Swiss vote to keep nuclear power in mammoth vote

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@EARTHLINK.NET>]

Index:



Swiss vote to keep nuclear power in mammoth vote

Next 50 Years Hold Promise of Increased Generation  Nuclear Energy

Nuclear issue threatens to derail EU energy plans

Democrats Push to Retain Nuclear Ban

Minn. House approves Xcel plan for nuclear waste

==================================



Swiss vote to keep nuclear power in mammoth vote



GENEVA, May 18 (Reuters) - Swiss voters followed government advice on 

Sunday and opted not to scrap nuclear power.



All eyes were on the nuclear vote, on a giant referendum day when the 

electorate were presented with nine national ballots and a raft of 

local and cantonal government decisions to form the biggest vote in 

over 130 years.



The Swiss government had urged the electorate to vote against 

initiatives to phase out the country's five nuclear plants, arguing 

it was premature to scrap a cheap energy source which provides 40 

percent of Swiss needs.



The VSE electricity industry body on Sunday applauded the victory, 

saying it created a more secure environment for energy companies to 

plan their future strategies.



Anti-nuclear campaigners, who had wanted atomic power production 

phased out within the next 20 years in favour of other energy 

sources, were disappointed.



Philippe de Rougemont, who represents a coalition of political 

parties, non-governmental organisations and unions in favour of 

scrapping atomic energy, said the "No" vote would discourage firms 

from exploring renewable energy sources.



He said many people were "disgusted" at the influence of the pro-

nuclear lobby.  "It seems that money determines the outcome of the 

vote," he said. "We have a very serious problem in our democracy."



Under Switzerland's system of direct democracy, the people are 

sovereign and government decisions are put to referendum votes, 

although the electorate usually toes the state line.



The public can also put forward issues to be voted on by collecting 

100,000 signatures.



In Sunday's mammoth referendum, voters backed two government bills to 

cut army funding and reform the civil defence force. But they 

rejected seven people's initiatives including proposals on disabled 

rights and car-free Sundays.



Almost half the eligible population cast their vote, much higher than 

in recent polls and surprising many observers who had expected voters 

to be turned away by the sheer complexity of the ballot.



"It's better that they bring all these things together rather than 

going three or four times a year," said pensioner Joseph Perren.

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



Next 50 Years Hold Promise of Increased, Clean Electricity Generation 

from Nuclear Energy



SANTA MONICA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 20, 2003--After a 

successful 50 years of bringing the "Atoms for Peace" initiative to 

fruition, nuclear power plants will become even more important in the 

21st century, a top industry executive said here today.



Donald C. Hintz, chairman of the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) and 

president of Entergy Corp., noted that 103 reactors operating in 31 

states provide electricity to one of every five U.S. homes and 

businesses, and provide 70 percent of the electricity that comes from 

sources that don't pollute the air. U.S. nuclear power plants in 2002 

set an electricity production record for the fourth straight year, 

generating 780 billion kilowatt-hours (kwh) of electricity, 11 

billion kilowatt-hours more than in 2001.



"Since 1990, we've seen an increase in output equivalent to 25 new 

1,000 megawatt nuclear plants. That increased electricity production 

sustained the U.S. economy through boom times in the '90s, and is an 

important stabilizing factor in a time of economic uncertainty and 

international turmoil," Hintz told more than 250 attendees at NEI's 

annual conference.



Celebrating its 50th anniversary, the nuclear energy industry is well 

positioned for a bright future, Hintz said. "In our 50th year, we are 

carrying forward the legacy of the U.S. government's most successful 

energy policy--inaugurated in December 1953 with President Dwight 

Eisenhower's renowned 'Atoms for Peace' speech.



"In the next 50 years--and beyond--the ability to generate 

electricity with nuclear energy will grow even more important, but it 

may be outshone by the potential to produce hydrogen using nuclear 

technology, and to make available the waters of the world's oceans to 

grow crops and quench thirsts in arid regions," he said.



The Bush administration's energy policy includes a vital role for 

nuclear energy in assuring that Americans can benefit from a secure, 

diverse energy portfolio, he said.



"One of the most significant initiatives for the future of the 

industry is the President's $1.2 billion commitment to development of 

a hydrogen economy. The administration has acknowledged the potential 

value of nuclear energy in generating the massive amounts of 

electricity necessary to produce the needed quantities of hydrogen in 

the near term. Longer term, advanced nuclear technologies can be used 

to produce hydrogen directly."



National energy policy legislation being considered by the U.S. 

