August 3, 2016 – Seaside Courier – Congressman Issa and others press DOE on nuclear waste disposal at San Onofre – Congressman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) last weekend submitted comments to the Department of Energy asking for action on the nuclear waste at the decommissioning San Onofre nuclear plant and expressing the need for the department to develop and execute a plan for the storage of the nation’s nuclear waste, according to a press release from his office. Issa responded to the DOE’s invitation for public comment, submitting remarks on how the agency should proceed with a plan that would allow the 3.6 million pounds of nuclear waste to be removed from the San Onofre Nuclear Generation Station (SONGS), the congressman’s office reported.

August 3, 2016 – Buffalo News – New York no longer needs energy from nuclear plants – New York State is a leader in the energy revolution and has made significant progress in advancing renewable energy to address the climate crisis. However, the recent proposal by the Public Service Commission on the Clean Energy Standard incorporates nuclear energy with an estimated $8 billion subsidy to the nuclear industry to keep uneconomical Ginna and FitzPatrick nuclear power plants open. New York Independent System Operator, the group responsible for meeting state energy needs, has publicly stated we do not need the energy from nuclear plants. Nuclear is also not clean: the extraction process produces over a billion pounds of radioactive mining waste per reactor each year! New York State plants use hundreds of millions of gallons of fresh water daily, causing thermal and radioactive pollution.

August 3, 2016 – Santa Barbara Independent – Diablo Nuclear Plant Faces Threats and Threatens: Part I – The operator of Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, PG&E, announced in June that it would close the plant by August 2025. Longtime activist Harvey Sherback wrote this letter, published in two parts and edited by The Santa Barbara Independent, to the state Public Utilities Commission prior to its vote regarding the decision. Part I follows. Open Letter to Michael Picker, president of California Public Utilities Commission; and PUC Members and Staff: The Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant (DCNPP) is vulnerable and dangerous from within and without as well as from above and below. The environmental disasters that can be caused by Diablo are truly devastating. In this letter I list some of the many reasons why it’s imperative that we close down the DCNPP as soon as possible.

August 3, 2016 – Public News Service – TENORM in KY Landfills: Loopholes, Questionable Business Practices – Behind the low-level radioactive waste dumped in a Kentucky landfill are regulatory loopholes and questionable business practices, according to state and local documents. Tom FitzGerald, director of the Kentucky Resources Council, obtained correspondence between Kentucky and West Virginia officials, and said it showed that regulators didn’t coordinate. In the confusion, he said, several firms run by the same person dumped “Technologically-Enhanced, Naturally-Occurring Radioactive Materials” from West Virginia and Ohio fracking operations into the Estill County landfill. One company, Advanced TENORM Services, came to light first. “The landfill records in Estill County, which showed a couple of other companies had shipped TENORM waste,” he said, “one being Nuverra, I believe, and another being a Cambrian Services.”

August 3, 2016 – DailyCommercialNews.com – Port Hope Sidebar: Safety first, say Canadian Nuclear Laboratories engineers – Construction of the Port Hope, Ont. long-term waste management facility (LTWMF) will follow tried and true waste-storage practices, albeit with special emphasis on worker and community safety given the nature of the waste, say engineers working on the project. A Port Hope Area Initiative official says numerous tests have shown that the health of Port Hope residents is as good as that of any other community but that protective measures are taken for workers at Canadian Nuclear Laboratories sites “because radiation exposure has the potential to cause a biological effect in living matter.” “This project is not all that unique,” said Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) manager of technical integration Walter van Veen. “These types of landfills, whether it is radioactive material or any type of waste, the types of technologies we are using are pretty common. “As an engineer, and all of the engineers on this project would agree, it is very important that we use reliable techniques. We don’t want to be out there half way and find out that, oh we thought this would work but it’s not working.”

August 3, 2016 – Mirror Daily – NASA’s NuSTAR Telescope Uses its X-Ray Vision on Andromeda – NASA’s NuSTAR telescope has just used its X-ray vision on Andromeda, the closest galaxy to the Milky Way, and the findings were surprising. The spectroscopy telescope discovered 40 X-ray binaries, i.e. highly-energetic pairs of a black hole or neutron star and a stellar neighbor. X-ray binaries are science-worthy because they are considered to be some of the most powerful sources of X-rays in the entire Universe. These objects are believed to release so much energy that they can heat up the interstellar clouds of gas and dust where galaxies form. Scientists have already obtained sharper images of Andromeda’s highly-energetic denizens via NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, but NuSTAR is currently the most accurate spectroscopy telescope the space agency has.

August 3, 2016 – PhysOrg – SLAC receives new mirrors for X-ray laser – Scientists are installing new mirrors to improve the quality of the X-ray laser beam at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. The meter-long mirrors are the ultimate in flatness, smooth to within the height of one atom or one-fifth of a nanometer. If Earth had the same surface, the hills and valleys would only vary by the width of a pencil, says Daniele Cocco, engineering physicist and head of the optics group at SLAC’s Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), a DOE Office of Science User Facility. Right now, the mirrors are stored in a clean room to avoid dust and prevent damage. Cocco and other engineers only handle the mirrors while wearing gowns, hairnets, masks and gloves. They’re testing the mirrors to see how they will respond to heat and mechanical stress while the beam is running. Both cause tiny deformations on the surface, and even changes as small as half a nanometer can cause big problems.

August 3, 2016 – MNA – Tehran, Moscow mull over boosting nuclear ties – AEOI head and Rosatom’s deputy head have emphasized on expansion of ties to accelerate implementation of joint nuclear projects in Iran. Deputy Director General for International Affairs of Russia’s Rosatom Nikolai Spassky and his accompanying delegation met and talked with Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi today in Tehran. The Russian delegation also held a session with Behrouz Kamalvandi, Spokesperson of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI). Both meetings emphasized close and friendly cooperation between the two countries in various areas of peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

August 3, 2016 – Reuters – Japan agrees second reactor life extension since Fukushima – Japan’s nuclear regulator on Wednesday approved an application by Kansai Electric Power Co Inc to extend the life of an ageing reactor beyond 40 years, the second such approval it has granted under new safety requirements imposed since the Fukushima disaster. The move means Kansai Electric, Japan’s most nuclear-reliant utility before Fukushima led to the almost complete shutdown of Japan’s atomic industry, can keep No. 3 reactor at its Mihama plant operating until it is 60 years old. The regulator granted the first such approval in June to Kansai Electric’s ageing reactors No.1 and 2 at its Takahama plant.

August 3, 2016 – McKenzie County Farmer – County residents taking their concerns over radioactive waste to Bismarck – While driving her school bus, Cathy Omstead has seen blowing radon dust, she said. “I really believe that is one of the biggest problems with having the disposal right there, blowing across the land,” the Tri Township resident said of Indian Hills Disposal Solids Management’s landfill north of Alexander. Omstead lives near the landfill, a site designated for radioactive waste generated from North Dakota’s oilfields. Seven months ago, after state approval, the allowable level of radiation in disposal sites for technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive material went from five to 50 picocuries. Omstead and other members of the Citizens Against Increased Radioactive Waste are planning a trip to Bismarck for a state health council meeting at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 9 at the state capitol. Four or five people have confirmed they are going. The meeting is a do-over after the Attorney General’s office, Energy Industry Waste Coalition and Dakota Resource Council agreed that the council failed to provide adequate public notice of the meeting. A lawsuit is active against the health council for creating the waste program at the illegal meeting.

