[ RadSafe ] [Nuclear News] Algeria To Pass Law This Year To Develop Nuclear Power

[Sandy Perle]

Index:

Algeria To Pass Law This Year To Develop Nuclear Power 
Nuclear industry bullish on S. Africa
Guidelines set for nuclear study OPG 'welcomes' scope
Six imported mega nuclear plants for Jaitapur project
Response to nuclear accident exercise like `Keystone Kops´
Sri Lankan Tamil Tigers may target India's nuclear reactors 
TVA Seeks Comments On Watts Bar Nuclear Plant Environmental Statement
Nevada State nuclear project director to address council
Fresno a player in debate over nuclear power
MP reaffirms national resolve to use nuclear energy 
Small fire prompts alert at E. Washington nuclear plant
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Algeria To Pass Law This Year To Develop Nuclear Power 

DOHA -(Dow Jones)- Algeria plans to build nuclear power stations to 
meet rising demand for electricity after it passes a law this year to 
enable the development of atomic plants, the country's oil minister 
said Sunday.

"We will issue a new law on nuclear power," Chakib Khelil told 
reporters on the eve of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum in Doha. 
"We have to research nuclear reactors. We expect to sign an agreement 
for a nuclear plant in the next 20 to 25 years."

Algeria, Africa's largest gas exporter, follows Arab state's in the 
Persian Gulf which have collectively decided to explore building 
nuclear power facilities. Iran is locked in a stalemate with the U.S. 
and the United Nations over its decision to press ahead with its 
nuclear program.

Middle East states where economies are booming from record high oil 
revenue are seeking to build nuclear plants to meet surging demand 
for electricity and seawater desalination.
---------------

Nuclear industry bullish on S. Africa

JOHANNESBURG, April 7 (UPI) -- South Africa's plan to build a nuclear 
power plant has sparked interest among the world's nuclear-power 
companies. 
A Johannesburg newspaper, The Independent, reported Saturday that 
major players from Russia, the United States and Europe have been 
making overtures to South Africa for a piece of the project. 

South Africa announced last fall it planned to build a conventional 
nuclear plant; however, the project has been proceeding slowly. 

The U.S. company Westinghouse, which is owned by Japan's Toshiba, has 
already formed an alliance with PBMR Pty Ltd. to develop so-called 
pebble bed reactor technology. Russia has struck a uranium-mining 
deal with South African companies. 

Although worldwide the nuclear industry is thriving, South Africa's 
program has come under criticism from environmentalists, who argue 
the cost of nuclear power coupled with the nation's electric grid 
monopoly makes nukes a bad deal for the public. 
----------------

Guidelines set for nuclear study OPG 'welcomes' scope 

PICKERING -- The guidelines are in place for the environmental 
assessment Ontario Power Generation must conduct as it decides if 
four reactors at the Pickering nuclear station are to be refurbished.

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission has ruled OPG must conduct a 
screening level EA for the refurbishment of the four 'B' side 
reactors. OPG is preparing a business case for the refurbishment, and 
the EA is one aspect of it.

The company is considering whether Units 5 to 8 could be rebuilt, 
work that could extend the life of the reactors to about 2060.

If the CNSC rules against the refurbishment, the units would shut 
down in 10 to 15 years.

"It says for us, it provides us with a framework, a scope with what 
to do," OPG spokesman John Earl states of the guidelines set out by 
the CNSC. We welcome this."

"It provides us with a scoping of what's required in the EA process," 
he adds.

In it's Record of Proceedings, including Reasons for Decision, "CNSC 
staff stated in its submissions that it is not aware at this time of 
any potentially significant environmental effects or public concern 
associated with this project which, in its opinion, would warrant 
having the project referred to a mediator or review panel."

Mr. Earl says the CNSC ruling "lays out all the things we have to 
look at while preparing a business case. What kinds of detail, what 
do they want us to do to prepare the EA, what parameters? Now we have 
the scope, the framework to complete it to their satisfaction."

Among the items that have to be examined are climate change, seismic 
activity, population growth in the GTA, and the possibility of a 
"catastrophic accident," which could be caused by a technical 
failure, a terrorist attack or a large airplane crashing into the 
plant.

The CNSC decision noted several groups "disagreed with CNSC staff's 
recommendation and requested that the Commission refer the project to 
a review panel, based on the level of public concern."

Commission members asked CNSC staff about the public concern and were 
told any issues would be addressed in the EA.

