[ RadSafe ] [Nuclear News] FPL Gets License for Nuclear Plant

[Sandy Perle]

Index:

FPL Gets License for Nuclear Plant
Vatican says nothing wrong with nuclear power
Finger pointing after nuclear waste leak
Foes of Nuclear Expansion Find Few Allies
France-Libya accord plans further nuclear cooperation
Landmark Contracts to Provide Four AP1000 NPPs in China
Radiation-Monitor Study Sought
--------------------------------------------

FPL Gets License for Nuclear Plant

FPL Receives License for Wisconsin Nuclear Plant 

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal regulators said Tuesday they approved the 
transfer of license to operate a Wisconsin nuclear plant to energy 
company FPL Group Inc.

Juno Beach, Fla.-based FPL last year announced a deal to acquire the 
Point Beach Nuclear Plant north of Milwaukee from Wisconsin Energy 
Corp. The $1 billion deal included $783 million for the plant and 
$215 million for its fuel and other supplies.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said its staff has approved the 
transfer of the operating license, but said the transfer is 
contingent on the completion of regulatory approvals. FPL currently 
owns four nuclear power plants in Florida, New Hampshire and Iowa.
-----------------

Vatican says nothing wrong with nuclear power

 ROME, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Nuclear power should be considered a useful 
energy source, a senior Catholic cardinal said on Wednesday, 
criticising countries like Italy which have banned the technology on 
principal.

Weighing into a debate that sharply divides environmentalists, many 
of whom see nuclear as unsustainable and unsafe, Cardinal Renato 
Martino said nuclear power could be part of a balanced energy mix, 
alongside "forms of clean energy".

"With maximum safety requirements in place for people and the 
environment, and with a ban in place on the hostile use of nuclear 
technology, why should the peaceful use of nuclear technology be 
barred?" Martino, the Pope's justice minister, told Vatican Radio.

While Iran's nuclear programme has highlighted concerns about 
proliferation of nuclear weapons, many countries in Europe have 
chosen not to have nuclear power plants due to concerns about the 
environment and potential accidents.

Martino said such a policy might be counterproductive.

"Excluding nuclear energy because of a preconceived principle or for 
fears of disasters could be a mistake and in come cases could have 
paradoxical effects. 

"One should think of Italy, which abandoned the production of nuclear 
energy in 1987 but which imports the same type of energy from 
France," said Martino, a former papal envoy to the United Nations.

Italians voted in a referendum to ditch nuclear power in the wake of 
the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Supporters of nuclear power say it could 
be used as a way of reducing reliance on fossil fuels which emit 
greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.

Pope Benedict on Sunday marked the fiftieth anniversary of the 
International Atomic Energy Agency by calling for "progressive and 
agreed nuclear disarmament and to favour the peaceful and assured use 
of nuclear technology for real development". 
------------------

Finger pointing after nuclear waste leak

SPOKANE, Wash. - Workers are trying to determine how to clean up one 
of the worst radioactive waste leaks in years at the Hanford nuclear 
reservation, officials said. 
 
No workers were contaminated during last week's accident and the 
spill was contained within a tiny area, posing no threat to the 
public, officials said Tuesday.

The leak was estimated at between 50 and 100 gallons, although 
officials are not yet sure how big it was, Delmar Noyes, of the U.S. 
Department of Energy, told reporters during a conference call.

The spill area has been capped to prevent the waste from becoming 
airborne. A plan to safely dispose of the spill is being developed.

"The release to the environment of this waste material is not 
acceptable," Noyes said.

The spill, which Noyes said was the largest in the tank farm in 
years, illustrates the difficulties of trying to safely dispose of 
nuclear waste that dates back to World War II.

The spill was believed to have occurred early Friday, but was not 
detected until about 10 a.m., some seven hours later, Hanford 
officials said.

A watchdog group criticized the Energy Department for what it called 
a slow response to the leak.

"The failure to detect the leak for hours overnight, while deadly 
high-level nuclear wastes apparently spilled onto the ground, raises 
serious questions requiring state and federal investigations," said 
Gerald Pollet, executive director of Heart of America Northwest.

Hanford officials contend they notified regulators in an appropriate 
fashion after the release was discovered.

The spill occurred as an underground tank was being slowly drained of 
its nuclear waste, which since 2004 has been pumped into newer, 
double-walled tanks that are less likely to leak.

