[ RadSafe ] [Nuclear News] UK Government loses nuclear power case

[Sandy Perle]

Index:

UK Government loses nuclear power case
China to build first inland nuclear power plant
Brazil's Government To Hasten Discussion On Angra 3 Nuclear Plant 
Haldimand endorses $2-billion proposal for Nanticoke nuclear plant 
Radioactive Records May Be Exhumed for Worker Health Study 
Kaiga atomic plant to begin generating power by month end
FPL Energy Announces Partnership with Texas State Technical College
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UK Government loses nuclear power case

Environmental campaigners have won a high court ruling which will 
force the government to rethink its controversial decision to back 
the building of new nuclear power stations.

In a highly embarrassing ruling for the government, Mr Justice 
Sullivan said the review process used to decide whether to support 
the construction of new plants was "very seriously flawed" and 
"procedurally unfair".

The case was brought by Greenpeace, which claimed that the government 
had reneged on its promise to carry out "the fullest public 
consultation" before making its decision.

It said the government failed to present clear proposals and 
information on key issues surrounding a new generation of nuclear 
power stations, such as the disposal of radioactive waste and the 
financial costs of building new plants.

Mr Justice Sullivan agreed, saying the information given on waste was 
"not merely inadequate but also misleading". He added that 
information of substance did not emerge until after the consultation 
period had ended. 

He granted Greenpeace an order quashing the decision as "unlawful". 

Subject to any appeal, the judgment is expected to result in a fresh 
public consultation. Contesting the judicial review, the trade and 
industry secretary, Alistair Darling, said the energy review was only 
part of an ongoing process which would ensure full consultation. 

But Mr Justice Sullivan said "something has gone clearly and 
radically wrong" with the consultation exercise. 

The consultation document gave every appearance of being simply an 
"issues paper". 

It contained no actual proposals and, even if it had, the information 
given to consultees was "wholly insufficient for them to make an 
intelligent response".

Fairness required that consultees should be given a proper 
opportunity to respond to that substantial amount of new material 
before any decision was taken, Mr Justice Sullivan said.

"There could be no proper consultation, let alone the fullest 
consultation, if the substance of these two issues was not consulted 
on before a decision was made," he said.

"There was therefore procedural unfairness and a breach of 
Greenpeace's legitimate expectation that there would be the fullest 
consultation before a decision was taken."

Emma Gibson, a spokeswoman for Greenpeace, told Sky News that the 
government should "go back to the drawing board".

"That's not going to be through nuclear power. It's through updating 
our energy system and increasing our use of renewables," she said. 
"We will never accept that nuclear power is the way forward. It is 
much too little too late to cut carbon dioxide emissions."

The shadow trade and industry secretary, Alan Duncan, said: "This is 
an astonishing ruling. What it really says is that the government has 
been shown up as fundamentally deceitful."

"Behind their headlines saying they would consult widely on this 
important decision, they had no intention of doing so. In a typically 
deceitful way they said one thing and did another. Now they have been 
shown up in court for having done so."

Last year the government insisted that more nuclear power plants were 
needed to cut carbon emissions by up to 25m tonnes by 2020.

Meanwhile, the operators of a nuclear plant at Dournreay, Caithness, 
were today fined £140,000 for releasing radioactive particles into 
the sea and illegally dumping radioactive waste.

Wick sheriff court handed down the penalty after the UK Atomic Energy 
Authority (UKAEA) pleaded guilty to four charges under the 
Radioactive Substances Act last week. The breaches happened over a 
period of more than 20 years.
-------------------

China to build first inland nuclear power plant

Beijing, Feb 15: China will build its first nuclear power plant in 
the inland areas of Hunan Province with an installed capacity of four 
million KW.

The plant will be located in Lishanhe town of Yiyang city in central 
China.

It has a planned installation capacity of four million KW, half of 
which will be completed in the first phase of the project as per 
plans of an agreement reached here, the state media reported today.

The plant is expected to be the first of its kind, built in country's 
inland areas.

China's two major nuclear plants, Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant and 
Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant, are both situated in the coastal areas.

According to a state nuclear power development plan adopted by the 
cabinet in 2006, China will increase its combined nuclear power 
capacity to 40,000 MW by 2020, a plan that will require about two 
1,000 MW nuclear power plants to be built each year for the next 15 
years.

The second phase of Qinshan plant was completed in the first half of 
2006, which has an installation capacity of 600,000 KW.

China has six nuclear power plants with 11 reactors, all located 
along its economically thriving east and southeast coasts.

Companies have announced plans to build more plants in the provinces 
of southeast Fujian, eastern Shandong and central Hunan.
---------------

Brazil's Government To Hasten Discussion On Angra 3 Nuclear Plant 

SAO PAULO -(Dow Jones)- Brazil's government will start discussions 
over the construction of Brazil's third nuclear plant "as quickly as 
possible", said Brazil's Presidential chief of staff Dilma Rousseff, 
a spokesman confirmed Wednesday.