Senate includes provisions that would provide financial incentives 

for a limited number of advanced-design nuclear power plants to 

stimulate new plant construction. The legislation supports the 

Department of Energy's Nuclear Power 2010 initiative to achieve new 

nuclear power plant construction by the end of the decade.



The energy legislation also includes funding for a hydrogen 

production/electric power demonstration reactor in Idaho. Powering 

water desalinization plants is another area of opportunity for the 

industry, Hintz said. This dual role for nuclear energy already is 

being explored in some Asian countries, such as India.



"These next 50 years represent not only an opportunity for our 

industry, but a responsibility--to play an even greater role in 

bringing light where there is darkness, food where there is hunger, 

prosperity where there is poverty."



Among the industry's immediate challenges, he said, is to support 

approval of comprehensive energy legislation pending in Congress; to 

support the use of consumer payments to the Nuclear Waste Fund 

explicitly for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste disposal project; to 

resolve material performance issues that have surfaced at some 

facilities; and to better inform the public and policymakers about 

the industry's strong nuclear plant security and emergency 

preparedness programs.



"Nuclear energy can play a vital role as the nation enters a new, 

aggressive power plant construction phase--if we're ready. We have a 

comprehensive plan in place that lays the groundwork for new nuclear 

plant construction, and we're two years along toward implementing 

it," Hintz said. "We're working on hundreds of other practical steps 

necessary to turn the new generation of nuclear technology from a 

drawing board concept to a solid business proposition that Wall 

Street will want to finance, and that companies will want to build 

and own."



The Nuclear Energy Institute is the nuclear energy industry's policy 

organization. Additional information about nuclear energy is 

available on NEI's Internet site at http://www.nei.org

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



Nuclear issue threatens to derail EU energy plans



BRUSSELS, May 20 (Reuters) - Plans to open the European Union's 

entire gas and electricity markets by 2007 could be derailed by an 

argument over nuclear power plants, EU diplomats said on Tuesday.



EU officials are scrambling to bridge a gap between the European 

Parliament, which wants the bill to prevent power firms to finance 

acquisitions with public funds set aside to dismantle nuclear plants, 

and national governments which do not.



The nuclear issue is the only major point standing in the way of 

passing the law that will complete the liberalisation of the EU's 

energy markets and break the hold of state-owned monopolies over gas 

and power sales to industry and households.



Parliament gives the legislation its second reading next month and if 

no compromise is reached by then the bill will be subject to lengthy 

negotiations with governments, which could jeopardize the law's 

planned start date of July 2004.



Germany is leading opposition to parliament's nuclear clause, with 

France also reluctant, diplomats said. They do not want the issue 

linked to the broader liberalisation effort.



But Claude Turmes, a Green EU deputy from Luxembourg who is heading 

parliament's work on the bill, said the decommissioning clause was 

vital to stop nuclear power firms using billions of euros of funds as 

an unfair advantage over competitors.



He said companies like E.ON, RWE and EDF were using funds for 

acquisition sprees in countries like Britain, Italy and Spain, where 

the market is already more open than in France and Germany.



"I urge MEPs from other countries to be aware that the internal 

market is completely biased if it is not solved and the only place to 

solve it is here," Turmes told Reuters.



At a meeting with EU government representatives last Friday, which 

was meant to work out a final deal on the bill, Germany said it would 

block it if it included the clause, Turmes said.



Parliament's energy committee will vote on the bill on Thursday ahead 

of a final ballot by the whole assembly in June.



EU laws passed in 1996 and 1998 ensured that in each country, at 

least 30 percent of the electricity market and 20 percent of the gas 

market is already open to competition, figures that rise to 35 

percent and 28 percent this year.



The new bill would ensure that all firms in the EU, even the 

smallest, could shop around for the best deal from energy suppliers 

from July 2004. By 2007, household customers would be in the same 

position.

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



Democrats Push to Retain Nuclear Ban



WASHINGTON (AP) - The development of low-yield nuclear weapons could 

precipitate a new arms race, Senate Democrats said Monday, working to 

keep the Bush administration from lifting a decade-old ban.



Low-yield weapons were one of the few contentious issues as the 

Senate began debate on a bill authorizing $400.5 billion in 2004 

defense programs, about 4.7 percent more than the current spending 

and roughly what the Pentagon had requested.



The bill would meet or exceed spending requests by the Bush 

administration for many sophisticated defense programs, such as 

unmanned planes and missile defense. But it excludes most of a 

Pentagon proposal that would give Defense Secretary Donald H. 

Rumsfeld greater control over civilian employees and high-ranking 

military personnel and reduce congressional oversight.