August 3, 2016 – The Republic of East Vancouver – Baby Radiation Pandawarmer Market Research Report Now Available at Research Corridor – Research Corridor has published a new research study titled “Baby Radiation Pandawarmer Market – Growth, Share, Opportunities, Competitive Analysis and Forecast, 2015 – 2022”. The Baby Radiation Pandawarmer market report studies current as well as future aspects of the Baby Radiation Pandawarmer Market based upon factors such as market dynamics, key ongoing trends and segmentation analysis. Apart from the above elements, the Baby Radiation Pandawarmer Market research report provides a 360-degree view of the Baby Radiation Pandawarmer industry with geographic segmentation, statistical forecast and the competitive landscape.

August 3, 2016 – Thrasher Backer – Radiation Induced Nausea Vomiting Rinv Market Research Report Now Available at Research Corridor – Research Corridor has published a new research study titled “Radiation Induced Nausea Vomiting Rinv Market – Growth, Share, Opportunities, Competitive Analysis and Forecast, 2015 – 2022”. The Radiation Induced Nausea Vomiting Rinv market report studies current as well as future aspects of the Radiation Induced Nausea Vomiting Rinv Market based upon factors such as market dynamics, key ongoing trends and segmentation analysis. Apart from the above elements, the Radiation Induced Nausea Vomiting Rinv Market research report provides a 360-degree view of the Radiation Induced Nausea Vomiting Rinv industry with geographic segmentation, statistical forecast and the competitive landscape.

August 3, 2016 – Daily Mail – Death rays from space: Bursts of energy from black holes could wipe out life on Earth WITHOUT warning – Releasing more energy in one second than the sun will in its entire ten-billion-year-lifetime, gamma ray bursts are some of the universe’s most powerful phenomena. The energy is released in a focused jet of electromagnetic waves, meaning they can travel billions of light years and still look bright to us on Earth. While all the bursts we see come from distant galaxies, there is a slight chance the same thing could happen much closer to home – and if it does, life on Earth will be wiped out without warning.

August 3, 2016 – The Japan Times – Yamaguchi Prefecture renews license for new nuclear plant project – The Yamaguchi Prefectural Government on Wednesday renewed a license for Chugoku Electric Power Co. to reclaim land for a new nuclear power plant in the western prefecture, surprising and angering local residents opposed to the project. Whether to extend the expired license for landfill work in the coastal town of Kaminoseki for the Kaminoseki Nuclear Power Station had been a pending issue after the eruption of the Fukushima nuclear crisis in 2011 led to the work being halted. The local government, however, decided to grant permission, saying that the plant is positioned “within the country’s energy policy.” Local opposition, however, is likely to prevent a quick restart of work by the utility.

August 3, 2016 – Power Engineering International – Poland announces intent to build nuclear plant – The Polish government is reviving plans to build a nuclear power plant in a bid to diversify its power mix away from coal. “Currently the ministry is preparing a plan to construct the first nuclear unit of around 1 GW, which will be built in the next 10 years,” the ministry said in a staPolish flagtement. “Modern and low-emission coal-fuelled power plants” will remain Poland’s major source of energy, the ministry also said. Poland, which generates most of its electricity from coal, initially launched the project in 2009 but it hit numerous delays due to falling power prices and Japan’s 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident, which drained public support.

August 3, 2016 – Tass – Ukraine transfers money for return of spent nuclear fuel to Russia – Ukraine has transferred the money for the return of spent nuclear fuel from its nuclear power plants to Russia, a source in the Russian nuclear power corporation Rosatom has said. “Ukraine has transferred an advance payment for the return of spent Russian nuclear fuel from its NPPs for recycling,” the source said. Asked about the price, the source said that it matched the world level. He added that similar services were being provided not only by Russian companies, but also by their European counterparts. The first shipment to return Russia’s spent nuclear fuel from Ukraine is expected by the end of summer 2016, the source said.

August 3, 2016 – Environmental Leader – China’s Research Into Thorium Will Have Implications for Nuclear Energy In the United States – Nuclear energy may have hit a rough patch here in the United States but at least overseas and especially in Asia, it is revving up and preparing to go faster than ever before. What’s less known, however, is just what type of nuclear reactors for which China has plans: molten salt reactors that run on thorium. On the periodic tables, thorium rests just two spots away from uranium, which is the prevailing fuel used by today’s nuclear reactors. Once uranium is used as a fuel, it becomes highly radioactive. That waste is then cooled in spent fuel pools before is stored in above-ground, concrete-encased steel caskets. As the world learned from Japan’s Fukushima nuclear accident, that radioactive material could escape and do a lot of potential harm.

August 3, 2016 – RT – Files linking Britain to Israel’s nuclear weapons go missing from National Archive – Official documents on Britain’s relationship with Israel, including papers on “military and nuclear collaboration” in the 1970s, have disappeared from the National Archives in the last four years. More than 400 records have gone missing from the repository in Kew, southwest London, including a 1947 letter from Winston Churchill and a Home Office document on the 1910 Suffragettes “disturbances.” The Archives reassured the public it is following a “robust” plan to find the lost files. The loss of the documents was uncovered following a BBC freedom of information (FoI) request, which found the last recorded knowledge of the 402 historical dossiers was January 2012. Among them is a Foreign Office file titled ‘Military and nuclear collaboration with Israel: Israeli nuclear armament,’ in which the British government notes Israel’s intention to purchase nuclear weapons.

August 3, 2016 – Metro.us – New York-based clothing company uses fashion to show the filth in the air – These shirts make an environmental fashion statement by reacting to air pollution. A smart clothing line, made by Aerochromics, detects either particle pollution, carbon monoxide or radioactivity. The shirts are fitted with sensors, which activate heat pads to turn the pattern on the shirt from black to white when pollution reaches 60 on the Air Quality Index (AQI). Designer Nikolas Bentel explains how his range of clothing will help save the planet. How did you come up with Aerochromics? I came up with the idea while working in my studio one late night. The main idea was to better equip the public against pollution. Is it really necessary? Pollution does not discriminate against the place it will land or who the person is nearby. Many people do not realize how much pollution is nearby. How do Aerochromics work? These shirts monitor three types of pollution: carbon monoxide, particle pollution and radioactivity. As the user walks into these pollutants, the shirt will change color, thus warning the user of the potential danger they are in.

August 3, 2016 – Union of Concerned Scientists – You Might be Operating an Unsafe Reactor If… – There are currently two empty positions on the five-member Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). If comedian Jeff Foxworthy were nominated and confirmed to become a Commissioner, you wonder how he would finish the nuclear safety equivalent of his “redneck” routine? You might be operating an unsafe reactor if … This Ending Intentionally Blank The NRC, at least during the last decade of the 20th century and so far in this 21st century, has never seen an unsafe reactor. Not once. The NRC often claims they would shut down an unsafe reactor. Perhaps they would. But they’ve not spotted an unsafe reactor in nearly three decades. They suspected they saw an unsafe reactor about 15 years ago, but changed their mind(s).

August 3, 2016 – Time Warner Cable News – Assemblywoman: Nuclear Isn’t Truly Clean, Safe or Renewable Energy – The Public Service Commission’s decision on clean energy is not sitting well with some state leaders. Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton had written letters to the governor over the past few weeks calling for a move away from nuclear and natural gas infrastructure. She says over the whole life-cycle, nuclear power is not truly clean, safe or renewable energy. That, combined with the recent purchase of the coal-burning Cayuga Power Plant in Lansing, has Lifton worried that there’s not enough commitment toward clean energy. While some are concerned about job loss, Lifton says moving toward green and renewable energy will enable job growth.

