[ RadSafe ] [Nuclear News] Czech Republic, Austria agree to set up committee on nuclear plant

Wed Feb 28 11:56:17 CST 2007

Index:

Czech Republic, Austria agree to set up committee on nuclear plant 
Austrian anti-nuclear activists again block border over Temelin
Chile's legislators agree on feasiblity study of nuclear power plant
Fire at Peach Bottom nuclear plant was 'mostly smoke'
Nuclear plant hearing draws crowd
MEPs lock horns over nuclear energy
Nuclear lab operator cited for safety
Report: Nuclear workers radiation claims panel beset by conflicts
UC cited for nuclear safety violations
-------------------------------------

Czech Republic, Austria agree to set up committee on nuclear plant 

The Czech Republic and Austria have agreed to set up a joint 
parliamentary committee to supervise the Czech Temelin nuclear power 
plant, the prime ministers of the two countries said on Tuesday. 

Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek and Austrian Chancellor Alfred 
Gusenbauer told reporters that their governments would begin to 
negotiate an agreement on exchanging information on Temelin's 
operation that would follow the so-called Melk agreement signed in 
2000. 

Topolanek and Gusenbauer said they were convinced that the 
parliaments' participation in the Melk process would improve mutual 
trust and help spread more information on the issue to the public. 

Last December, the Austrian parliament called on the government to 
take steps toward filing a lawsuit against the Czech Republic over 
its alleged violation of the Melk agreement. 

In the Melk agreement, Prague pledged to upgrade Temelin's safety in 
exchange for Austria agreeing not to block its EU accession 
negotiations and preventing further blockades of borders by anti-
nuclear protestors. 

Gusenbauer, who is on his first visit to Prague since taking office 
in January, said only better transparency can prevent animosities on 
both sides and further blockades of border crossings by Austrian anti-
nuclear activists. 

But he did not announce any legal steps demanded by anti-Temelin 
activists and the Austrian opposition Greens. 

Activists from the Atomstopp Upper Austrian, an anti-nuclear 
association, threatened another one-hour blockade of three Czech-
Austrian border crossings on Wednesday if Gusenbauer did not announce 
steps towards a lawsuit against the Czech Republic over Temelin 
during his visit. 

Gusenbauer pointed out that his government does not want border 
blockades, but it must at the same time respect people's democratic 
rights to stage demonstrations. 

"We should help bring the discussion to a constructive level," he 
said. 

Austria does not want to be in dispute with a close neighbour, but it 
would like to dissipate Austrian inhabitants' fears of nuclear 
energy, said the chancellor. 

He said the Czech Republic and Austria are friends and "friends are 
able to discuss even the issues on which they are not in agreement." 

For his part, Topolanek said politicians should soften mutual 
conflicts and not escalate them, adding that he did not regard the 
border blockades as activities of the Austrian government. 

"Our task is not to lead a legal dispute with international courts, 
but to seek solutions," he said. 

Situated 60 km from the Czech-Austrian border, Temelin is sharply 
criticized by Austrian activists who say it is not safe because it 
combines Soviet-era design and western fuel and safety technology. 
These doubts were repeatedly dismissed by the Czech Republic.
-------------------

Austrian anti-nuclear activists again block border over Temelin

Vienna/Ceske Budejovice- Austrian opponents of the south Bohemian 
nuclear power plant Temelin today again blocked three Austrian-Czech 
border crossings but the one-hour blockades brought no problem to the 
traffic. 
The Czech Foreign Ministry has not commented on the blockades though 
in the past it expressed its disagreement. 

"There is no point in commenting on these regional events after the 
Czech prime minister and the Austrian chancellor on Tuesday launched 
a dialogue between the two countries on the topic," Foreign Ministry 
spokeswoman Zuzana Opletalova said. 

Czech PM Mirek Topolanek and Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer 
agreed in Prague on Tuesday on the establishment of a joint Czech-
Austrian parliamentary commission on Temelin. 

According to unofficial information, Austrian opponents of Temelin 
today asked the authorities to allow new blockades of four border-
crossings that could be held next week. 

There are ten border crossings on the Czech-Austrian border. 

Today's blockade was the third blockade on the Czech-Austrian border. 
It was permitted by the Austrian authorities and drivers had been 
informed about them beforehand. 