The waste from the bottom of the tank is so lethal "that a cup full 
of waste would kill everyone in a room in a short period of time," 
Pollet said.

Early Friday, the pump became clogged and workers reversed it in an 
effort to clear the blockage. That sent some waste from the bottom of 
the tank up into the hose that was feeding water into the tank, 
leading to the leak onto the ground, Noyes said.

Workers in surrounding areas were evacuated and the pumping operation 
was shut down. Also shut down was the pumping of another nuclear 
waste storage tank. Both will remain closed until it is determined 
that work can safely proceed.

Hanford covers about 560 square miles in south-central Washington, 
and contains the nation's largest collection of nuclear waste from 
the production of weapons.
-----------------

Foes of Nuclear Expansion Find Few Allies

In a Maryland county where politicians roll out tax breaks for 
nuclear power expansion and residents feel so good about their 
existing plant that some fish next to the place, Bob Boxwell knows 
he's fighting an uphill battle.

The longtime environmentalist is among a tiny group of Calvert County 
residents known to be making a concerted effort to stop a proposed 
reactor at Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in Lusby. The reactor 
would be Calvert Cliffs' third and could become the first project of 
its kind in the United States in about 30 years, underscoring the 
nation's renewed interest in nuclear power.
  
In Calvert, only a handful of residents are part of a small e-mail 
distribution list of people opposed to the expansion, according to 
Boxwell. Three months ago, when a half-dozen opponents of plant 
expansion met in Annapolis, only two were from Calvert, including 
Boxwell.

Their numbers, of course, could swell if the prospect of a new 
reactor increases. Three weeks ago, Constellation Energy Group of 
Baltimore filed a partial application with the Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, asking it to review environmental plans for a 1,600-
megawatt reactor that could cost $4 billion.

As of now, the limited number of expansion opponents says a lot about 
the strength of supporters. A public meeting on the project is 
scheduled for Aug. 14 at a Holiday Inn Select in Solomons.

"We will be there, and absolutely we support the expansion," said 
Danita Boonchaisri, a marketing and communications specialist at the 
Calvert County Department of Economic Development.

Wilson H. Parran (D-At Large), president of the Calvert Board of 
County Commissioners, said in an interview yesterday that the plant 
has a sterling safety record. He noted that existing reactors have 
received licenses to operate into the 2030s: "You don't do that if 
you're not safe."

Parran, who plans to speak at the Aug. 14 meeting, said he will 
summarize a letter the five-member commission is expected to write in 
support of the expansion.

All five commission members appear to support the expansion. The 
newest member, Barbara A. Stinnett (D-At Large), predicts unanimous 
endorsement. Nuclear power, she said, could be an answer to global 
warming. "I concern myself with trying to get other, greener ways of 
producing electricity," she said.

Outside of politicians, many residents also support the plant. They 
cite its reputation as a large taxpayer, a safe place to work, even a 
place that offers good fishing just off its banks. This year, Calvert 
Cliffs is expected to pay the county about $16 million in taxes, an 
estimated 8 percent of Calvert's tax revenue.

Attention to those tax dollars is one of Boxwell's concerns.

"I just think they're looking at the economics of it, which is all 
the county has ever looked at it when it comes to this plant," he 
said.

Calvert residents have lulled themselves into a false sense of 
safety, Boxwell said. If the plant expands, he said, Calvert Cliffs 
will have to store more spent fuel, which will render it that much 
more vulnerable to a terrorist attack or a catastrophic accident.

"It would be difficult to get out of this end of the world," said 
Boxwell, who lives in Lusby, about seven miles from the plant. He 
said he'd have only two options: going south, across a bridge to St. 
Mary's County, or heading north, which would take him by the plant.

Others echoed that concern.

Norma Powers pointed out that the bridge heading to St. Mary's is 
only two lanes.

"That's not going to be possible," she said of trying to cross in the 
event of an emergency. "Everyone else is going to be going across the 
bridge."

She said opposition to plant expansion is limited to "little factions 
here and there." But those groups could come together, once word 
spreads, to form a bigger core group to speak out against the plans.

"I would suggest that we could probably get 50 or 60 people 
together," Powers said.
-----------------

France-Libya accord plans further nuclear cooperation

PARIS (AFP) - A French accord on providing Libya with a nuclear 
reactor for water desalination paves the way for broader cooperation 
on atomic energy, according to details of the deal released on 
Tuesday. 