August 3, 2016 – Public Citizen – Aging New York Nuclear Plants Do Not Deserve Ratepayer-Funded Handouts – On July 22, Public Citizen filed to become a legal intervenor in a New York state Public Service Commission (PSC) proceeding and filed comments (PDF) opposing the commission’s proposal to provide billions in new, ratepayer-funded subsidies to two corporations that operate an aging fleet of nuclear power plants in the state. Today, the PSC ruled against Public Citizen’s motion. As we stated in our July 22 filing, the zero emission credit (ZEC) is an inappropriate, expensive and unnecessary giveaway to the corporations that own the state’s old nuclear power plants. PSC staff proposed this new ZEC as a subsidy to support some of the state’s old, uneconomic nuclear power plants. Under the state’s deregulation experiment, the out-of-state owners of these power plants earned windfall profits for years when the market was conducive for it. Now that the market has soured for these inefficient facilities, it should be shareholders – not ratepayers – who chip in for clean, affordable and reliable energy.

August 3, 2016 – CNY Central – State approves Clean Energy Standard, bringing more hope for Oswego Co. Nuclear plants – New York State’s Public Service Commission has voted to adopt a plan which makes the future of two nuclear power plants in Oswego County much more optimistic. The commission voted to adopt the New York State Clean Energy Standard, and in doing so outlined a plan to bring the state’s usage of clean energy up to 50-percent by 2030. With that plan also comes incentives for clean energy producers to keep operating or start new endeavors. Members of the commission cited benefits to the environment and keeping jobs as primary reasons to adopt the standard.

August 3, 2016 – Bloomberg News – Exelon, Entergy Nuclear Reactors Win Subsidies From New York – Exelon Corp. and Entergy Corp. have won subsidies totaling about $500 million a year for their money-losing nuclear reactors in New York, the first state to throw such a lifeline to an industry struggling with weak demand and low prices. The state Public Service Commission voted for the funding on Monday as part of a broader plan to spur the development of clean energy. Exelon Corp. said following the decision that it would invest about $200 million in two nuclear plants next year and continue discussions to buy a third from Entergy that is slated to close.
“We’ll immediately invest hundreds of millions of dollars right back into the upstate economy, which will have a long-term positive impact across the state,” Exelon Chief Executive Officer Chris Crane said in a statement.

August 3, 2016 – NJ.com – N.J. reactor back in service after damaged bolts in reactor core replaced – The Salem 1 nuclear plant is back in service after an extended shutdown prompted by the need to replace damaged bolts inside the reactor core, officials said. The reactor began sending out electricity over the regional power grid at 10:26 p.m. Saturday, according to Joe Delmar, spokesman for the plant’s operator, PSEG Nuclear. Salem 2 was taken off-line April 14 for what was expected to be a routine refueling outage lasting about a month, but inspectors found some of the bolts securing the metal liner inside the reactor core — known as baffle bolts — were degraded. In total, 189 of the 832 baffle bolts were replaced, according to PSEG Nuclear and the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission which oversees the operation of the nation’s nuclear plants.

August 3, 2016 – Aiken Standard – SRS column displayed a fundamental misunderstanding – Five years ago, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake off the Japanese coast triggered a massive tsunami, killing 15,000 people, destroying entire towns, and flooding the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. The plant’s safety systems catastrophically failed to withstand the tsunami impacts. The ensuing massive radiation release compelled the authorities to evacuate hundreds of thousands of its citizens. Today most evacuees remain in internal exile, their homeland still too contaminated to return. Neither the 2011 earthquake nor the tsunami were deemed “credible” hypothetical events by the plant designers or its government regulators. They declined to act when faced with scientific and historical evidence and warnings to the contrary.

August 3, 2016 – Nuclear Street – Georgia Power Can Spend $99 Million To Develop New Nuclear Plant – Georgia Power has been granted permission from the state’s pubic service commission to spend as much as $99 million on preliminary site work and licensing for a nuclear power plant in the southwest corner of the state. Georgia PowerCommissioner Stan Wise, who made the motion on behalf of the company, said it made sense to take a pro-active approach to nuclear plant development, as the early site work and licensing alone could take up to seven years. “I refuse to sit on my hands and defer a motion to a future commission,” Wise said.

August 2, 2016 – Omaha World Herald – Omaha VA hospital is officially out of the nuke business; secret reactor had run in the basement for 42 years – Nearly six decades after entering the atomic age with its small-scale research reactor, the VA Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System is now officially out of the nuclear business. Effective Monday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission terminated the operating license for the Alan J. Blotcky Reactor Facility, which had run in the basement of Omaha’s VA Medical Center for 42 years. From 1959 until 2001, VA researchers used the reactor primarily for neutron activation of biological samples. It also was used to train operators of the Fort Calhoun nuclear plant. In Omaha, few people even knew it was there.

August 3, 2016 – Public Citizen – Lack of Trust – and a Proposed Dump in Texas – Threaten the U.S. Department of Energy’s Attempt to Restart the Federal High-Level Radioactive Waste Management Program – As it decides what constitutes community consent to a nuclear waste dump, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) should acknowledge its past mistakes, be responsive to public input and disavow attempts by the private sector to site a nuclear waste storage facility in Texas, Public Citizen has told the agency. Public Citizen submitted its comments (PDF) on Sunday in response to the agency’s invitation for public input on how it should go about establishing sites for high-level nuclear waste facilities. Over the past six months, the department has been holding public hearings across the country to solicit public input on and move forward consent-based siting, a new approach to siting nuclear waste storage and disposal facilities.

August 3, 2016 – Los Alamos Daily Post – WIPP Begins Preliminary Work On New Permanent Ventilation System – Preliminary work has begun to determine the feasibility of constructing a new Permanent Ventilation System (PVS) that will include a new filter building and a new exhaust shaft at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). Activities include drilling multiple boreholes and the collection of core samples at various depths. Data collected from the drilling/coring activity will provide information for the building design team on geologic support capacity, seismic design parameters and building foundation design requirements. The design for the new PVS will include a new unfiltered exhaust shaft and a 55,000-square-foot ventilation building installed east of the existing ventilation system.

August 3, 2016 – Tri-City Herald – Fire near Hanford much larger than thought; wind a concern – The estimated size of the fire that burned through Yakima and Benton counties toward the Hanford nuclear reservation has more than doubled to 273 square miles. The fire spread little on Monday, and the perimeter also held steady through Tuesday afternoon, according to the Northwest Incident Management Team assigned to the Range 12 Fire. But once the smoke cleared enough for a helicopter to fly the perimeter of the fire with a global positioning system, a better estimate of the size of the fire was made. Fire officials increased the estimate from 110 square miles to 273 square miles late Monday.

August 2, 2016 – 81 FR 50742-50750 – NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION – Applications and Amendments to Facility Operating Licenses and Combined Licenses Involving Proposed No Significant Hazards Considerations and Containing Sensitive Unclassified Non-Safeguards Information and Order Imposing Procedures for Access to Sensitive Unclassified Non-Safeguards Information – The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) received and is considering approval of four amendment requests. The amendment requests are for the Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant, Unit 1; H. B. Robinson Steam Electric Plant, Unit No. 2; Palisades Nuclear Plant; and Hope Creek Generating Station. For each amendment request, the NRC proposes to determine that they involve no significant hazards consideration. Because each amendment request contains sensitive unclassified non-safeguards information (SUNSI), an order imposes procedures to obtain access to SUNSI for contention preparation.

