July 11, 2016 – 81 FR 44898 – NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION – Sunshine Act Meeting Notice – DATE: July 11, 18, 25, August 1, 8, 15, 2016. PLACE: Commissioners’ Conference Room, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. STATUS: Public and Closed. Week of July 11, 2016 There are no meetings scheduled for the week of July 11, 2016. Week of July 18, 2016–Tentative Thursday, July 21, 2016 9:30 a.m. Briefing on Project Aim (Public Meeting) (Contact: Janelle Jessie: 301-415-6775) This meeting will be webcast live at the Web address–http://www.nrc.gov/. Week of July 25, 2016–Tentative Tuesday, July 26, 2016 9:00 a.m. Meeting with NRC Stakeholders (Public Meeting) (Contact: Denise McGovern: 301-415-0681) 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/.

July 11, 2016 – Corvallis Gazette-Times – Depleted uranium at Wah Chang refinery led to decades of health woes – The ATI metals refinery in Millersburg — still widely known by its former name, Wah Chang — plays a crucial role in the U.S. nuclear energy industry, producing highly purified zirconium to contain the radioactive uranium that powers many of the nation’s civilian nuclear reactors as well as those that drive the Navy’s nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers. But for two years in the early 1970s, Wah Chang played a role in the darker side of America’s nuclear history: reprocessing depleted uranium for the U.S. nuclear weapons program. Most workers at the Albany area plant were never told about the uranium on the site or warned to take any extra precautions. But, according to a government analysis, hazardous levels of residual radiation from that depleted uranium remained on the site for nearly 40 years after the reprocessing job was done — and hundreds of Wah Chang employees paid for it with their health. Some may have paid with their lives.

July 11, 2016 – The Examiner – Calls for Indian Pt. Closure, Pipeline Halt Outside Cuomo’s House – Advocates of renewable energy held an early Sunday evening vigil outside of the New Castle residence of Gov. Andrew Cuomo. They called for the construction to cease on the Spectra AIM Pipeline and for Indian Point nuclear power plant to be closed. About 100 renewable energy advocates held a vigil outside Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s home early Sunday evening urging the governor to take immediate steps to shut down three projects and facilities they argue accelerate climate change. The roughly hour-long interfaith vigil attracted opponents of Indian Point nuclear power plant in Buchanan, the Spectra AIM Pipeline being built through northern Westchester that would transport natural gas derived from hydraulic fracturing and the CPV power plant in Orange County that is under construction.

July 11, 2016 – Tri-City Herald – Practice makes perfect for moving Hanford’s radioactive sludge – A large, but little-used Hanford building has taken on a second life, smoothing the way for the challenging task of removing radioactive sludge from underwater containers near the Columbia River. The K West Basin, where the sludge is stored, and the 28,000-square-foot Maintenance and Storage Facility, or MASF, are on opposite ends of Hanford. But MASF, built to support the defunct Fast Flux Test Facility, has been reconfigured to duplicate key areas of the K West Basin and its newly built annex for safely removing sludge from the basin. “We actually built a basin in this building,” said Neal Sullivan, director of the CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. sludge treatment program, during a tour of MASF. “It was a concrete floor.”

July 11, 2016 – Eurek Alert – Observing the Pauli Exclusion Principle by Slowly Colliding Atomic Clouds – University of Otago physicist Niels Kjærgaard and his team have used extremely precisely controlled laser beams to confine, accelerate and gently collide ultracold atomic clouds of fermionic potassium. This allowed them to directly observe a key principle of quantum theory, the Pauli Exclusion Principle. This principle predicts a forbidden zone along a meridian of the spherical halo of scattered particles, which the Otago experiments indeed unveiled.

July 11, 2016 – Greenville Daily Reflector – Greene County schools test negative for radon – Greene County’s schools have tested negative for radon. One of the few school systems in the state to conduct radon testing, Greene County Schools partnered with the county health department in the 2015-16 academic year to test six of its facilities. Radon is a radioactive, colorless, odorless, tasteless gas that occurs naturally as a decay product of radium. Radon seeps from ground soil, generally in rocky regions. “High radon levels leave people at risk for lung cancer just as much as second-hand smoke,” Michael Rhodes, director of the Greene County Health Department, said.

July 11, 2016 – Motherboard – Radiation From Ancient Supernovae May Have Given Evolution an Astrophysical Push – According to new research by astrophysicists at the University of Kansas, Earth’s early biology was tested repeatedly by fierce gusts of cosmic wind originating from twin supernovae some 300 million light-years from Earth. For weeks, the night sky may have glowed with eerie blue light while Earth’s animals received radiation doses equivalent to roughly one CT scan for every creature living on land or in shallower water. The cosmic rays would have been enough to ionize the planet’s troposphere, possibly contributing to a minor mass extinction linked to global cooling. The group’s work is published in Monday’s issue of the Astrophysical Journal Letters. As noted by the paper’s lead author, physicist Adrian Melott, the findings were unexpected. “I was expecting there to be very little effect at all,” he offered in a statement. “The supernovae were pretty far way—more than 300 light years—that’s really not very close.”

July 11, 2016 – Jagran Josh – Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant attains criticality – Kudankulam Nuclear Power PlantThe second reactor of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) attained criticality at 8.56 PM on 10 July 2016. On commencing the First Approach to Criticality (FAC) on 8 July 2016 by withdrawing the control rods from the reactor, boron dilution started a few hours later to allow neutron concentration to go up, which eventually led to the criticality of the reactor. The KKNPP had submitted its reports to the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) and received the nod for criticality after the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change experts inspected the second unit. They submitted their report to the Supreme Court.