The text of the Franco-Libyan agreement was released to the press as 
Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner went before a parliamentary 
committee to answer questions on the deal, which has drawn official 
protests from Germany.

Entitled "Memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the field of 
peaceful applications of nuclear energy," the document signed during 
President Nicolas Sarkozy's visit to Libya last week outlines three 
goals:

"To deepen and develop cooperation between both countries on the 
peaceful uses of atomic energy in the mutual interest of both 
parties."

"To encourage the institutions and industrial companies of both 
countries to undertake joint projects."

"To authorise the institutions and industrial companies of both 
countries to work together with a view to carrying out nuclear energy 
production and water desalination, as well as other development 
projects linked to the peaceful use of atomic energy."

France and Libya express their "will to increase and encourage their 
cooperation in the field of nuclear plants for the production of 
energy and water desalination," the text says.

Kouchner earlier told the committee the French proposal was still at 
the planning stage, saying the deal struck in Tripoli was a simple 
"memorandum of understanding, a possible framework" for a "possible 
nuclear reactor".

"There have been complaints, in particular because we raised the 
hypothesis, which is far from being confirmed," of supplying a 
nuclear reactor to Libya, he said.

"Remember that this is for desalinating sea water, not for making 
war, and that it would be completely controlled" by the UN's atomic 
watchdog, "if it goes ahead, and it is not certain that it will."

"There has been no contact between the company that could do this and 
Libya, so it is just a prospect," Kouchner said.

The Franco-Libyan accord was signed a day after Tripoli freed six 
foreign medics. France played a key role, along with EU officials, in 
securing their release.

German officials have blasted the deal as "reckless" and a potential 
blow to nuclear non-proliferation efforts as well as the European 
Union's aim to pursue better coordinated foreign policy.

It has also been attacked by the left-wing and green opposition in 
France as a potential proliferation risk.

But an official with France's Atomic Energy Commission insisted that 
international safeguards imposed after Libya scrapped its military 
nuclear programme in 2003 would prevent any proliferation.
-----------------

Westinghouse, Shaw Group Sign Landmark Contracts to Provide Four 
AP1000 Nuclear Power Plants in China

BEIJING, July 24 /-- Westinghouse Electric Company LLC and its 
consortium partner, The Shaw Group, Inc., (NYSE:SGR) today signed 
landmark, multi-billion-dollar contracts with State Nuclear Power 
Technology Corporation Ltd. (SNPTC), Sanmen Nuclear Power Company 
Ltd, Shandong Nuclear Power Company Ltd., and China National 
Technical Import & Export Corporation (CNTIC) to provide four AP1000 
nuclear power plants in China.

Specific terms were not disclosed, but the agreements are expected to 
generate or sustain no less than 5,000 U.S. jobs within Westinghouse, 
Shaw and suppliers in at least 20 states.

Westinghouse President and CEO Steve Tritch, who signed the contract 
on behalf of Westinghouse, said the contracts are highly significant 
for both the United States and China.

"The definitive contracts signed today will result in the first-ever 
deployment of advanced U.S. nuclear power technology in China," he 
said. "The plants will greatly increase China's ability to generate 
significant additional baseload electricity in a clean, safe and 
economical manner."

"The United States will benefit through the creation of thousands of 
well- paying jobs in both the design and engineering and traditional 
manufacturing segments of our economy. I want to emphasize, 
therefore, just how hard the United States government has worked to 
support Westinghouse in the development of the AP1000, and in 
assuring us an opportunity to compete for this rewarding and mutually 
beneficial business in China."

The comprehensive agreements signed today follow by five months the 
signing of framework agreements that confirmed the basic requirements 
and obligations of all parties involved. As a result of those earlier 
agreements, preliminary design, engineering and long-lead procurement 
work is already underway.

SNPTC announced in December, 2006 that it had selected the 
Westinghouse consortium and the AP1000 technology. Original bids for 
the four plants were submitted by Westinghouse and others competing 
for the project, in February, 2005.

The four plants are to be constructed in pairs at the Sanmen and 
Haiyang sites. Construction is expected to begin in 2009, with the 
first plant becoming operational in late 2013. The remaining three 
plants are expected to come on line in 2014 and 2015.

Westinghouse believes the AP1000 is ideally suited for the worldwide 
nuclear power marketplace. It has been selected as the technology of 
choice for no less than 12 advanced plants to be built in the United 
States over the next 10 to 12 years.

