July 26, 2016 – The Olympian – Texas radioactive waste company eyes New Mexico site – A West Texas company that treats and disposes of radioactive waste may be ahead of southeastern New Mexico in landing a long-term storage facility for spent nuclear fuel. The Waste Control Specialists signaled this month it wants a spent fuel storage facility at the company’s facility just five miles east of Eunice, New Mexico, the Hobbs News-Sun reports (http://goo.gl/VC3oOA). WCS spokesman Chuck McDonald said the company is asking the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to begin the environmental review of the site now, a process that could take at least 18 months. WCS sent a letter to the NRC this week asking that the process begin so stakeholder meetings with the public can be held.

July 26, 2016 – Pulse.com.gh – Nuclear weapons roll through Scotland – In the dead of night, convoys carrying nuclear warheads wind their way through Glasgow: up the M74 motorway, over the West Street subway station I pass through on my way to work, across the river Clyde as it flows past my home, past the library and the gym and my dog’s vet surgery, past the best burger van and worst Chinese takeaway, and on to the Faslane naval base just outside the city. Every morning, my city risks waking up to news of a crash or meltdown, of a vast radioactive dust cloud sweeping south, of the slow deaths of thousands from incurable radiation sickness. From Faslane, these missiles are loaded onto submarines that slink out to undisclosed locations off Britain’s coastline, ready to launch their missiles – each one seven times more powerful than the bomb that levelled Hiroshima – on the prime minister’s say-so. And if that ever happens, in error or in earnest, you and I and everyone else on Earth will die as each nuke-toting nation retaliates in a matter of minutes.

July 26, 2016 – Albany Times Union – A hefty nuclear subsidy – In coming weeks, New York’s Public Service Commission will consider a clean energy plan that envisions a laudable goal: to derive half of the state’s electricity from clean, renewable sources. It also includes what can be fairly described as a massive subsidy for nuclear power plants. The state argues that with energy prices low right now, nuclear plants, which provide nearly a third of New York’s electricity, are in danger of closing. The state says it can’t quickly develop enough wind and solar to replace the roughly 37 million megawatt hours nuclear power plants provide. Those plants, advocates note, at least produce no greenhouse gas emissions and provide thousands of jobs. But at what cost? It’s one thing to keep nuclear plants running temporarily while the state transitions to green energy. It’s another to hand nuclear plant operators billions of dollars that could instead be used to move New York that much more quickly to a clean energy future.

July 26, 2016 – FTSE News – Perma-Fix Environmental Services, Inc. (PESI) Updated Price Targets – Recently analysts working for numerous investment brokerages have updated their research report ratings and price targets on shares of Perma-Fix Environmental Services, Inc. (PESI). Recent broker ratings and price targets: 05/11/2015 – Perma-Fix Environmental Services, Inc. was upgraded to “hold” by analysts at Zacks. 03/03/2014 – Perma-Fix Environmental Services, Inc. was upgraded to “hold” by analysts at Thomson Reuters/Verus. Perma-Fix Environmental Services, Inc. has a 50 day moving average of 5.14 and a 200 day moving average of 4.18. The stock’s market capitalization is 51.50M, it has a 52-week low of 3.42 and a 52-week high of 5.64.

July 26, 2016 – Nikkei Asian Review – TEPCO asks for removal of “Pokemon Go” character from nuclear plant – Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. has asked the provider of the popular “Pokemon Go” smartphone game to change settings so that the game’s virtual characters will not appear at a nuclear power plant operated by it, the utility said Tuesday. TEPCO said it has detected at least one Pokemon character within the premises of one of the three TEPCO nuclear power stations it tested. The plants are the Fukushima Daiichi plant, which was crippled in the wake of the March 2011 disaster, and the Fukushima Daini plant, both in Fukushima Prefecture, and the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata Prefecture. The company declined to say at which plant the character was found so as to prevent possible trespassers. It has also called on plant workers not to play “Pokemon Go” on the premises of the power stations.

July 26, 2016 – PhysOrg – Lonely atoms, happily reunited – The remarkable behaviour of platinum atoms on magnetite surfaces could lead to better catalysts. Scientists at TU Wien (Vienna) can now explain how platinum atoms can form pairs with the help of carbon monoxide. At first glance, magnetite appears to be a rather inconspicuous grey mineral. But on an atomic scale, it has remarkable properties: on magnetite, single metal atoms are held in place, or they can be made to move across the surface. Sometimes several metal atoms on magnetite form small clusters. Such phenomena can dramatically change the chemical activity of the material. Atomic processes on the magnetite surface determine how well certain metal atoms can serve as catalysts for chemical reactions. Scientists at TU Wien (Vienna), together with colleagues from Utrecht University, can now watch single platinum atoms form tiny clusters. Carbon monoxide plays a dual role in this process: It allows single platinum atoms to move and form pairs, and then it holds these pairs together for a long time.

July 26, 2016 – China.org.cn – China’s nuclear power requires rational development – On June 30, Qian Zhimin, general manager of China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), met with Hebei executive vice governor to discuss the construction of the Cangzhou Nuclear Fuel Industrial Park and Haixing Nuclear Power Industrial Park. First built in 2014, the industrial park in Cangzhou, which includes a uranium processing plant, aims to secure a nuclear fuel supply for the country. During a news briefing on Jan. 29 of this year, Pan Jianming, CNNC’s secretary of the board and spokesman, said, “We have already finished the preliminary work, and everything is going smoothly in Cangzhou.” Pan said that the CNNC planned to build two uranium processing plants in the country, with one in Cangzhou, Hebei Province and the other in Guangdong Province, though the specific location has yet to be decided.

July 26, 2016 – Onc Live – Dreicer Addresses Key Questions With Radium-223 in mCRPC – Robert Dreicer, MD Radium-223 dichloride (Xofigo) has proved to be a game-changer in the radiopharmaceutical scene, specifically with the treatment of patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), explains Robert Dreicer, MD.However, even with an encouraging survival benefit in patients with bone-metastatic disease, the agent’s most appropriate use and spot in a sequence with other available agents are still unknown. In an attempt to help answer these questions, ongoing clinical trials are examining the radiopharmaceutical in combinations.One phase III trial is randomizing patients with bone predominant mCRPC to either radium-223 alone or radium-223 with abiraterone acetate (Zytiga) and prednisone.

July 26, 2016 – Healthcare Daily – UT Southwestern Announces Early Collaborative Grants for Heavy Ion Project With UTA – UT Southwestern Medical Center is enlisting the help of UT Arlington professor Dr. Mingwu Jin to bolster its effort to launch the first heavy ion cancer treatment center in the United States. Jin, a physics professor with a background in electrical imaging and radiology, hopes to develop an imaging system that will help doctors see how each treatment is affecting a patient in real time, making it easier to adjust the dosage as needed.

