[ RadSafe ] [Nuclear News] In Coming Months, U.S. Expects Applications For Up To 28 New Plants

[Sandy Perle]

Index:

In Coming Months, U.S. Expects Applications For Up To 28 New Plants
Xcel Energy Wins Lawsuit Over Nuclear Storage
Bahrain probe into radiation leak alert  
Resource To Help Medical Responders During Radiation Emergencies
Feds give city $3M for radiation detectors
Official: KI pills not a cure for radiation
Fire breaks out at Japanese nuclear plant construction site
For sale: pioneering site, may be contaminated by radiation 
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A Nuclear Power Surge Is Coming
In Coming Months, U.S. Expects Applications For Up To 28 New Plants;  

CBS News Sept 30 - With this week's application to build a new 
nuclear plant - the first such filing in nearly 30 years - the 
industry says the U.S. is on the verge of a nuclear power 
renaissance. 

With virtually no greenhouse-gas emissions, reactors are touted as 
part of the solution to global warming. Over the next 15 months, the 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission expects a tidal wave of similar permit 
applications for up to 28 new reactors, costing up to $90 billion to 
build. 

But the renaissance may be less robust than it looks. Even if the 
projects are successful and building proceeds at breakneck speed, the 
lead times are so long and costs so high that it's unclear that the 
U.S. can build enough nuclear plants to make a dent in greenhouse-gas 
emissions by 2050. They're so financially risky, experts say, that 
the only reason building plans are under way is that the federal 
government has stepped in to guarantee investors against loan 
defaults. 

"Clearly, [nuclear power companies] are not so confident or they 
wouldn't want the federal government and taxpayer to be guaranteeing 
the loans," says David Schlissel a longtime nuclear industry analyst 
with consulting firm Synapse Energy Economics in Cambridge, Mass. 

The industry says it needs the aid to get nuclear power rolling 
again. 

"Yes, we need some help and assistance getting these large projects 
off the ground," says Paul Genoa of the Nuclear Energy Institute 
(NEI) in Washington. "This will always be labeled as subsidies. But 
one person's subsidy is another person's incentive. These are the 
first nuclear power plants to be built in years and there's a role 
for government here." 

I think that money would be better invested in cheaper sources of 
emissions-free power that don't have the fatal flaws nuclear power 
does.

Tyson Slocum, Public CitizenAlso, loan guarantees don't affect 
taxpayers unless those loans are defaulted on, he points out. 

Under the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the industry already is getting 
an estimated $12 billion in tax breaks and other largess. The Price-
Anderson Act, a law dating from the 1950s, caps the industry's 
liability at about $10 billion in the event of an accident, even 
though studies show that a major nuclear meltdown could easily run 50 
times that. 

Now, the Senate version of a new energy bill includes a provision 
that could provide tens of billions of dollars more in federal-loan 
guarantees. Last Tuesday, the Energy Department announced it would 
provide up to $2 billion in federal risk insurance for the first six 
new nuclear-plant projects, protecting them against losses from 
regulatory or legal delays. 

"In my view, these kinds of taxpayer subsidies are vital to the 
industry, and they wouldn't be building any of these new nuclear 
plants without them," says Doug Koplow, president of Earth Track, a 
Cambridge, Mass., consulting firm that analyzes subsidies for all 
forms of energy, including biofuels. 

The nuclear industry gets about $9 billion a year in federal 
subsidies, he calculates, trailing only oil and coal in federal 
energy aid. That amount could go far higher if companies were to 
begin defaulting on guaranteed loans, he adds. 

The nuclear industry has already put Congress on notice that it could 
require loan guarantees of at least $20 billion for planned projects -
 and more later, NEI officials told The New York Times in July. 

The reason is that nuclear power plants are far more expensive to 
build than coal- or gas-fired facilities. For example: On Monday, New 
Jersey-based NRG Energy Corp. filed its application with the Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission to build two reactors in Texas at a cost 
between $5.4 and $6.7 billion. 

That huge startup cost might make financial sense, given a reactor's 
low operating expenses, especially if government begins to charge 
utilities for the greenhouse gases they produce. Nuclear power is 
virtually emission-free. 