The AP1000 is attractive because it is:

o the safest, most advanced, yet proven nuclear power plant currently 
available in the worldwide marketplace o based on standard 
Westinghouse pressurized water reactor (PWR) technology that has 
achieved more than 2,500 reactor years of highly successful operation 
o an 1100MWe design that is ideal for providing baseload generating 
capacity o modular in design, promoting ready standardization and 
high construction quality o economical to construct and maintain 
(less concrete and steel and fewer components and systems mean there 
is less to install, inspect and maintain) o designed to promote ease 
of operation (features most advanced instrumentation and control in 
the industry)

Westinghouse, a group company of Toshiba Corporation, is the world's 
pioneering nuclear power company and is a leading supplier of nuclear 
plant products and technologies to utilities throughout the world. 
Westinghouse, with Shaw, supplied the world's first PWR in 1957 in 
Shippingport, Pa. Today, Westinghouse technology is the basis for 
approximately one-half of the world's operating nuclear plants, 
including 60 percent of those in the United States.
-------------------

Radiation-Monitor Study Sought
Chertoff Wants Cost-Benefit Analysis of New Security Machines

(Washington Post) Aug 1 - Homeland Security Secretary Michael 
Chertoff has ordered an independent review of efforts to develop and 
test radiation monitors to screen cars, trucks and cargo containers 
for signs of nuclear devices.

In a letter to several lawmakers, Chertoff said the review by a 
"highly experienced team of technical and programmatic" experts would 
examine test procedures and results, and the department's own 
analysis about whether new monitors with cutting-edge technology are 
worth $1.2 billion in contracts announced last summer.

Michael Chertoff, Homeland Security chief, says experts plan to 
evaluate the effectiveness of radiation detection
  
"This acquisition is a vital priority for the Department," Chertoff 
wrote to lawmakers Friday. "Given the national importance of this 
effort, I think it is important to have an independent review."

The department's Domestic Nuclear Detection Office had told Congress 
last year that the $377,000 machines would detect highly enriched 
uranium 95 percent of the time, while the department's own tests show 
detection rates as no higher than about 50 percent.

A review by the Government Accountability Office later found that 
Homeland Security's optimistic report to Congress, about the cost and 
benefits of the new monitors, was based on assumptions instead of 
facts. In a March hearing, a GAO official said the information in the 
cost-benefit report "was incomplete and unreliable, and as a result, 
we do not have any confidence in it."

At issue is a highly technical debate about whether the machines, 
Advanced Spectroscopic Portal radiation monitors, can significantly 
improve detection of different kinds of radiation. Since 2001, the 
government has spent more than $200 million on detection equipment 
that often cannot distinguish nuclear devices from more benign 
sources of radiation, such as ceramic tiles and cat litter.

In announcing contracts with three companies last year, after 
submitting the cost-benefit report to Congress, Chertoff said the 
machines would sharply improve detection while cutting false alarms 
that led to traffic delays at border crossings. Congress released 
funding for the effort after the report.

After the GAO raised questions about the report, Congress mandated 
that Chertoff personally certify their effectiveness before full 
deployment.

In a recent interview, Vayl Oxford, director of the nuclear detection 
office, said there has been a "dramatic decrease" in false alarms in 
recent screening of cargo containers. He said his office plans to 
deliver new test results to Chertoff in September.

On Friday, Chertoff asked the Defense Department's Defense Threat 
Reduction Agency to form the "team of experts" who can provide the 
independent review of those test results, according to a letter to 
the agency that the Defense Department released yesterday.

Oxford was deputy director for technology development at the Defense 
Threat Reduction Agency before moving to the Homeland Security 
office.

Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), chairman of the House Homeland Security 
Committee, was among the lawmakers who received Chertoff's letter. 
Thompson said he agrees with Chertoff that "such an independent 
review is needed" and he encouraged "the comments of the review team, 
especially dissenting opinions, to be provided to Congress."

"Given the likely expense and critical importance of these monitors, 
which is to cost $1.2 billion, we need independent and impartial 
validation from the start," Thompson said.
-----------------------------------------
Sander C. Perle
President
Global Dosimetry Solutions, Inc.
2652 McGaw Avenue
Irvine, CA 92614 

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

E-Mail: sperle at dosimetry.com
E-Mail: sandyfl at cox.net 

Global Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com/