August 2, 2016 – 81 FR 50694-50695 – DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY – Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Northern New Mexico – This notice announces a combined meeting of the Environmental Monitoring and Remediation Committee and Waste Management Committee of the Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB), Northern New Mexico (known locally as the Northern New Mexico Citizens’ Advisory Board [NNMCAB]). 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, August 24, 2016, 1:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m. ADDRESSES: NNMCAB Office, 94 Cities of Gold Road, Santa Fe, NM 87506. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Menice Santistevan, Northern New Mexico Citizens’ Advisory Board, 94 Cities of Gold Road, Santa Fe, NM 87506. Phone (505) 995-0393; Fax (505) 989-1752 or Email: menice.santistevan@em.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. Purpose of the Environmental Monitoring and Remediation Committee (EM&R): The EM&R Committee provides a citizens’ perspective to NNMCAB on current and future environmental remediation activities resulting from historical Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) operations and, in particular, issues pertaining to groundwater, surface water and work required under the New Mexico Environment Department Order on Consent. The EM&R Committee will keep abreast of DOE-EM and site programs and plans. The committee will work with the NNMCAB to provide assistance in determining priorities and the best use of limited funds and time. Formal recommendations will be proposed when needed and, after consideration and approval by the full NNMCAB, may be sent to DOE-EM for action. Purpose of the Waste Management (WM) Committee: The WM Committee reviews policies, practices and procedures, existing and proposed, so as to provide recommendations, advice, suggestions and opinions to the NNMCAB regarding waste management operations at the Los Alamos site.

August 2, 2016 – 81 FR 50693-50694 – DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY – Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Paducah – This notice announces a meeting of the Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB), Paducah. 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: Thursday, August 18, 2016, 6:00 p.m. ADDRESSES: Barkley Centre, 111 Memorial Drive, Paducah, Kentucky 42001. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jennifer Woodard, Deputy Designated Federal Officer, Department of Energy Paducah Site Office, Post Office Box 1410, MS-103, Paducah, Kentucky 42001, (270) 441-6825. 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 2, 2016 – M2 – Chernobyl Might Finally Have A Use That Isn’t Just Being Radioactive – Thirty years after the worst nuclear disaster in human history, Chernobyl is finally being put to use again. If government ministers can get enough funding, the evacuated zone could be turned into a solar and renewable energy park. In 1986, Reactor Number 4 at the Chernobyl Power Plant near the city of Pripyat ruptured and exploded, sending a huge amount of radioactive debris and waste into the surrounding area. The Exclusion Zone was the 30km around the power plant and is largely inhabited by wildlife and foliage since. There are about 300 people who refused to leave during the evacuations. Interestingly, flora and fauna have actually flourished in the absence of humans, and people are unlikely to return in the near future. As a result, tourism of the irradiated town is a big source of income for the region. If solar farms can be built in parts of the region, there are hopes that Ukraine can start to farm sunshine as well.

August 2, 2016 – MIT Technology Review – Fail-Safe Nuclear Power – In February I flew through the interior of a machine that could represent the future of nuclear power. I was on a virtual-reality tour at the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics in China, which plans in the next few years to build an experimental reactor whose design makes a meltdown far less likely. Inside the core—a superhot, intensely radioactive place where no human will ever go—the layers of the power plant peeled back before me: the outer vessel of stainless steel, the inner layer of a high-tech alloy, and finally the nuclear fuel itself, tens of thousands of billiard-ball-size spheres containing particles of radioactive material. Given unprecedented access to the inner workings of China’s advanced nuclear R&D program, I was witnessing a new nuclear technology being born. Through the virtual reactor snaked an intricate system of pipes carrying the fluid that makes this system special: a molten salt that cools the reactor and carries heat to drive a turbine and make electricity. At least in theory, this type of reactor can’t suffer the kind of catastrophic failure that happened at Chernobyl and Fukushima, making unnecessary the expensive and redundant safety systems that have driven up the cost of conventional reactors. What’s more, the new plants should produce little waste and might even eat up existing nuclear waste.

August 2, 2016 – Consumer Eagle – Perma Fix Environmental Services Inc Has Another Bullish Trade, Fundamental Global Investors Bought Stake! – Fundamental Global Investors filed with the SEC SC 13D form for Perma Fix Environmental Services Inc. The form can be accessed here: 000114420416115749. As reported in Fundamental Global Investors’s form, the filler as of late owns 5.3% or 616,750 shares of the Industrials–company. Perma Fix Environmental Services Inc stake is a new one for the and it was filed because of activity on June 28, 2016. We feel this shows Fundamental Global Investors’s positive view for the stock.

August 2,2016 – Los Alamos Daily Post – LANL Estimate Of $2.9 Billion For ‘Remaining’ Cleanup Leaves Nuclear And Toxic Wastes Behind – The Department of Energy (DOE) has announced that the cost of “Remaining Legacy Cleanup” of radioactive and toxic wastes from more than 70 years of nuclear weapons research and production at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) will cost $2.9 billion through fiscal year 2035, averaging $153 million per year. That cost estimate assumes that the Lab’s major radioactive and toxic wastes dumps will not be cleaned up. Instead they will be “capped and covered,” leaving some 200,000 cubic yards of radioactive and toxic wastes at Area G, its largest waste dump. Those wastes sit in unlined pits and trenches, 800 feet above groundwater and three miles uphill from the Rio Grande (plutonium contaminants have been detected 200 feet below Area G).

August 2, 2016 – Yibada – Black Holes Can Sing? This is the Reason Why They Emit Powerful X-ray ‘Songs’ – Black holes are mysterious, colossal cosmic objects in our universe that can devour stellar gas, dust, planetary objects, and even light and sound due to their powerful gravitational forces. They also emit powerful X-ray bursts known as a cosmic X-ray background that can be described as X-ray “songs” by a choir of a million supermassive black holes. Astrophysicists already know about this cosmic choir however, identifying the source has been very challenging and very elusive. In a new study, NASA’s NuSTAR (Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array) X-ray space telescope has gathered new data about these black holes that are emitting high energy X-rays, which has proven to be a crucial step in solving the mystery of the cosmic X-ray background.

August 2, 2016 – Mass Live – Vintage photos: Advertisements from the 1950s – Gieger counters, Edsels and color TV – Some people were watching Sen. Joe McCarthy on television and others were rockin’ around the clock with Bill Haley and His Comets during the 1950s. But it seems everyone was shopping in the 1950s. There were Geiger counters being sold at Sears to would-be uranium prospectors, while Edsel dealerships in Springfield and Northampton were looking for buyers. A look back at newspaper advertisements include fondly remembered restaurants like Vincent’s Steak House in West Springfield or stalwarts like Schermerhorn’s Seafood, then with three locations in Springfield.

August 2, 2016 – MedicalDialogues.in – Mumbai: Medical students exposed to radiation without TLD batches – The thermoluminescent dosimeter (TLD), a radiation detection device, an essential measure for protection for medical staff working with radiation equipments in any hospital, has not been provided for the students of radiology at the Grant Medical College and Sir JJ Group of Hospitals. This shocking revelation came through an RTI which showed that the students in these medical colleges, have been conducting CT scans, X rays and sonographies in the absence of these badges for the past three months. The badges measure high radiation exposure, which can be the cause of cancer in those exposed. Dr Meenakshi Wahane Gajbhiye, HOD of Radiology Department of the college, tried to pass on the blame to AERB, which in its turn stated that it was merely a regulatory body and no way responsible for providing TLD badges. “We conduct regular inspections to ensure hospitals give TLD badges to all its students and employees, as failure to do so is a punishable offence. The first warning is a notice, but if the hospital ignores it, it can be asked to shut shop,” said Dr Sonawane, Head of Radiological Safety Division, AERB.