July 26, 2016 – Medical XPress – Markers that cause toxic radiotherapy side-effects in prostate cancer identified – A new study involving researchers from The University of Manchester looked at the genetic information of more than 1,500 prostate cancer patients and identified two variants linked to increased risk of radiotherapy side-effects. Nearly 50% of the 1.1 million men a year worldwide diagnosed with prostate cancer undergo radiotherapy. It is an effective treatment, but between 10 and 50 percent of men suffer from radiotherapy side-effects which can cause long-term problems with urinating or rectal bleeding. It is not known why some men are more susceptible to side-effects and as a result doses are kept low to minimise the risk in all patients – reducing the effectiveness of treatment. The new Radiogenomics Consortium study coordinated from Manchester aimed to identify if there were any genetic markers which could explain this.

July 26, 2016 – Sputnik International – Russia, Turkey Discuss Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant Project – Russia and Turkey have discussed the implementation of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant project, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said Tuesday. “We discussed some investment projects, including the construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant. There is some progress here already. The necessary regulatory framework is being finished by the Turkish side. We expect to be able to move forward quite quickly,” Dvorkovich told reporters. In late June, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in a letter addressed to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, apologized for the downing of the Russian Su-24 attack aircraft by a Turkish jet in November and extended his condolences to the family of the pilot killed in the incident.

July 26, 2016 – Rand Daily Mail – Why Eskom’s Brian Molefe is pumping up the nuclear propaganda – What Eskom CEO Brian Molefe understands well is that much of the success of doing business in a state-owned company comes down to how well you do at politics. To win at politics, you must use your power well: be unafraid to exercise it and brave enough to push the limits. It’s only by doing so that you become more powerful. As well as this, you need to get the wider public on your side. You need to win the propaganda war. As Eskom prepares to roll back the rise of independent power producers (IPPs) and lay the basis for the nuclear build, the propaganda war is going to be critical. This is because, on the facts alone, Eskom’s central argument — that SA’s energy future is a straight choice between variable and unreliable renewables and reliable base load nuclear — is nonsense.

July 26, 2016 – City AM – EDF staff in last-ditch attempt to derail Hinkley Point – Unions members at EDF launched a last ditch attempt to derail plans to build a nuclear power plant in Britain, amid fears over whether the French utility giant’s balance sheet will be able to withstand the £18bn project. It comes as EDF board members prepare to consider the final investment decision for Hinkley Point C at a meeting on Thursday. EDF works council secretary, Jean-Luc Magnaval, told Reuters the EDF works council had filed a complaint with a Paris court, and a hearing on the case is due to take place 2 August. “We demand a suspension of the decision,” Magnaval said. The UK must replace about 20 per cent of its ageing nuclear and coal power plants during the next 10 years, and Hinkley Point power is integral to keeping the lights on. The project will power six million homes for about 60 years, however its come under fire over its value for money for the tax payer.

July 26, 2016 – Dhaka Tribune – Bangladesh signs credit deal with Russia for Rooppur power plant – Bangladesh has signed a $11.38 billion credit deal with Russia in Moscow on July 26 to implement the Bangladesh’s first ever 2,400 MW nuclear power plant at Rooppur in Pabna. Kamrul Islam bhuiyan, an information officer at the Ministry of Science and Technology confirmed about the deal to the Dhaka Tribune. On July 18, the Russian government approved a deal to loan up to $11.38 billion to build the Rooppur nuclear power plant in Bangladesh.

July 26, 2016 – Union of Concerned Scientists – Nuclear Plant Accidents: Three Mile Island – At 4:00 am on March 28, 1979, workers at the Three Mile Island (TMI) nuclear plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania were preparing to restart the Unit 1 reactor from a refueling outage. The Unit 2 reactor was marking its first anniversary—exactly one year earlier, a nuclear chain reaction had been achieved for the first time. A series of events over the next 135 minutes would end Unit 2’s life and delay Unit 1’s restart for several years. Unit 2 was operating at 97% power when one of the two condensate pumps unexpectedly stopped running. The two feedwater pumps pulled more water from the piping than the single remaining condensate pump could supply. Automatic protective devices tripped both feedwater pumps. The loss of the feedwater pumps caused the water level in the steam generators as steam continued to exit them with little makeup water in return. Protective devices automatically tripped the main turbine and moments later triggered the rapid shut down of the reactor.

July 26, 2016 – OpenPR – Global Nuclear Steam Generator Market 2016 – Areva, Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy, Westinghouse Electric, Atomic Energy of Canada – Report On 2016 Global Nuclear Steam Generator Industry provides a deep analysis of the Nuclear Steam Generator market. Global Nuclear Steam Generator Consumption Price, Nuclear Steam Generator Market Size (Volume and Value) and End Users Analysis. In the beginning, (Worldwide Nuclear Steam Generator Market-2016) provides a basic overview of the Nuclear Steam Generator industry including definitions, classifications, applications and Nuclear Steam Generator industry chain structure. The Nuclear Steam Generator market analysis is provided for the international market, which includes Nuclear Steam Generator industry development history, competitive landscape analysis and Nuclear Steam Generator market major regions development status.

July 26, 2016 – The Shillong Times – Uranium mining in Meghalaya – The Uranium issue has come to haunt us yet again. Germane to the debate is that uranium as nuclear scientist Dr Gordon Edwards says is ‘the deadliest metal on earth,’ as is borne out by scientific evidence. Edwards says all uranium ends up as either nuclear weapons or highly radioactive waste from nuclear reactors. In the process of mining uranium naturally occurring radioactive substances, which are among the most harmful materials known to science are liberated. Scientists today believe that nuclear technology never was and never will be a solution to any human problem and that there are alternative ways of generating electricity through water power, wind power, geothermal power, etc. If uranium is to be used for power generation then is solar power not a better and safer option?

July 26, 2016 – The New Yorker – America at the Atomic Crossroads – On July 25, 1946, the United States Navy carried out the fifth detonation of an atomic bomb in history, in a lagoon at Bikini Atoll, in the South Pacific. The device was anchored about ninety feet beneath a barge, and when it exploded it sent up an immense column of radioactive seawater, topped by a flattened white mushroom cloud. The column rose some six thousand feet, then collapsed back into the lagoon, generating a wave that was nearly the height of the Chrysler Building. From the air, the explosion’s shock front could be seen racing across the lagoon toward an armada of ninety mothballed warships—American, German, and Japanese—which were moored nearby. By the time the chaos subsided, eight had sunk and many more had been damaged. The very first nuclear test, a year earlier, was called Trinity, a name that evoked the intellectual mysticism of its chief scientific architect, J. Robert Oppenheimer. The test series at Bikini was given a less esoteric but perhaps more fitting moniker: Operation Crossroads. That was what 1946 was—a crossroads, a year of choices about the character of the postwar, newly nuclear world.

July 26, 2016 – Space Daily – World’s most sensitive dark matter detector completes search – The Large Underground Xenon (LUX) dark matter experiment, which operates beneath a mile of rock at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in the Black Hills of South Dakota, has completed its silent search for the missing matter of the universe. Today at an international dark matter conference (IDM 2016) in Sheffield, U.K., LUX scientific collaborators presented the results from the detector’s final 20-month run from October 2014 to May 2016. The new research result is also described with further details on the LUX Collaboration’s website.