July 11, 2016 – Baystreet.ca – Advanced Medical Isotope Corporation Partners with Versant Medical Physics and Radiation Safety – Advanced Medical Isotope Corporation (or “AMI”) (OTC: ADMD), a late stage radiation oncology focused medical device company today announced that it has partnered with Versant Medical Physics and Radiation Safety company to provide dosimetry expertise to support development of the Company’s brachytherapy devices. Versant, a provider of comprehensive medical physics consulting services, will provide AMI with expert scientific and technical support on dosimetry, which is the calculation and assessment of the radiation dose received by the human body, for AMI’s medical devices.

July 11, 2016 – Daily Mail – Owners of Greenham Common’s nuclear bunkers hope to swap mushroom clouds for mushrooms – It was once used to house the West’s deadly arsenal of nuclear weapons, but the new owners of Greenham Common’s bunkers are hoping to swap mushroom clouds for mushrooms. The site hit the headlines in the 1980s when hundreds of women blockaded the RAF base in protest at the storage of US cruise missiles there, with many chaining themselves to its fence. Now Flying A Services, which bought the site in 2002, is hoping to rent out the bunkers to raise money to develop a Cold War museum. Property agent Quintons is searching for occupiers for the six bunkers at the former RAF station near Newbury, Berkshire, in a bid to bring in £500,000 per year.

July 11, 2016 – ENPI-info.eu – Nuclear safety in Armenia: EU presents results of stress test – The European Nuclear Safety Regulation Group has published the results of the stress test peer review exercise conducted in Armenia in June 2016 by a team of 10 EU experts. The exercise was requested from the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Energy by the Armenian authorities. The EU experts studied Armenia’s National Report on nuclear safety presented by the country’s Nuclear Regulatory Authority following similar nuclear stress test it conducted in 2015. The findings of the EU experts can be found here. After the Fukushima accident in 2011, the EU has been a world leader in carrying out comprehensive risk and safety assessments (stress tests) of its nuclear power reactors, the European Nuclear Safety Regulation Group report said. In 2011, three Eastern Partnership Countries (Armenia, Belarus and Ukraine) expressed their willingness to undertake on a voluntary basis comprehensive risk and safety assessments (‘stress tests’), taking into account the specifications agreed by the European Commission and the European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group (ENSREG) on 24 May 2011, the report added.

July 11, 2016 -Kyodo News Service – Opponent of nuclear power elected governor of Kagoshima – Anti-nuclear advocate Satoshi Mitazono was elected governor of Kagoshima Prefecture on Sunday, beating incumbent Yuichiro Ito, who agreed to the resumption of reactors at a power plant in the prefecture. “I want to make Kagoshima a prefecture that takes on challenges with a positive mindset,” Mitazono, 58, said Monday. The former TV Asahi commentator ran as an independent backed by the main opposition Democratic Party and the Social Democratic Party, as well as some conservatives who typically support the ruling Liberal Democratic Party but were opposed to the incumbent.

July 11, 2016 – Herald Express – Children affected by Chernobyl nuclear accident have visited South Devon for recuperation break – CHILDREN whose lives have been affected by the Chernobyl nuclear accident of 1986 have been given the opportunity to visit Devon for one month, with the hope of increasing their life expectancies by three years. The children from Belarus, which suffered from the fall-out caused by the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986, will be staying with host families in Devon for a month thanks to British charity, Chernobyl Children’s Lifeline.

July 11, 2016 – Orlando Sentinel – Retired nuclear worker fascinated by silent films – Richard St. Amant recalled that the single year he went to college was a good one. “It taught me that college was not for me,” said St. Amant, 77. “I went on to other types of endeavors.”
He worked at Detroit Edison for 40 years in power plants — conventional and nuclear. He retired as a shift supervisor and moved to The Villages, where he says his creative right brain caught up with the more logical left. St. Amant has been sharing his interest in the silent film era through power-point presentations, and then there’s the eight musicals he has produced in The Villages.

July 11, 2016 – BT.com – William presents awards in nuclear submarine’s ‘bomb shop’ – The Duke of Cambridge has presented newly qualified submariners with their Dolphin awards – in a nuclear submarine’s “bomb shop”. William, commodore-in-chief, submarines, last week privately toured HMS Artful, an Astute class submarine, the most advanced and powerful attack sub operated by the Royal Navy. The warship, commissioned earlier this year, had returned to the UK following a successful trial period in the western Atlantic. While on board the vessel in the Clyde estuary last Tuesday, the Duke presented 14 newly qualified submariners with their Dolphins, marking their passing of rigorous classroom and sea-based assessments, followed by a stringent examination board.

July 11, 2016 – Defense News – Russia Offers India Nuclear Aircraft Carrier – Russia has offered its nuclear aircraft carrier, dubbed “Storm,” to India for purchase, a senior Indian Navy official said. The offer comes as India and the US discuss the transfer of technology for India’s future nuclear aircraft carrier, the INS Vishal. A diplomat with the Russian Embassy confirmed that a Russian team visiting India last week made the offer. Krylov State Research Center (KSRC), a Russian shipbuilding research and development institute, is designing the carrier, also known as Shtorm or Project 23000E.