But the last time that the nuclear industry was on a building spree - 
in the 1980s - roughly half of the power plants proposed were never 
finished, in part because of fears caused by the accident at Three 
Mile Island. Those that were finished were delayed for years and cost 
far more than estimated. A number of power companies went bankrupt. 
In late 2003, NRG - the company that filed Monday's permit 
application - emerged from bankruptcy caused by overexpansion in the 
1990s. 

If defaults occur in the new round, critics worry federal costs will 
be huge. 

"This is the second or third 'nuclear renaissance' I've seen," says 
Tyson Slocum, director of energy program at Public Citizen, Ralph 
Nader's consumer-protection group. "When you look at the cost of 
these plants and the massive financial subsidies by U.S. taxpayers, I 
think that money would be better invested in cheaper sources of 
emissions-free power that don't have the fatal flaws nuclear power 
does." 

In 2003, a Congressional Budget Office analysis warned of potential 
default rates of 50 percent or more on new plants. 

Wall Street is also skeptical. In a July letter to the Department of 
Energy, six investment banks, including Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, 
made it clear that federal guarantees were required. "We believe many 
new nuclear construction projects will have difficulty accessing the 
capital markets during construction and initial operation without the 
support of a federal government loan guarantee," they wrote. 

The risks might be worth the cost if nuclear power can have a 
substantial impact in slowing global warming. But even some industry 
experts doubt that's possible. To reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 
1 billion tons annually, the level set by some scientists as a goal 
for nuclear power, the world would need to build 21 new 1,000-
megawatt nuclear plants per year - about five of those annually in 
the U.S. - for the next 50 years, says a Keystone Center report 
endorsed by the NEI. The U.S. industry reached that level in the 
1980s. But even under its most optimistic assessment, the Energy 
Information Administration recently projected that only about 53 
nuclear power plants would be built by 2056. At that rate, this would 
not even replace the existing nuclear capacity expected to be retired 
during that time, the Keystone report said. 

While such a conclusion would seem to blunt nuclear power's appeal, 
industry experts predict that climate legislation is likely to boost 
the cost of carbon-dioxide emissions. When it does, nuclear power 
construction will be suddenly very competitive with coal power - and 
that will accelerate growth faster and farther than predicted, they 
add. 

Nuclear power "clearly can't do it all, but will do its share" to 
mitigate greenhouse-gas emissions, says Genoa.
--------------

Xcel Energy Wins Lawsuit Over Nuclear Storage

wcco.com (AP) Sept 30 - Minneapolis A court has awarded Xcel Energy 
Inc. $116.5 million over the federal government's failure to open the 
Yucca Mountain nuclear storage facility on time.

Yucca Mountain was designated in the 1980s as the country's nuclear 
waste repository. Under the law, the Energy Department was required 
to open the Nevada site for nuclear waste storage by 1998, but the 
project has been bogged down in controversy, and the earliest 
possible opening date would be 2017.

Northern States Power Co., a predecessor company to Xcel Energy, sued 
the Department of Energy, claiming breach of contract. In a decision 
dated last Wednesday, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims sided with the 
Minneapolis-based utility.

Charles Bomberger, general manager of Nuclear Asset Management for 
Xcel Energy, said his company was pleased with the court decision.

"The government, just like everybody else, is obligated under this 
high level waste policy act of 1982 to be the federal repository for 
the spent fuel," Bomberger said. "We know now that the courts have 
upheld that we did have a binding contract, and held them 
accountable. And they in fact breached that by not being able to 
accept the waste in 1998."

A Department of Energy spokeswoman declined to comment, saying the 
agency is "reviewing the court's decision."

The case involved Xcel Energy's three nuclear power plants in 
Minnesota.

State Sen. Ellen Anderson, DFL-ST. Paul, who chairs the State 
Senate's Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Budget Division, 
said the court's decision won't make up for the millions of dollars 
Minnesota ratepayers have already spent on nuclear waste storage. She 
also said the amount of waste Yucca Mountain is authorized to store 
when it opens won't be enough.

