Radiation Protection News Room

News for November 20, 2009

Radioactive Waste

• Radioactive waste contaminating Canadian water supply: Report (Canada.com)
  Nuclear facilities and power plants are contaminating local Canadian food and water with radioactive waste that increases risks of cancer and birth defects, says a new report to be released on Friday. The report was produced by the Sierra Club of Canada.

Safety and Security

• Fallout over plans for Las Vegas nuclear drill (KTNV – Las Vegas)
  A simulated nuclear disaster drill is set to take place in May, 2010 but Las Vegas business and tourist leaders, as well as politicians, are urging changes.

Health

• How Much Radiation Do You Get From a Mammogram? (Slate)
  Slate addresses the question of radiation dosage from mammograms in this short article aimed at providing answers to recent news-related questions.
• EPRI: Low-dose radiation may not be as harmful as believed (Power Engineering International)
  A new report from the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) said low-dose radiation levels might not be as harmful as previously reported.

Nuclear Power

• UPDATE 1 – S Africa plans new nuclear power station by 2020 (Reuters)
  South Africa, plagued by chronic power shortages, plans to have the country's new nuclear power plant up and running by 2020, Energy Minister Dipuo Peters told a nuclear conference on Friday.
• Doubts raised on nuclear industry viability (PhysOrg.com)
  The investment in nuclear power has been growing around the world over the last few years, being viewed as a means for countries to control their energy security, avoid the price fluctuations of other energy sources, and reduce their carbon dioxide emissions, but concerns are now being raised.

Nuclear Weapons

• 6 world powers meet about Iran nuclear issue (Associated Press)
  Representatives of six world powers met in Brussels on Friday to discuss possible measures against Tehran for its refusal to halt nuclear enrichment activities.
• Panel Sees No Need for A-Bomb Upgrade (The New York Times)
  In a new report, a secretive federal panel has concluded that programs to extend the life of the nation’s aging nuclear arms are sufficient to guarantee their destructiveness for decades to come, obviating a need for a costly new generation of more reliable warheads.

News for November 19, 2009

Policy and Regulations

• Colo. lawmakers ask Congress to limit energy bill (SPI)
  Colorado state lawmakers are asking the U.S. Senate to limit funding for coal and nuclear energy as Congress moves to pass an energy bill.
• Gordon foreign waste ban to get committee vote (Murfreesboro Post)
  the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee will consider Congressman Bart Gordon’s bill concerning foreign radioactive waste. Gordon’s bipartisan legislation, the Radioactive Import Deterrence (RID) Act, H.R. 515, would prevent foreign-generated radioactive waste from being processed in Tennessee and disposed in the U.S.

Radioactive Waste

• Minister Says Iran Won’t Ship Uranium Abroad (NYT)
  Iran’s foreign minister said this week that his government would not ship its stockpile of low-enriched uranium out of the country, making him the highest ranking official so far to declare that Iran would renege on a deal aimed at defusing a confrontation with the West over its nuclear program.
• NRC cites VA clinic for radioactive-treatment violations (Philadelphia Inquirer)
  In the first outside report on its flawed prostate-cancer program, the Philadelphia VA Medical Center was cited for eight apparent violations in using radioactive materials on nearly 100 veterans, federal inspectors have concluded.

Cleanup

• Hanford Challenge of Seattle plans summit today (TCH)
  Hanford Challenge of Seattle is organizing a Hanford summit, saying that polarization between the east and west sides of the state has prevented discussion of important Hanford issues.

Safety and Security

• GAO Questions Efforts to Improve New Radiation Detectors(Global Security Newswire)
  U.S. congressional auditors have noted various technical issues with a new generation of radiation detectors intended for U.S. points of entry and urged the Homeland Security Department to investigate possible improvements to detection machines already in place, according to congressional testimony yesterday by the Government Accountability Office.
• Smoke rises from Japan nuclear plant (AFP)
  Smoke rose on Thursday from the world's largest nuclear power plant in Japan, which was shut down by an earthquake two years ago, but the operator said no-one was injured and there was no radiation leak.
• Syria suspected of concealing nuclear activity(WTOP)
  The International Atomic Energy Agency and Syria are walking a tightrope and appear to be headed toward a collision over two nuclear sites where undeclared uranium was recently found.