August 2, 2016 – Renal & Urology News – Survival Outcomes in Gleason 9-10 PCa Similar with Radiation, Surgery – Radiation therapy and radical prostatectomy (RP) offer men with Gleason score 9–10 prostate cancer (PCa) equivalent cancer-specific and overall survival, according to a new study. Findings also suggest that extremely dose-escalated radiation therapy plus androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) might be the optimal upfront treatment for these patients, researchers concluded in a paper published online ahead of print in European Urology. The investigators noted that their study is the largest comparative study of outcomes exclusively for patients with Gleason score 9–10 PCa. The study, led by Amar U. Kishan, MD, of the University of California Los Angeles, included 487 patients with biopsy Gleason 9–10 disease. Of these, 230 underwent external beam radiation therapy (EBRT), 87 were treated with EBRT and brachytherapy (BT), and 170 underwent RP. Most radiation therapy patients received androgen deprivation therapy and dose-escalated radiation therapy.

August 2, 2016 – MesotheliomaHelp.org – IMPRINT May Lead to A “New Lung-Sparing Treatment Paradigm” for Mesothelioma Patients – MesotheliomaHelp has recently reported on two studies showing the benefits of pleurectomy/decortication (P/D) over extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP) for mesothelioma patients. Now, researchers report that following the surgery with chemotherapy and a novel radiation therapy is safe and resulted in a reduced rate of radiation pneumonitis. Researchers from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and MD Anderson tested a newly developed hemithoracic intensity-modulated pleural radiation therapy (IMPRINT) in a clinical trial of 27 mesothelioma patients who had undergone P/D and chemotherapy. The radiation therapy specifically targets the lining of the lung, where the mesothelioma cells are, and reduces the risk of damaging the lung itself.

August 2, 2016 – Newsmaker – Radiation Dose Management Market to Hit 50% CAGR, Driven by Demand of Computed Tomography, Angiography, Fluoroscopy to 2020 – The global market for Radiation Dose is estimated to grow at a high growth rate during the forecast period of 2015 to 2020. This market is mainly driven by the increasing needs to cut radiation dose levels causing chronic diseases, need for regulatory compliance, and need for improved patient safety and for accurate and reliable systems to manage critical radiation dose levels and information.

August 2, 2016 – Business Wire – PetCure Oncology Now Serves Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, and Indiana by Opening Fourth Location – Lakeshore Veterinary Specialists, a 24/7 animal emergency and specialty hospital, is proud to announce the addition of leading-edge radiation oncology services through a partnership with PetCure Oncology at its Glendale, Wisconsin, facility (2100 W. Silver Spring Drive). As a comprehensive veterinary specialty hospital, Lakeshore has offered advanced medical oncology treatments for many years. The partnership with PetCure Oncology allows the team to add on-site radiation therapy, including a revolutionary new option for pets called stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS). Lakeshore is the only private veterinary practice in Wisconsin offering comprehensive cancer care with SRS for pets.

August 2, 2016 – Associated Press – WILDFIRES: Fire burning toward the Hanford nuclear reservation – A wildfire burning toward the Hanford nuclear reservation scorched about 110 square miles of grassland Monday as it spread from Yakima County into Benton County. The blaze, the largest of several wildfires in Central and Eastern Washington, began Saturday on the U.S. Army’s Yakima Training Center and quickly grew in size over the weekend. But fire lines set overnight and low winds Monday are helping to slow the fire’s progression, said Randall Rishe, a spokesman with the Bureau of Land Management. The cause is being investigated. A section of state Highway 24 near Hanford remained temporarily closed Monday morning because of the fire, a state transportation official said. Firefighters were working to stop the fire before it reached the large wildland security zone maintained around a portion of the Hanford nuclear site, the Tri-City Herald reported. Hanford once made plutonium for nuclear weapons and is now undergoing a decades-long cleanup.

August 2, 2016 – Your Nuclear News – Sulzer to supply feedwater pumps for nuclear reactor in China – Sulzer has been awarded a contract for the delivery of main feedwater pumps and start-up feedwater pumps. The pumps will be installed in two nuclear reactors — Hualong No. 1 reactors — in China, owned by China Nuclear Power Engineering Company, Ltd. (CNPEC). Sulzer received this order in May 2016 and will complete the delivery of the equipment by the end of 2019. Sulzer will deliver six high-efficiency main feedwater pumps (HPTd), six booster pumps (HZB), as well as two start-up feedwater pumps (GSG). Electric motors of 11 600 KW and 1400 KW, respectively, will drive the pumps. Sulzer Suzhou, China, will conduct the manufacturing, testing, packaging, installation supervision, and commissioning.

August 2, 2016 – Science Alert – This poor kid literally dropped his phone in a nuclear reactor – A few days ago, a Reddit user had one of the worst summer camp afternoons you can imagine, when he literally dropped his phone into a nuclear reactor. He was visiting the McClellan Nuclear Research Centre in California, stuck his phone over the railing to take a picture of the pretty, glowing water, and, yep, dropped it in. It’s definitely not the worst thing that could happen at a nuclear reactor – and, of course, this is Reddit, so he could be making this story up. But, if it’s true, dropping your phone in any large body of water – especially once as closely guarded as a radioactive research facility – is pretty terrible… and embarrassing.

August 2, 2016 – Construction.ru – Rosatom’s Deputy CEO comments incident at Belarusian NPP – It was a subcontractor’s mistake, which didn’t follow the instruction for cargo slinging, that led to suspension of the reactor’s mounting at the Belarussian nuclear power plant. This is what Rosatom’s First Deputy CEO for Operations Management Alexander Lokshin told in an interview published on the company’s website. He said that the employees of the contractor responsible for the failure had been suspended from work at the Belarusian nuclear power plant’s site and will never be permitted to work at Russian nuclear facilities. Simultaneously, he stressed that the equipment itself and the reactor’s shell hadn’t been damaged. Nevertheless, at request of the customer, Rosatom is ready to replace the shell of the reactor at under-construction Belarussian NPP.

August 2, 2016 – Forbes – New York State Considers Nuclear A Clean Energy – Yesterday, the New York Public Service Commission (PSC) voted to approve a provision within the Clean Energy Standard (CES) that would value the emission-free energy that Upstate New York’s nuclear energy plants provide, finally recognizing that these plants are essential to meeting the state’s goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 40% by 2030. Since everyone agrees that this goal would be impossible to achieve without retaining the state’s existing nuclear power, this provision was critical.

August 2, 2016 – NDTV – In ‘Contravention Of NSG’, China Continues To Sell Nuclear Reactors To Pak – China continues to sell nuclear reactors to Pakistan, a US think-tank has said, expressing concern over export of nuclear materials in violation of international norms and established procedures. “China has taken significant steps over the past several years to strengthen its export controls. However, Beijing’s decision to continue selling nuclear reactors to Pakistan in contravention of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and its sales of missile technologies to countries of concern earns China a failing grade,” Washington-based Arms Control Association said in its latest report. In its updates report card 2013-2016 ‘Assessing Progress on Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament’, it gives China a failing “F Grade” on nuclear weapons related export control.