"And so even if Yucca Mountain does open, which I'm very skeptical it 
will, there is no reason to believe it will take our waste away," 
Anderson said. "This problem is one that I don't expect to be solved 
in my lifetime."
---------------

Bahrain probe into radiation leak alert  

Gulf Daily News Sept 28 - OFFICIALS were yesterday scrutinising the 
handling of a radiation scare at Bahrain International Airport, which 
put three men in hospital. Three Nepalese porters were transferring 
radioactive material from one Gulf Air flight to another on Wednesday 
evening, when it was thought one of the containers had leaked.

They were taken to Salmaniya Medical Complex, where they were 
isolated until tests showed them free from any radioactive 
contamination.

Authorities said later that wetness on one of the containers of 
radioactive medical waste turned out to be harmless condensation and 
that taking the men to hospital was just a precaution. 

But doctors at the SMC and other experts yesterday questioned the way 
in which the men were transported to hospital - in a Bahrain Airport 
Services vehicle.

Interior Ministry officials also told the GDN they had not been 
informed about the incident by airport authorities and that the first 
they heard of it was from the SMC Accident and Emergency Department 
doctors.

"It was only then that our experts went to the spot and conducted 
investigations," said an official.

"Civil Defence officials were also then alerted, who conducted their 
own probe."

Accident and Emergency Department chairman Dr Jassim Al Mehza said 
yesterday the porters were "immediately put in isolation" and experts 
called in to test for radiation.

"They were put into isolation, pending an investigation and arrival 
of the experts," he said.

Dr Mehza said he was not sure how they were brought to the hospital 
but sources told the GDN they were brought in by a private vehicle.

"Protocol dictates that anyone suspected of having come into contact 
with radioactive material should be isolated immediately and people 
attending them should wear the proper protective clothing," said one 
senior doctor, not willing to be named. 

"We were surprised when these people walked into the emergency room 
claiming they had been exposed to radioactivity.

"The chairman was contacted, who immediately suggested isolation."

Ideally, these people should have been brought to the hospital in an 
ambulance, said the doctor.

SMC radiology department head Dr Najeeb Jamsheer said anyone 
suspected of having been exposed to radioactivity was considered a 
'suspect' until proven otherwise.

"We did the tests that we were required to do and concluded there was 
nothing amiss. They were clean," he said.

But this was only after they were investigated, said Dr Jamsheer.

"It could have been anything," he said, not commenting on whether any 
procedures were violated.

Interior Ministry and CID officials were called to the hospital and 
there was a collective sigh of relief when the 'all clear' was given.

"It was a false alarm in the end and it emerged there was no leak," 
Dr Al Mehza yesterday.

"We were told it was only condensation."

A Gulf Air spokesman said there was nothing unusual in carrying such 
cargo on passenger flights.

"These are life-saving materials which are routinely carried by 
airlines all over the world," he said.

"Gulf Air also follows the same pattern in accordance with strict 
international regulations."

He said the cargo in question was meant for medical use and was being 
taken from Abu Dhabi to Germany, possibly for disposal.

A Civil Aviation Affairs spokesman confirmed that the men were taken 
to hospital in a BAS vehicle, as a routine precaution.

"All necessary procedures were followed," he said.

The spokesman confirmed late on Wednesday night that the moisture on 
the outside of one of the containers was only condensation.
--------------

Online Resource To Help Medical Responders During Radiation 
Emergencies

Six years ago today, the terrorist attacks on America triggered a 
mobilization of national defense, preparedness, and resources that 
has no historical blueprint to follow. Plans to counter one of the 
most menacing threats - radiation contamination by nuclear explosion, 
"dirty" bomb, or some other device - have been developed with the 
help of NCI experts in radiation medicine. 

The medical community around the globe has learned a great deal about 
how best to respond when people are exposed to radiation, based on 
decades of clinical experience with mass casualty radiation events: 
the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, nuclear reactor 
accidents such as Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, and accidental 
exposures during the transport of radioactive material. 

