[ RadSafe ] US Pelosi: Now Brings 'A More Open Mind' To Nuclear Energy

[Sandy Perle]

Index:

US Pelosi: Now Brings 'A More Open Mind' To Nuclear Energy 
Chief at Sweden's Troubled Forsmark Nuclear Plant Resigns 
West Coast nuclear plant case could have an effect here
Premiers tackle PM on nuclear
Idaho - proposed 1600 Megawatt light waternuclear reactor
Radiation panel to hear from public
Purdue - no misconduct by nuclear engineer over ´tabletop fusion´
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US Pelosi: Now Brings 'A More Open Mind' To Nuclear Energy 

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, once an 
opponent of nuclear energy, has had a change of heart.

"The technology has changed and I bring a more open mind to that 
subject now," she said, speaking at a House Science and Technology 
Committee hearing Thursday.

Anti-global warming legislation is a priority for the California 
Democrat. And nuclear power - an emissions-free way to produce 
electricity - is seen by many as a way to improve the environment 
while meeting demands for power.

Many environmental groups still tend to oppose nuclear power and see 
it as a dangerous way to produce electricity due to challenges with 
storing and protecting highly-radioactive waste. But as more 
companies and lawmakers push for an answer to global warming, nuclear-
power proponents are touting nuclear as a necessary part of the 
solution.

Pelosi, who says she wants to work in a bipartisan way to advance 
climate policy, appears to be leaving open room for compromise.

"I have a different view on nuclear than I did 20 years ago," Pelosi 
said. "I would not ... be an active opponent. I think it has to be on 
the table." 
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Chief at Sweden's Troubled Forsmark Nuclear Plant Resigns 

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) -- The head of Sweden's troubled Forsmark 
nuclear power plant resigned Thursday, days after two of its three 
reactors were shut down because of possible technical problems.
CEO Lars Fagerberg said he would step down immediately.
 
A new chief executive will be chosen soon, said the state-owned 
energy group Vattenfall AB, which controls Forsmark Kraftgrupp AB.

"Lars has been CEO for a long time and it's been very trying for him 
recently," Vattenfall spokesman Goran Lundgren said.

Managers at the plant decided to shut down the two reactors after 
indications on Saturday that rubber seals at the Forsmark 1 reactor 
showed possible damage. Forsmark 2 was also taken off-line because 
the two plants are constructed similarly.

Both reactors have been plagued with problems, including brief 
shutdowns in December and last month.

In July, a fire in an electric switchboard forced the shutdown of a 
reactor, but officials said at the time that there was no danger of a 
radioactive leak.

In a separate statement later Thursday, Vattenfall's board said it 
will propose Vattenfall executives Hans von Uthmann, as chairman, and 
Lennart Billfalk, as a member, of Forsmark's board to ensure rapid 
and thorough reporting on safety issues. It also said it plans to set 
up a special safety procedure committee, with three Vattenfall board 
members, to which the Forsmark head of safety will need to provide 
regular updates.

It added it will also advise an independent expert to evaluate the 
safety and reporting procedures of its nuclear reactors.

Forsmark has three reactors and is situated about 60 miles north of 
Stockholm on the Swedish east coast. It accounts for about one-sixth 
of Sweden's total electricity generation. The first of its three 
units went online in 1980.

Sweden has 10 nuclear reactors providing 50 percent of its 
electricity, but the government plans to phase them out over coming 
decades.
-----------------

West Coast nuclear plant case could have an effect here

Boston (Boston Globe) Feb 8 - A recent US Supreme Court ruling 
involving a California nuclear plant may have an impact on whether 
the Pilgrim nuclear plant can operate an extra 20 years.

At issue is whether the threat of terrorist attack should be 
considered by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in deciding on 
licenses for nuclear facilities. Last month, the Supreme Court 
declined to review a federal court ruling requiring that such a 
possibility enter into the NRC's thinking in deciding whether to 
license the new Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant along California's 
central Pacific Coast.

The court's action means the NRC must weigh the environmental impacts 
of intentional attacks on the nuclear waste storage system proposed 
for the new facility.

Nuclear law specialists, as well as those who advocate including 
security issues in the license review process, say the Supreme Court 
decision may nudge the NRC to consider security issues for all 
plants, not just Diablo Canyon.

"Everyone is waiting to see how NRC will apply this," said Diane 
Curran, the attorney for the plaintiff in the Diablo Canyon case who 
also represents the Massachusetts attorney general in a related case.

NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said his agency will respond to the 
court's decision on the Diablo Canyon case, but said it has not yet 
decided how or when. He said the NRC believes the ruling applies only 
to the West Coast district served by the federal Ninth Circuit Court, 
where the case was heard.

Critics of Pilgrim's license extension request have so far been 
unable to place the issue of the terrorist risks on the regulatory 
table.