August 2, 2016 – Ohio.com – Scientists find promising ‘green’ mud for cleaner fracking – There is a promising “green” mud that frackers can use in drilling that reduces radioactive and hazardous waste to below federal guidelines, a new university study says. The State Journal newspaper reports: “West Virginia University researchers studying drilling wastes produced a pair of research wells near Morgantown say they are well below federal guidelines for radioactive or hazardous waste, the university reports. ” … Drilling a horizontal well in the Marcellus Shale produces about 500 tons of rock fragments, known as cuttings. WVU researchers have been studying the radioactivity and toxicity of the drill cuttings, which are trucked on public roads to county landfills. “… scientists found that using the ‘green’ drilling mud BioBase 365 at the well site resulted in all 12 cuttings samples passing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s test for leaching toxicity, allowing them to be classified as non-hazardous for non-radiological parameters like benzene and arsenic.”

August 2, 2016 – Englewood Herald – Controversy puts focus on water-plant sludge – Englewood’s drinking water plant is at the heart of two starkly different stories. According to lead plant operator Ken Kloewer, improperly stored piles of radioactive sediment at the plant are the source of his cancer. City officials, however, assert that the sediment piles, often referred to as sludge, have been properly handled and have never posed a danger to plant employees or neighbors of the Charles Allen Water Filtration Plant, adjacent to Belleview Park at Windermere Street and Layton Avenue. “For 25 years we had meetings about our radioactive sludge,” said Kloewer, 54, who has worked at the plant for 30 years. “Everyone thought it was funny. The city doesn’t give a damn about us.”

August 2, 2016 – PowerMag – Exelon, America’s Leading Nuclear Generator, Keeps the Faith on Nukes – The U.S. nuclear power business is in trouble, and Exelon has six units totaling more than 5,300 MW of dependable capacity on the chopping block. How will the Chicago electricity giant respond? Perhaps by acquiring more nuclear capacity? Chicago-based Exelon Corp., the largest nuclear power generator in the U.S., is facing what could be the greatest challenge in the company’s history. Exelon confronts the potential shutdown of six operating nuclear generating units at four stations, out of a fleet of 23 units at 14 stations across the country. This comes after Exelon essentially abandoned coal, selling off its interests in coal-fired generation. In late 2014, the company unloaded its last minority shares in major coal generation, the Keystone (42%) and Conemaugh (32%) plants in central Pennsylvania, once a significant element in its power mix (see sidebar “Exelon’s Generating Fleet”). RTO Insider newsletter commented, “Exelon once had extensive coal-fired generation but has either sold or retired them over the years as it concentrated on new gas-fired generation and its massive nuclear fleet.”

August 2, 2016 – Aiken Standard – Nuclear Regulatory Committee cites violations at MOX project – In a letter and report this week, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission outlined two violations at the already contentious Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, or MOX. The following day, another letter was sent to announce the findings of another investigation into allegations of misconduct at the facility. The investigation came after an October inspection in 2015 found potential safety and construction guideline violations. The inspection report noted issues with ledgers designed to support floor panels in one of the operations areas. According to previous reporting from the Aiken Standard, the NRC noted in the 2015 report that measures to assure that requirements were correctly translated by CB&I MOX Services, the MOX contractor, into design documents were inadequate. Meaning, the ledgers installed weren’t properly checked to be in accordance with the design documents.

August 2, 2016 – Los Alamos Monitor – LANS responds to Irving lawsuit – Attorneys for Los Alamos National Security have responded to a 2016 lawsuit from a Los Alamos National Laboratory employee where he said he was discriminated against because of his age and a prior lawsuit he filed against the company in 2013. The employee filed the new suit in April. Los Alamos National Security is the company that manages and operates LANL. “Defendant (LANL) has discriminated against the plaintiff by subjecting him to a hostile work environment, denying him promotional opportunities and promoting a younger, less experienced individual, interfering with his ability to perform his job duties and by giving plaintiff a negative evaluation and significantly reducing his promotional opportunities and merit raise,” said his attorney, Donald Gilpin, in the lawsuit.

August 2, 2016 – Los Alamos Daily Post – WIPP Mine Rescue Team Wins Field Competition National Championship – The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Blue Mine Rescue Team captured top honors in the field competition at the Metal/Non-Metal National Mine Rescue Championship, topping 36 teams from 18 states, spanning from Alaska to Georgia, who were competing this week in Reno, Nevada. Newmont Mining Corporation from Carlin, Nev., edged out WIPP for the overall national championship.

August 1, 2016 – 81 FR 50570-50571 – NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION – Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS); Meeting of the ACRS Subcommittee on NUSCALE; Notice of Meeting – The ACRS Subcommittee on NuScale will hold a meeting on August 16, 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 1, 2016 – 81 FR 50569 – NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION – Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS), Meeting of the ACRS Subcommittee on Reliability and PRA – The ACRS Subcommittee on Reliability and PRA will hold a meeting on August 15, 2016, Room T-2B1, 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. The meeting will be open to public attendance.

August 1, 2016 – 81 FR 50568-50569 – NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION – Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS); Meeting of the ACRS Subcommittee on Plant Operations and Fire Protection; Notice of Meeting – The ACRS Subcommittee on Plant Operations and Fire Protection will hold a meeting on August 16, 2016, Room T-2B1, 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. The meeting will be open to public attendance.

August 1, 2016 – 81 FR 50568 – NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION – Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS); Meeting of the ACRS Subcommittee on AP1000 – The ACRS Subcommittee on AP1000 will hold a meeting on August 18-19, 2016, Room T-2B1, 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. The meeting will be open to public attendance.

August 1, 2016 – 81 FR 50569-50570 – NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION – U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; Alan J. Blotcky Reactor Facility – The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is providing notice of the termination of Facility Operating License No. R-57 for the Alan J. Blotcky Reactor Facility (AJBRF). The NRC has terminated the license of the decommissioned AJBRF at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA or the licensee) facility in Omaha, Nebraska, and has released the site for unrestricted use.

August 1, 2016 – 81 FR 50566-50568 – NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION – Pennsylvania State University Breazeale Nuclear Reactor – The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing an exemption in response to a letter dated November 6, 2014, from the Pennsylvania State University (Penn State). In this letter, Penn State requested an exemption from certain regulatory requirements, which, if granted, would allow Penn State to submit its annual financial results within 180 days after the close of each succeeding fiscal year. The NRC staff has reviewed this request and determined that it is appropriate to grant the exemption, as requested.

August 1, 2016 – Daily Star – Lucky teen inches from death as METEORITE crash lands next to him – Matej Rejfek, 17, had popped outside to lock his garden gate when the lump of rock smashed to the ground with a thud right in front of him. Mr Refjek, who lives in the northern Czech Republic village of Ledce, initially thought someone was throwing stones at him. But then he realised that there was nobody else around and that the small rock had come from the sky. Mr Refjek said: “I realised that it was 1am and it was not very likely that someone would be throwing anything at me. “I picked up the stone and felt that it was warm so that gave me a clue that this could be a meteorite.” He took the rock inside his home and put it inside a plastic bag because he was worried that it might be radioactive.