Austrian anti-nuclear activists said on Tuesday that Austrian 
Chancellor Gusenbauer's visit to Prague was "totally disappointing" 
and produced no results and they would therefore continue blocking 
the border in protest against Temelin. 

The disputes over the operation of the nuclear power plant in Temelin 
have burdened Czech-Austrian relations. Some Austrian and Czech 
environmental organisations consider Temelin, situated about 60 km 
from the Austrian border, dangerous. 
------------------

Chile's legislators agree on feasiblity study of nuclear power plant  

Antonio Leal, president of Chile's Chamber of Deputies, and 
opposition legislators agreed on Tuesday to begin feasibility studies 
on building a new nuclear power station in the country. 

"There will be several studies. Some of them will have to be put out 
to public tender, and others will be carried out by the National 
Energy Commission," Leal said. 

The involvement of both government and the public was required 
because "some of these studies may last more than five years," he 
added. 

He also said it's essential to begin studies now, as the building of 
a nuclear plant would take 10 years or more, and Chile is now greatly 
dependent on Argentine gas. 

Leal made these statements after meeting with the country's Energy 
Minister Krean Poniachik to discuss the topic. 

Hernan Larrain, president of the right-wing Independent Democratic 
Union, said he was cautious about nuclear energy in Chile, but it was 
important not to rule it out. 

"I understand that there are very high risks, but I do not believe 
that ruling it out is responsible. A sensible nation like Chile needs 
to study this possibility," he said. 

Local ecologists are against the nuclear plan and they tried to force 
a promise from President Michelle Bachelet not to move forward on 
nuclear power plants. 
------------------

Fire at Peach Bottom nuclear plant was 'mostly smoke'

An electrical transformer cabinet caught fire at the Peach Bottom 
nuclear power plant yesterday morning, but the smoky blaze was 
confined to the non-nuclear side of the plant, company officials 
said. The fire, which was reported at 9:41 a.m., did not pose a 
threat to the public, said Craig Nesbit, a spokesman for Exelon 
Nuclear in Warrenville, Ill., which shares ownership of the south-
central Pennsylvania plant with New Jersey-based PSE&G.  

"The fire itself was very small," Nesbit said. "It was mostly smoke."

The smoke was caused by a small fire in a device attached to the 
transformer located in the turbine building where electricity is 
generated.

A formal damage assessment will have to be completed before damage 
estimates can be determined and a repair plan is developed, said 
April Schilpp, an Exelon spokeswoman.

Because the fire was not extinguished within 15 minutes, the station 
was required to declare the incident an "unusual event," she said.

The fire was knocked down at 10:32 a.m., and the "unusual event" 
declaration was terminated at 11:37 a.m., according to a statement 
released yesterday by Exelon Nuclear. Power from the plant's Unit 3 
reactor and generator was reduced as a precaution after the fire, but 
it remained online, Nesbit said.  

The plant can be safely operated without the damaged equipment, 
Schilpp said.

The "unusual event" emergency classification is the lowest of four 
under Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulations. The plant has two 
full-time resident NRC inspectors, she said, who were "fully 
involved" as the fire incident was handled. 

Federal, state and local officials were notified of the event, 
Schilpp said.
---------------

Nuclear plant hearing draws crowd

Several hundred people attended the Department of Energy´s public 
hearing Tuesday night at the Best Western Sally Port Inn to register 
support or opposition for a proposed nuclear waste reprocessing 
center outside Roswell.

In partnership with EnergySolutions, Gandy-Marley Inc., owners of the 
Triassic Park hazardous waste site between Roswell and Tatum, are 
seeking to develop a site at that location that would encompass a 
nuclear fuel recycling center or an advanced recycling reactor. The 
Gandy-Marley site is one of 11 sites across the country - including a 
site just outside of Hobbs - being considered for the project and the 
company partnership was recently awarded $1.1 million in grant money 
to study the idea.

Dr. Paul W. Lisowski, deputy assistant secretary for fuel cycle 
management with the DOE´s Office of Nuclear Energy, said Tuesday that 
the proposed nuclear fuel reprocessing plant would use a uranium-
extraction technology that has been demonstrated only at a laboratory 
scale.

He said the site most similar to the proposed plant is the plutonium 
and uranium extraction site that has been operating in La Hague, 
France, since 1976, but that this project would be the first of its 
kind in the world.

