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Ireland challenges Britain over nuclear plant
Index:
Ireland challenges Britain over nuclear plant
Bush extends order on Russia uranium sales
U.S. nuclear plants squeeze power as critics fret
Cheney pushes Bush energy plan; more nuclear power
Scientist confirms nuclear HK baby tests-paper
U.S. trims annual nuclear power plant license fee
Germany defends nuclear power phaseout deal
AGs Warn Feds: Radioactive Waste Cleanup Delays Will Be Costly
Exelon Corp. Lays Off Nearly 300
===============================
Ireland challenges Britain over nuclear plant
LONDON, June 13 (Reuters) - Ireland said on Wednesday it was taking
action against the British government over a controversial nuclear
fuel manufacturing plant in northwest England which has yet to start
operating.
Joe Jacob, Ireland's minister responsible for nuclear safety, said he
would take Britain to an arbitration panel for withholding
information he says is crucial to deciding whether the plant should
start up or not.
The government is expected to decide shortly whether to give the go-
ahead to the 482-million-pound ($660-million) mixed oxide (MOX) fuel
plant at Sellafield. Although the plant was completed four years ago,
approval has been held up by fears that there are not enough
customers for the fuel.
Before it can be allowed to start operating, the plant, owned by
state-run British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL), has to pass a test required
by European law proving that the benefits of a practice involving
ionising radiation outweigh environmental damage.
Jacob said in a statement that the Irish action "relates to the
withholding by the UK, on grounds of commercial confidentiality,
information essential to assessing the justification of the full
commissioning" of the plant.
Jacob, who has consistently opposed the facility, also said Ireland
was preparing further legal action if Britain eventually gave the
plant the thumbs-up.
The action makes use of the OSPAR convention for the protection of
the marine environment in the northeast Atlantic, which both Ireland
and Britain have signed.
The convention states that information on such projects may be
withheld only for a limited number of specific reasons, which include
commercial or industrial confidentiality.
It is this point that Ireland and Britain are likely to dispute
before a three-strong arbitration panel, comprising one member
appointed by each and one independent member.
The British government is already under fire from environmental
groups who oppose the Sellafield plant.
Critics of MOX fuel, including the environmental lobby groups
Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, say it is more expensive than
uranium -- the fuel most reactors burn -- and requires modifications
to most reactors before it can be used.
They say MOX has no real market and increases stockpiles of highly
toxic plutonium. But BNFL argues that MOX is a good way of re-using a
valuable commodity and says the order book for Sellafield has now
reached break-even.
The Irish action also throws the spotlight on Britain's attitude to
freedom of information amid accusations that the government too
readily hides behind legal loopholes and its own official secrets
legislation.
------------------
Bush extends order on Russia uranium sales
WASHINGTON, June 13 (Reuters) - President Bush on Wednesday extended
a year-old order that prevents creditors of Russia from seizing
assets related to sales of converted uranium from Russian nuclear
weapons to the United States.
The order, initially issued by former President Bill Clinton,
protects the sales from court liens being pursued by a European firm
suing Russia on an unrelated matter.
Russia suspended the sales last year before the order was issued out
of concern proceeds or uranium could be seized due to the litigation.
The sales are covered by a 1993 pact in which Russia agreed to sell
to the United States 500 metric tons of highly enriched uranium
removed from nuclear weapons and converted to fuel for use in
commercial nuclear reactors.
The pact aims at making sure such weapons-grade material can never
again be used for nuclear weapons.
"It remains a major national security goal of the United States to
ensure that fissile material removed from Russian nuclear weapons ...
is dedicated to peaceful uses, subject to transparency measures, and
protected from diversion to activities of proliferation concern,"
Bush said in the order.
"The accumulation of a large volume of weapons-usable fissile
material in the territory of the Russian Federation continues to pose
an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and
foreign policy of the United States.
For this reason, I have determined that it is necessary to maintain
in force these emergency authorities beyond June 21, 2001," he said.
-----------------
U.S. nuclear plants squeeze power as critics fret
SAN FRANCISCO, June 13 (Reuters) - Blocked by public opinion from
building new nuclear plants, operators have been squeezing more
electricity out of existing nuclear plants in an effort to meet
demand in California and other parts of the country.