However, Rousseff added that a full discussion must still be held 
over the expansion of the nuclear plans.

"We are in the process of discussing this internally," she told 
journalists.

On Sunday, the local Estado de S. Paulo reported that government 
nuclear experts had a draft project involving heavy investments in 
six new nuclear energy plants, which would mean the energy source 
respond for 5% of capacity by 2030.

The Angra 3 nuclear power plant in Rio de Janeiro has been stuck in 
the planning stage for a number of years.

Brazil currently has two operating nuclear plants, Angra 1 and Angra 
2, with an installed capacity of about 2,000 megawatts. Angra 3 would 
raise its nuclear capacity to
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Nuclear plant public meetings planned
Haldimand endorses $2-billion proposal for Nanticoke nuclear plant 

Norfolk and Haldimand are preparing for the possibility of a nuclear 
generating station coming to the Nanticoke Industrial Park.

Yesterday, Norfolk Mayor Dennis Travale said plans are underway to 
host public information meetings across the county for people wanting 
to learn more.

During his speech to the Simcoe and District Chamber of Commerce, 
Travale suggested these forums will be staged over two weeks in mid-
March.

Panels would be brought together featuring representatives of the 
Bruce nuclear generating station on Lake Huron, nuclear critics from 
Greenpeace and politicians from Grey-Bruce who will speak about the 
Bruce plant´s impact on their community.

"You´ll have your technical questions answered as well as your social 
questions," Travale said.

A similar dialogue was expected in Haldimand. However, in a surprise 
move Monday night, Haldimand council passed a resolution saying the 
county is interested in hosting a nuclear plant.

Hagersville Coun. Tony Dalimonte tabled the motion without warning. 
It passed 5-2. Mayor Marie Trainer and Dunnville Coun. Lorne Boyko 
voted against. The pair felt the vote was premature because the 
public has not had an opportunity to comment.

"We said the public should be educated first," Trainer said 
yesterday. "They have a lot of questions. Once they have their 
answers, then ask the public if they want this plant. I feel council 
was making a decision without consulting the people."

During a recent meeting to discuss the proposed closure of the 
Nanticoke Generating Station, Ontario Energy Minister Dwight Duncan 
asked Trainer what she thought of the industrial park playing host to 
a nuclear plant. Haldimand council hopes to present Duncan with a 
copy of Monday´s resolution during the annual joint meeting of the 
Rural Ontario Municipal Association and the Ontario Good Roads 
Association in Toronto at the end of the month.

The possibility of a nuclear facility in Nanticoke was the subject of 
a private meeting in Simcoe Saturday at the constituency office of MP 
Diane Finley.

Attending was Duncan Hawethorne, chair of the Canadian Nuclear 
Association, the World Association of Nuclear Operators and president 
and CEO of Bruce Power, Finley, Trainer, Travale and local MPP Toby 
Barrett.

Travale has asked Norfolk council to delay a debate and resolution of 
its own until residents have an opportunity to think about a plant 
and have their questions answered.

Travale said the construction of a nuclear plant in Nanticoke would 
coincide with the closure of four of six boiler units at the giant 
coal-fired station. A reactor would take about eight years to build 
and cost nearly $2 billion. The plant would create 1,200 full-time 
jobs. This is double the number of people working at Nanticoke.
Due to air-quality issues, the McGuinty government wants to close all 
coal-fired generating stations in Ontario by 2014. The Nanticoke 
Industrial Park is a prime candidate for a reactor because it is 
remote from populated areas, is located beside a large body of water 
and has a massive transmission corridor extending north from the 
station into the provincial.
--------------------

Records May Be Exhumed From Nuclear Dump
Radioactive Records May Be Exhumed From Dump in New Mexico for Worker 
Health Study 

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) -- Records buried in a landfill used for 
radioactive waste may be dug up to determine whether cancer-stricken 
workers from a defunct nuclear-weapons plant qualify for 
compensation, a federal official said.
 
At least a dozen pallets of cardboard boxes, six 55-gallon drums and 
11 safes containing classified records from the Mound weapons plant 
in Miamisburg, Ohio, were buried in underground shafts of the 
landfill at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico in 2005.

Nobody knows the condition of the records, and the U.S. Department of 
Energy says it could take up to 18 months and cost as much as $9 
million to unearth and decontaminate them.

Larry Elliott, the director of compensation analysis for the National 
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, said the records could 
help officials get a clear picture of the hazards workers faced at 
the weapons plant.

"We are open-minded as to whether (the records) should be exhumed," 
Elliott said. "This is an interesting problem, and we're doing the 
best we can to make sure that we have the documents we need to do our 
work."