Among the mandatory factors that have to be addressed in an EA are 
the environmental effects of the projects, including the effects a 
malfunction or accidents could have, and any measures that could 
mitigate any significant environmental effects.

The Record of Proceedings noted, "OPG reported that it considered 
that the potential environmental effects of the project could be 
established with a high degree of certainty since the environmental 
impacts of operating Pickering 'B' have been well established."

Commission members agreed with a CNSC staff recommendation that the 
purpose of the project be considered.

Mr. Earl says the company has "been working on the business case for 
some time. The project will be viewed in as many ways as possible. 
Does this opportunity, this project, make good sense?"

OPG is aiming for early 2008 to have the business case completed. 
"It's not time driven. It will be the best business case we can put 
forward," Mr. Earl noted.
----------------

Six imported mega nuclear plants for Jaitapur project

MUMBAI, APR 8 (PTI - Maharashtra will be the first state to get six 
imported mega atomic plants of at least 1,600 MW each for its 
Jaitapur nuclear power project in Ratnagiri district once the Indo-US 
civil nuclear deal comes through.

Preparations are on in full swing by the Nuclear Power Corporation of 
India Ltd (NPCIL) to receive the plants and all them will most likely 
be of the European Pressurised Water Reactor (EPR) type, a third 
generation design, said NPCIL Chairman and Managing Director S K 
Jain.

EPRs were designed and developed by Framatome (Areva NP) and Electric 
de France in France and Siemens AG in Germany.

Though initially the government had approved two units of 1,000 MW 
each for the Jaitapur plant, NPCIL is preparing a techno-economic 
evaluation report for EPRs of 1,600 MW too, Jain told PTI.

The estimated investment for the proposed six units, the first of 
their kind both in terms of investment and size of the generating 
unit, is expected to be over Rs 50,000 crore, he said.

NPCIL will contribute 30 per cent equity while the rest will be 
raised through various instruments, including multilateral loans and 
from markets, Jain said.

The plant will be located at Madban village in Rajapur Taluka of 
Ratnagiri district and this was notified in the Maharashtra state 
government gazzette on January 12, 2006 on the basis of the Centre's 
sanction, he said.

EPR reactors are currently under construction in Finland and France. 
Germany is yet begin their construction, Jain said. (More)

The main design objectives of EPR are increased safety while 
providing enhanced economic competitiveness through improvements to 
previous PWR designs.

They have been scaled up to an electrical output of 1,600 MW. The 
reactors use five per cent enriched uranium oxide or mixed uranium 
plutonium oxide (MOX) fuel.

Finland faces cosntruction delays of about a year following quality 
control problems, said a member of the International Nuclear Safety 
Advisory Group (INSAG).

The Jaitapur plant requires about 700 hectares of land and 250 
hectares for a residential township, Jain said.

Jaitapur, one of four coastal sites meant for setting up nuclear 
plants with imported reactors, is not prone to seismic activity and 
meets all regulatory requirements, he said.

Since the site is located on the Arabian Sea coast, it will meet the 
cooling requirement of the plants.

Asked about the displacement of people at the project site, Jain said 
the plant's proposed location does not require any displacement and 
less than 10 per cent of the site is agricultural land.

Also, NPCIL will provide jobs during construction, operation and 
maintenance of the plants to locals, depending on their skills.

Meanwhile, Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar said there 
were many important and complex issues to be resolved in discussions 
on the 123 agreement with the US to implement the civil nuclear deal.

Two or more meetings are expected to take place this year to iron out 
all differences, he said.
-----------------

Response to nuclear accident exercise like `Keystone Kops´

Executive says lessons have been learned since 2003 test revealed 
string of failures

SERIOUS FLAWS have been exposed in Scotland's arrangements for 
responding to a nuclear accident, with a secret Scottish Executive 
memo obtained by the Sunday Herald revealing a series of problems 
during an emergency exercise at the Torness nuclear power station in 
2003.

Critics have compared the mishaps to the Keystone Kops, the group of 
incompetent policemen from the silent film era. But the Scottish 
Executive has angrily dismissed the criticisms, insisting Scotland 
was now better prepared.

An emergency exercise, codenamed Yeti, tested the response to a major 
leak of radioactivity from the Torness nuclear plant on October 30, 
2003. It involved 18 public sector agencies, along with the company 
that runs the East Lothian plant, British Energy.

advertisementAfter a prolonged investigation, the Executive was 
forced by the Scottish Information Commissioner, Kevin Dunion, to 
release an official post-mortem report of the exercise. The document, 
marked "restricted management", made a series of damning criticisms.