But critics warn that the steps -- which range from running a reactor
for longer to building new cooling towers -- are putting stress on
the plants and could endanger the public.
Although no new nuclear power plant has been built for 20 years, the
nation's nuclear fleet -- which accounts for about a fifth of total
power production -- has added about 2,200 megawatts in the last
decade, the equivalent of two large new plants or enough electricity
for 2 million homes.
The Nuclear Energy Institute, a pro-nuclear trade group, expects at
least 2,000 megawatts more in the next few years, an institute
spokesman said.
But anti-nuclear groups say that coaxing more power out of the
nuclear fleet puts more wear and tear on reactors, turbines, cooling
systems and the tens of thousands of other pieces of equipment in a
plant.
"The industry is running reactors longer and hotter while shortening
refueling and maintenance schedules, and this means it is reducing
safety margins," said Paul Gunter, a director with the Nuclear
Information and Resource Service.
"Age-related deterioration is inevitable in reactors and other
equipment," Gunter said. "Power capacity is going up, but this is
increasing the risk to public health and safety."
SAFETY AGENCY
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), which oversees the nation's
atomic plants, must approve power increases, which are known in the
industry as "uprates," and permits can take a year or longer to
process.
The NRC has 18 projects pending.
An NRC spokeswoman said the agency closely examines "safety barriers"
protecting nuclear fuel, reactor coolant systems and "containment"
buildings housing the reactor.
The power uprates come from a variety of methods.
Operators can make turbines spin generators faster by removing heavy
moisture from steam passing over a turbine's blades. This can add 5
to 10 megawatts per generating unit, and over the next four years the
company expects to add between 70 and 90 megawatts to the units'
capability.
Another uprate involves building new cooling towers to improve plant
efficiency on hot days. New towers at the Exelon Corp.'s <EXC.N>
Dresden nuclear plant in Illinois saved almost 300 megawatts.
Yet another improvement uses more precise measuring instruments so
control room operators can run units closer to their peak
capabilities.
Exelon Nuclear, a unit of Chicago-based Exelon Corp., is the nation's
largest nuclear operator, running 17 reactors in the Midwest and Mid-
Atlantic states.
Through uprates, Exelon said it expects to add about nine million
megawatt hours by 2003, the equivalent of building a new 1,200
megawatt plant at a fraction of the cost.
Exelon's uprates carry a construction cost of $300-$400 per kilowatt,
well below the $500 to $700 per kilowatt for a new combined-cycle
plant fueled by natural gas, and $1,000 to $1,250 per kilowatt for so-
called clean coal technology.
SUNNIER NUCLEAR OUTLOOK UNDER BUSH
While the Bush administration has given new life to the nuclear
industry -- which was put in cold storage by the near meltdown of the
Three Mile Island reactor in Pennsylvania in 1979 -- industry
executives caution that it may be years before a new reactor is
built.
Bush's new energy policy calls for more nuclear power and suggests
many of the existing 65 plant sites, scattered throughout 31 states,
have room to accommodate more reactors.
In addition to lingering fears about plant safety and "not-in-my-
backyard" opposition to new plants, the problem of where to store
highly radioactive nuclear waste remains a big obstacle.
California, for example, in 1976 outlawed construction of any new
nuclear plants until there was a "demonstrated and approved"
technology for a permanent dump site for used fuel rods.
"The outlook for nuclear power in California is pretty dismal,"
Robert Glynn, chief executive officer of San Francisco-based PG&E
Corp. <PCG.N>, recently told the company's annual meeting of
shareholders. PG&E's Pacific Gas & Electric subsidiary runs the
Diablo Canyon nuclear plant on California's central coast, which is
among the plants boosting production.
"I'm a huge believer that nuclear power should play a part in our
energy needs," Michael Morrell, president and chief operating officer
of Allegheny Energy Supply Co., a unit of Allegheny Energy Inc.
<AYE.N>, of Hagerstown, Md., said at a recent conference. "But I
don't believe there will be a nuclear plant built in my lifetime,"
the 53 year old executive added.