Nuclear power, produced by splitting uranium to produce heat and 
drive steam-powered turbines, provides 20 percent of the United 
States´ total electricity and 70 percent of the country´s emission-
free electricity, according to the DOE. The project proposed for 
Roswell would separate spent fuel into reusable uranium and other 
atomic elements, and non-reusable materials. The reusable fuel could 
then be used to generate electricity in a fast breeder reactor which 
produces more fuel than it consumes.

Representatives of both the Gandy and the Marley families were 
present to speak in favor of the project.

"Our family moved here in the late 1870s and we don´t plan on 
moving," said Bill Marley, vice president of Gandy-Marley Inc. "We 
have no intention of building anything to the area that is unsafe."

Roswell Mayor Sam LaGrone, who spent four days in England last week 
viewing the Sellafield nuclear site with Bob Donnell, who heads the 
Chaves County Development Foundation, said he came away "unbelievably 
impressed" by the site´s cleanliness and safety and by the 
independent monitoring provided by the West Cumbria Sites Stakeholder 
Group.

"The reliance on foreign oil is dangerous," LaGrone said. "I think 
(nuclear power) is a very needed thing."

The CCDF also produced the results of a telephone survey of 2,400 
Roswell residents conducted Monday, saying that nearly 57 percent of 
those polled either supported the site or were in favor of studying 
the project more.

Stephanie Darrow was not one of those Roswell residents in favor of 
the idea, saying she was worried about toxic byproducts of the 
process and overall safety on the ground.

"Reprocessing destabilizes waste," she said. "I´m concerned. I´m very 
concerned. I don´t want it here."

One Roswell resident, reading from a list of a dozen questions, asked 
why it wouldn´t make more sense to locate such a facility near the 
nuclear facility of origin, how much water such a facility would use, 
and how long spent fuel rods would be stored there. Another resident 
worried that the site in question was in the middle of an area 
riddled with caves. And another cited a general suspicion of GNEP, 
comparing it to abortion as an idea that "sounds so good upfront" but 
ends up not being so decades down the line.

Aldo Carrasco, a Dexter High School and New Mexico Military Institute 
graduate, worried that the project would compromise the environment 
just to reap the economic benefits.

"We´re a cash-strapped community. We shouldn´t compromise our futures 
because we´re in dire straits," he said.

Retiree John Popham seconded those remarks, worrying that the 
potential for disaster far outweighed the benefits.

"Just because we need jobs and because the air base is closed doesn´t 
mean we should accept anything that comes along," he said.

Representatives of several Albuquerque environmental groups, Citizens 
for Alternatives to Radioactive Dumping, the Center for Peace and 
Justice, and the Southwest Information and Research Center, were also 
present at the hearing to voice their dissent.

"GNEP is another expensive, technologically unworkable and 
environmentally disastrous proposal which will fail," said Don 
Hancock, of the Southwest Information and Research Center, citing 
cleanup projects at nuclear facilities in Hanford, Wash.; Savannah 
River, S.C.; West Valley, N.Y.; and the Idaho National Engineering 
Laboratory. "All of those were great failures both economically and 
environmentally."

Other speakers urged people to get informed at this early stage of 
the project and not to prematurely judge it.

"I´ve been all over that land," said Roswell resident Todd Waggoner. 
"I don´t think (the plant) would harm it. I think it´d probably 
enhance it," he said, drawing a few chuckles from the audience.

Additional support came from letters filed on behalf of local 
Republican legislators: U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce; state Reps. Nora 
Espinoza, Candy Spence Ezzell, Dan Foley, and Keith Gardner; and 
state Sens. Rod Adair and Gay Kernan. 

But absent from that list were local Democrats, including state Sen. 
Tim Jennings.

Former Mayor Tom Jennings, the senator´s brother, spoke out against 
the project, as did his daughter, Jesse Jennings, 9. Tom Jennings 
recalled that during hearings in the 1980s about the then-proposed 
Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the DOE promised it would never seek to 
store high-level waste in the area. WIPP, built in 1999 and located 
south of Carlsbad, ended up serving as permanent storage for nuclear 
waste.

"It was told to the community that there would not be any nuclear 
waste there," Jennings said. "Now it´s happening."

Jennings voiced concerns about safety, citing the "unsafe" two-lane 
road on which much of the WIPP waste is transported and inferring 
that similar promises about safety would fall short of the reality in 
this case as well.

