news

["Michael Stabin" <michael.g.stabin@vanderbilt.edu>]

The following from Sandy Perle:



From: "Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>

To: "nuclear news list" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>

Date: Sat, 9 Mar 2002 09:40:48 -0800



Index:



-----------------

CP&L Brunswick Plant Completes World Record Operating Run

GE shareholder group calls on company to exit nuclear business

Bush ordered plans for nuclear attacks on 7 states: paper

Myanmar told IAEA of nuclear plan last year: sources

-----------------



CP&L Brunswick Plant Completes World Record Operating Run, Shuts Down Unit 1

For Refueling Outage



SOUTHPORT, N.C., March 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Operators at CP&L's

Brunswick Nuclear Plant shut down and disconnected one of the facility's two

units

from the electric grid Friday, March 1 at 10:14 p.m. to begin a scheduled

refueling

and maintenance outage.



Taking Brunswick Unit 1 out of service officially ended the plant's world

record for the

continuous operation of a light-water nuclear reactor.  The unit operated

safely and

reliably for 707 days, 5 hours, and 39 minutes since the completion of its

last

refueling outage March 24, 2000.



"The performance of Unit 1 demonstrates that it is possible to continuously

operate a

light-water reactor throughout a two-year fuel cycle," said Jack Keenan,

vice

president of the Brunswick Nuclear Plant.  "While we will always shut down a

unit

when needed to ensure safety and reliability, our long-term goal is to

regularly

operate our units 'breaker-to-breaker' between refueling outages."



In January, Brunswick Plant Unit 1 surpassed the previously held world

record of 668

days that had been established in 1999 by Three Mile Island Unit 1.

Worldwide,

there are approximately 430 nuclear power plants located in 31 countries.

Light-

water reactors such as those operated at the Brunswick Plant are in

operation in

nearly 350 of these facilities.



"Equipment reliability and human performance at the Brunswick Plant have

improved

over the years, and we have plans to continue that trend into the future,"

said

Keenan.  "In fact, both Brunswick Plant units have operated without being

shut down

since a Unit 2 refueling outage was completed on March 27, 2001,

establishing a

new plant record of 339 days of dual-unit continuous operations."



"The key to our success both now and into the future lies with our dedicated

and

highly skilled workforce," added Keenan.  "Our recent accomplishments have

been

made possible by a workplace culture that values continuous improvement,

solid

communications, and good teamwork."



The Brunswick Plant operates on two-year fuel cycles.  Each spring, one of

the

plant's reactors is shut down for approximately one month to replace some of

the fuel

and to perform a variety of maintenance activities.  The 2002 refueling

outage of

Brunswick Unit 1 is its 14th since beginning commercial operation 25 years

ago.  In

addition to refueling the reactor, many maintenance activities that cannot

be

performed while the plant is on line will be completed.



The first phase of a multi-year process to increase the plant's electric

output by

approximately 15 percent will also be implemented during this outage.  Major

work

activities include maintenance and upgrades on the main turbine-generator,

several

feedwater heaters and pumps, as well as enhancements to a variety of

monitoring

and control equipment.



Refueling outages at CP&L's four nuclear units located in the Carolinas are

scheduled during the spring and fall seasons when the peak demand for

electricity is

lowest.  During these plant outages, other company generating facilities

provide

electricity to customers.  Last year, CP&L's nuclear generating plants

produce

approximately 45 percent of the company's total generation.



"The fact that the Brunswick Plant has safely and reliably generated

electricity for

millions of people in the Carolinas can be attributed in large part to the

top quality

work performed in past refueling outages," said Keenan.  "Both our CP&L

personnel

and outside resources working this year's outage fully understand the

importance of

an effective and safe outage.  We expect to successfully return the plant to

full

service in early April."



The Brunswick Nuclear Plant is located near Southport, N.C.  CP&L, a

subsidiary of

Progress Energy (NYSE: PGN), provides electricity and related services to

more than

1.2 million customers in North Carolina and South Carolina.  The company is

headquartered in Raleigh, N.C., and serves a territory encompassing over

33,000

miles including the cities of Raleigh, Wilmington, Fayetteville, and

Asheville in North

Carolina and Florence and Sumter in South Carolina.  For more information

about

CP&L, visit the company's Web site at: http://www.cpl.com.