-------------
Cheney pushes Bush energy plan; more nuclear power
WASHINGTON, June 13 (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney on
Wednesday trumpeted the Bush administration's plan to bolster
domestic energy production and make the country more energy
efficient, stressing the need to diversify supplies and expand
nuclear power generation before plants get much older.
Cheney, speaking before a forum on energy efficiency, said the nation
had made great strides in the past three decades in making
appliances, vehicles and turbines more efficient, but said much more
needed to be done.
He noted that the Bush energy plan released last month provides for
top-to-bottom reviews within the government on how best to trim
energy consumption in federal buildings and properties, notably in
some of the antiquated operations in the military.
"All federal agencies need to take that extra step" to conserve
energy, Cheney said, stressing that his expertise on defense matters
made him aware of the need to revamp inefficient domestic military
bases by either shutting them down or rebuilding them with modern
infrastructure.
Cheney, the former head of oilfield services giant Halliburton Co
<HAL.N>, was defense secretary during the first Bush administration.
"The fact is, if you look at a lot of the bases we operate around the
country, some of them shouldn't be operating at all. They could be
operated at much more efficient rate," he said.
"We've got facilities that operate at 25, 30, 40 percent of capacity,
but you maintain the entire facility. We don't have an efficient, if
you will, base structure at all."
WOULD LIKE TO INCREASE NUCLEAR POWER
On energy supply, Cheney mentioned more than once during his talk the
need to bolster nuclear generation, saying the nuclear option would
provide emissions-free electricity without the greenhouse gases
blamed for warming the globe.
Cheney said nuclear power generates around 20 percent of the
country's power needs currently.
"We'd like to increase that," Cheney said.
The problem, he said, rested on the issue of the government taking
spent nuclear fuel from commercial reactors and storing it as
mandated under the law.
The only storage site under consideration is the Yucca Mountain venue
in the Nevada desert. Democrats in the Senate oppose the storage
plan, arguing spent fuel should remain on-site at the more than 100
reactors around the country.
Democrats, notably the two Nevada senators, agree with
environmentalists that the Yucca storage plan is too risky, and think
transporting 40,000 metric tons of waste across the country to a
central location is rife with unnecessary danger.
Cheney said "the issue must be addressed."
The vice president was interrupted during his appearance by an anti-
global warming protester, who demanded to know why the United States
under the Bush administration had opted out of the Kyoto Protocol,
the treaty to cut greenhouse gases.
Cheney took the heckler's question. He said people who complained the
loudest about global warming were the first ones to scream about
mentions of using nuclear power to help out.
"If you're really concerned about global warming and carbon dioxide
emissions, then we need to come over here and aggressively pursue the
use of nuclear power, which we can do safely and sanely, but for 20-
some years now has been a big no-no politically.
"Some of the same people who yell loudest about global warming and
carbon dioxide emissions are also the first ones to scream when
somebody says, 'Gee, we ought to use nuclear power,'" Cheney said.
---------------
Scientist confirms nuclear HK baby tests-paper
HONG KONG, June 10 (Reuters) - A scientist who led Cold War
experiments on the effects of nuclear fallout has confirmed that
corpses of Hong Kong babies were used, the South China Morning Post
reported on Sunday.
Lawrence Kulp, a project leader of "Project Sunshine," was quoted as
saying that British scientists carried out tests on the corpses of
babies, children and adults in Hong Kong, then a British colony.
U.S. scientists turned to Taiwan in their search for corpses, Kulp
was quoted as saying, though the story did not specify whether any
bodies were obtained there.
British newspapers reported last week that around 6,000 stillborn
babies and dead infants had been sent to the United States and
Britain from hospitals in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong and South
America over a 15-year period without the permission of parents.
Project Sunshine began in 1955 when University of Chicago doctor
Willard Libby -- who was later awarded a Nobel prize for his research
into carbon dating -- appealed for bodies, preferably stillborn or
newly-born babies, to test the impact of atomic fallout, the reports
said.
Kulp later led the project, the Post reported.
Hong Kong was a British colony for more than 150 years before being
handed back to mainland China in mid-1997.
Kulp was quoted as saying that Project Sunshine had been organised on
a "doctor to doctor" basis and that it had drawn the participation of
British scientists. It was not a government project, he said.