July 11, 2016 – Presna Latina – India Actives New Nuclear Reactor to Generate Electricity – The second unit of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu state, was successfully activated, today announced installation sources. The reactor went into operation at 20:56 local time on Sunday, told IANS news agency the director of both stations, H.N. Sahu. According to plans, the goal is to connect the reactor to the national distribution network of electric power in a period from four to six months. Like the first reactor, already in operation, the new unit will have a generating capacity of 1,000 megawatts.

July 11, 2016 – On Line Opinion – Bill Gates and other billionaires backing a nuclear renaissance – Let’s for a second imagine a world without nuclear energy. That’s a tough one but let’s try. No nuclear bombs, of course, no Chernobyl and Fukushima, no worries about Iran and North Korea. A wonderful world, maybe? Probably not, because without nuclear energy we would have burned millions more tons of coal and billions more barrels of oil. This would have brought about climate change of such proportions that what we have today would have seemed negligible. Nuclear energy and uranium, which feeds it, are controversial enough even without any actual accident happening. Radioactivity is dangerous. Nobody is arguing against it. When an accident does take place, the public backlash is understandably huge. What many opponents of uranium forget to mention, however, are the benefits of nuclear energy and the fact that the statistical probability of serious accidents is pretty low. They focus on the “What if?” and neglect the other side of the coin. But let’s try to see both sides of the issue.

July 11, 2016 – Oracle Dispatch – Why the reactor from Indian Point was closed? – The reasons for closing the reactor are unknown. It was very unexpectedly. Westchester County has two reactors with nuclear energy in the Energy Center of Indian Point. One of them was recently closed. It was shut down just after the workers began to test the electrical systems this Wednesday. The owner of this plant is the Entergy Corp. It released an official statement just after Unit 2 closure. The spokesperson of the Corp, Patricia Kakridas has assured the press that employees do not need any medical attention and there was no radioactivity noticed. The reactor was closed by its own automatically system at 9.30 in the morning. The main mystery is this reactor is programmed to do that only if there is something unexpected happening. The spokeswoman confirmed that there is an investigation, and experts are trying to understand the reason of shutdown. It was unplanned, according to official data. And it is the first closure for this reactor in 2016 year. However, during 2015 year, Unit 3 reactor has three shutdowns during a year. Each time it has different causes.

July 11, 2016- Earth Island Journal – New Documentary Investigates Nuclear Power from New York to Fukushima – Shakespeare wrote in The Tempest that the “past is prologue.” In an irony of history, a filmmaker whose grandparents were so-called “atomic spies, and the only American civilians electrocuted by the US government during the Cold War, is now trying to shutdown a nuclear power plant in New York. Ivy Meeropol is the granddaughter of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were executed for espionage on June 19, 1953 for allegedly passing A-bomb secrets to the Soviets. She is the daughter of Michael Meeropol, who — after his parents’ death — was adopted by songwriter Abel Meeropol, composer of the 1936 anti-lynching song “Strange Fruit” famously sung by Billie Holiday and the pro-integration song “The House I live In.” Ivy Meeropol previously directed 2004’s Heir to an Execution, an extremely personal HBO film that examined the case of the Rosenbergs, whose contentious electrocution took place at New York’s Sing Sing prison — only 10 miles from the nuclear Indian Point Energy Center. The Brooklyn-born, Massachusetts-raised Meeropol’s absorbing, incisive, new documentary Indian Point investigates this 1960s-built nuclear power facility, which sits just 35 miles north of New York City and is currently working to relicense two of its reactors. It also probes the 2012 ousting of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s chairman, Gregory Jaczko, who was accused of bullying and intimidating employees, plus the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, triggered by a 2011 earthquake and tidal wave that caused meltdowns and the release of radioactive isotopes at the Japanese nuclear power plant.

July 11, 2016 – Vineland Daily Journal – COMMENTARY: Nuke plants at risk, and that hurts climate – America’s nuclear plants are at risk. In 2013, the U.S. had 104 operating nuclear plants. Since then, a dozen have closed or announced plans to shut down. These productive nuclear plants are not closing because they’re old or unsafe, but rather for economic reasons. If we don’t act, and nuclear plants continue to close, the consequences will be significant for the economy, for customers and for the environment. Fortunately, we in New Jersey have a chance to respond before it’s too late for our nuclear fleet, which provides almost half of the state’s energy.

July 11, 2016 – Quad City Times – Exelon notifies grid operator of impending closure – Bill Stoermer, communications manager for Exelon’s Quad-Cities Generating Station near Cordova, talks in June about the company’s announcement that it will move forward to shut down the Quad-Cities and Clinton, Illinois, nuclear plants, given the lack of progress on Illinois energy legislation. Exelon Generation announced Thursday that it has formally notified grid operator PJM Interconnection of its plans to retire the Quad-Cities Generating Station in Cordova on June 1, 2018. The step is the latest of several procedural notifications that Exelon is required to make prior to closing the Quad-Cities and Clinton, Ill., nuclear stations. The notification comes two weeks after Exelon formally notified the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission of its decision. After a long campaign of warning the plants could be retired prematurely without legislative reform, Exelon announced June 2 it decided to close the nuclear plants given the lack of progress on the proposed Illinois legislation.