The dilemma is that such knowledge resides primarily among experts 
and specialists, of which there are a limited number, and these 
experts may be especially scarce if the emergency were catastrophic 
and widespread. Also, the rarity of such an event means that up-to-
date information is the optimal solution for health care providers. 

This potential disconnect is addressed by Radiation Event Medical 
Management (REMM), a new Web site developed by planners, physicians, 
radiation specialists, and other subject matter experts working with 
the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response 
(ASPR) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in 
collaboration with the National Library of Medicine (NLM). The Web 
site was originally conceptualized by experts from NCI, ASPR, and NLM 
and the unique system was created by Dr. Judith Bader of NCI and a 
team from NLM (led by Florence Chang and colleagues). 

Several of the key personnel on this project are on detail from NCI, 
including team leader Dr. Norman Coleman of NCI's Radiation Research 
Program in the Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis. 

"REMM was established to provide just-in-time information and 
guidance on diagnosis and treatment to health care providers - 
primarily physicians - who do not have formal radiation medicine 
expertise," explains Dr. Coleman. 

He emphasizes that REMM is just one piece of the large government 
network being assembled by HHS and the Department of Homeland 
Security. Dr. Coleman and the REMM team are part of the Office of 
Preparedness and Emergency Operations (OPEO). Rear Admiral W. Craig 
Vanderwagen is the assistant secretary for preparedness and response; 
the OPEO team is led by Drs. Kevin Yeskey and Ann Knebel. In OPEO, 
they plan for the unthinkable regarding chemical, biological, 
radiological, and nuclear events and scenarios, as well as planning 
for natural disasters. 

Part of REMM's solution to this challenge is a series of decision-
tree algorithms for the nonexpert physician to follow at the scene. 
Because access to the Internet may be compromised during an 
emergency, the core of REMM also comes in the form of a diagnostic 
and treatment toolkit that can be downloaded in advance and stored on 
a local computer or storage device. 

For REMM, the expert NLM content team gathered guidelines, protocols, 
procedures, and background from scores of sources, inside and outside 
of the federal government, and from scientific sources abroad. The 
initial Web site was reviewed by some 50 subject specialists from 
around the world and continues to be enhanced.
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Feds give city $3M for radiation detectors 

The city has won a $3.25 million federal grant to help fund the 
NYPD's plan to ring the city with radiation detectors, officials 
announced yesterday.

"This system will help law enforcement detect and stop an attack 
using weapons of mass destruction," said Rep. Vito Fossella (R-
Brooklyn, Staten Island).

The detectors will be placed as far as 50 miles outside the five 
boroughs to identify dirty bombs and other threats on major routes 
into New York, NYPD brass said. "This is the first city in America 
that's going to have this program," NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly 
said of the project, which will cost $40million to complete.

Last month, a dirty-bomb scare triggered a massive search for 
radioactive material within a 50-mile radius of the city. NYPD 
choppers, boats and special trucks searched for radioactive devices 
for about 24 hours. The response was ratcheted down after the NYPD 
found nothing to substantiate the terror threat.

"This provides one more layer of protection for the residents of New 
York City against an act of terror," Fossella said.

The new radiation detectors will work in conjunction with the NYPD's 
planned "ring of steel" - a system of hundreds of police cameras, 
license plate readers and street barriers that will be used to 
safeguard the Financial District in lower Manhattan.
----------------

Official: KI pills not a cure for radiation
Director stresses not to ignore evacuation notices

Hearald On-lIne Sept 28 - Pills that may offer protection during a 
nuclear emergency are available in York County, but the county's 
director of emergency management issued a word of caution Friday: 
Having them doesn't make it OK to ignore evacuation orders or other 
instructions in the event of an accident. "People will think, 'I can 
take this pill and be radiation-proof,' or 'I can take this pill and 
I don't have to evacuate.' Which is not the case," said Director 
Cotton Howell. "And that's the fear we have of people trying to rely 
on a pill."  

Howell's warning came a day after plans were announced to make a new 
shipment of potassium iodide pills available to people who live near 
the area's two nuclear power plants, the Catawba nuclear station on 
Lake Wylie in York County and the McGuire nuclear station in 
Mecklenburg County.