August 1, 2016 – Homeland Preparedness News – Stolen portable nuclear gauge recovered in Connecticut – HAKS Material Testing Group, a Connecticut-based company, notified the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on Wednesday that a portable nuclear gauge reported to be stolen has been recovered. The gauge, typically used for industrial purposes like measuring the density of soil at construction sites, was located by police at a pawn shop in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and reportedly had no damage. A Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection inspector traveled to the shop to inspect and confirm that the gauge was not damaged. The gauge contains small amounts of radioactive material that are shielded within the device when not in use. The gauge was stolen from a technician’s vehicle while it was parked in Bridgeport. The vehicle’s trunk was broken into and the chains securing the gauge in place were cut and removed.

August 1, 2016 – Pravda.ru – Islamic State to explode dirty bomb at Rio Olympics – The Islamic State terrorist group (banned in Russia) plans to use a “dirty bomb” to attack the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Daily Mirror said. According to the publication, UN security experts sent special equipment to Brazil to help prevent the potential threat. it was also said that the IAEA provided portable dosimeters to delegates of the Games. A “dirty bomb” is a radiological weapons consisting of a container with a radioactive isotope (isotopes) and an explosive device. The explosion destroys the container with isotopes and distributes the radioactive substance on a large territory. The size of the bomb may vary depending on the amount of the material it is made of. In addition, Islamic State terrorists published a video threatening to attack Russia. In the video, the terrorists threaten Russian President Putin and the population.

August 1, 2016 – African Review – Nigeria to generate electricity from uranium – In March, the Federal Government had announced that it was working towards generating 4,000 MW of electricity from nuclear sources. Towards this end, experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have been invited by the government to conduct a week-long training for nuclear practitioners and security officers on the extraction, exploitation and utilisation of uranium. Speaking at the opening ceremony of the National Training Course on Nuclear Security for the Uranium Extraction Industry in Abuja, the minister of solid minerals development Kayode Fayemi, stated that it was important for Nigeria to exploit available resources in order to meet its power needs.

August 1, 2016 – Zawya – Major plan to check radiation hazards – Saudi Arabia has embarked on a major plan to check hazards posed by radiation at health facilities and ensure adequate safety arrangements to avoid possible danger to lives of health workers and patients. The plan is to generate awareness about dangers of radiation, make radiation safety improvements, enforce regulatory measures, and impart technical knowledge of equipment-related radiation safety features. “The Saudi Food & Drug Authority (SFDA) has teamed up with the Ministry of Interior and has already carried inspections of about 510 health facilities in the Kingdom,” said a statement released by the SFDA.

August 1, 2016 – FrenchTribune.com – Astronauts flying to moon have higher cardiovascular mortality rate than those to ISS – The Earth has the only atmosphere so far discovered to support human life, rest of celestial body are devoid of sources that help sustain life. Same could be said for moon, which unlike the Earth has hostile atmosphere for living beings found on our planet. A study recently published in Scientific Reports asserted that astronauts on moon are fivefold likely to die from cardiovascular disease than astronauts in low-Earth orbit on the International Space Station. Michael Delp, a professor of physiology at Florida State University in Tallahassee and the first author on the paper, explains why this may happen. According to Delp, space radiation travel very fast to moon and damages tissues a lot. This causes more serious damage than caused by any radiation falling on the Earth, where living creatures, including humans are protected because of two factors. First, magnetic field of the Earth deflects majority of the charged particles that enter into our planet via solar system. The field is also known as magnetosphere. But, if in case a charged particle breaks through this magnetic shield, it enters into the atmosphere and dissipates a lot of its energy. That comes as a second line of defense.

August 1, 2016 – WhaTech – Report explores the global radiology oncology surgical robots market 2016: industry insights, review, demand, study and research to 2019 – Market Research announces that it has published a new study Radiology Oncology Surgical Robots Market Shares, Strategy, and Forecasts, Worldwide, 2016 to 2022. The 2016 study has 557 pages, 82 tables and figures. Worldwide Radiology Oncology surgical robot markets are poised to achieve significant growth as next generation systems provide a way to improve traditional open surgery and use radiology for cancer surgery. New systems pinpoint the delivery of radiation precisely, eliminating the radiological overdosing that has been such a problem previously, limiting the quantity of radiation that can be delivered.

August 1, 2016 – IPE – Joseph Mariathasan: Rejecting nuclear power is height of folly – UK prime minister Theresa May’s decision to delay a final decision on the Hinkley Point nuclear power station is another stumbling block for nuclear power. Yet it can be argued nuclear power represents an invaluable source of energy that has been misrepresented in the public perception. The Fukushima Daiichi radiation disaster in March 2011 epitomised the problems countries face in their attitudes to nuclear energy. The disaster led to all nuclear plants in Japan being shut down and 100,000 people being evacuated. There was worldwide news coverage and huge blame placed on the operator, TEPCO. Other nations such as Germany panicked and shut down their nuclear power plants, despite the absence of any problems. Subsequent German policy became to cease the use of nuclear energies. Yet, despite the considerable escape of radiation, ranked in the most serious category in the Fukushima Daiichi radiation disaster, there has not been a single death, nor even a single health casualty, attributable to the leak. This, as Oxford professor Wade Allison argues in his book, “Nuclear is for life – a cultural revolution”, calls for an explanation.

August 1, 2016 – Sputnik International – Rosatom Dismisses Rumors of Accident at Belarus’ Nuclear Power Plant – Media claimed that an accident occurred on the night of July 9 at the construction site of Belarus’s first nuclear power plant. “It is wrong to use misleading words like ‘hit the ground’ or ‘fell’ because the reactor was moving toward the ground at a pace below that of a pedestrian,” Rosatom’s First Deputy CEO for Operations Management Alexander Lokshin told reporters. Lokshin said a subcontractor firm was relocating the reactor horizontally some 30 feet within the construction site with a crane when it malfunctioned. The massive cargo was left strapped to the crane for half an hour and tilted slowly to one side until it was handing diagonally from the sling and touched the ground.

August 1, 2016 – Burlington Hawk Eye – China’s nuclear power ambitions sailing into troubled waters – China’s ambitions to become a pioneer in nuclear energy are sailing into troubled waters. Two state-owned companies plan to develop floating nuclear reactors, a technology engineers have been considering since the 1970s for use by oil rigs or island communities. Beijing is racing Russia, which began developing its own in 2007, to get a unit into commercial operation. In China’s case, the achievement would be tempered by concern its reactors might be sent into harm’s way to support oil exploration in the South China Sea, where Beijing faces conflicting territorial claims by neighbors, including Vietnam and the Philippines. Chinese news reports said plans call for deploying 20 reactors there, though neither developer has mentioned the area.

August 1, 2016 – SF Gate – Wildfires burning in Washington, forcing evacuations – A wildfire was burning toward the Hanford Nuclear Reservation after spreading from Grant and Yakima counties into Benton County. The Tri-City Herald reports (http://bit.ly/2abnLmJ ) it was one of several wildfires burning Sunday in Eastern Washington. Those blazes include a 1,000-acre fire that had an undetermined number of residents evacuating a rural area near Prosser Sunday evening. The larger fire burning toward Hanford was estimated to have burned about 94 square miles by early Sunday evening. The paper reported that firefighters were working to stop the fire before it reached the large wildland security zone maintained around a portion of the nuclear site.

August 1, 2016 – Sputnik International – Time to Wake Up? US Nuclear Expansion Might Lead to Catastrophic Consequences – Expansion of US missile defense has become a subject to a vivid debate in the international community and might lead to serious negative consequences if Washington doesn’t rethink its policy. For instance, China has severely protested the decision of the United States to place an advanced missile defense system in South Korea, with experts claiming that the move is likely to further increase tensions between Washington and Beijing. “China strongly urges the United States and South Korea to stop the deployment process of the THAAD anti-missile system, not take any steps to complicate the regional situation and do nothing to harm China’s strategic security interests,” China’s Foreign Ministry said early July, cited by Reuters.