July 11, 2016 – Carlsbad Current-Argus – Exercise at WIPP provides realistic training – Waste Isolation Pilot Plant personnel were put to the test on June 22, when a day-long exercise simulated an underground fire and radiological release. The annual exercise was overseen by more than 100 external evaluators who assessed the performance of WIPP Safety Management programs, a news release from the Department of Energy said. More than a dozen federal, state and local organizations participated, including the Department of Energy Headquarters Emergency Management Team, the New Mexico Department of Homeland Security, the Eddy County Emergency Operations Center, Carlsbad Medical Center and the Carlsbad Fire Department.

July 11, 2016 – Telluride Daily Planet – County readying comments on uranium ablation – The San Miguel County Board of Commissioners on Wednesday met with opposing sides in a debate over a new uranium processing technology that could be used at mines in the county. The county is readying comments on possible regulation of the new technology, called ablation, to be submitted to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment by July 22. County attorney Steve Zwick said the CDPHE is considering six options for regulating the uranium ablation technology. The first would defer regulation to the state Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety; Zwick indicated the county likely would not recommend that option. The other five options represent varying degrees of CDPHE oversight of the technology.

July 11, 2016 – Post Register – New contractor sets cleanup priorities at nuclear facility – For Fred Hughes, it’s déjà vu. Hughes, president of cleanup contractor Fluor Idaho, recently began his fourth tour living and working in eastern Idaho. His stints at the U.S. Department of Energy’s desert site began in the mid-1980s, working for a U.S. Navy contractor. He returned in the 1990s to manage several waste facilities, only to leave and return again in the early 2000s to oversee construction of a facility known as the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project. Now Hughes, 61, is back once more to lead the entire $1.4 billion cleanup operation that employs roughly 1,700. Fluor’s responsibilities combine what was previously handled by two government contractors — Idaho Treatment Group and CH2M-WG Idaho, or CWI. The work includes everything from cleanup of toxic and radioactive contamination to managing and watching over spent nuclear fuel.

July 11, 2016 – Los Angeles Times – Edison calls settlement that left consumers on hook for $3.3 billion reasonable – Southern California Edison on Thursday warned that its customers could face higher costs related to the shuttered San Onofre nuclear plant if regulators overturn a settlement agreement. In an 80-page filing with the California Public Utilities Commission, Edison argued that the agreement reached over San Onofre’s closure should stand based on past legal precedent involving other settlement agreements and the normal process of closing power plants. The utility’s filing was its first detailed response to an order that could lead to full reconsideration of the settlement agreement, which left consumers on the hook for $3.3 billion to permanently close the nuclear plant in 2013.

July 11, 2016 – Business Wire – Nuclear Plant Settlement Ensures that SCE Customers Do Not Pay for Mitsubishi’s Faulty Steam Generators – The settlement of the San Onofre nuclear plant closure appropriately requires that Southern California Edison customers do not pay for failed equipment provided by Mitsubishi that prompted the closure, SCE said in a filing today with the California Public Utilities Commission. “We believe this public process will allow interested parties to review the settlement and confirm for themselves that it should stand” SCE’s submittal responds to a May 9 ruling to reopen the record of the San Onofre settlement reached in 2014 by SCE, San Diego Gas & Electric Co. and consumer, environmental and labor advocates. “We believe this public process will allow interested parties to review the settlement and confirm for themselves that it should stand,” said Ron Nichols, president of SCE. “This process also gives SCE an opportunity to demonstrate our continued commitment to openness and transparency.”

July 7, 2016 – 81 FR 44333 – 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 July 28, 2016, at the U.S. NRC Region II Office, 245 Peachtree Center Avenue NE., 8th floor, Salon A, Atlanta, Georgia 30303-1257. The meeting will be open to public attendance. Visitors wishing to attend that meeting must report to the NRC Security Desk on the 8th floor.

July 7, 2016 – 81 FR 44335 – NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION – Tennessee Valley Authority, Watts Bar Nuclear Plant, Unit 2 – The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has granted the request of the Tennessee Valley Authority (the licensee) to withdraw its license amendment application dated December 15, 2015, for a proposed amendment to Facility Operating License No. NPF-96 issued to the licensee for operation of the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant (WBN), Unit 2. The proposed amendment would have revised Technical Specification (TS) 3.6.12, “Ice Condenser Doors.”

July 7, 2016 – 81 FR 44333-44334 – NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION – Reno Creek In Situ Uranium Recovery Project in Campbell County, Wyoming – By letter dated October 3, 2012, AUC LLC (AUC) submitted an application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a new source and byproduct materials license for the proposed Reno Creek In Situ Uranium Recovery (ISR) Project (Reno Creek ISR Project) proposed to be located in Campbell County, Wyoming. The NRC is issuing for public comment a Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (Draft SEIS) for the Reno Creek ISR Project. The Draft SEIS is Supplement 6 to NUREG-1910, “Generic Environmental Impact Statement for In Situ Leach Uranium Milling Facilities.”

July 7, 2016 – 81 FR 44301 – DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY – Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Savannah River Site – This notice announces a meeting of the Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB), Savannah River Site. 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: Monday, July 25, 2016, 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. Tuesday, July 26, 2016, 8:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m. ADDRESSES: New Ellenton Community Center, 212 Pine Hill Avenue, New Ellenton, South Carolina 29809. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James Giusti, Office of External Affairs, Department of Energy, Savannah River Operations Office, P.O. Box A, Aiken, SC 29802; Phone: (803) 952-7684. 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.