It complained that the original notification of the accident to the 
Executive was a voicemail, containing no names or contact numbers. It 
took an hour and 20 minutes for the message to reach the correct 
Executive staff.

Officials also "found it extremely difficult to obtain any factual 
information about the incident, the extent of the contamination, and 
the contingency measures being advised", and there was a delay of 
nearly five hours until enough information was available to brief 
ministers and the media.

The memo added that Executive officials had difficulty believing what 
they were being told by the government's technical adviser, Mike 
Weightman of the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate. His reassurance 
that the contamination was not serious "appeared inconsistent" with 
advice from the Food Standards Agency, and with plans to close the A1 
and the east coast rail line, and evacuate the local population.

Weightman and the Executive also clashed over the wording of a 
proposed ministerial statement.

The memo revealed a rash of communication problems within the 
Executive, including an out-of-date directory, a failed telephone 
connection and a problem accepting encrypted data. None of the fax 
machines seemed to work, it said, and when a laptop crashed there was 
"no means of exchanging written information".

Many of the problems were centred on the Scottish Executive Emergency 
Room (SEER) in St Andrew's House, Edinburgh, which is used to co-
ordinate the government's response to emergencies. SEER has played an 
important role in events including the G8 summit in Gleneagles in 
2005 and the heightened terrorist alert that led to the tightening of 
airport security last August.

David Stevenson, the Glasgow Labour councillor who chairs the 
Scottish group of nuclear-free local authorities, compared Exercise 
Yeti to the Keystone Kops. "There needs to be radical improvement to 
these slapdash emergency planning exercises," he added.

"This raises serious questions about how we would respond in a real 
accident, emergency or terrorist attack."

Duncan McLaren, the chief executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland, 
described the effectiveness of the emergency response as "woeful", 
adding: "Those seeking election in May must realise that the only way 
to eliminate the risk from nuclear power stations is not build them 
in the first place."

A spokesman for the Executive said it was "galling" to be asked about 
an exercise four years ago. It was "invidious" to suggest that it was 
relevant to today's situation, he argued.

"The whole point is to learn from them. In fact, we would be worried 
if they didn't throw up problems," the spokesman said. He added that 
through ongoing exercises the Executive aimed to "improve the 
situation and upgrade resilience". 
-----------------

Sri Lankan Tamil Tigers may target India's nuclear reactors 

New Delhi, April 7, IRNA - In a startling revelation, Sri Lankan 
Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona has told an Indian English news 
channel that his government believed the Tamil Tigers has acquired 
the capability to target India's nuclear reactors in the South from 
the air.  

For the first time, the government of Sri Lanka has told Indian 
officials that the nascent Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) 
airforce is not as toothless as it was thought to be previously, said 
a report appeared on the Times Now website on Friday. 

In fact, it added, the government had been told that it should not 
underestimate the nature of the threat posed by the LTTE's 
rudimentary airforce. 

The government of India still believes that it can easily rebuff such 
a threat, said the report adding that however, the Indian defence 
establishments are taking no chance because the country's top 
strategic facilities are concentrated in different parts of the 
South. 

Sources say that Indian defence establishment has beefed up and re- 
deployed radars in the South to pick up and intercept any threat from 
the air posed by the LTTE. 
------------------

TVA Seeks Comments On Watts Bar Nuclear Plant Environmental Statement

TVA is reviewing potential environmental impacts of the possible 
completion and operation of Unit 2 at Watts Bar Nuclear Plant near 
Spring City and has made a draft supplemental environmental impact 
statement available for public comment.

An open house on the draft supplemental environmental impact 
statement will be held April 17. The open house is scheduled from 
4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Rhea County High School in Evensville.

TVA is currently conducting a detailed cost and scheduling study on 
the feasibility of completing Unit 2 to help meet growing demand for 
power and to maximize the use of an existing asset. Unit 2 was more 
than half complete when construction was halted in 1985. 

Under provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act, TVA 
prepared the draft supplemental environmental impact statement to 
update environmental reports previously prepared for the construction 
of the unit. Along with the detailed engineering and feasibility 
study currently under way, the environmental review will help TVA 
decide whether to complete the second unit at the plant. Unit 1 at 
Watts Bar began commercial operation in 1996.