July 26, 2016 – Korea Joonang Daily – Seoul plans for nuclear waste site – The government finalized its plans to choose a site to store high-level radioactive waste within 12 years and to construct a facility in 36 years. In a meeting at the Seoul Government Complex on Monday, Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn announced specifics for the project. The government said there are 36 nuclear power plants operating in Korea and each facility will run out of space for storage as early as 2019. The prime minister said safety issues of people and environment are top priorities in considering new construction.

July 26, 2016 – Nature World News – Russian City Called ‘Graveyard of the Earth,’ Closed Off to Visitors – The 1970 film “China Syndrome” shocked the world about the crippling effects of nuclear accidents. However, for one city in Russia, residents lived in such conditions where nuclear accidents were a norm. Contaminated water and poison berries plague Ozersk, dubbed as the “Graveyard of the Earth.” For the 100,000 citizens living in Ozersk, life was bountiful even in times when the rest of Russia crawled through poverty. Tucked in the Ural Mountains, residents of Ozersk had plentiful sources for food, lived in private apartments, sent their children to well-regarded schools, and had access to great healthcare. Yet, there is a downside to living in the place called “Graveyard of the Earth.” According to a report by the Guardian, water is contaminated, berries and mushrooms are poisoned, and the children are sick. City 40, another name for the city of Ozersk, was the site of Soviet Union’s nuclear weapons program.

July 26, 2016 – Environment360 – Sticker Shock: The Soaring Costs – German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s 2011 decision to rapidly phase out the country’s 17 nuclear power reactors has left the government and utilities with a massive problem: How to clean up and store large amounts of nuclear waste and other radioactive material. The cavern of the salt mine is 2,159 feet beneath the surface of central Germany. Stepping out of a dust-covered Jeep on an underground road, we enter the grotto and are met by the sound of running water — a steady flow that adds up to 3,302 gallons per day. “This is the biggest problem,” Ina Stelljes, spokesperson for the Federal Office for Radiation Protection, tells me, gesturing to a massive tank in the middle of the room where water waits to be pumped to the surface. The leaking water wouldn’t be an issue if it weren’t for the 125,000 barrels of low- and medium-level nuclear waste stored a few hundred feet below. Most of the material originated from 14 nuclear power plants, and the German government secretly moved it to the mine from 1967 until 1978. For now, the water leaking into the mine is believed to be contained, although it remains unclear if water has seeped into areas with waste and rusted the barrels inside.

July 25, 2016 – 81 FR 48464 – NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION – Sunshine Act Meeting – DATE: July 25, August 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, 2016. PLACE: Commissioners’ Conference Room, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. STATUS: Public and Closed. Week of July 25, 2016 Tuesday, July 26, 2016 9:00 a.m. Meeting with NRC Stakeholders (Public Meeting) (Contact: Denise McGovern: 301-415-0681) This meeting will be webcast live at the Web address–http://www.nrc.gov/. Thursday, July 28, 2016 9:00 a.m. Hearing on Combined Licenses for Levy Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and 2: Section 189a. of the Atomic Energy Act Proceeding (Public Meeting) (Contact: Donald Habib: 301-415-1035) This meeting will be webcast live at the Web address–http://www.nrc.gov/. Week of August 1, 2016–Tentative There are no meetings scheduled for the week of August 1, 2016. Week of August 8, 2016–Tentative There are no meetings scheduled for the week of August 8, 2016.

July 25, 2016 – Sonoma County Gazette – Nuclear Power and Health – Climate change, potentially the biggest health issue of our time, is upon us, and efforts have begun to limit the release of greenhouse gases. The most important steps at this point are going to involve transitioning away from burning fossil fuels as our primary energy source. That will mean leaving large oil and coal reserves in the ground and finding renewable energy sources. After a long hiatus due to safety concerns and huge cost over-runs, nuclear power has reappeared on the list of options. What are the health risks from nuclear power? Unfortunately, this topic will take two columns to cover. This month, I will discuss the current status of nuclear plants and some issues about our contact with radiation. Next column will discuss how this exposure affects human health.

July 25, 2016 – Scoop.co.nz – Mururoa Nuclear Veterans Group Reply to Radiation Report – The Mururoa Nuclear Veterans Group (MNVG Inc) has unequivocally rejected the findings of last year’s report commissioned by Veteran Affairs and undertaken by Crown research agency Environmental Science and Research Ltd (ESR) which was released in October 2015. After a year long consultation with Mururoa veterans, a reply to the ESR authored “The Pilaster Deployment: A Radiological Review” report has been compiled and sent to the Right Honourable Craig Foss, Minister of Veterans Affairs, the Right Honourable Phil Goff, Labour Spokesperson on Veterans Affairs and Jackie Couchman, Head of Veterans Affairs New Zealand. As stated in the reply, “The majority of the members of the MNVG … do not believe the Minister’s issues which are outlined in a letter to (former President) Wayne O’Donnell dated 26 August 2015 have been met and the report severely clouds the areas of concern”.

July 25, 2016 – PRNewswire – Department of Health Distributing Free Potassium Iodide on August 4 to Pennsylvanians Near the State’s Five Nuclear Power Plants – The Department of Health will offer free potassium iodide, or KI, tablets Thursday, August 4, to Pennsylvanians who are within 10 miles of one of the state’s five nuclear power plants. “KI tablets are an important part of emergency preparedness plans and go kits for residents who live or work within 10 miles of a nuclear facility,” said Secretary of Health Dr. Karen Murphy. “KI can help protect the thyroid gland against harmful radioactive iodine when taken as directed during certain radiological emergencies. It’s important to remember that you should only take KI when told to do so by the governor or state health officials.”

July 25, 2016 – Tass – Iran may join international thermonuclear experimental reactor project – Iran may join the international project for the creation of the ITER reactor (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor), which is being built in the French town of Cadarache, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Ali Akbar Salehi is quoted by the IRNA agency on Monday. “ITER has 27 members comprising European Union countries, the US, Russia, China, India, South Korea and Japan and during recent visit the grounds were prepared for Iran to join the plan,” he said. The Islamic Republic of Iran is the only country in west Asia to be admitted in the project and all parties with good knowledge on capabilities of the Iranian experts are to welcome it, Salehi said, according to IRNA.

July 25, 2016 – TheLocal.it – Turin could slash Wi-Fi over ‘radiation’ concerns – Turin is planning to cut back on Wi-Fi in state schools and government buildings over concerns that radiation might damage people’s health. The plans were outlined last week as the city’s new new Five Star Movement (M5S) mayor, Chiara Appendino, presented her council’s five-year political plan. “We’re aware that we need to consider electromagnetic radiation when we speak about pollution,” reads page 23 of the council’s programme. “We would like to take all precautions necessary and ask all public structures to work to reduce the volume of emissions and while guaranteeing connectivity for citizens.” Details of the plans emerge just days after Appendino hit headlines for her proposals to reduce citizens meat consumption over he next five years, by teaching the benefits of a vegan or vegetarian diet in Turin’s schools.