-----------------



GE shareholder group calls on company to exit nuclear business



NEW YORK, March 8 (Reuters) - A shareholder group on Friday demanded General

Electric Co.<GE.N>, the world's largest company by market value, to exit the

nuclear

power business because of the financial and environmental costs.



"GE's commitment to a declining industry with growing risk is contrary to

the interests

of GE shareholders and the public," the GE Stockholders' Alliance said in a

proposal

listed in the company's 2001 annual statement.



The group asked for the company's management to issue a report in four

months on

the feasibility of withdrawing from the production of new nuclear power

reactors and

the decommission of GE reactors currently on line. The group recommended,

however, for GE to continue servicing reactors still in use.



The report will assist shareholders and management in bringing GE to a "high

moral

ground of corporate responsibility and leadership", the group said in the

proxy

statement.



Final voting on the proposal, which was mailed out to shareholders today,

will take

place at the company's annual meeting on April 24, Fairfield,

Connecticut-based GE

said. The proposal has been around for several years, a company spokesman

said,

and last year got 6 percent of the votes.



GE's board of directors recommended shareholders to vote against the

proposal. A

company spokesman said GE did not have any additional background information

on

the shareholder group.

-----------------



Bush ordered plans for nuclear attacks on 7 states: paper



LOS ANGELES, March 9 (Kyodo) - The administration of President George W.

Bush

ordered the U.S. military to prepare plans to use nuclear weapons against at

least

seven countries including China, North Korea, Iran and Iraq, the Los Angeles

Times

reported Saturday.



Citing a ''classified Pentagon report,'' the newspaper said the Bush

administration

also ordered production of new, smaller nuclear weapons for use in certain

battlefield

situations such as retaliation for attacks with nuclear, biological or

chemical

weapons.



The three others listed as potential targets are Russia, Libya and Syria,

the

newspaper said. The report entitled ''Nuclear Posture Review'' was signed by

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and provided to Congress on Jan. 8, it

said.



U.S. officials have long acknowledged they had detailed nuclear plans for an

attack

on Russia, the newspaper said. The report apparently marks the first time

that an

official list of potential target countries has come to light, the paper

quoted analysts

as saying.

--------------



Myanmar told IAEA of nuclear plan last year: sources



VIENNA, March 8 (Kyodo) - The military government of Myanmar notified the

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) last year of its plan to build a

nuclear

research facility in Myanmar, diplomatic sources said Friday.



IAEA officials have also confirmed that the international nuclear watchdog

agency

has been notified of the Myanmar plan.



The Myanmar government, reacting to U.S. media reports that Myanmar was

building

a nuclear reactor with Russia's help, has acknowledged that Myanmar has a

nuclear

science program and insisted that Myanmar has nothing to hide.



''Our main objective to study nuclear science was for peaceful purposes, for

the

health and agriculture sectors, firstly to produce radio isotopes for

medical purpose,''

Myanmar Deputy Foreign Minister Khin Maung Win told reporters on Jan. 21.



Diplomatic sources said the IAEA received a report from the Myanmar

government

last year that it plans to acquire a small nuclear reactor from Russia as

part of its

nuclear research program.



When the IAEA inquired about the location and the size of the nuclear

reactor, the

Myanmar government told the agency that details had yet to be decided and

they

were holding talks with Russia, the sources said.



The IAEA has told Myanmar to notify the agency of details of the nuclear

facility once

they are firmed up, the sources said.



''We want to continue this program and sought the advice and assistance of

the IAEA

in September 2000...The IAEA sent a delegation to Myanmar in June 2001 and

gave

us the necessary advice in their report,'' Khin Maung Win said.

------------------





************************************************************************

You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To unsubscribe,

send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu  Put the text "unsubscribe

radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail, with no subject line.

You can view the Radsafe archives at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/radsafe/