Former attorney general Thomas F. Reilly attempted to do so before 
leaving office, but the NRC rejected his appeal, as well as one by 
Pilgrim Watch, a local citizens group.

NRC staff conducting the review have said their agency's rules 
prohibit them from considering terrorist attacks and the nuclear 
waste storage issue from the lengthy, rule-bound license renewal 
review process.

In a related development, the NRC last week issued new rules that 
bear on the controversial issue of how nuclear plants should be 
protected from attack. The NRC announced long-awaited standards 
nuclear plant owners must reach to protect plants from terrorist 
attack, including provisions to protect them against multiple 
coordinated attackers, suicide attacks and cyber attacks.

But the new standards failed to appease critics such as US 
Representative Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, who said the 
standards exclude protection from air attacks and make no mention of 
upgraded standards for the construction of new nuclear reactors.

A statement by the NRC noted that "airborne attacks" are addressed by 
the military and other federal organizations.

Meanwhile, nuclear skeptics hope the Diablo Canyon case changes the 
regulatory environment. "The court was asked to answer the question 
whether the NRC needs to consider terrorism in licensing decisions," 
said Mary Lampert of Pilgrim Watch. "Their answer was yes. We are 
involved now in a licensing decision" at Pilgrim. "Terrorism must be 
considered here on a site-specific basis."

Ways to mitigate the impacts of a terrorist attack are important, 
Lampert said, because Pilgrim would be "the biggest bang for the 
buck" for terrorists looking for targets in Massachusetts.

In line with current rules, however, NRC staff excluded any analysis 
of "severe accidents" to the plant's spent fuel pool, where used 
nuclear fuel rods are stored, in a draft of their study of the 
environmental impact of relicensing Pilgrim released two months ago. 
Staff journeyed to Plymouth late last month to take public comment on 
the study. Written comments may be made to the NRC until the end of 
this month, and the final report is due out in July.

The NRC disagreed with the federal court's conclusion that the issue 
of safeguarding nuclear power plants from attack should be addressed 
under the federal environmental law which requires the agency to 
perform an environmental impact study for license reviews such as 
Pilgrim's. The agency, said spokesman Sheehan, contends that the 
Atomic Energy Act is the right tool for protecting nuclear plants 
from attack.

"Since 9/11, we have aggressively used our authority to enhance 
security at nuclear power plants," he said in an e-mail, "and we will 
continue to do so."
----------------

Premiers tackle PM on nuclear

Canberra (Fairfax Digital) Feb 9 - STATE premiers are poised to join 
federal Labor leader Kevin Rudd in a public show of defiance against 
John Howard's push for nuclear energy, intensifying the political 
battle on climate change ahead of the federal election.

The premiers are planning to use a meeting in Sydney today to say no 
to nuclear energy facilities in Australia. They will also call for 
assurances that Canberra will not force nuclear waste dumps or power 
plants on the states.

Mr Rudd - who is campaigning against nuclear power - will not attend 
the premiers' gathering, but is expected to meet them separately in 
Sydney.

Today's gathering follows a day of political jousting over climate 
change, during which Prime Minister John Howard clashed with 
Australia's most high-profile climate scientist over the future of 
the coal mining industry.

Two weeks after being named Australian of the Year, Professor Tim 
Flannery called for an end to coal exports, saying it was too late to 
be talking about finding cleaner coal technology.

Mr Howard responded sharply, saying "we can't have knee-jerk 
reactions" to climate change. "Much as I respect Tim Flannery, I saw 
him this morning talking about effectively stopping coal exports," he 
said.

"You can't do that. That would be devastating to many communities 
throughout Australia. It would cost thousands of jobs," Mr Howard 
said.

In Parliament, Mr Howard and Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane stepped 
up their promotion of nuclear power. "We need an approach that 
tackles the problem of greenhouse gas emissions and that is why we 
need to keep the nuclear option on the table," Mr Howard said.

Treasurer Peter Costello also endorsed Australia designing a regional 
emissions trading scheme that could then be adopted by the AP6 group 
of nations, which includes China and India.

The Coalition has attempted to get back on the front foot in a 
difficult parliamentary week - which included a rare blunder by Mr 
Howard in question time - by arguing it will not introduce 
environmental regulations that threaten coal mining jobs, and 
attacking federal Labor's decision to oppose nuclear energy.

But Mr Rudd will win political support today for his "no nukes" 
election message from the Labor premiers, who will also push Canberra 
to do more on "clean" coal technology and emissions trading.

The premiers will be in Sydney for the Council for the Australian 
Federation, which is a gathering of all premiers and chief ministers 
chaired by South Australian Premier Mike Rann, established in an 
attempt to influence national policy.

The premiers want to establish a working group to develop a unified 
position on nuclear power generation, and Queensland is pushing to 
have the Council of Australian Governments consider emissions 
trading, nuclear energy and clean coal.

