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Ukrainian Nuclear Reactor Faulty
Index:
Ukrainian Nuclear Reactor Faulty
Cameras helping retrieve dropped nuclear fuel-BNFL
Ministry to temporarily keep radioactive mineral
PSEG Nuclear 'All Green,' Says Regulators in Annual Assessment
Ecologist named French environment minister
Slovak govt to sell power generator mid-2002
========================================
Ukrainian Nuclear Reactor Faulty
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) - A reactor at Ukraine's Yuzhna nuclear power
plant came to a near-halt after a malfunction in its circulation
pumps, officials said Wednesday.
Two pumps at the No. 2 reactor broke down Tuesday, forcing workers to
reduce the reactor's output by 90 percent until Wednesday morning,
said the state nuclear company Energoatom.
The reactor is currently working at 81 percent capacity, Energoatom
said. No radiation leaks were reported in the incident, the second at
the plant in less than a week.
On Friday, one of Yuzhna's three reactors was halted due to a
malfunction in its steam generator.
Ukraine relies on nuclear power for about 40 percent of its
electricity, but the country's aging reactors are often shut down due
to minor malfunctions or for repairs. In December, Ukraine
permanently closed down the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, site of
the world's worst nuclear accident in 1986.
--------------
Cameras helping retrieve dropped nuclear fuel-BNFL
LONDON, July 10 (Reuters) - British Nuclear Fuels is using remote-
controlled cameras in a bid to retrieve a batch of radioactive fuel
rods which were dropped last week at its Chapelcross nuclear power
station, the state-owned company said on Tuesday.
"We are putting remote-controlled cameras into the shielding machine
where the rods were dropped," a spokeswoman for BNFL told Reuters.
The BNFL spokeswoman said the cameras would help BNFL work out how to
retrieve the rods, which where being taken out of the reactor during
routine refuelling when the incident happened.
The Chapelcross plant, in Scotland, is a first-generation Magnox
plant around 40 years old and BNFL has already said it will be closed
between 2008 and 2010, although market conditions and technical
issues could result in an earlier closure.
The spokeswoman said it was too early to say exactly how the fuel
rods were dropped.
"All we know is that the grab arm (which was carrying the basket of
spent fuel) came unlatched," she said, adding the rods had fallen
within a protective shield and did not present a radiation danger.
Although refuelling at the reactor was halted, Chapelcross's three
other reactors continue to operate normally.
BNFL said it will not consider refuelling at its other reactors until
the Chapelcross incident has been fully investigated.
Britain's nuclear watchdog, the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate,
said it was carrying out an investigation, but on Tuesday refused to
speculate when the inquiry might be concluded.
---------------
Ministry to temporarily keep radioactive mineral
TOKYO, July 12 (Kyodo) - A 13.1-ton shipment of monazite, a low-level
radioactive mineral, bound for a warehouse in Katsuura, Chiba
Prefecture, wound up at the education ministry's underground parking
lot Wednesday after meeting stiff opposition from local authorities,
ministry officials said.
The cargo will remain at the parking lot in Tokyo's Kasumigaseki
district, possibly until July 20, by when Nampo Shigen, the private
company that owns it, has to find a more appropriate storage site,
the officials said.
At the parking lot, the mineral was put into six metal containers
shielded by lead blocks and sandbags for safety reasons since
extended exposure could have a negative impact on humans.
A trailer truck carrying the cargo from Enzan, Yamanashi Prefecture,
arrived in Katsuura late Tuesday night.
However, Katsuura Mayor Teruo Fujihira and about 50 citizens and
municipal officials joined together to block delivery of the material
to the proposed storage site.
Despite assurances by the ministry that there is no danger of a
radiation leakage, the company was forced to give up its plan to
store the shipment in Chiba Prefecture, for which it had obtained the
ministry's permission.
Chiba Gov. Akiko Domoto was instrumental in moving the shipment out
of the prefecture. ''We absolutely cannot accept delivery of the
monazite at this time as we cannot possibly gain the understanding of
residents,'' she said.
Chiba prefectural officials said the prefectural government was
informed of the shipment Tuesday night by the Ministry of Education,
Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
Nampo Shigen moved the monazite to Enzan in March after its previous
storage sites -- in Nagano, Saitama and Mie prefectures -- were
discovered by local residents.
However, the residents of Enzan also showed huge opposition to the
storage and Enzan municipal authorities told Nampo Shigen to move the
cargo elsewhere.
Nampo Shigen officials said the company hopes to sell the mineral,
which is primarily used for hot springs, to domestic buyers or
overseas.
Those who possess monazite, which contains thorium and uranium, are
required to report to the government if they have amounts in excess
of a designated limit.