July 7, 2016 – 81 FR 44300-44301 – DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY – Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Northern New Mexico – This notice announces a meeting of the Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB), Northern New Mexico. 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, July 27, 2016, 1:00 p.m.-5:15 p.m. ADDRESSES: Santa Fe Community College, Jemez Complex, 6401 Richards Avenue, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87508. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Menice Santistevan, Northern New Mexico Citizens’ Advisory Board (NNMCAB), 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.

July 7, 2016 – PhysOrg – Quantum processor for single photons – “Nothing is impossible!” In line with this motto, physicists from the Quantum Dynamics Division of Professor Gerhard Rempe (director at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics) managed to realise a quantum logic gate in which two light quanta are the main actors. The difficulty of such an endeavour is that photons usually do not interact at all but pass each other undisturbed. This makes them ideal for the transmission of quantum information, but less suited for its processing. The scientists overcame this steep hurdle by bringing an ancillary third particle into play: a single atom trapped inside an optical resonator that takes on the role of a mediator. “The distinct feature of our gate implementation is that the interaction between the photons is deterministic”, explains Dr. Stephan Ritter. “This is essential for future, more complex applications like scalable quantum computers or global quantum networks.”

July 7, 2016 – MacIver Institute – Renewable Energy Mandates Come Up Short On Economic Promises – Do renewable energy mandates foster new industry and create waves of high-tech jobs, as many advocates claim? New research debunks this claim, indicating that the mandate’s costs far outweigh its benefits. The new research, “Evaluating the Costs and Benefits of Renewable Energy Portfolio Standards,” was conducted by University of Wyoming professor Dr. Timothy Considine, who evaluated 12 separate states with a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), including Wisconsin. The research describes the direct cost of the RPS to the Wisconsin electricity industry and therefore to electricity consumers. Wisconsin’s RPS forces consumers to pay higher electricity costs – $474 million in 2016 alone. By 2025, the increased cost paid by Wisconsinites attributable to the RPS is projected to increase to almost $500 million. Increased electricity rates caused by renewable energy mandates also result in approximately $1 billion in lost economic activity in Wisconsin each year. Job losses attributable to the RPS are 7,000 to 10,000 jobs below employment levels without RPS mandates, even after factoring in the meager number of new “green” jobs.

July 7, 2016 – Reuters – U3O8 Corp- MOU signed for Argentina nuclear power plant construction – Says minister of energy and mines has committed to fund upgrades to eleven nuclear medicine facilities in Argentina. Says committed to providing uranium required to fuel nuclear component of argentine government’s clean energy initiative. U3O8 Corp says memorandum of understanding has been signed regarding financing and construction of Argentina’s 4th and 5th nuclear power plants.

July 7, 2016 – Las Vegas Review-Journal – Sandoval letter underscores state’s Yucca Mountain opposition to House subcommittee – Gov. Brian Sandoval on Wednesday reiterated Nevada’s steadfast opposition to the construction of a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain ahead of a hearing Thursday on the project in Washington, DC. “My position, and that of the state of Nevada, remains unchanged from my previous letters to this committee in May 2015, and January 2016: the state of Nevada opposes the project based on scientific, technical and legal merits,” Sandoval said in his letter to the House Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy. “Furthermore, as set forth in the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, only the governor is empowered to consult on matters related to the siting of a nuclear waste repository,” he said.

July 7, 2016 – Associated Press – Michigan nuclear plant closes unit after steam release – A rupture released steam at a nuclear power plant in southwest Michigan, forcing a utility to shut down one of the two units. Indiana Michigan Power says the steam was not radioactive, but it damaged a wall at the Cook Nuclear Plant Unit 2 early Wednesday in Bridgman. There were no injuries. The utility says there were no other complications and “all equipment responded appropriately.” Repair estimates are being made. Cook’s Unit 1 was not affected and is operating at 100%. Inspectors from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission are investigating the incident.

July 7, 2016 – Maine News Online – Lost JAXA X-ray Satellite beams back Data on Perseus Galaxy Cluster – Earlier, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) reported that its X-ray satellite Hitomi is no more in touch with mission controllers. The agency, that time, also revealed that it has succeeded in scraping some data collected by the satellite. It managed to explore the Perseus Cluster, a cluster of galaxies with a supermassive black hole at the center. Findings by Hitomi allowed researchers understand the role of a black hole in the formation of a galaxy. The satellite succeeded in measuring the gas motion in the galaxy’s center with unprecedented precision. It was over 50 times better than devices in the past, as per astronomy professor Andrew Fabian from University of Cambridge in England. Data from the satellite hints that the galaxy at the center of the cluster must be much brighter and with much higher stellar mass, added Fabian, a researcher in an international team led by JAXA.

July 7, 2016 – Yahoo News – Iran’s Parchin Particles: Why Should Two Mites of Uranium Matter? – Two specks of uranium might determine whether or not the Iran nuclear deal succeeds or fails. “The Obama administration has concluded that uranium particles discovered last year at a secretive Iranian military base likely were tied to the country’s past, covert nuclear weapons program,” the Wall Street Journal reported last month. The International Atomic Energy Agency first disclosed the discovery in a footnote to a key report last December. The IAEA dismissed the matter, saying that the number of particles was too small to prove a connection to illicit activities. The U.S. government, however, has capabilities that may exceed those of the IAEA.

July 7, 2016 – PTI – France submits fresh plan for six nuclear plants in Jaitapur – France has given a fresh techno- commercial proposal for building six atomic reactors in Jaitapur even as it again raised concerns over India’s civil liability law and sought “same level of protection” which are available for companies at the international level. An Electricite de France (EDF) team, comprising senior officials, is currently holding talks with the Ministry of External Affairs and Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIl) on setting up of these plants. “We have raised our concerns over the liability issue. France is a party to Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage. We want similar binding conditions in the Jaitapur contract.