July 25, 2016 – Sputnik UK – Russia Lays Down Nuclear-Powered Ural Icebreaker at Baltic Shipyard – The Arktika, the first project 22220 class ship and the first nuclear icebreaker to be fully built in modern-day Russia, was successfully launched at the Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg on June 16. The second ship, the Sibir, was laid down at the shipyard in May 2015. “We are laying the icebreaker ahead of schedule, since the Ural was supposed to be laid down approximately two months later. But it is fundamentally important that the impetus gained by the plant and the team engaged in the construction of new icebreakers is maintained,” Sergei Kiriyenko, the head of Rosatom that ordered the icebreaker, said at the keel-laying ceremony.

July 25, 2016 – ConstructionWeekOnline.com – South Korea inks $920m deal for UAE reactors – State-owned Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. (KHNP) signed a $920m deal with Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) to operate four nuclear reactors, currently under construction, in Barakah in Abu Dhabi. It is the first time for the firm that has been providing nuclear components and construction services to be in charge of maintenance and operation of a nuclear operation overseas. Based on the agreement signed, KHNP will dispatch a total of 3,000 employees to the UAE until 2030 – about 210 every year – starting May, next year. They will be responsible for the operations of four advanced power reactor (APR)-1400 nuclear reactors that are under construction as part of UAE’s project to build its first nuclear power station.

July 25, 2016 – Forbes – British Nuclear Power Stations May Be Too Big A Risk For French EDF – French state-controlled power group EDF is set to hold a supervisory board meeting on July 28 to decide whether to go ahead or not with a project to build and operate two nuclear power stations at Hinkley Point in Britain. It might be wise to call the 22 billion euro investment off due to the many risks and the weak financial situation of the power group that also needs to phase out and replace ageing stations in France. The project has already cost more than two billion euros and two initial partners have dropped out – Britain’s Centrica and French nuclear power station builder Areva . Areva, in financial dire straits, is facing serious problems with the construction of EPR stations in Finland and in France.

July 25, 2016 – PhysOrg – Linear deutron and light ion accelerator successfully tested in Dubna – The Joint Institute for Nuclear Research has successfully launched a new linear deuteron and light ion accelerator developed in MEPhI for the NICA collider. The injector successfully accelerated a beam at the design energy of 5 MeV/nucleon. The development of the linear accelerator started in 2011, seeking to inject protons, polarized deuterons and light ions into the collider NICA, which is under construction. Its will replace a high-voltage electrostatic pre-injector, developed more than 40 years ago, with a modern accelerator capable of spatially uniform quadrupole focusing. The project is being realized by a team of specialists from JINR, MEPhI and Kurchatov Institute. After two years of construction, the Russian Federal Nuclear Center – VNIITF (Snezhinsk) has made the accelerator cavity. Kurchatov Institute has also developed and built a high-frequency supply system. The physical start-up of the new accelerator was conducted in December, 2015.

July 25, 2016 – Islington Gazette – A trip to Chernobyl: a haunting tour of Ukraine’s radioactive crumbling ghost town – I first went to Kiev, the elegant 19th Century capital of Ukraine, 15 years ago and saw the Chernobyl Museum. That was 15 years after the nuclear disaster when several blasts brought down Reactor No. 4 of the nuclear power plant. It was the 20th Century’s gravest technological catastrophe with 50 million curies (Ci) of radioactivity released into the atmosphere. Four hundred and eighty five villages and towns were wiped out. The number of people dead is still uncalculated. Now, 30 years after the disaster, you can go into the toxic wasteland that is the ‘radio active exclusion zone’ but not alone. You have to join a tour. And so I did, travelling with nine others, to the Zone 60kms north of Kiev. We went through various checkpoints (12 in all) and through contamination machines to check radiation exposure.

July 25, 2016 – Kallanish Energy – Radiation, toxicity levels low at WVU’s Marcellus research wells – Drilling wastes from two research wells in northern West Virginia are well below federal guidelines for radioactive and hazardous wastes, Kallanish Energy reports. Paul Ziemkiewicz, director of the West Virginia Water Research Institute at West Virginia University, presented those findings last week from the Marcellus Shale Energy and Environmental Laboratory at the Appalachian Basin Technology Workshop in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, the university announced. Ziemkiewicz and his research team have been studying solid and liquid wastes that are produced in shale drilling from the two wells near Morgantown. That includes drill cuttings, muds and produced water. Drilling a horizontal well in the Marcellus Shale will generate about 500 tons of rock known as cuttings. Cuttings that exceed a federal transportation limit of 2,000 pico curies per gram require special permitting and handling because that waste is classified as low-level radioactive.

July 25, 2016 – Times Leader – Talen Energy to lay off 53 workers at nuclear power plant in Salem Township – Talen Energy will be eliminating 53 positions at the Susquehanna Power Plant, according to company officials. Todd L. Martin, manager of media relations for Talen Energy, confirmed the layoffs Friday, saying the company sent a “staffing plan” letter to the leadership of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1600, in Allentown, on Thursday. The company is laying off more than 131 “excess” employees at three plants — Susquehanna in Salem Township, Montour Power Plant in Washingtonville and Brunner Island in York County — and an office in Allentown.

July 25, 2016 – New City Patch – Jaffee Opposes NY Nuclear Plant Subsidy Plan – Assemblymember Ellen Jaffee (D-Suffern) has sent a letter to the Public Service Commission (PSC) calling the latest proposal to give nuclear power plants nearly $8 billion in taxpayer subsidies “unacceptable, largely out of public view, and in undue haste.” The PSC plan includes subsidies for upstate nuclear power plants including the FitzPatrick plant, which its owner Entergy plans to shut down by the end of the year because it is losing money. See all the documents connected to the PSC’s Motion to Implement a Large-Scale Renewable Program here. The comment period ends July 22. Jaffee is Chair of the New York State Assembly Committee on Oversight, Analysis and Investigation and a member of the Committee on Environmental Conservation.

July 25, 2016 – Los Angeles Times – Review ‘Indian Point’ sagely examines the nuclear power debate from all sides – In a world where unabashed advocacy documentaries are thick on the land, Ivy Meeropol’s expert “Indian Point,” an evenhanded look at the issues surrounding nuclear power, is a welcome exception. With no end in sight to global energy demands, questions about nuclear’s place as a possible solution become increasingly urgent, with anger and rigidity on all sides of the issue often the end result. Taking a different approach, Meeropol, whose work includes 2003’s excellent “Heir to an Execution,” examines New York’s controversial Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant from multiple points of view, including the perspectives of its advocates, its enemies, the people who work inside it and the public servants who are in charge of regulation. One of more than 100 American nuclear facilities currently operating, Indian Point is especially controversial because of its location in Westchester County, just north of New York City.