August 1, 2016 – Climate Home – Atomic shambles: UK nuclear plans need urgent rethink – The British government astonished the nuclear industry last week by refusing to go ahead with plans to build the world’s largest nuclear plant until it has reviewed every aspect of the project. The decision was announced hours after a bruising meeting of the board of the giant French energy company EDF, at which directors decided by 10 votes to seven to go ahead with the building of two 1,600 megawatt reactors at Hinkley Point in Somerset, southwest England. One director, Gerard Magnin, had already resigned in protest before the meeting, saying the project was “very risky”. All six union members, who are worker directors, said they were going to vote against because they believed that any new investment should be directed at making ageing French reactors safer.

August 1, 2016 – RT.com – UK balks last minute at Hinkley Point nuclear deal with China, Beijing decries ‘suspicious approach’ – Theresa May’s government has backtracked just hours before signing a deal for a China-backed nuclear power station. Beijing state media says the UK is acting irrationally by delaying the project, jeopardizing the hard-won ‘Golden Era’ of China-UK ties. The US$24 billion deal, with France’s EDF as producer of two nuclear reactors and China’s General Nuclear Power Corp as principle investor, has been put on hold, despite Britain having abandoned coal as a source of electricity production. A comment from China’s official Xinhua agency says that while Beijing understands and respects Britain’s decision to reconsider the deal, it cannot understand the “suspicious approach that comes from nowhere to Chinese investment in making the postponement.”

August 1, 2016 – Albany Business Review – Manufacturers oppose proposed $7 billion nuclear power subsidy – Big energy users, including large manufacturers in the state, oppose a plan to subsidize nuclear power plants that could cost as much as $7 billion. New York’s utility regulator is set to consider the proposal on Monday. Nuclear power is seen as a bridge source to help the state achieve higher renewable energy goals. The plan, intended to keep upstate New York nuclear power plants operational, would provide funding based on the social costs of carbon emissions avoided by the plant. The cost in the first two years would be about $1 billion. A staff analysis found those costs are outweighed by economic and environmental benefits valued at $5 billion over the same period.

August 1, 2016 – Independent Online – At what cost nuclear? – A new study by EE Publishers looks at the initial capital cost as well as the levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) generated by the proposed 9.6 GW new-nuclear build in South Africa. The EE Publishers study estimates an initial overnight capital cost (including owner’s development costs, but excluding interest during construction) of the 9.6 GW new-nuclear build at $50 billion (R776 billion at a rate of exchange of $1 = R14).

August 1, 2016 – Focus Taiwan News Channel – President demands report on nuclear waste storage on Orchid Island – President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) demanded Monday a report on policymaking about the storage of radioactive waste on Orchid Island, which lies just off the southeast coast of Taiwan and is home to the Tao aboriginal tribe, called the Yami people by the Taiwan government. Tsai issued the directive in a ceremony at the Presidential Office in which she formally issued an apology to Taiwan’s 16 recognized aboriginal tribes on Taiwan’s Indigenous People’s Day. During the ceremony, Yami elder Capen Nganaen urged the government to come up with measures to move radioactive nuclear waste away from Orchid Island.

August 1, 2016 – Free Press Journal – Scientists simulate nuclear explosion of asteroid – In a step that may help protect the Earth from potentially dangerous celestial bodies, scientists have simulated the nuclear explosion of an asteroid in such a way that its irradiated fragments do not fall on our planet. With the help of supercomputer SKIF Cyberia, the nuclear explosion of an asteroid 200 metres in diameter was simulated. “The way we propose to eliminate the threat from space is reasonable to use in case of the impossibility of the soft disposal of an object from a collision in orbit and for the elimination of an object that is constantly returning to Earth,” said Tatiana Galushina, from Tomsk State University (TSU) in Russia. “Previously, as a preventive measure, it was proposed to abolish the asteroid on its approach to our planet, but this could lead to catastrophic consequences – a fall to Earth of the majority of the highly radioactive fragments,” said Galushina.

August 1, 2016 – Sky News Australia – Nuclear waste dump site proposed for SA – A wide ranging community consultation program over a proposal to build a high level nuclear waste dump in South Australia is set to begin. Premier Jay Weatherill will open the first information session in Adelaide’s Rundle Mall on Friday. The consultation program over the proposal to build the nuclear waste dump will go over the weekend while moving to regional centres next week. The consultation includes scale models and interactive displays. The South Australian premier won’t rule out holding a referendum on whether the state should host a proposed nuclear waste dump but says it’s unlikely.

August 1, 2016 – National Geographic – Fukushima in New York? This Nuclear Plant Has Regulators Nervous – Could what happened in Fukushima happen 35 miles (56 kilometers) north of New York City? That’s what many activists and former nuclear regulators fear for the Indian Point Energy Center, a nuclear power plant that has operated in Westchester County for more than four decades. The plant provides a good chunk of the energy needs for the surrounding area, but it has come under fire in recent years for safety and environmental concerns, including its warming of the Hudson River and a recent case of bolts missing in one of its reactors. Two of the plant’s three reactor units are currently operating on expired licenses, with the state of New York having denied parent company Entergy’s extension requests due to suspected violations of the federal Clean Water Act. Following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that caused catastrophic damage to Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant and surrounding area, the safety of nuclear energy as a whole has come under even greater scrutiny.

August 1, 2016 – Manitoulin Expositor – Study by OPG on nuclear waste vault near Lake Huron not specific enough, says Nuclear Waste Watch – Ontario Power Generation’s (OPG) study of a proposed nuclear waste vault near Lake Huron is not specific enough, says Nuclear Waste Watch. Alerting the federal Minister of the Environment and Climate Change to signals from Ontario Power Generation (OPG) that the utility intends to once more side-step information requirements related to a proposal to bury nuclear waste beside Lake Huron, 50 public interest groups from Canada and the US have sent an open letter to the federal minister with advice and analysis. In response to a letter from the minister dated July 4, the open letter critiques OPG’s outline of its intended approach to responding to the minister’s request for additional information which she had issued in February.

August 1, 2016 – KING5.com – Nuclear worker: ‘Retaliation is very real at Hanford’ – A veteran worker at the Hanford Site says he was harassed, isolated and reassigned to cleaning tasks after he made repeated attempts to bring attention to safety problems in the lab where he works. “Retaliation and harassment is very, very real at Hanford and that’s a fact. I lived it and I’m living it right now,” said Dave Lee, an instrument technician assigned to the 222-S Lab at Hanford. “I’m cleaning closets and I’m replacing filters and if that’s not degrading and retaliatory, explain to me what is.”

August 1, 2016 – Asian Scientist – ‘Smashing’ Radioactive Particles Can Help Clear Nuclear Waste – Scientists in Japan may have found a way to manage nuclear waste more easily, by converting two major radioactive isotopes found in nuclear waste into more easily managed isotopes. Their research was published in the journal Physical Letters B. “Treating the nuclear waste generated by nuclear power plants and other facilities is a major problem around the world. There are two types—minor actinides, which can be dealt with using fission reactions, and fission products, for which more scientific research on nuclear reactions is needed,” said RIKEN chief scientist Dr. Hiroyoshi Sakurai, who is the head of the Radioactive Isotope Physics Laboratory at the RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science in Japan.