"We have not been told the truth," said Jennings.

Donnell said after the meeting that while he was in full support of 
the project, it was important not to rubber-stamp its way to 
approval.

"We have to ... ask the really tough questions," he said, 
acknowledging that some people´s perceptions would never change on 
the subject, but most people just want more information.

On that point, he was in agreement with Hancock, who said while he, 
after decades of working on nuclear issues, already had an opinion, 
most people still needed to formulate good questions for the DOE and 
Gandy-Marley, Inc.

"People shouldn´t know what they think at this point," Hancock said.
--------------

MEPs lock horns over nuclear energy

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - MEPs have decided to enter into one of 
Europe's touchiest topics - nuclear power - and call for a high-
profile political debate about the future prospects of nuclear energy 
in the bloc, with some hoping it will make up a greater part of the 
EU energy mix.

The move comes as the EU marks the 50th birthday of the Euratom 
treaty, which paved the way to European nuclear cooperation, but 
which many MEPs consider outdated. 

The draft report - prepared by Lithuanian MEP Eugenijus Maldejkis 
from the rightist UEN group - calls for "adjustments to the Euratom 
treaty" including "rejuvenation of the decision-making procedures, 
which would enable Parliament to be closely involved in legislative 
efforts in the nuclear field." 

Euratom was originally signed by the six founding member states - 
Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands- who 
saw nuclear power as an answer to the general shortage of 
conventional energy and for providing energy independence. However, 
the treaty - now applying to the entire 27-nation bloc - has not 
undergone any changes over the last half century. 

On top of this, enthusiasm for nuclear power has also faded since 
1957 and the issue has become a political hot potato, mainly due to 
the nuclear arms race and the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. 

According to Mr Maldejkis the 50th anniversary "is a good time to 
modernize the treaty so it reflects the current challenges such as 
global warming and energy supply security". 

But the biggest controversy centres around what role nuclear power 
should play in Europe's energy policy, with some MEPs arguing arguing 
in favour of more atomic power plants.

Mr Maldejkis, himself a strong advocate of nuclear power, criticized 
the European Commission for "ignoring nuclear energy in its energy 
package" tabled in January, saying Brussels "should provide a 
strategic vision similar to one for renewables". 

"The EU has a strong position in this sector and we should not lose 
it to other players such as the US or China", he said. 

Currently, 15 member states have nuclear power stations - for some of 
them, such as Lithuania itself, it is the main source of electricity. 
Altogether, 32 percent of the bloc's electricity is of nuclear 
origin. 

A similar battle has been under way between EU governments, with 
countries such as France and Slovakia demanding "an explicit 
recognition of nuclear energy being a strong instrument for reducing 
CO2 emissions" to be included in the paper discussed at the March 
summit, but opposed by Austria, Ireland, Greece and Portugal, who 
instead prefer to downplay the role of nuclear power plants in the 
text. 

According to Austrian conservative MEP Paul Ruebig "it is not a 
principal question of yes or no to nuclear energy, but about the 
safety". 

Mr Ruebig himself is set to table several amendments to the report on 
Euratom, which would "strengthen an urgent need for European 
legislation in the field of nuclear safety, the management of 
radioactive waste and the decommissioning of nuclear plants." 

However, EU governments are reluctant to let Brussels move into this 
area, with the commission having a say only when it comes to recent 
accession countries, as was in the case of Slovakia, Lithuania and 
Bulgaria - all forced to shut down Chernobyl-type nuclear reactors. 

The latest attempt to set up EU-wide safety rules dates back to 2002, 
but this piece of legislation has not moved further since.

"Some countries do not want the European commission to stick its nose 
into their business", one EU official told EUobserver, adding "other 
countries such as Austria, Denmark or Ireland oppose any legislation 
whatsoever because they are afraid it would legitimize nuclear energy 
as such". 

The parliament report on assessing Euratom and 50 years of European 
nuclear energy policy is scheduled for vote in mid-March, but a lot 
of amendments are expected before it reaches plenary.
----------------

Nuclear lab operator cited for safety

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. - The National Nuclear Security Administration 
proposed a $1.1 million civil penalty against the former manager of a 
nuclear weapons lab for safety violations that included a researcher 
spreading radiological contamination to two other states and workers 
inhaling radioactive substances. 