July 7, 2016 – Public News Service – Troubling Questions Arise About Radioactive Frack Waste Company – The paper trail of a company that dumped West Virginia radioactive frack waste into Kentucky landfills is raising serious questions. This spring, regulators cited Advanced TENORM Services for dumping the low-level radioactive waste in two municipal landfills. Not long after, the company disabled its website and moved its formal physical address to the West Liberty Public Library. But Tom FitzGerald, director with the Kentucky Resources Council, said state records show Cory Hoskins, who runs the company, is also connected to at least one other firm involved in a similar situation at a separate state landfill. “Cory Hoskins is also working in Ohio and has a couple of different company names,” he said. “How much other stuff, these elevated levels of radionuclides, ended up in our landfills?”

July 7, 2016 – Climate Home – Can nuclear really deliver 25% of global electricity by 2050? – The nuclear industry is celebrating breaking records that have stood for a quarter of a century − but a new update on its successes still fails to disperse the clouds over its future. Ten new nuclear reactors came on line last year worldwide, and more new reactors are being built than at any time since 1990. According to the report by the World Nuclear Association (WNA), there were 66 power reactors under construction across the world last year, and another 158 planned. Of those being built, 24 were in mainland China. In what it promises will be an annual update of the industry’s “progress”, the WNA presents a rosy picture of the future of the industry, which it hopes will produce ever-increasing amounts of the world’s power.

July 7, 2016 – The Korea Bizwire – Nuclear Protest Gone Wrong? – Victims lie on the ground at a busy public square in front of Busan Station. Among them are radioactive waste barrels and men in hazmat suits removing bodies. Fortunately, their were no real casualties, as the scene was the result of an unconventional flash mob. Members of Greenpeace and Korea’s leading opposition party, the Minjoo Party of Korea, arranged a flash mob Thursday afternoon, protesting the latest government approval of two additional nuclear reactors – Shin Kori No. 5 and No. 6 – at a current nuclear power plant in the southeastern coastal town of Gijang, Busan. At the moment, 23 nuclear reactors are in operation in Korea, providing the country with about 30 percent of its electricity supply. The new reactors will bring the total in South Korea to 30, including those currently under construction.

July 7, 2016 – World Nuclear News – REMIX fuel pilot testing starts at Balakovo reactor – Russia has started pilot testing of its new type of nuclear fuel, REMIX, at unit 3 of the Balakovo nuclear power plant. Rosenergoatom said on 1 July the unit is being loaded with a number of fuel elements containing the fuel, and that the use of REMIX “will increase the efficiency of uranium use in the nuclear industry”. Development of REMIX (from Regenerated Mixture) fuel is part of state nuclear corporation Rosatom’s strategy to enable better use of recycled uranium and plutonium on an industrial scale in pressurized water reactors. All four units at Balakovo are of the Russian V-320 PWR design. Rosatom has said the ultimate aim of REMIX is closure of the nuclear fuel cycle by minimising Russia’s accumulation of used nuclear fuel.

July 7, 2016 – EurActiv.com – Easy target for terrorists: Armenia’s Metsamor nuclear plant – The recent ISIS attack on Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport hints at an alarming trend in which highly strategic areas are increasingly being targeted by international terrorist groups. A similar attack had taken place at Belgium’s Zaventem Airport a few months before, which revealed that ISIS may have been planning an operation at Belgian atomic plant. While nuclear terrorism was a remote threat during the 9/11 attacks, with al-Qaeda originally wanting to target nuclear power facilities, it is becoming a dangerously feasible possibility that ISIS followers could lunch a successful strike. One such potential target finds itself at the very borders of the EU: the Metsamor nuclear power plant, in Armenia. The dangers it incurs are multiple: The lack of a cooling mechanism makes the outdated nuclear centre an easy target; the continuous smuggling of radioactive material by jihadists increases the risk of producing a dirty bomb; the uncontrolled zone of the Armenian-occupied territories of Nagorno-Karabakh are used to dump radioactive waste, which could leak or be dispersed as a result of terrorist action.

July 7, 2016 – Japan Times – Japan Atomic Power to join Hitachi’s nuclear plant business in Britain – Japan Atomic Power Co. will join Hitachi Ltd.’s nuclear power plant business in Britain, informed sources said Thursday. The two companies will soon sign a cooperation agreement to make Japan Atomic Power the first Japanese power supplier to take part in an overseas nuclear power plant business in full scale. Japan Atomic Power will become part of a project to build nuclear reactors in Britain, which is undertaken by Horizon Nuclear Power Ltd., a Hitachi unit in Britain, possibly engaging in licensing procedures for reactor construction.

July 7, 2016 – Harvard Press – BOH requires radioactivity testing of new wells – The Board of Health has expanded the regulation for water quality testing on all new and altered wells to include a “gross alpha screen,” which detects the presence of radioactive particles and determines whether further testing is needed for uranium or radium. The new requirement comes in the wake of a recent U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) study that identified areas in Harvard that are at increased risk for low-level radioactivity in water from bedrock wells. The USGS uranium risk map identifies a zone on the western side of a line that runs northeast to southwest, passing almost directly through the center of Harvard. The probability that uranium levels will be higher than the standard for public drinking water in that zone is between 4.8 and 13 percent.