The draft supplemental environmental impact statement is available at 
www.tva.gov/environment/reports/wattsbar2/ and also in many local 
libraries. It will be available at the open house April 17. 

All written comments must be received by May 14. Comments may be 
submitted by mail to Ruth Horton, 400 Summit Hill Drive (WT-11D), 
Knoxville, TN 37902; on the internet at 
www.tva.gov/environment/reports/comments.htm; or fax to (865) 632-
3451.

Any comments received, including names and addresses, will become 
part of the administrative record and will be available for public 
inspection.
----------------

State nuclear project director to address council

Bob Loux, executive director of Nevada's Agency for Nuclear Projects, 
will address the Sparks City Council at its 3 p.m. meeting on Monday, 
April 16, to update city leaders on plans by the federal government 
to transport nuclear waste through Sparks and other parts of Northern 
Nevada.

"The potential of nearly 77,000 tons of nuclear waste traveling by 
rail through the heart of Sparks is a dangerous and bad idea," said 
Sparks Mayor Geno Martini.

"The fight to stop Yucca Mountain is not just a Southern Nevada 
concern, it is a statewide priority," Martini said. "Sparks citizens 
need to be aware of the nuke waste transport proposal by the 
Department of Energy, and the potential threats to our community. I 
appreciate Mr. Loux addressing the Sparks City Council on this 
critical health and safety issue, and look forward to hearing from 
him."

Loux has led the state's battle against a proposed nuclear waste dump 
at Nevada's Yucca Mountain for more than 25 years. While he believes 
the project will never be built, he said Nevadans should remain 
vigilant in monitoring and opposing the U.S. Department of Energy's 
continued efforts to push the nuclear waste repository on a state 
where the vast majority of residents object to it.

In addition to answering questions about the Yucca Mountain Project, 
Loux will brief the Sparks City Council on the latest nuclear waste 
transportation routes proposed by DOE and how these plans impact 
Sparks and other parts of Nevada.

Loux will discuss the state's position on DOE's proposal to construct 
a rail access line for nuclear waste shipments to Yucca Mountain from 
the northern Union Pacific main line railroad, a plan that could send 
high-level nuclear waste through downtown Reno, Sparks and other 
communities along the U.P. rail line, which roughly parallels the 
Interstate 80 corridor.
----------------

Fresno a player in debate over nuclear power
Proposal for plant in city faces obstacles, but technology is on cusp 
of national rebirth

Fresno, a fast-growing former farming community popularly associated 
with raisins, is seeking a higher-tech image -- as the future home of 
a nuclear power plant that could supply power for 1.6 million to 2 
million homes. 

"Nuclear power holds great promise for the entire San Joaquin 
Valley," Fresno Mayor Alan Autry told reporters in December, when a 
group of local businessmen unveiled plans for the plant. "We must 
find a way to become energy self-sufficient." 

The Fresno plan is one of dozens for new power plants in the United 
States, where the rising costs of natural gas and coal, concerns 
about global warming, and $8 billion in incentives from the federal 
government are renewing interest in atomic energy. 

Almost all of the 30 applications for new reactors expected in the 
next few years are likely to come from Southern states, which need 
relief from the cost and pollution of coal plants. 

While wider acceptance of nuclear power might be more of a struggle 
in California due to a strong anti-nuclear movement and a 31-year ban 
on reactor development, some experts think many of the proposed 
reactors in other states will be built. 

Groups in Virginia, Maryland, Idaho, Texas, Michigan and New York are 
considering building new plants, but the nuclear power industry sees 
its brightest future in Southeastern states, which, unlike 
California, look to nuclear plants as engines of economic 
development. 

The first formal applications for new plants are expected to begin 
coming into the Nuclear Regulatory Commission later this year, said 
agency spokesman David McIntyre. 

"Nuclear energy seems to be poised on the verge of a significant 
rebirth in this country and around the world," Rep. David Hobson, R-
Ohio, said at a House of Representatives hearing in September. "For 
reasons of energy independence, national security and reducing 
greenhouse gas emissions, nuclear energy seems to be our best option 
for providing significant base load generating capacity in the 
foreseeable future." 

Credit for the newfound interest in nuclear power can be traced to 
the Bush administration, which was responsible for the 2005 Energy 
Policy Act. The act, approved by Congress, dangled $8 billion in 
incentives for nuclear power plant construction. Since then, more 
than 20 utilities and private groups have expressed interest in 
constructing new reactors, in most cases on the sites of pre-existing 
nuclear power plants. 