July 25, 2016 – NJ.com – What if there were a nuclear plant emergency and you didn’t know? – What if there’s an emergency at a nearby nuclear power plant that requires you to take action but you are never informed? That was the fear expressed by speakers this week during the state’s annual review of the plan that would be put into action in case of a large-scale accident at one of New Jersey’s four nuclear reactors. “The deteriorating telecommunications infrastructure throughout in South Jersey will have a disastrous impact in executing this plan,” said Barbara Stratton who lives in Stow Creek Township in Cumberland County within the 10-mile emergency planning zone around PSEG Nuclear’s Artificial Island generating complex. Without reliable service how would a person in harm’s way receive a call alerting them of an emergency, she asked.

July 25, 2016 – New Mexico Pollitical Report – Lowered deadline standards on new nuclear cleanup plan worries some – Criticism of a controversial new agreement between the state and the federal government on how to clean up legacy waste in and around Los Alamos National Laboratory often has one thing in common—deadlines. Most agreements between states and the federal government to clean up nuclear waste have fixed deadlines set for benchmarks. If the federal Department of Energy misses one of these deadlines, it can then be sanctioned and penalized by the state. “The Department of Energy hates penalties,” Scott Kovac, a research and operations director with Nuclear Watch New Mexico, said in an interview. “A deadline might shake out some funding from its budget.”

July 25, 2016 – Salt Lake Tribune – Utah court ruling kills environmentalists’ appeal, OKs Green River nuclear plant – A court ruling, unless appealed, has removed the final state hurdle for a Utah company planning to build a nuclear power plant near Green River, putting the fate of the $20 billion project in the hands of federal regulators. The Utah Court of Appeals affirmed Thursday an earlier court ruling allowing Blue Castle Holdings’ plan for a nuclear site in Emery County to continue. The unanimous opinion affirms the 7th District Court’s 2013 ruling that the company’s bid would not overly tax the river by diverting water to cool a pair of nuclear reactors. The decision nullifies an appeal from the environmental advocacy group HEAL Utah, which contended that Blue Castle Holdings’ nuclear site would significantly reduce water levels for the Green River, adversely affecting wildlife and the public welfare.

July 25, 2016 – KING 5 Seattle – AG files emergency action to force end to Hanford safety ‘crisis’ – Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson on Wednesday filed an emergency legal motion to force improvements in worker safety at the Hanford Site, the 586-square-mile former plutonium production facility. Ferguson called the action “as serious as it gets.” The motion for injunctive relief asks a federal judge intervene in the operations at the site to protect workers from continued exposure to toxic chemical vapors. It names as defendants the U.S. Department of Energy and Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), the private company that manages the nuclear waste storage tanks at Hanford.

July 25, 2016 – San Luis Obispo Tribune – Diablo Canyon engineers work hard to keep plant up to date – As a proud engineer at the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, the Mothers for Peace commentary (“Diablo Canyon is not needed, SLO Mothers for Peace says,” July 15) on our supposedly outdated and not-needed plant struck a cord. The MFP stated that they value our professional well-trained work force; then go on to say that the plant is outdated, aged, damages the ocean and is not adequately designed. Does anyone really believe we would allow this condition to exist? All I know is that we work tirelessly to maintain our plant in like-new condition — monitoring conditions and continuously upgrading and replacing equipment well before it reaches end of life.

July 25, 2016 – San Diego Union-Tribune – Pro-nuclear green group: Bring back San Onofre – It may be a long shot, but a pro-nuclear environmental organization based near San Luis Obispo wants to bring the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station back to life. “I think it can happen if we’re allowed to make our case,” said Gene Nelson, government liaison for Californians for Green Nuclear Power, which contends that nuclear power is essential for the state to meet its clean energy targets in the coming years. But can San Onofre, which has not produced electricity since January 2012 and is well into the third year of a 20-year decommissioning process, realistically get back up and running? “I’ve heard from far too many people (who say), ‘Once we’ve flipped the switch, it’s irreversible,’” Nelson said. “I don’t think that’s true.” CGNP’s members see the recent decision by the California Public Utilities Commission to reopen the controversial $4.7 billion San Onofre settlement as a potential opening.\

July 25, 2016 – San Diego Union Tribune – Wjy San Onofre’s nuclear waste stays on the beach – Some 3.6 million pounds of nuclear waste at the shuttered San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station is all stored up with no place to go. The plant has not produced electricity since January 2012 for the nearly 19 million people served by Southern California Edison, the majority owner of the facility, and San Diego Gas & Electric, which owns 20 percent. Edison officials overseeing the plant’s decommissioning have set a target date of the end of 2032 to remove nearly every remnant of the generating station, which hugs the Southern California coastline at the northern tip of San Diego County in Camp Pendleton. The operative word is “nearly” because, in all likelihood, the waste — also called spent fuel or used fuel — will stay behind for years to come, stranded until a long-term solution is reached on what to do with it.

July 25, 2016 – Huffington Post – There are good reasons for California to phase out nuclear power – Of course California, like the USA, like Germany, like the European Union and like the whole world, needs carbon-free electricity. Global warming and the resulting consequences do not stop at borders; they are global. And these global and devastating consequences and their costs are the second part of a bill which we were given years and even decades ago and which we thought we had paid a long time ago – the second part of our electricity bill and that of our parents and grandparents. In contrast to renewable energies, electricity generation leaves something behind which has to be disposed of – not buried in rock but blown invisibly into the atmosphere: CO2, which warms our climate and triggers catastrophic (weather) events. Just imagine if CO2 were not odourless. Would we really have disregarded the potential of renewable energies to such an extent for decades? Would not more people have stood up and demanded another type of power generation? California needs carbon-free electricity, but not from nuclear power stations. That is why it is good and right that PG&E plans to finally decommission the 2-gigawatt Diablo Canyon nuclear power station by the end of 2025.

July 20, 2016 – 81 FR 47005-47006 – NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION – Update to Transcript Correction Procedures – The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is amending its regulation that governs the correction of official transcripts for agency adjudicatory proceedings. The current regulation has not been substantively updated since it was adopted in 1962 and the NRC’s internal procedures have evolved since that time to incorporate technological development. The NRC is not soliciting public comment on this change because the change is limited to an agency rule of procedure and practice that does not affect the rights and responsibilities of outside parties.