July 7, 2016 – Rockland County Times – Indian Point Unit 2 Automatically Shut Down Again – Indian Point Unit 2 automatically and safely shut down Wednesday around 9:30 a.m. The automatic shutdown occurred at the same time technicians were testing electrical systems that are designed to automatically shut down the reactor if needed, Entergy said. The exact cause is under investigation. There was no release of radioactivity and no effect on public or worker health or safety, the energy company said in a press release. Equipment operated as designed and control room operators responded as expected during the shutdown.

July 7, 2016 – The Atlantic CityLab – The Uncertain Future of Nuclear Power in the U.S. – Nuclear plants still generate nearly 20 percent of electricity in the U.S., but that looks likely to change over the next few years. Thanks to plummeting oil and gas prices and rising safety concerns since the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi disaster, more and more nuclear power reactors in the West are on their way to being decommissioned. Season 2 of Van Alen Sessions, presented by Van Alen Institute with The Atlantic and CityLab, wraps up with a trip inside the Pilgrim Nuclear Reactor in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The plant is now officially scheduled for shutdown in 2019, which has locals struggling with a range of issues: impending economic turmoil, toxic waste storage, and the dilemma of meeting lower emissions standards while letting go of the zero-carbon footprint of nuclear energy.

July 7, 2016 – The Atlantic – The End of a Nuclear Power Plant – Pilgrim Nuclear Reactor in Plymouth, Massachusetts, is scheduled to close down in 2019. It won’t be alone—because of increased concerns over the safety of these plants and decreased gas prices, many will struggle to stay open in the United States. In this short film, locals who work in the plant reflect on the effects of the impending closure.

July 7, 2016 – Reuters – BWX Technologies says a court ruled in favor of BWXT parties in a case alleging that they owed royalties on commercial nuclear contracts – On June 30, Virginia Supreme Court ruled in favor of BWXT parties in case alleging owed royalties on commercial nuclear contracts Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage: (Bengaluru Newsroom: +1-646-223-8780).

July 7, 2016 – Michigan Live – Bridgman’s D.C. Cook nuclear plant steam line ruptures – A steam line rupture in the turbine building at D.C. Cook Nuclear Plant Wednesday morning damaged a wall in the plant’s Unit 2 turbine building, but has had no effect on the nuclear reactor or public safety, authorities said. Viktoria Mitlyng, senior public affairs officer for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Chicago area office, said the steam pipe rupture happened on the secondary, non-nuclear side of the plant, where the the turbine is located. “As far as we know no one was hurt” in the pipe rupture, Mitlyng said. The incident happened at 12:38 a.m. Wednesday, July 6. The steam line that ruptured was fairly large, she said. She was not immediately sure the extent of damage to the turbine room wall.

July 7, 2016 – Los Alamos Daily Post – Nuclear Testing, War Crimes And Native Sovereignty Topics At Summer School For Advanced Research – Summer is a season full of diverse colloquia and seminars at the School for Advanced Research. Through July, the public is invited to attend colloquia presented by the 2016 class of Summer Scholars, and a lecture by and reception for Indigenous Writer-in-Residence Kelli Ford in August. The Summer Scholar Colloquia schedule began Wednesday, June 29 with “Guys Like Me: Six Wars, Six Veterans for Peace,” presented by Michael Messner, Professor, Department of Sociology and Gender Studies, University of Southern California. Dr. Messner discussed that, in this time of apparently permanent warfare, U.S. men continue to return home from wars—many with physical and psychological injuries. Yet little scholarly attention is paid to the veteran whose combat experience results in a commitment to peace.

July 7, 2016 – Albuquerque Journal – DOE secretary promotes research collaboration at UNM – U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz kicked off a day-long forum on energy innovation Tuesday at the University of New Mexico attended by scientists, researchers and private investors from across the Southwest. The Southwest Regional Energy Forum is aimed at sharing information about regional advances in materials science that can improve renewable energy technology and accelerate its deployment. In particular, participants hope to build closer collaboration among themselves and between the public and private sectors to bring more innovative technologies to market. It’s part of a national U.S. Department of Energy effort to promote collaboration around the country that draws on the strengths and opportunities unique to different regions.

July 7, 2016 – Deseret News – BLM weighs uranium mine expansion in southeast Utah – A now idled uranium mine could increase its physical footprint by more than tenfold under a proposed expansion under review by the Bureau of Land Management. The Daneros Uranium Mine in southeast Utah, once called the Denison Mine, would supply mined uranium ore to White Mesa, the country’s only operating, conventional uranium processing mill. The mill is about 60 miles north of the mine and a few miles outside of Blanding. On Tuesday, the federal land management agency extended the public comment period on an environmental assessment until Aug. 1, based on requests from multiple groups.

July 7, 2016 – Public News Service – Feds Head to Idaho for Meeting on Nuclear Waste – The U.S. Department of Energy will hold a meeting next week at the Boise Centre downtown to come up with a process for getting consent from local communities before siting new nuclear waste facilities. Idaho’s nuclear-watchdog group is having workshops tonight and Thursday to help the community prepare. Beatrice Brailsford, nuclear program director for the Snake River Alliance, said the Gem State already stores nuclear waste at the Idaho National Laboratory near Idaho Falls and repeatedly has rejected new nuclear waste. “For decades, we have been the host state for waste that is supposed to go someplace else at some point,” she said, “but our experience has been that interim storage and permanent storage are, so far, pretty much one and the same.”