In December, North Carolina-based Progress Energy announced a 
tentative plan to build a nuclear power plant in Levy County, Fla., 
that would generate between 1,100 and 1,600 megawatts, enough to 
power at least 675,000 homes, said Progress spokesman Buddy Eller. 
Nuclear power is "one of our most economical forms of energy," Eller 
said. "We've seen tremendous growth here in Florida in recent years. 
Our obligation is to provide reliable and affordable energy that will 
meet the needs of our customers." 

Additionally, he said, nuclear energy produces no greenhouse gases, 
an argument shared by the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry's 
lobbying arm in Washington, which claims that the United States will 
need 45 percent more electricity by 2030 than it generates today. 
Constructing 50 new 1,000-megawatt reactors -- a 50 percent increase 
in the number of U.S. commercial reactors -- in the next 23 years 
would not only significantly reduce the amount of greenhouse gases 
released into the atmosphere, but would also help meet the nation's 
electricity needs, institute officials say. 

Such an increase in nuclear plant production would mark quite a 
reversal in fortune for an industry whose domestic sales have been 
stagnant thanks to cost overruns and numerous atomic power accidents, 
most notoriously at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania in 1979. 

In the popular imagination, these debacles made TV's buffoonish 
nuclear plant worker Homer Simpson into a symbol of the atomic age. 

McIntyre said it's been nearly 33 years since an application was 
received for a nuclear power plant that was subsequently built and 11 
years since an operating license was issued to operate one. That 
Watts Bar, Tenn., plant is still operating. 

Still, several obstacles stand in the way of a nuclear revival in the 
United States, including the wariness of Wall Street. 

Nuclear power plant construction "is incredibly capital-intensive, 
both the research and the construction of facilities," said Andrew 
Friendly, a venture capital investor with Advanced Technology 
Ventures in Boston, a company that helps fund cutting-edge energy 
technologies. "No one wants it in their backyard and we still haven't 
figured out what do with the waste." 

On paper, nuclear power has always looked great. Since the 1950s, one 
of the industry's most effective boasts has been to point out how a 
few thimblefuls of uranium can generate as much energy as dozens of 
trainloads of coal, which is a major source of greenhouse gases. They 
also note that North America has abundant uranium, so nuclear power 
doesn't require reliance on foreign fuel. 

But opponents will point out there is more to the nuclear industry 
than the nation's 100-plus operational atomic power plants scattered 
across the map. There is also a national infrastructure of rail lines 
and highway shippers whose job it is to ferry nuclear and spent fuel 
to and from reactors and to temporary storage sites. 

If anything kills further nuclear reactor development in the United 
States, though, it's likely to be a problem that has haunted the 
entire nuclear age: nuclear waste. 

In the 1970s, federal officials promised to take spent nuclear fuel 
off the utilities' hands and bury it somewhere. One possibility 
included burying it inside craters gouged in the Nevada desert by 
atom bomb tests. 

Ultimately, the U.S. Energy Department came up with a plan to build a 
dump site 1,000 feet under Yucca Mountain in Nevada, a site 
surrounded by earthquake faults and dormant volcanoes. But ferocious 
opposition from Nevada residents and scientific uncertainties about 
the safety of the site have stalled the plan for years. 

The death knell may have come in November when Democrats were handed 
control of Congress. Yucca Mountain is "dead right now," declared 
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., shortly before his elevation to Senate 
majority leader. 

For now, 50,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel and waste remain at 72 
reactor sites across the country, including in dry cask containers at 
Diablo Canyon. 

Ignoring California's ban on new nuclear power plants, a group of 
local businessmen in December unveiled tentative plans for Fresno 
Nuclear Energy Group LLC in collaboration with a Baltimore-based 
reactor construction firm. 

Backers say that new, improved nuclear reactor designs will make the 
Fresno plant safer than its accident-prone predecessors. They believe 
the plant will provide not only abundant electricity to the fast-
growing region and state, but also attract hundreds of jobs and 
generate hundreds of millions of dollars worth of tax revenues. 

"Domestic violence in our area went up 60 percent in the last 10 
years," said John Hutson, who until recently chaired the Fresno 
Utility Commission and is backing the plan. "Why is this? Lack of 
opportunities. When guys don't have jobs, they beat their wife and 
kids. ... All of these community-related problems can be addressed by 
creating opportunities (for jobs), and nothing creates opportunities 
like cheap electricity." 