--------------
PSEG Nuclear 'All Green,' Says Regulators in Annual Assessment
Meeting
HANCOCK'S BRIDGE, N.J., July 10 /PRNewswire/ -- PSEG Nuclear's Salem
and Hope Creek Nuclear Units received positive ratings in its most
recent performance report from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
(NRC). The report covered the period from April 1, 2000 through March
31, 2001, and the NRC determined that the plants operated in a manner
that preserved public health and safety and fully met all cornerstone
objectives.
The report covered the period from April 1, 2000 through March 31,
2001. During that time, the NRC conducted numerous targeted
inspections at PSEG Nuclear in addition to the daily monitoring done
by the commission's inspectors stationed at the plant. The "green"
assessment indicates the units are within the Licensee Response
Column of the NRC's Action Matrix based on all inspections findings
being classified as having very low safety significance and all
Performance Indicators indicating performance at a level requiring no
additional NRC oversight.
"Our performance has improved for the past three consecutive years,
thanks to the dedication and commitment of our employees," says Harry
Keiser, President and Chief Nuclear Officer. "This report card from
the NRC is further evidence of our progress."
Through the first six months of 2001, PSEG Nuclear generated over
12.4 million megawatt-hours of electricity, operating at 89.1%
capacity factor. This represents the best first six months in the
history of PSEG Nuclear.
PSEG Nuclear operates Salem Units 1 and 2, two 1,100 megawatt
pressurized water reactors, and Hope Creek, a 1,050 megawatt boiling
water reactor. The three units are located on one site in Salem
County, NJ, and together comprise the second largest nuclear site in
the country.
----------------
Ecologist named French environment minister
PARIS, July 10 (Reuters) - Ecologist backbencher Yves Cochet was
officially named France's environment minister on Tuesday, as
Dominique Voynet bowed out of the cabinet post to concentrate on her
new role as Greens Party leader.
Cochet, 55, was widely tipped to get the job, which has been the
domain of the Greens in Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin's
coalition. His appointment was made public by the President Jacques
Chirac's office.
A computer whizz and professor of mathematics, Cochet first showed
his environmental credentials in the 1970s when he campaigned against
the use of nuclear power.
He has been a member of the Greens Party since its creation in 1984
and served as a European member of parliament in the early 1990s.
Last year Cochet delivered to Jospin a report on renewable energy and
ways of conserving energy containing 137 proposed measures. So keen
is he on tapping environmentally friendly energy sources that he even
built his own solar-powered house.
He also holds strong views on social matters and has links to an anti-
globalisation movement. In April, he signed an appeal asking
consumers to boycott products made by Danone after the French food
group said it planned layoffs.
Outgoing minister Voynet, 42, chose to give up her cabinet position
to deliver on a promise to simplify the decision-making process of
her ecologist party and to try to end frequent internal wrangling.
Well-known to the French public, Voynet was widely viewed as
"courageous, intelligent and dynamic," according to a recent Ifop
poll.
But her time in the environment post has been far from free of
trouble as she clashed repeatedly with the nuclear lobby, hunters and
farmers.
She defended her record by saying that though she was an ecologist,
the government in which she found herself was not.
In December 1999, her image took a severe knock when she refused to
cut short a holiday after the oil tanker Erika broke in two and sank
in heavy seas off the French coast, saying she was not convinced the
oil spill posed a serious ecological threat.
France's Brittany coast was badly affected by the pollution.
---------------
Slovak govt to sell power generator mid-2002
BRATISLAVA, July 11 (Reuters) - The Slovak government on Wednesday
approved a plan to sell 45 percent of the country's dominant
electricity producer but said it first needed to restructure the
undercapitalised utility.
Economy Minister Lubomir Harach said the cabinet's plan aimed to
conclude the sale of the minority stake in Slovenske Elektrarne (SE)
to a strategic investor by July next year.
The move follows a statement by Slovakia's Privatisation Ministry at
the end of May that the government would probably not be able to sell
a minority stake in SE before the end of its term in autumn of 2002.
Harach told a news conference that the government would choose an
adviser for the sale of a minority stake in SE's power generating
branch by the end of October.
The state will split SE into a power producer, the national
transmission grid -- which will remain in state hands -- and a small
heating company at the beginning of November.
"Overall we can see the date of completion of the privatisation of SE
in July of 2002," Harach said.
Slovakia intends to sell 44.79 percent of the power generating
company, Harach said, but he did not specify the structure of the
deal.
A government document on the SE sale, however, said the state would
consider selling a smaller portion directly to strategic owner, which
would then increase its stake to 44.79 percent through a capital
hike.
According to law, the state must keep 51 percent of the power
generating company. The remaining 4.21 percent stake is to stay
divided between gas monopoly SPP and the state restitution fund.
The power generator will include Slovakia's two nuclear power
stations, one of which is set to be phased out by 2008, but not
Slovakia's largest hydroelectric plant, Gabcikovo Dam.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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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