The changes to civilian personnel rules are included in the House 

version of the bill to be considered this week. Republicans said they 

may try include some similar changes in the Senate version so it will 

be easier for House-Senate negotiators to reconcile the two bills.



Both the House and Senate bills would end the ban on research and 

development of low-yield nuclear weapons. These are warheads of less 

than five kilotons, or about a third of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima 

in World War II. The weapons could cause less damage than existing 

nuclear weapons and may be useful in destroying biological and 

chemical weapons.



Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said he would offer an amendment to 

preserve the ban. Lifting it would ``break down the firewall that we 

have always maintained between nuclear weapons and other weapons, and 

that has succeeded so well for so long in preventing nuclear war.''



He said ending the ban ``would encourage other nations to develop 

nuclear deterrents of their own. The entire world will be at greater 

risk that these weapons will be used, and used against us,'' he said.



Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, the Armed Services' Committee's top 

Democrat, said the United States shouldn't lift its ban while ``we're 

telling others not to go down the road to nuclear weapons.''



``Instead of being a leader in the effort to prevent the 

proliferation of nuclear weapons, we are recklessly driving down the 

same road,'' he said.



Sen. John Warner, R-Va., the committee's chairman, and other 

opponents of the ban say it hasn't stopped other nations from 

developing nuclear weapons. Lifting it would boost U.S. security, 

they say.



Another nuclear issue dividing Democrats and Republicans is the 

authorization of $15 million to continue studying a nuclear earth 

penetrator. The weapon would burrow into the earth and detonate, 

making it potentially useful against deep underground bunkers.



Also, many Democrats oppose parts of the bill partly exempting the 

military from the Endangered Species Act. Defense officials say 

environmental laws have impeded military training exercises.



Senate leaders hope to complete the bill by midweek.



Information on the bill, S. 1050, can be found at 

http://thomas.loc.gov

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



Minn. House approves Xcel plan for nuclear waste



SAN FRANCISCO, May 19 (Reuters) - Minnesota lawmakers reversed an 

earlier vote and passed a bill on Monday to allow Xcel Energy Inc. 

<XEL.N> to store more nuclear waste at its Prairie Island atomic 

power plant.



The 81-to-51 vote in the House would give Xcel more dry cask storage 

so the twin-reactor plant, which generates power for more than 1 

million homes, can continue running until its operating licenses 

expire in 2013 and 2014.



Without the legislation, Xcel had said it will have to close the 

plant by 2007.



The House bill, initially voted down on Friday, now goes back to the 

state Senate, which had approved its own version.



The current session of the Legislature is scheduled to end at 

midnight Central time.



Xcel spokeswoman Mary Sandok said the company needs to add 12 more 

steel and concrete waste storage casks to the 17 already permitted at 

Prairie Island.



The House bill also includes measures to increase the state's supply 

of renewable energy.

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



Framatome ANP Installs FLUS System in First U.S. Nuclear Power Plant



LYNCHBURG, Va., May 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Framatome ANP, an AREVA and 

Siemens company, has installed its FLUS leak monitoring system at 

FirstEnergy's Davis- Besse nuclear power plant near Oak Harbor, Ohio. 

 FLUS has been installed in plants in Europe and Canada, but this is 

the first U.S. nuclear power plant to receive this state-of-the-art 

system.



The FLUS system is designed to detect very small leaks in piping, 

tanks and pressure vessels during plant operation.  The user can get 

real-time and historical data.  This information provided by FLUS can 

be used to improve planning and reduce plant outage time and worker 

radiation exposures, which result in significant financial and safety 

benefits for the plant operator.



"The increased industry-wide attention being given to reactor vessel 

penetration nozzle integrity has highlighted the need for accurate, 

real-time leak detection technology," said Tom Weir, senior vice 

president, I&C and electrical systems for Framatome ANP Inc.  "Every 

day, we look for new ways to improve plant performance and safety, 

and our FLUS system is one of those proven solutions we offer our 

customers."



FLUS is a system of sensor tubes that detect a change in moisture 

levels in the area being monitored.  The system can be installed 

inside reactor buildings and transmit data to monitoring stations and 

alarms in plant control rooms or on the plant-wide computer network.  

The FLUS sensors were installed beneath the reactor vessel at Davis-

Besse, which is a single unit, 873 megawatt (net), pressurized water 

reactor plans.



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

Sandy Perle

Director, Technical

ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Service

ICN Plaza, 3300 Hyland Avenue

Costa Mesa, CA 92626



Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100  Extension 2306

Fax:(714) 668-3149



E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net

E-Mail: sperle@icnpharm.com



Personal Website: http://sandy-travels.com/

ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com/



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