The business group has found favor with Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, R-
Irvine (Orange County), who has introduced legislation to lift the 
ban. Few expect DeVore's bill to pass in a Democratically controlled 
Legislature in a state where environmentalism is strong. 

New nuclear plants won't open for business in California, "and it's 
not because of any legal prohibitions," said Ralph Cavanagh of the 
Natural Resources Defense Council. "There's an abundance of better 
alternatives." 

And for environmentalists, safety is still of paramount concern. 

"What is Fresno thinking?" demanded longtime activist Rochelle 
Becker, executive director of the Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility 
in San Luis Obispo. "Nuclear power is not safe, cheap or insurable, 
and it leaves behind highly radioactive waste for our children, and 
their grandchildren and their grandchildren." 

The state has begun a study into the future of nuclear power in 
California. 

Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee, a San Luis Obispo Republican whose 
legislation created the study, said he is neither for nor against 
nuclear power, but prefers alternative energy sources, which are more 
forgiving when things go awry. "No one's suggesting that terrorists 
are going to fly aircraft into solar panels, or that if wind power 
doesn't live up to its hopes, it will result in a legacy of thousands 
of years of wastes," he said. 

Energy consultant Charles Cicchetti of Pacific Economics Group and 
the University of Southern California thinks future nuclear power 
could be cost-effective outside of California, especially with 
dramatic increases in oil prices. 

As for California, though -- forget it. "California leads the nation 
in wind power and is approaching the lead in solar, and has 
geothermal resources that are among ... the biggest such sources in 
the world," Cicchetti said. 

But Hutson, the nuclear backer in Fresno, sees nuclear energy as a 
solution for the Golden State. 

"I would characterize myself as a liberal-left Democrat," he said. 
"The only thing I've got in common with the Bush administration is 
that we're both for nuclear." 
---------------

MP reaffirms national resolve to use nuclear energy 

Tehran, April 8, IRNA - A Majlis deputy said on Sunday that Iranian 
nation and government are determined to access peaceful nuclear 
energy and would not make any deal on the country's progress with 
foreigners. 

Soleiman Fahimi, who represents Parsabad and Bile-Sevar in the 
northwestern province of Ardebil, was speaking in the Majlis before 
its formal session. 

Fahimi added that the UNSC resolution 1747 lacks justice and 
legitimacy. 

Fahimi, a member of Majlis Energy Commission, noted that depriving 
the country of peaceful nuclear energy is not logical in a world with 
about 442 nuclear reactors which produce about 17 percent of the 
global electricity. 

He asked that while 75 percent of French electricity is produced from 
nuclear power, how can the permanent members of the UNSC prevent Iran 
from accessing nuclear energy. 

The Majlis deputy also noted the prediction that by 2014 more than 
400 thousand megawatts electricity in the world would be produced 
from nuclear energy. 
-------------

Small fire prompts alert at E. Washington nuclear plant

RICHLAND, Wash. (AP) -- A small fire prompted authorities to declare 
an alert Saturday at the Columbia Generating Station, the only 
commercial nuclear power plant in Washington.

No radioactivity was released, and the plant on the Hanford nuclear 
reservation in southeast Washington remained operating.

The alert was declared at 1:44 p.m. when the plant's control room 
received an alert from a sensor of an electrical fire in a building 
adjacent to the reactor building, said Energy Northwest, which 
operates the plant.

The fire was in a backup transformer that supplies electricity to 
parts of the plant when needed.

The plant's fire brigade and the Hanford Fire Department responded, 
although the fire was quickly put out by an equipment operator using 
a fire extinguisher, Energy Northwest spokesman Gary Miller said.

The alert was lifted at 5:21 p.m.

No injuries were reported, and an investigation into the cause of the 
fire could take several days, Miller said, adding there was "no 
chance" sabotage was the cause.

An alert is declared when the level of plant safety has been or could 
potentially be affected, Energy Northwest said. It is the second 
lowest of four emergency classifications.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and local, county and state 
emergency centers were notified of the incident, Energy Northwest 
said.
--------------


----------------------------------------------------------------
Sandy Perle 
Senior Vice President, Technical Operations 
Global Dosimetry Solutions, Inc. 
2652 McGaw Avenue
Irvine, CA 92614

Tel: (949) 296-2306 / (888) 437-1714 Extension 2306 
Fax:(949) 296-1144

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