive at Westinghouse Electric Corporation in Pennsylvania, will take the top spot at GAIN next week, the lab announced Tuesday. Founded late last year, the INL-led initiative was set up to assist private companies hoping to develop new types of nuclear energy technologies. Baranwal starts the job Monday, taking over for Kemal Pasamehmetoglu, an INL associate lab director who has been pulling double duty leading GAIN since last year.

August 17, 2016 – 81 FR 54855-54856 – NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION – Design, Inspection, and Testing Criteria for Air Filtration and Adsorption Units of Normal Atmosphere Cleanup Systems in Light Water Cooled Nuclear Power Plants – The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing Revision 3 to Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.140, “Design, Inspection, and Testing Criteria for Air Filtration and Adsorption Units of Normal Atmosphere Cleanup Systems in Light Water Cooled Nuclear Power Plants.” This RG describes a method that the NRC staff considers acceptable to implement regulatory requirements with regard to the design, inspection, and testing of normal atmosphere cleanup systems for controlling releases of airborne radioactive materials to the environment during normal operations, including anticipated operational occurrences. This guide applies to all types of nuclear power plants that use water as the primary means of cooling.

August 17, 2016 – 81 FR 54854-54855 – NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION – Conduct of Operations – The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing final revisions to the following sections in Chapter 13, “Conduct of Operations,” of NUREG-0800, “Standard Review Plan for the Review of Safety Analysis Reports for Nuclear Power Plants: LWR Edition”: Section 13.1.1, “Management and Technical Support Organization”; Section 13.1.2-13.1.3, “Operating Organization”; Section 13.2.1, “Reactor Operator Requalification Program; Reactor Operator Training”; Section 13.2.2, “Non-licensed Plant Staff Training”; and Section 13.5.1.1, “Administrative Procedures–General.”

August 17, 2016 – 81 FR 54795 – DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY – Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Paducah – On August 2, 2016, the Department of Energy (DOE) published a notice of open meeting announcing a meeting on August 18, 2016, of the Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Paducah. This notice announces the cancellation of this meeting. The meeting is being cancelled because the board will not have a quorum due to scheduling conflicts by members. The next regular meeting will be held on September 15, 2016. DATES: The meeting scheduled for August 18, 2016, announced in the August 2, 2016, issue of the Federal Register (FR Doc. 2016-18186, 81 FR 50693), is cancelled. The next regular meeting will be held on September 15, 2016.