July 20, 2016 – 81 FR 47181-47182 – NUCLEAR WASTE TECHNICAL REVIEW BOARD – Board Meeting; August 24, 2016–DOE Work on Integrating Different Canister Designs for Storage and Disposal of SNF – Pursuant to its authority under section 5051 of Public Law 100-203, Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act (NWPAA) of 1987, and in accordance with its mandate to review the technical and scientific validity of U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) activities related to implementing the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board will meet in Washington, DC on August 24, 2016, to review DOE activities related to integrating the management and disposal of the many different designs of canisters for spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste (HLW) that are currently in service and under development. The meeting will be held at the Westin Washington, DC City Center Hotel, 1400 M Street NW., Washington, DC 20005, 202-429-1700. A block of rooms has been reserved for meeting attendees at a rate of $149.00 per night. Reservations may be made by phone: (888) 627-9035 or online: https://www.starwoodmeeting.com/events/start.action?id=1512302524&key=12331FD9. Reservations must be made by Monday, August 1, 2016, to ensure receiving the meeting rate. On-site parking at the hotel is available for an overnight rate of $59 or a daily rate of $28.00. The meeting will begin at 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday, August 24, 2016, and is scheduled to adjourn at 5:00 p.m. Among the topics to be discussed at the meeting are descriptions of the canister types currently used and being developed for storing and transporting SNF and HLW, DOE’s efforts to create an integrated program for managing and disposing of SNF and HLW canisters, and nuclear industry perspectives on DOE’s efforts to develop standardized canisters for commercial SNF. The meeting agenda will be available on the Board’s Web site: www.nwtrb.gov approximately one week before the meeting. The agenda may also be requested by email or telephone at that time from Davonya Barnes of the Board’s staff.

July 20, 2016 – 81 FR 47159-47160 – DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY – DOE/NSF High Energy Physics Advisory Panel – This notice announces a meeting of the DOE/NSF High Energy Physics Advisory Panel (HEPAP). The Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463, 86 Stat. 770) requires that public notice of these meetings be announced in the Federal Register. DATES: Friday, August 12, 2016; 12:00 Noon to 3:00 p.m. ADDRESSES: Teleconference. Instructions for access can be found on the HEPAP Web site: http://science.energy.gov/hep/hepap/meetings/ or by contacting Dr. John Kogut by email at: john.kogut@science.doe.gov or by phone: (301) 903-1298. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John Kogut, Executive Secretary; High Energy Physics Advisory Panel (HEPAP); U.S. Department of Energy; SC-25/Germantown Building, 1000 Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20585-1290; Telephone: 301-903-1298. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Purpose of Panel: To provide advice and guidance on a continuing basis to the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation on scientific priorities within the field of high energy physics research.

July 20, 2016 – The Guardian – ‘The graveyard of the Earth’: inside City 40, Russia’s deadly nuclear secret – “Those in paradise were given a choice: happiness without freedom, or freedom without happiness. There was no third alternative.” (From the dystopian novel We, by Yevgeny Zamyatin, 1924) Deep in the vast forests of Russia’s Ural mountains lies the forbidden city of Ozersk. Behind guarded gates and barbed wire fences stands a beautiful enigma – a hypnotic place that seems to exist in a different dimension. Codenamed City 40, Ozersk was the birthplace of the Soviet nuclear weapons programme after the second world war. For decades, this city of 100,000 people did not appear on any maps, and its inhabitants’ identities were erased from the Soviet census. Today, with its beautiful lakes, perfumed flowers and picturesque tree-lined streets, Ozersk resembles a suburban 1950s American town – like one of those too-perfect places depicted in The Twilight Zone.

July 20, 2016 – Daily Caller – Dangerously Aging US Nuke Plants Desperately Need Repairs – Department of Energy officials put off $39.4 million worth of maintenance on aging facilities used for enriched uranium processing and storage, a government watchdog reported Tuesday. Making the situation even more dire at the historic Oak Ridge, Tenn., plant is the fact that a replacement facility won’t be finished until four years after the existing building life-cycles are exhausted, according to the Energy Department’s inspector general (IG). The new complex also won’t support all the necessary functions the old buildings provided. Officials worry the decaying facilities represent a serious health threat to the plant’s employees and nearby civilians.

July 20, 2016 – Calgary Herald – Local medical imaging company expands into oil and gas sector – A Calgary company whose mobile technology allows doctors to make diagnoses on the go is expanding into other sectors, including oil and gas. Calgary Scientific Inc. — best known for its Resolution MD viewer, which allows doctors to view medical images on mobile devices — is entering a “new growth phase” with a focus on branching into new industries. Dave Waldrop — executive vice-president, sales and marketing — said that after more than a decade in the medical space, Calgary Scientific is promoting other applications for its technology. “Medical imaging is how Calgary Scientific got started,” Waldrop said. “But what we found out is that the underlying technology that we used to build the Resolution MD product can be applied in other markets.”

July 20, 2016 – Renal & Urology News – Chest X-Rays May Miss Pulmonary Metastases in T1a RCC Patients – For patients treated for T1a renal cell carcinoma, chest X-rays have low diagnostic yield for detecting pulmonary metastases, according to a study published in the August issue of The Journal of Urology. Noah E. Canvasser, MD, from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, and colleagues examined the usefulness of chest X-rays for T1a renal cell carcinoma surveillance. A total of 258 patients with T1a renal cell carcinoma were treated with partial nephrectomy, radical nephrectomy, or radio frequency ablation, with surveillance follow-up. Demographics, pathological findings, and surveillance records were identified during retrospective chart review. The incidence of asymptomatic pulmonary recurrences diagnosed by chest X-ray was the primary outcome.

July 20, 2016 – PhysOrg – X-ray studies could help make LIGO gravitational wave detector 10 times more sensitive – Scientists from Stanford University and the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory are using powerful X-rays to study high-performance mirror coatings that could help make the LIGO gravitational wave observatory 10 times more sensitive to cosmic events that ripple space-time. The current version of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, called Advanced LIGO, was the first experiment to directly observe gravitational waves, which were predicted by Albert Einstein 100 years ago. In September 2015, it detected a signal coming from two black holes, each about 30 times heavier than the sun, which merged into a single black hole 1.3 billion years ago. The experiment picked up a similar second event in December 2015. “The detection of gravitational waves will fundamentally change our understanding of the universe in years to come,” says Riccardo Bassiri, a physical science research associate at Stanford’s interdisciplinary Ginzton Laboratory.

July 20, 2016 – Southernminn.com – MDH: Three out of five Rice County homes contain ‘dangerous’ radon levels – A new interactive map from the Minnesota Department of Health shows that radon levels in Rice County are much higher, on average, than in other parts of the state. The map and the data with it show that 60 percent of homes tested for radon in Rice County saw levels equal to or greater than 4 pCi/L (picocuries per liter). That means three of every five homes in the county likely contain dangerous levels of radon gas, according to MDH definitions.

July 20, 2016 – Nature World News – Alert! Fracking May Trigger Asthma Attacks – Hydraulic fracturing, an industrial process that involves breaking rock formation deep underground to extract fossil fuels, has gained a lot of controversy over the past years because of its reported negative impacts on the environment and human health. Aside from increasing the levels of toxic radon, contributing to earthquake occurrences and contaminating drinking water, the process, more known as “fracking,” has also been associated with increased levels of air pollution. In line with this, a new study revealed that it can also worsen asthma attacks. Published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, the study was conducted by the researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

July 20, 2016 – Space Daily – Fallout Fungi From Chernobyl Flee Earth on ISS Radiation Study Mission – Fungi found growing in the fallout from the world’s worst nuclear disaster are to be sent into space. Samples from eight different types of fungi taken from the Chernobyl exclusion zone are ready for take-off to the International Space Station (ISS). Now these fungi are pretty special; after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster on April 26, 1986, when the reactor was struck by a power surge causing a nuclear melt down, the area around the site was turned into wasteland, leaving all living organisms and wildlife soaked in radiation – apart from several species of fungi which appeared to thrive. The fungi, which poked through the soil at the nuclear site in Ukraine are giving scientists hope that they could “produce new compounds that could be used as radiation therapy molecules,” according to Kasthuri Venkateswaran (Venkat for short), senior research scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), as reported by Motherboard.