Elliott's office oversees a method of estimating workers' exposure to 
harmful radiation and chemicals. If the probability is at least 50 
percent that a worker's cancer was caused by on-the-job exposure, the 
worker qualifies for federal cash and medical benefits.

Elliott said he will know within weeks whether it will be necessary 
to exhume the records.

Department of Energy spokeswoman Megan Barnett said Wednesday that 
the agency was looking for related material, including possible 
duplicates to the records.

Mound began making triggers and detonators for nuclear weapons in 
1949 and employed more than 2,000 workers at its peak. The Department 
of Energy ended production at the plant in 1996.
-------------------

Kaiga atomic plant to begin generating power by month end

MUMBAI, FEB 15 (PTI) - The third unit of the Kaiga nuclear plant in 
Karnataka is expected to begin generating energy by the end of 
February but supply of power from it will be delayed, a top official 
said today.

The 220MW reactor -- the 17th one in the country -- will be "made 
critical" by the end of February but its "commercialisation" may be 
delayed by over a month due to the non-arrival of critical turbine 
components from Ukraine, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited 
(NPCIL) Chairman and Managing Director S K Jain told PTI here.

Though 99.9 per cent of the required components had arrived, Jain 
said NPCIL was facing "trans-chart difficulties for the last part of 
the consignment".

Kaiga's third unit was earlier scheduled to be linked to the southern 
power grid by March.

The Shipping Corporation of India is trying its best to move the 
consignment to India as soon as possible but there was some logistic 
problem as the port in Ukraine is not visited directly by its ships, 
and SCI would have to depend on other liners.

The turbine components have been loaded but "it is a matter of time 
and SCI is trying their best to get them to us as soon as possible", 
Jain said.

Ukraine's industry was selected by NPCIL for supplying the critical 
equipment through a global tender.

Jain also said the process of rehabilitating unit one of the Narora 
atomic power plant was complete and that this was the first time that 
laser cutting and remote control devices were used to replace the 
coolant channel and feeder pipes.
--------------------

FPL Energy Announces Partnership with Texas State Technical College

JUNO BEACH, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--FPL Energy, LLC, a subsidiary of 
FPL Group (NYSE:FPL - News) said today that in an effort to meet the 
increased demand for highly skilled employees in the wind energy 
business in Texas and throughout the region it has formed a 
partnership with Texas State Technical College West Texas to educate 
and train students in wind turbine technology.
 
As part of the partnership, FPL Energy will assist TSTC West Texas 
with its curriculum by offering subject matter experts and faculty 
adjuncts; allow opportunities for participants to interact with FPL 
Energy wind experts on and off campus; provide paid internships 
within FPL Energy wind operations; and work with the college to 
secure the equipment and other resources necessary for laboratory 
facilities.

TSTC West Texas currently offers a two year degree developed by TSTC 
faculty in collaboration with program advisory group members of the 
wind industry including FPL Energy. TSTC West Texas will identify and 
recruit candidates for the program, handle all marketing efforts 
related to the program, provide service learning opportunities in the 
community and develop curriculum that meets the needs of FPL Energy.

"We are thrilled to be partnering with the Texas State Technical 
College West Texas on this important educational program," said Manny 
Sanchez, vice president, Wind Operations for FPL Energy. "As the 
largest owner and operator of wind turbines in Texas and throughout 
the world, having a well trained workforce is critically important to 
our future growth and ultimate success."

FPL Energy, through its subsidiaries, invested nearly $1 billion in 
Texas wind projects in 2006 and currently has 11 wind farms in 
operation in the state. With a net capacity of more than 1,600 
megawatts, the wind plants are capable of generating electricity for 
close to 400,000 Texas homes. In 2006, the wind farms offset fossil-
fueled power generation emissions totaling more than 2.3 million tons 
of carbon dioxide; more than 5,000 tons of sulfur dioxide and over 
2,000 tons of nitrogen oxide that would have otherwise been released 
into the atmosphere if not for the wind farms.

FPL Energy owned wind projects in Texas generated more than 3.6 
million megawatt hours of electricity in 2006.

FPL Energy is a leading competitive energy supplier utilizing clean 
fuels such as natural gas, wind, solar, hydroelectric and nuclear to 
generate electricity. It is the world's leader in wind energy, with 
49 wind facilities in operation in 15 states. It is a subsidiary of 
FPL Group, (NYSE:FPL - News), one of the nation's largest providers 
of electricity-related services with annual revenues of nearly $16 
billion. FPL Group's principal subsidiary is Florida Power & Light 
Company, one of the nation's largest electric utilities, serving 4.4 
million customer accounts in Florida. Additional information is 
available at www.FPLEnergy.com, www.FPLGroup.com and www.FPL.com
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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/ 
Personal Website: http://sandy-travels.com/