July 7, 2016 – Idaho State University – Idaho State University interns design robot for nuclear fuel facility – Cheers erupted from an audience peering over plywood walls into a mock-up work cell. The robot inside had successfully transported a surrogate radioactive sample from an inter-facility transfer box, out of its transfer containers, into an examination instrument, and then back again. It was a satisfying ending to a nine-month-long project for four Idaho State University (ISU) mechanical and nuclear engineering students serving internships at Idaho National Laboratory. One of those students, Larinda Nichols, served a prior INL internship, which included attending design meetings for future post-irradiation examination (PIE) work. From that, Mitchell Meyer, the lab’s director of characterization and advanced PIE, assigned Nichols a senior project to demonstrate the use of robotics in instrument cells.

July 7, 2016 – Tri-City Herald – WSU to start radiochemistry training program with DOE help – Washington State University in Pullman will launch a new training program in radiochemistry with the help of a Department of Energy grant. The nation has a growing demand for scientists trained and educated to understand radiochemistry, the chemical study of radioactive elements, according to DOE. DOE is contributing up to $3 million for a five-year program to train graduate students. Workers are needed both for complex scientific and technical work to advance environmental cleanup work at Hanford and other DOE cleanup sites and also to help the United States maintain global leadership in the next generation of safe nuclear energy, according to DOE.

July 7, 2016 – Tri-City Herald – Feds release plan to clean up highly radioactive building by Richland – The Department of Energy is proposing a seven-year plan to clean up a highly radioactive waste spill under a building at Hanford near Richland. A public comment period on the plan, focused on the removal of the 324 Building, started this week and will continue through Sept. 9. A public meeting is planned at 5:30 p.m. Aug. 24 at the Richland Library. “This is an important project,” said Stephanie Schleif, the transition project manager for the Washington State Department of Ecology. “Ecology is pleased to see DOE moving forward on the 324 Building.” Washington Closure Hanford was working toward a legally binding deadline for DOE to have the building down in the fall of 2013.

July 7, 2016 – Utility Dive – Critics wary as California regulators prepare to reopen San Onofre nuclear settlement case – Initial comments are due tomorrow at the California Public Utilities Commission, as regulators try and determine how best to move forward following revelations of ex parte communications surrounding the settlement to close the San Onofre nuclear plant, KPBS.org reports. Southern California Edison (SCE) closed the plant after radioactive steam leaks were discovered in 2012, and a deal shouldered consumers with $3.3 billion in closing costs. Critics say those costs should have been borne by shareholders, and following discovery of secret meetings between utility officials and regulators, they may get another chance to make their case.

July 7, 2016 – San Diego Union-Tribune – Nuke plan diverts billions from climate change – Last month, California’s largest utility unveiled a deal with environmental groups to scrap Diablo Canyon, the state’s last nuclear power plant, by 2025. Regulators may get details later this month. The idea seems absurd, given the state’s campaign to combat climate change. Replacing the nuke’s output — cheap, zero-carbon power for 1.7 million homes — can only hurt the planet, as well as cost consumers billions of dollars that could otherwise go toward displacing fossil fuels. So the only way to understand the merits of scrapping a working nuke is to appreciate the upside for certain politicians, as well as the potential financial windfall for Diablo’s owner, Pacific Gas & Electric.

July 7, 2016 – Las Vegas Sun – Shame on Nevada leaders who sell out on Yucca Mountain – Some politicians in Congress are grasping at the fantasy of gaining control of Yucca Mountain so their states’ expended-but-still-lethally radioactive nuclear power plant fuel rods can be dumped in Nevada. Their strategy, which will be aired during a congressional hearing Thursday on Capitol Hill, is to persuade Nevada politicians to betray their constituents and allow the use of Yucca Mountain’s frail geology as a tomb for the most deadly material known to man. This, in exchange for a bag of gold coins. More specifically, they are once again floating the notion that if Nevada politicians green-light the use of Yucca Mountain as a nuclear waste repository — something we have fought for 30 years — they’ll give us something in return: a north-south interstate highway, perhaps, or research money for UNLV.

July 6, 2016 – 81 FR 43959-43961 – NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION – Consideration of Rulemaking To Address Prompt Remediation of Residual Radioactivity During Operation – The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is seeking additional input from the public, licensees, Agreement States, non-Agreement States, and other stakeholders on the need for potential rulemaking to address prompt remediation of residual radioactivity during the operational phase at licensed material sites and nuclear reactors. The NRC has not initiated a rulemaking, but is gathering information and seeking stakeholder input on this subject for developing a recommendation to the Commission regarding the need for further rulemaking. To aid in this process, the NRC is requesting comments on the issues discussed in Section II, “Specific Questions,” in the Supplementary Information section of this document. Additionally, the NRC will hold a public Webinar and host a public meeting to facilitate the public’s and other stakeholders’ understanding of these issues and the submission of comments.

July 6, 2016 – 81 FR 44054-44055 – NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION – Standard Review Plan for Renewal of Specific Licenses and Certificates of Compliance for Dry Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel – The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing NUREG-1927, Revision 1, “Standard Review Plan for Renewal of Specific Licenses and Certificates of Compliance for Dry Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel.” The NUREG provides guidance to the NRC staff for the safety review of renewal applications for specific licenses of independent spent fuel storage installations (ISFSIs) and certificates of compliance of spent fuel dry storage systems.