July 20, 2016 – PhysOrg – Active tracking of astronaut rad-exposures targeted – Radiation is an invisible hazard of spaceflight, but a new monitoring system for ESA astronauts gives a realtime snapshot of their exposure. The results will guide researchers preparing for deep-space missions to come. A key element of the new system launched to orbit with Monday’s Falcon 9 launch to the International Space Station, ensuring it is in place for ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet’s November mission to the Station. As a general rule, radiation exposure increases with altitude – people living on mountains receive more than those at sea level, while airline crews receive a small but noticeable additional dose. Astronauts in orbit receive still more radiation – they are officially classed as radiation workers. The individual dose for the whole flight is carefully measured by keeping a dosimeter on their body, to keep their career exposure within safe limits. “While sophisticated, these dosimeters are passive,” explains Ulrich Straube, radiologist and flight surgeon at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany.

July 20, 2016 – Street Insider – Pluristem Therapeutics (PSTI) Announces Participation in Radiation Injury Treatment Network’s Meeting – Pluristem Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: PSTI) announced its participation in the Radiation Injury Treatment Network’s meeting titled, “Medical Management of Radiation Casualties: Where Research and Usage Meet”. The meeting, which took place on July 18-19, 2016, was organized jointly by the Radiation Injury Treatment Network and the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Racheli Ofir, Ph.D., Pluristem’s Vice President of Research & Intellectual Property, shared her expertise in studying the treatment of Acute Radiation Syndrome (ARS) in a variety of animal models.

July 20, 2016 – PhysOrg – Scientists develop a minimally traumatic and inexpensive ceramic laser scalpel – Scientists from MIPT and their colleagues have developed a compact and powerful ceramic-based laser with applications in minimally traumatic and inexpensive laser surgical scalpels, and also for cutting and engraving composite materials. The results of the study have been published in Optics Letters. Today, lasers are in consumer electronics devices, medicine, metallurgy, metrology, meteorology, and many other areas. Lasers are created by stimulated emission in an active medium, which could be a gas, liquid, crystal, or glass. The wavelength of a laser and the efficiency of converting energy into radiation are both dependent upon the parameters of the active medium. Ivan Obronov, a researcher at MIPT, and his colleagues used a ceramic obtained from compounds of rare-earth elements – lutetium oxide with added thulium ions (Tm3+:Lu2O3). It was the thulium ions that enabled the ceramic to generate laser radiation.

July 20, 2016 – New York Post – Burrito saunas are the latest wacky health trend – Detoxers usually avoid burritos— at least the carb-bomb kind. But over the past year, celebs have flocked to LA’s Shape House, a so-called “urban sweat lodge” that wraps its VIP clients in infrared sauna blankets that eerily resemble the Tex-Mex staple. Selena Gomez credits the heated wraps, which promise to banish toxins, with softening her skin, while “Orange Is the New Black” cast members have met there for sweats. Now, the trend has hit the East Coast.

July 20, 2016 – The Japan Times – In first, Tepco admits ice wall can’t stop Fukushima No. 1 groundwater – The much-hyped ice wall at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant has failed to stop groundwater from flowing in and mixing with highly radioactive water inside the wrecked reactor buildings, operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. Holdings Inc. has admitted. Tepco officials also said at a meeting of the Nuclear Regulation Authority in Tokyo that it is not the utility’s ultimate goal to shut out groundwater with the ice wall, which has been built around the four damaged reactor buildings at the plant. Tuesday’s announcement was apparently the first time the utility publicly said it is technically incapable of blocking off groundwater with the frozen wall.

July 20, 2016 – Michigan Capitol Confidential – Shivering in the Dark? Sierra Club Opposes 91 Percent of Michigan Electricity – The Sierra Club environmental organization opposes the three sources of energy responsible for 91 percent of the electricity generated in Michigan. It has been outspoken in its stance against the use of natural gas, coal and nuclear power to generate electricity for Michigan households and businesses. Michigan generates 32 percent of its electricity by burning coal and another 32 percent comes from nuclear power plants. Natural gas accounts for another 27 percent of electricity generation. Wind and solar account for less than 7 percent of net electricity generation in this state. “The Sierra Club opposes, or is pushing to phase out, over 90 percent of the energy resources that we depend on for our lives and well-being,” said Jason Hayes, the director of environmental policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

July 20, 2016 – Daily Star – Fears for MASSIVE Turkey H-bomb stash after four-day power cut – MAJOR concerns that a huge pile of US nukes sitting in a Turkish airbase could be snatched by Turkey rebels or ISIS have got world leaders rattled. The fears were raised over the stash of nukes after a Turkish airbase saw its power cut for FOUR days as carnage took over the streets. Incirlik Airbase – 70 miles from the Syrian border – is home to NATO’s largest nuclear weapons storage facility and the base for US’ anti-ISIS operations. It’s home to fifty B-61 bombs. Just one bomb could kill 4,000 and injure 4,000 more in the first 24 hours of detonation. Detonating fifty at the same time would release a massive killer radioactive cloud that would cause mass devastation.

July 20, 2016 – Blackpool Gazette – Fylde coast nuclear team’s distinction – Westinghouse’s Springfields site at Salwick has been awarded the Order of Distinction Award from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents. This is the 16th consecutive year that the company’s enhanced safety culture and safety improvements have been recognised by RoSPA. RoSPA and the Order of Distinction Award are internationally recognised achievements for operations in 24 industry sectors including construction, healthcare, transport and logistics, engineering, manufacturing and education. The award offers organisations the opportunity to prove their ongoing commitment to raising safety standards and to celebrate success.

July 20, 2016 – The Conversation – As nuclear power plants close, states need to bet big on energy storage – Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) recently started the process of shutting down the Diablo Canyon generation facility, the last active nuclear power plant in California. The power plant, located near Avila Beach on the central Californian coast, consists of two 1,100 megawatt (MW) reactors and produces 18,000 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity a year, about 8.5 percent of California’s electricity consumption in 2015. It has been, up until this point, the single largest electrical generation facility in the state. Looming over the imminent closure of Diablo Canyon is California State legislative bill SB 350, or the Clean Energy and Pollution Reduction Act of 2015. The act is a cornerstone of the state’s ongoing efforts to decarbonize its electricity grid by requiring utilities to include renewable sources for a portion of their electrical generation in future years. The mandate also requires utilities to run programs designed to double the efficiency of electricity and natural gas consumption.