Hong Kong health officials said last week they would not investigate
the reports unless specific evidence came to light that local babies
had been used in the tests.
Health officials were not available for further comment on Sunday.
Australian officials on Thursday confirmed that cremated bones from
some Australian babies, children and adults had been shipped to the
United States and Britain to test for fallout from nuclear tests.
---------------
U.S. trims annual nuclear power plant license fee
WASHINGTON, June 11 (Reuters) - The cost of owning a U.S. nuclear
power plant is getting about $62,000 cheaper.
That's how much the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will lower the
annual fee it levies against utilities for each of their electricity-
generating reactors run by nuclear power. The agency said the new
lower fee would be $2.753 million per reactor.
The NRC is one of the few government agencies that is almost
completely self-funded, which means its operating costs are covered
by the fees the agency collects from the reactors it regulates and
monitoring services it provides.
Because there are 103 nuclear reactors in the U.S., the agency should
bring in $284 million, or about two-thirds of its current $453
million budget.
The rest of the agency's funding comes, in part, from license fees
for research reactors at universities and for facilities that
manufacture fuel for nuclear power plants.
The NRC also charges hospitals a fee for making sure equipment used
in certain treatment programs, such as chemotherapy, is safe.
Nuclear power plants supply about 20 percent of the electricity in
the United States.
The Bush administration's new national energy plan seeks to boost
nuclear power use, calling for more reactors to be built on currently
licensed sites.
----------------
Germany defends nuclear power phaseout deal
BERLIN, June 11 (Reuters) - The German government defended a nuclear
phase-out accord with industry on Monday, as doubts resurfaced that
the hard-fought agreement would achieve its aim of switching off all
the country's reactors.
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and chiefs of Germany's four main power
groups signed the accord in the Chancellery on Monday evening. The
pact reached last year commits industry to closing down nuclear
operations over a period of around 20 years.
Energy industry chiefs said over the weekend the policy -- with a
time frame spanning several parliaments and which is staunchly
opposed by German conservatives -- could be reversed at some point in
future.
But Environment Minister Juergen Trittin said that in reality, the
accord merely accelerated and formalized a long-term move away from
nuclear fuel that had been taking place anyway.
"The construction of a nuclear plant has not been completed or
requested in Germany for 20 years," Trittin, a member of Schroeder's
ecologist Greens junior coalition partners, told the Tagesspiegel
newspaper.
"Why should firms invest in a technology that will only make returns
after 15 years, while they can be making money out of a modern gas
power plant within three, four or five years?"
SUPPORT FOR "GREENER" FUEL
Successive governments here have seen nuclear power as the key to
supplying Germany's post-World War Two energy needs and, despite
widespread popular skepticism and a virulent anti-nuclear movement,
backed its expansion.
The country's 19 existing plants currently provide around a third of
Germany's electricity needs.
Under the accord signed after months of tough negotiations last June,
no further approvals will be given for nuclear power plants in
Germany and the government has pledged to actively support new
"greener" fuel forms to replace the lost energy.
Shipments of nuclear waste for reprocessing must end by 2005, meaning
operators will have to store their waste on site until a suitable
centralized storage site is found.
The accord sets an average upper limit of 32 years' operational time
for each reactor before its closure.
But to the dismay of the anti-nuclear Greens, Schroeder insisted the
country's four main utilities -- E.ON AG, RWE AG, Energie Baden-
Wuerttemberg and HEW AG -- will be allowed to make trade-offs between
their plants within that time limit.
Thus, by closing old reactors earlier than they strictly need to,
operators can extend the operational life of their newer, more
efficient plants. It could be as late as 2021 before the last reactor
is finally taken from the power grid.
E.ON Chief Executive Ulrich Hartmann was quoted on Sunday as saying
he did not think the accord, which is due to get parliament's
blessing later this year, would mean Germany would forever be a
nuclear-free nation.
"Not even Mr. Trittin talks about the irreversibility of this as far
as I am aware," Hartmann told Welt am Sonntag newspaper.
"On the contrary, I am certain that nuclear energy will have an
important role to play in the future. We shall nonetheless stick to
the agreements with the government as long as it sticks to them," he
added.