Potassium iodide (known by the chemical symbol KI) helps reduce the 
risk of thyroid cancer, which can result from exposure to radiation. 
But the pills aren't a substitute for other precautions, S.C. 
emergency planners emphasize.

"We don't want (people) to think this is a magic pill," said Mary 
Nguyen Bright, a nuclear response specialist in the S.C. Department 
of Health and Environmental Control. "The only thing these tablets do 
is protect the thyroid gland. That's why we tell people, you must 
follow all of the orders, including evacuation or shelter."

Howell went a step further, saying he's not sure the pills offer much 
value because they don't protect other parts of the body. He doesn't 
keep them at his own house, even though his family lives near 
McConnells, within a 10-mile radius of the Lake Wylie nuclear plant.

"This came out of Washington a couple of years ago by somebody up 
there that said, 'We're trying to show we're doing something,'" said 
Howell. "It's nothing but a form of salt. It's a high-powered table 
salt."

Howell said that if a nuclear accident occurs, the best precaution 
will be for residents to either evacuate or stay inside their homes, 
depending on instructions. Emergency officials have detailed plans 
for getting instructions to the public through local radio and TV, 
outdoor sirens, automated phone calls and other outlets, he said.

"These pills are a legacy of the nuclear attack days," Howell said. 
"During those days, we were talking about anything to protect from 
high levels of radiation. A release at Catawba is probably not going 
to be high levels."

Still, S.C. health officials offer the pills free of charge to anyone 
living in a 10-mile radius of the Lake Wylie plant. They can be 
picked up at the York County Health Department on Heckle Boulevard.

In 2003, the county held distribution days at six different sites. 
Less than 5 percent of about 160,000 eligible residents picked up the 
pills, Howell said. The leftover tablets are available, and won't 
expire until 2009, Bright said.

Before then, a new batch of pills will be made available, she said.

On Friday, Bright said her office got a handful of calls from nervous 
residents asking about the threat of some kind of nuclear explosion.

"A lot of people have that Hollywood image," she said. "The mushrooms 
clouds aren't relevant to nuclear facilities. There is nothing they 
put into the design that could lead to something like that."
---------------

Fire breaks out at Japanese nuclear plant construction site  

TOKYO - A MINOR fire broke out at a nuclear power plant construction 
site in northern Japan on Saturday but there was no danger of 
radiation leakage, an official said. 
No one was hurt in the small fire at a half-built reactor at Tomari 
Nuclear Power Plant on Japan's northern island of Hokkaido, which is 
scheduled to be tested early next year. 

'A guard found white smoke coming out of textile sheets, which were 
just used in the process of welding,' said Kazutoshi Michinaka, an 
official at the facility. 

'We have to wait for an official announcement from the fire 
department, but we presume that the possibility of arson is very 
low,' he added. 

Nuclear energy authorities have ordered Hokkaido Electric Power Co 
Ltd, which owns the facility, to boost security against potential 
arson as at least seven cases of arson have been reported at the 
construction site this year. 

In July, a massive earthquake hit central Japan, causing a fire at 
the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant and triggering a leakage 
of radiation.
---------------

For sale: pioneering site, may be contaminated by radiation 

29 Sept - The Millennium Dome may have become a discredited symbol of 
political folly and public wastefulness on a grand scale south of the 
border but in Scotland the owners of the dome at the Dounreay nuclear 
power plant believe they have an architectural gem on their hands.

As they prepare to dismantle the controversial research centre, plans 
are also being put forward to secure the heritage of the pioneering 
site. The reactor's famous stainless steel "golf ball", plonked on a 
lonely clifftop overlooking the storm-tossed Atlantic against a 
background of rugged mountains, could become the centrepiece for a 
luxury hotel development.

Of course that is not to say that there are no potential obstacles to 
be overcome before the first guests start checking into the "Fast 
Breeder" honeymoon suite at Dounreay.

The first problem is the successful completion of a £2.9bn 
decommissioning process which must see all traces of radioactivity 
erased from the site - a process which is expected to take up to 25 
years.