The agency announced the notice of violation Monday against the 
University of California for infractions that occurred in 2005, when 
UC was the sole manager of Los Alamos National Laboratory.

The notice spells out 15 separate incidents that violated the        
Department of Energy's nuclear safety rules.

The incidents include a Los Alamos researcher opening a package of 
slightly enriched uranium nitride pellets. The package was 
contaminated with americium 241, a radioactive decay product of 
plutonium.

The researcher unloaded the pellets without the help of a 
radiological control technician, and he spread the contamination to 
his home and places he visited in Colorado and Kansas.

Another incident involved workers who inhaled radioactive substances.

In both cases, the contamination was limited by "good fortune" but 
had the potential to be significantly greater, acting NNSA director 
Thomas P. D'Agostino wrote in a Feb. 16 letter to lab director 
Michael Anastasio.

The notice also referred to a November 2005 inspection that exposed 
"long-standing" deficiencies in the lab's safety, health and 
environmental programs.

Since federal law exempted the non-profit university from financial 
liability at the time of the violations, the UC will not have to pay 
the fine. But the agency warned the lab's new management team - 
installed less than a year ago, in part to reverse years of security 
and safety problems - that those days are over.

"Due both to the recent contract change and changes in the civil 
penalty provisions of the Atomic Energy Act, future monetary civil 
penalties imposed ... as part of a notice of violation will no longer 
be waived," D'Agostino wrote.

The lab is now managed by Los Alamos National Security LLC, which 
includes the university, Bechtel Corp., BWX Technologies Inc. and 
Washington Group International.

D'Agostino said he expects corrective actions to be one Anastasio's 
highest priorities as lab director.

UC spokesman Chris Harrington said in a statement Monday that the 
university has taken a number of steps to fix the problems outlined 
by the NNSA.

"The University of California takes safety and security issues very 
seriously as part of our commitment to managing the national 
laboratories," Harrington said.

The notice of violation is the latest in a rash of criticism against 
the lab. Just last month, members of a House oversight committee 
threatened to strip the lab of its security responsibilities - or 
even shut it down - to correct security lapses.
-----------------

Report: Nuclear workers radiation claims panel beset by conflicts

A government watchdog says a panel set up to review payments to 
ailing nuclear weapons workers lacks credibility and is beset by 
conflicts of interest. 

That's what the head of the Nuclear Oversight Program for the 
Government Accountability Project is telling the Las Vegas Review-
Journal. 

He says panelists on the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker 
Health have too many ties to past employers and associates at the 
Energy Department. 

A proposal by Democratic Senator Harry Reid could correct some 
problems by giving claimants so-called "Special Cohort Status" and 
lowering their burden of proof to collect payments. 

Reid introduced a bill this month to expand coverage to everyone who 
worked at the Nevada Test Site between 1951 and 1993 -- regardless of 
how many days or hours they were there.
-------------

UC cited for nuclear safety violations

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. - Nuclear safety violations at Los Alamos National 
Laboratory have resulted in a record $1.1 million civil penalty 
against the former manager of the nuclear weapons facility, the 
National Nuclear Security Administration announced. 

The agency said Monday it has issued a notice of violation against 
the University of California for infractions that occurred at the 
northern New Mexico lab in 2005, when UC was the sole manager of the 
facility.

Since federal law exempted the non-profit university from financial 
liability at the time of the violations, the UC will not have to pay 
the fine.

But the agency warned the lab's new management team - installed less 
than a year ago, in part to reverse years of security and safety 
problems - that those days are over.

"Due both to the recent contract change and changes in the civil 
penalty provisions of the Atomic Energy Act, future monetary civil 
penalties imposed ... as part of a notice of violation will no longer 
be waived," acting NNSA director Thomas P. D'Agostino wrote in a Feb. 
16 letter to lab director Michael Anastasio.

The lab is now managed by Los Alamos National Security LLC, which 
includes the university, Bechtel Corp., BWX Technologies Inc. and 
Washington Group International.

The notice of violation, issued on Feb. 16, spells out 15 separate 
incidents that violated the Department of Energy's nuclear safety 
rules.

The incidents include one in which a Los Alamos researcher opened a 
package of slightly enriched uranium nitride pellets. The package was 
contaminated with americium 241, a radioactive decay product of 
plutonium.