A briefing paper for today's meeting says the gathering "provides an 
opportunity for the council to agree to publicly highlight concerns 
about the environment, health and security risks associated with a 
nuclear industry and issue a joint statement against nuclear 
enrichment, energy generation and waste disposal".

A draft communique says there are no sound economic or other reasons 
for establishing an Australian nuclear power industry. "The council 
calls on the Prime Minister to provide assurances that federal powers 
will not be used to impose nuclear power stations or waste dumps on 
the states and territories," the communique says.

But the Australian Greens say the premiers must go further. "I 
welcome the fact that the Labor premiers are rejecting nuclear 
reactors and waste dumps but they also need to oppose an expansion of 
uranium mining and enrichment, otherwise their stance is 
hypocritical," Greens energy spokeswoman Christine Milne said 
yesterday.

Queensland Premier Peter Beattie said last night nuclear power was 
"not a smart" option. "It's too dangerous, too expensive and too 
late. We need action now," he said.

Meanwhile, in a boost for Victoria's push to turn coal into transport 
fuel, multinationals Royal Dutch Shell and Anglo American have made 
Melbourne-based joint venture Monash Energy their top global research 
priority. State Energy Minister Peter Bachelor met Monash Energy 
executives twice this week to discuss the coal-to-liquids project in 
the Latrobe Valley.
------------------

Idaho - proposed 1600 Megawatt light waternuclear reactor

LYNCHBURG, VA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 02/08/07 -- Alternate Energy 
Holdings (PINKSHEETS: AEHI) announced a land purchase agreement, 
signed February 1, 2007, with an Idaho farmer for 4000 acres located 
on the Snake River in southeastern Idaho. Pending completion of the 
purchase, the land will be used as the construction site of the 
company's proposed 1600 Megawatt light water nuclear reactor. As 
Idaho's first large commercial nuclear power plant, this site will 
provide electricity for local farm irrigation and the state power 
grid, as well as sell power in the national energy market to assist 
with the region's energy supply needs. 
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Radiation panel to hear from public

Cincinnati (Enquirer) Feb 7 - A federal advisory panel on how former 
atomic energy workers are compensated for radiation-related illnesses 
opens its three-day meeting today in Mason.

The Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health will hear public 
comments on compensation programs beginning at 4:30 today at the 
Cincinnati Marriott Northeast, 9664 Mason Montgomery Road in Mason.

Former workers from the old Fernald uranium foundry and their 
families are expected to comment on the compensation programs.


 On Thursday, the board will consider a petition to declare former 
Fernald employees a special exposure cohort.

The designation would let workers and their survivors apply for 
compensation for any of 22 radiation-related cancers without 
undergoing a calculation of how much radiation they were exposed to 
during their years at the foundry.

Former workers have complained the dose reconstruction process is 
flawed.
The meeting is open to the public. It concludes Friday.
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Purdue University panel finds no misconduct by nuclear engineer over 
´tabletop fusion´

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) Feb 8 - A panel has rejected allegations 
that a Purdue University nuclear engineer interfered with efforts to 
verify his claims of producing "tabletop fusion." The internal 
university committee investigating the work of professor Rusi 
Taleyarkhan determined the evidence does not support allegations of 
research misconduct and that no further investigation is needed, 
Purdue said in a statement Wednesday. The university´s vice president 
for research, Charles O. Rutledge, appointed the committee last March 
after the British research journal Nature reported that some 
researchers had raised questions about Taleyarkhan´s work.  
Taleyarkhan led a team at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee 
that reported in March 2002 in the journal Science that they had 
achieved nuclear fusion by collapsing bubbles in a solvent with 
powerful ultrasound vibrations. Their simple experiment stood in 
contrast to experimental nuclear fusion reactors that have to date 
required large, multibillion-dollar machines. Since the 2002 report, 
however, scientists have been unable to reproduce those findings, In 
the March 2006 report in Nature, some of Taleyarkhan´s colleagues 
accused him of attempting to thwart their efforts to test his claims. 
"Professor Taleyarkhan cooperated fully throughout the inquiry," 
Purdue spokesman Joseph L. Bennett said in the statement Wednesday. 
"Taleyarkhan is engaged in very promising, significant research, and 
we hope he will now be able to give his full attention to this 
important work." Taleyarkhan said in an e-mail that he and his 
colleagues were unfairly accused. "The inquiry offers vindication for 
what we´ve stood for and have stated all along about the science, our 
research, and the integrity with which we conduct, report and stand 
by our results and findings - despite the intense attacks from 
detractors," he said. Taleyarkhan, who was hired at Purdue in 2003, 
said he also wants to continue with his work. "The research work in 
this area has suffered very significant setbacks this past year," he 
said. "It´s time to move on for the  benefit of mankind in general."  
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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

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

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