Then there is the question of where the waste will be stored. Under 
current rules the 15,000 tons of highly-toxic radioactive material 
left over from half a century of nuclear experimentation must be 
stored above ground in a series of silos ringing the golf ball 
centrepiece, not the easiest thing to square with potential 
holidaymakers here to enjoy the region's phenomenal mountaineering, 
scuba diving and wildlife.

Retaining and maintaining the dome, currently owned by the Nuclear 
Decommissioning Authority, will cost £10.1m with further cash needed 
on a regular basis to keep it in good decorative order by any 
prospective owner.

Scottish Heritage has already held discussions on whether or not to 
award the dome listed-building status. Built on the site of an old 
military airfield whose aircraft were supposed to protect the British 
fleet in its temporary Second World War home of Scapa Flow off 
Orkney, the plant was on the cutting edge of post-war technology.

It was one of the world's first fast-breeder reactors and as well as 
pioneering radioactive treatments for cancer and other medical uses, 
it also developed techniques later applied to the UK's embryonic 
atomic energy programme - an industry which is poised to make a 
dramatic resurgence amid concerns over global warming and energy 
security.

Dounreay is also credited with bringing economic prosperity to the 
remote region in the 1950s at a time when the population was 
dwindling as farming and fishing went into decline.

For this reason there is also talk of turning the site into a nuclear 
museum, complete with the declassified archives left over from the 
project.

Among suggestions produced in an internal paper outlining other 
possibilities are a conference centre, nightclub and even a space 
observatory.

A Dounreay spokesman, Colin Punler, said that any decision would be 
arrived at through a transparent public consultation process.

He said: "The question has been asked - should it remain or should it 
be knocked down? Some people are very attached to it, others see it 
as a piece of radioactive scrap. It depends on your point of view."

Three proposals

* Simon Beames

Youmehesha Architects

"What an amazing opportunity. Our vision is to continue generating 
power for an eco resort adjacent to the site. We see a subtropical 
paradise of plants and adventure, accelerating the process of climate 
change, highlighting the effects and acclimatising our population in 
preparation of the inevitable (and no flights needed). The sphere 
itself, right, would be dissected at 35 degrees, facing directly 
south, offering the best orientation for UV light reception. Cladding 
the interior of the sphere surface in mirrors focused towards a 
central tower, natural energy would be harnessed. Solar evacuated 
tubes forming the tower collect the sun's energy in the most 
efficient way, generating super heated water to power turbines for 
heating "

* Amin Taha

Amin Taha architects

"Strip the dome back to its concrete skin and cut one large hole in 
its side three quarters of the way up; this will trace the sun's path 
across the internal face. Sitting on its own in the wider landscape 
will leave it as a landmark sculpture, a reminder of its past and a 
geographical signal like the angel of the north. Rain will pool and 
echo in its dark, cavernous interior with a shaft of light - 
illumination at the mercy of the Scottish weather."

"It's an amazing thing and it would be a great shame if it were 
demolished. Nuclear reactors have an amazingly mysterious interior. 
It would be great to be inside the great big ball - and it would also 
be a tragedy to 'normalise' it. I'd imagine it's like being in an 
inside-out planet. Its appeal is somewhere between science fiction 
and a sort of ancient primordial quality. Maybe it would be best to 
think of it as a mysterious monument - an 'Unclear' monument, if you 
want a bad pun on its former use. Perhaps it could become an 
experience that captures the optimism and terror of nuclear 
technology - both apocalyptic and utopian. A sort of theme park of 
fear and optimism. Or maybe it could become a kind of 21st-century 
folly with a cosmic dimension. Maybe the sphere could be pierced with 
tiny holes that line up in a series of cosmic alignments at various 
moments. With a tiny chair in the middle. Flocks of birds or bats 
might fly around the volume, and the interior could be gold leafed. 
Maybe a soundtrack could be commissioned based on the half-life of 
uranium; it could last for thousands of years and be played by 
generations of musicians handing their instruments from father to son 
in succession. A kind of cathedral to the wonder and amorality of 
science, done in the style of a cross James Turrell crossed with Walt 
Disney."

----------------------------------------------------------------
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/