The energy industry's skepticism of the agreement is shared by
ecology and anti-nuclear lobbying groups, which plan demonstrations
around the signing ceremony.
"This is a placebo for the people," said Susanne Ochse of the German
branch of Greenpeace. "The government is pretending the nuclear phase-
out has been established for all time. But anyone who has seen this
accord knows that is pure nonsense."
----------------
AGs Warn Feds: Radioactive Waste Cleanup Delays Will Be Costly
OLYMPIA, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 12, 2001--The U.S. Department
of Energy's proposed budget to clean up the nation's nuclear waste is
inadequate and will unnecessarily cost taxpayers billions of dollars,
Washington Attorney General Christine Gregoire warned Energy
Secretary Spencer Abraham in a letter sent today.
"The federal government needs to fulfill its cleanup commitments just
like anyone else," Gregoire said of the letter. "Hanford is one of
the worst waste sites in the nation and Energy should set an example
for responsibly cleaning up its mess."
The Hanford Nuclear Reservation holds 60 percent of the country's
most highly radioactive waste in tanks that are decades past their
expected lifespan. At least one million gallons of the waste have
already leaked into the ground.
"Each day that we delay cleaning up contamination and decommissioning
obsolete and dangerous contaminated facilities costs millions of
dollars because it is just another day that DOE must continue to
maintain the enormous `mortgage' cost of keeping its facilities and
the nuclear materials in them in a safe, secure and stable
condition," the letter from Gregoire and nine other attorneys general
said.
Additionally, delays will likely result in expensive court battles as
states take legal action to force DOE to comply with existing
agreements on cleanup deadlines.
DOE is obligated to begin construction of a nuclear waste
glassification plant at Hanford this summer and to begin the actual
process of turning the liquid waste into more easily storable glass
by the end of 2007. Gregoire has instructed attorneys in her office
to begin preparation for legal action against DOE if it does not
demonstrate the capacity to meet those deadlines.
"The Department not only has the responsibility to be a good steward
of tax dollars, it also has the obligation to comply with the law,"
the AGs wrote. "Happily, these interests coincide in this case,
because keeping cleanups on track ... can save billions of dollars
that would otherwise be wasted keeping the lights on in surplus,
contaminated facilities."
The DOE has requested a reduction of approximately $58 million in its
2002 budget for nuclear cleanup at Hanford compared with this year's
figures. To meet its obligations at the Hanford site, the department
would need an increase of several hundred million dollars next year.
Today's letter to the Energy Secretary was signed by the attorneys
general of Washington, Colorado, California, Idaho, Missouri, Nevada,
New Mexico, New York, Ohio and Oregon.
In the letter to Secretary Abraham, the AGs expressed skepticism that
management reform or new technologies could make up for the
substantial budget cuts he has requested.
The attorneys general also provided Abraham with recommendations on
increasing efficiency at DOE cleanup sites and pledged to work with
him to streamline management at the sites.
--------------
Exelon Corp. Lays Off Nearly 300
CHICAGO (AP) - Electric utility Exelon Corp. said Wednesday it is
laying off nearly 300 people beginning in July, mostly in clerical
and maintenance positions.
The layoffs are part of the job reductions that were announced last
October when Philadelphia-based PECO Energy and Unicom merged,
creating Exelon. The layoffs include 138 jobs at Exelon Nuclear and
154 at Commonwealth Edison, a subsidiary of Unicom.
Exelon officials say the layoffs were based on eliminating
redundancies and were necessary to deliver its product at a
competitive price. The layoffs should not affect the company's
ability to distribute power to its customers, Exelon said.
The Chicago-based company is one of the nation's largest electric
utilities and has annual revenues of more than $15 billion. It has 5
million customers, with 3.4 million in northeastern Illinois and the
rest in Pennsylvania. Exelon also provides gas to 425,000
Philadelphia-area customers.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sandy Perle Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100
Director, Technical Extension 2306
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Service Fax:(714) 668-3149
ICN Pharmaceuticals, Inc. E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net
ICN Plaza, 3300 Hyland Avenue E-Mail: sperle@icnpharm.com
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Personal Website: http://www.geocities.com/scperle
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com
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