Nuclear Power

• Big powers to meet on Iran on Friday(SFC)
  Six world powers will meet in Brussels to discuss what measures could be applied against Tehran for its refusal to halt its nuclear enrichment program, an EU official said Thursday.

Nuclear Weapons

• Obama Ready to Help A Non - Nuclear North Korea (NYT)
  "Our message is clear. If North Korea is prepared to take concrete and irreversible steps to fulfil its obligations and eliminate its nuclear weapons programme, the United States will support economic assistance and help promote its full integration into the community of nations," Obama said.

News for November 18, 2009

Safety and Security

• Homeland Security Misses Self-Imposed Schedule to Certify New Radiation Detectors(Global Security Newswire)
  The U.S. Homeland Security Department has missed a self-imposed schedule to prove to Congress that the next generation of radiation detectors will work when deployed at the nation's points of entry.

Nuclear Power

• PGE, EDF to study nuclear power for Poland(Reuters)
  French giant EDF and leading Polish leading utility PGE, agreed to run a feasibility study of Warsaw's plans to develop at least one nuclear plant by 2020, PGE said in a statement on Wednesday.

Nuclear Weapons

• US says time ‘very short’ for Iran on nuclear deal (Reuters)
  Iran faces a "very short" window to submit its formal response to a U.N.-brokered deal meant to allay suspicions that it seeks to develop nuclear weapons, the U.S. State Department said on Tuesday.

News for November 17, 2009

Policy and Regulations

• Senators unveil bill to double nuclear power (WP)
  Two U.S. Senators on Monday unveiled bipartisan legislation aimed at doubling nuclear power in 20 years and increasing funding for research into low carbon sources of energy.

Radioactive Waste

• New site shows Iran insists on enrichment (WP)
  Building a second uranium enrichment site is a "political message" from Iran that neither sanctions nor possible military attack will ever halt its nuclear program, a senior Iranian official said on Tuesday.

Yucca Mountain

• Nuclear industry weighs in on nuke dump license(Las Vegas Sun)
  The nuclear industry's lobbying arm has suggested that work continue on a license request from the Energy Department to build a nuclear repository at Yucca Mountain, even though President Barack Obama has signaled an end to it.

Cleanup

• Seattle crowd opposes Hanford cleanup delays(SPI)
  A tentative agreement to stretch out the timetable to convert the Hanford nuclear reservation's worst radioactive wastes into more benign glass drew little support at a Seattle meeting last Thursday.

Safety and Security

• Inspectors Fear Iran Is Hiding Nuclear Plants (NYT)
  International inspectors who gained access to Iran’s newly revealed underground nuclear enrichment plant voiced strong suspicions in a report on Monday that the country was concealing other atomic facilities.

Nuclear Weapons

• UN: Once-secret Iran nuclear site to start in 2011(SPI)
  The report said that Natanz had churned out close to 1,800 kilograms (4,000 kilograms) of low-enriched, or nuclear fuel-grade uranium by Nov. 2 - close to the amount considered by experts that would be needed for two nuclear weapons.

News for November 16, 2009

Policy and Regulations

• Nuclear energy high on Senate's climate agenda (AFP)
  With crucial global climate talks less than a month away, US senators appear to be betting on nuclear energy as the key to finally passing sweeping domestic climate change legislation.

Radioactive Waste

• U.S., Russia urge Iran to accept uranium deal(SFC)
  President Obama said Sunday that "time is running out" for Iran to sign on to a deal to ship its enriched uranium out of the country for further processing, and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said he still hopes to persuade Iran to send its enriched uranium to his country.
  

Safety and Security

• India puts nuclear plants on alert-report(Reuters)
  India has put its nuclear power plants on alert and tightened security after intelligence about possible attacks, a report said on Monday.

Risk Assessment

• Nuclear 'Renaissance' Held Up by Fight Between DOE and OMB (NYT)
  The risk calculation is critical to a launch of the so-called "nuclear renaissance" because it determines how much upfront cash the nuclear project developer must pay to get the loan guarantee, which can cover up to 80 percent of the multibillion-dollar construction costs, for three of four new reactors.

Nuclear Power

• Russia Delays Iran's Bushehr Nuclear Power Station(NYT)
  Russia announced the latest delay to Iran's first nuclear power station on Monday, saying that technical issues would prevent its engineers from starting up the reactor at the Bushehr plant by the year-end.