July 20, 2016 – IndiaTimes – This Backwaters Paradise In Kerala Is One Of The Most Radioactive Towns In The World! – When one brings up the topic of radioactivity, out thoughts immediately go to either Chernobyl or Fukushima. While nuclear disasters were to be blamed for their release in the atmosphere, there are elements present in the ground that put us in danger in the face of constant exposure. India’s no stranger to this exposure. A small municipality in Kerala known as Karunagappalli has been privy to this vulnerability for a while now. Constantly facing high radiation, Karunagappalli’s exposure can be attributed to the presence of monazite in the soil that carries traces of 8-10 percent Thorium. Experts believe that the allowable limit of exposure sits at 5 milligrays of radiation; exceed that and one can fall prey to its harmful effects with prolonged exposure. Radiation levels in Karunagappally varied between 0.32 to 76 milligrays per year across 12 panchayats, according to The Hindu report. Radioactive exposure depends on both short-term and long-term time frames as well as short and long distances. While some cases of leukemia and cancer have been reported in Karunagappalli, the erosion of monazite into the beach sand is too hard to ignore.

July 20,2 016 – US News & World Report – The Myth of the Nuclear Renaissance; The game is already over for nuclear energy – Desperate times for the nuclear industry call for desperate rhetoric. Hence the reach, once again, for “renaissance,” even though the facts support no such thing and the industry itself dare not even resurrect the mythological moniker. With nuclear power priced out of the market – not only by natural gas but, more importantly for climate, by renewables – die-hard nuclear proponents are dressing up old reactors in new propaganda. Sodium-cooled, fast and even small modular reactors are all designs that have been around – and rejected – for decades. Sodium-cooled reactors are prone to fires, explosions and super-criticality accidents. A rapid power increase inside the core of such a reactor could vaporize the fuel and blow the core apart. Far from “walk away safe,” these on-paper designs have not been submitted to the kind of rigorous “all scenarios” testing that could definitively designate them as meltdown proof.

July 20, 2016 – National Review – Democrats Ignore Inconvenient Math on Nuclear Power – The party’s platform ignores the reality that wind and solar aren’t enough. The Democratic National Convention, in Philadelphia, doesn’t start until July 25, but a look at the party’s draft platform reveals one fact: Democrats remain hopelessly unserious when it comes to greenhouse gases and climate change. To be sure, the platform contains plenty of phrases that aim to inspire voters, including references to income inequality, “greed, recklessness, and illegal behavior on Wall Street,” and the need to protect civil rights, women’s rights, workers’ rights, LGBT rights, and so on. While the Democrats are right to favor voting and civil rights for everyone, including women, transgendered people, and homosexuals, they are intolerant of any heterodoxy on the issue of nuclear energy and its pivotal role in the effort to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. The draft platform includes 24 mentions of the word “nuclear,” but that word is never followed by “energy” or “power.” Instead, it’s followed by words like “annihilation,” “weapon,” and “warhead.” It’s as though the Democrats have pledged to ignore America’s single largest and most reliable source of low-carbon electricity.

July 20, 2016 – Worcester Business Journal – Marlborough co. handling nuclear plant auction – Marlborough’s Concentric Energy Advisors will be in charge of auctioning off the Tennessee Valley Authority’s incomplete Bellefonte Nuclear Plant near Hollywood, Ala., by this October. Concentric was retained to manage the auction of Bellefonte after the TVA Board declared the plant to be a surplus property and authorized its sale in May. The 1,600-acre facility currently contains two unfinished nuclear units, plus a number of supporting structures, including transmission switchyards, warehouses and parking lots, suitable for a variety of industrial, commercial or residential uses, according to a release from TVA. According to the Associated Press, the property has been appraised at $36 million.

July 20, 2016 – OSU Press Release – Ohio State University to receive $10M for nuclear waste disposal research – The Ohio State University is among four sites around the country chosen for new research centers by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today. The Center for Performance and Design of Nuclear Waste Forms and Containers (WastePD) will receive $10 million over the next four years, and will be the first of DOE’s 36 Energy Frontier Research Centers nationwide to be headquartered in the state of Ohio. WastePD’s goal will be to “accelerate the scientific breakthroughs needed to support the DOE’s environmental management and nuclear cleanup mission” through “basic research aimed at assisting with the cleanup of hazardous waste that resulted from decades of nuclear weapons research and production during the 20th century,” DOE announced today.

July 20, 2016 – Herald Palladium – Palisades places security workers on leave – Nearly two dozen security workers at the Palisades nuclear power plant are on paid leave after inconsistencies in fire inspection records were found last month. Plant owner Entergy placed the workers on leave while it investigates the allegations, plant spokeswoman Val Gent said Monday. One of the workers’ duties is to do routine checks to look for any possible signs of fire. While she did not go into specifics on the allegations, Gent said “the bottom line is that we cannot tolerate employees stating they completed a task when they didn’t, and we are obligated to fully investigate any such instances.” “Fire (checks) are just one tool in our defense in-depth fire protection program, which includes fire prevention, fire detection and fire suppression,” Gent said.

July 20,2016 – PNNL Press Release – “Dream Team” chosen to study basic science of nuclear waste – A more thorough understanding of the chemistry of radioactive waste is key to treating this unwanted byproduct of winning World War II and the Cold War. To accelerate the scientific breakthroughs needed to support the Department of Energy’s cleanup mission, four new Energy Frontier Research Centers have been formed. Energy Secretary Moniz announced Monday that up to $40 million dollars will go to fund the four centers for up to four years. DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory will lead one center called IDREAM, which stands for Interfacial Dynamics in Radioactive Environments and Materials.

July 20, 2016 – KSBY – PG&E preparing study on decommissioning of Diablo Canyon Power Plant – With Diablo Canyon Power Plant set to shut down in nine years, Pacific Gas and Electric is now studying just how to go about decommissioning the plant. “We are going to take our time and do this right and put together an effective and safe decommission plan,” said Blair Jones, a spokesperson for PG&E. Part of the plan is coming up with a way to fund the shutdown. A taxpayer trust fund is currently at about $3 billion, but shutting down the plant is expected to ring up a tab of nearly $4 billion.

July 20, 2016 – Cal Coast News – Diablo Canyon closure the result of failed energy policies – If you live anywhere on the Central Coast, you’re aware by now that on June 21, PG&E announced it will not seek relicensing of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant when the licenses expire in 2024-2025. It’s my opinion this is a direct result of years of failed energy policies in the state of California. PG&E in it’s announcement acknowledged that it will be unable to meet the renewable mandates by the state and had no other choice but to abandon nuclear energy production for a malaise of renewables. Just like that, 10 percent of the state’s energy supply will be gone. Coupled with the closure of San Onofre, California will be nuclear free having lost 20 percent of it’s electricity supply, not counting the additional lost energy from coal and other sources by way of state mandates. To build the equivalent of a 2200-megawatt nuclear plant, a solar farm would require more than 20,000 acres, and a wind farm more than 100,000 acres. By contrast, Diablo Canyon is able to produce that much power and more on a footprint of 545 acres.