Despite risks,nuke power may see comeback - ElBaradei

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

Index:



Despite risks,nuke power may see comeback - ElBaradei

Nuclear Must Be Part of America's Energy Future, Entergy President 

Japan's TEPCO restarts another nuclear reactor

S.Korea to conduct safety checks on nuclear plant

8 sprayed with radioactive water at nuclear plant in Tsuruga

Power increase for WPS Wis. Kewaunee nuke approved

Guards at U.S. Nuclear Facilities Putting Homeland Security at Risk

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Despite risks,nuke power may see comeback - ElBaradei



BRUSSELS, Belgium (Reuters) - The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog 

agency said Tuesday there were signs of a possible increase in the 

use of nuclear power, despite concerns about the safety of atomic 

power and the proliferation of arms technology.



International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei said there 

were indications the stagnation in the construction of atomic power 

plants may be ending.



"Current expansion and growth prospects for nuclear power are 

centered in Asia," ElBaradei said in comments prepared for delivery 

at a European Parliament conference on Europe's energy choices.



"Of the 31 (nuclear reactors) under construction worldwide, 18 are 

located in India, Japan, South Korea and China -- including Taiwan. 

Twenty of the last 29 reactors to be connected to the grid are also 

in the Far East and South Asia."



ElBaradei said memories of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster at a reactor 

in then-Soviet Ukraine continued to influence public perceptions of 

nuclear power in some countries.



But some analysts saw an increasingly strong case for nuclear power 

in an environmentally conscious Europe because it produced "virtually 

no greenhouse gases."



Whether European governments chose to shut down existing plants or 

build more nuclear reactors, ElBaradei said they would receive the 

support of the U.N. agency.



THE RISK OF PROLIFERATION



In addition to nuclear safety and security concerns, ElBaradei 

reiterated the global nonproliferation regime was under stress.



ElBaradei was referring to the discovery of the existence of a global 

nuclear black market that has sold weapons-related technology to 

states like Iran and North Korea, suspected of having atom bomb 

programs, and Libya, which admitted to trying to build a nuclear 

weapon and has agreed to disarm.



The IAEA chief said that unfortunately under the nuclear Non-

Proliferation Treaty a state could develop the capacity to make 

nuclear weapons and then withdraw from the treaty to put the final 

touches to its atomic arsenal.



"If a state with a fully developed fuel-cycle capability and highly 

industrialized infrastructure were to decide ... to break away from 

(the NPT), most experts believe it could produce a nuclear weapon 

within a matter of months," he said.



For that reason, he repeated his proposal that no single country be 

permitted to develop the entire nuclear fuel cycle. Rather, only 

multinational entities should engage in sensitive fuel-cycle 

activities such as the enrichment of uranium.

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



Nuclear Must Be Part of America's Energy Future, Entergy President 



NEW ORLEANS, Feb. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The United States must 

keep nuclear energy as part of its electricity supply of the future 

if the nation hopes to maintain America's quality of life, its energy 

independence and to reduce global warming, Entergy President Don 

Hintz told an energy conference today.



"There simply is no better way to generate the power we will need, in 

large volumes, at affordable costs, consistently, and still protect 

our environment and the air we breathe," Hintz told the American 

Association of Blacks in Energy meeting here.



"We cannot let fear -- fear of terrorists or whoever -- take away the 

cleanest, most reliable and safest form of power generation for our 

children and our grandchildren."



Hintz urged the U.S. Congress to include in the energy bill adequate 

financial tax incentives for new nuclear plants and $1 billion to 

build a demonstration power reactor at the Idaho national lab that 

could generate both electricity and hydrogen to support a new 

hydrogen economy.



"The promising potential of nuclear energy is -- nuclear is one of 

the few ways we know to produce large volumes of both electricity and 

hydrogen at low cost without any air emissions. And nuclear can do 

that using only water," he said.



Hintz said America's oil refineries are rapidly increasing their use 

of hydrogen to raise the energy level of gasoline and other products 

by 10 per cent a year, doubling every seven years. Currently hydrogen 

is produced from natural gas but for every ton of hydrogen produced, 

seven tons of carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas, are released into 

the air.



"Clearly that will put upward pressure on the price of natural gas, 

the primary fuel we are depending upon to run all the power plants 

built in the last decade. Not a good projection," he said.



"The environmental value of nuclear energy must be recognized," Hintz 

said. "Otherwise we as a society are not going to be choosing the 

best way to meet our energy needs of the future.



"One way would be for the government to treat all power generation 

the same when handing out air emission permits. These emission 

allowances should be based on total power generation output, rather 

than issuing them just to owners of generation that pollutes. Then 

the owners of non-emitting generation would be able to sell their 

unneeded permits and the marketplace would be setting the true value 

of all types of power generation."



Hintz said the federal government is going to have to encourage the 

construction of the first few new nuclear plants with advanced safety 

designs through a production tax credit similar to that for windmills 

and solar. Wind and solar now receive an $18 a megawatt-hour tax 

credit, slightly more than today's $17 a megawatt-hour production 

cost of running a nuclear plant.



"No energy company can afford to take the financial risk of $1.5-2 

billion to build one right now," he said, although more than 30 new 

reactors are being built outside the U.S.



Hintz also serves as chairman of the Nuclear Energy Institute, the 

Washington public policy arm of the industry, and is a director of 

INPO, the Electric Power Research Institute, the American Nuclear 

Society, the Southeastern Electric Exchange and Nuclear Electric 

Insurance Limited.

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



Japan's TEPCO restarts another nuclear reactor



TOKYO, March 3 (Reuters) - Tokyo Electric Power Co (9501.T), Japan's 

biggest electricity producer which had to close all of its 17 nuclear 

reactors after a safety scandal in 2002, said on Wednesday it had 

restarted another and now had seven running.



A TEPCO spokesman said the 1.1-million kw nuclear reactor in 

Fukushima prefecture, in the northeast of Japan's main island, had 

been restarted on Wednesday morning and would be generating 

electricity again in two or three days.



TEPCO had to shut down all of its nuclear reactors for checks after 

admitting in late 2002 that it had falsified safety documents.



Since then, it has boosted fuel purchases to fire up idle or new 

thermal power units to make up for the lost nuclear power generation 

capacity.



The restart of the reactor would reduce TEPCO's crude oil and C-grade 

fuel oil (low sulphur fuel oil) consumption by about 30,000 barrels 

per day, a Tokyo-based oil trader said.



In February TEPCO bought about one million kilolitres (6.29 million 

barrels) of crude oil and C-grade fuel oil for thermal power 

generation but it said on Monday it would buy less than that in 

March, without specifying a figure.



"The good times are over now. Japan's nuclear situation is recovering 

and spring is coming. Life is tough for fuel oil traders," said a 

Singapore-based trader.



Power demand in Japan typically declines in March as the weather 

becomes warmer, cutting the use of electricity for heating.



Japan's customs-cleared crude oil imports rose 5.5 percent in 2003 

partly because of strong demand for C-grade fuel oil from utilities, 

Ministry of Finance (MOF) data show.



In March 2003, TEPCO bought 634,562 kl (3.99 million barrels) of C-

grade fuel oil and 357,814 kl (2.25 million barrels) of crude oil, 

according to the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan.



TEPCO also said on Monday it planned to buy 1.5 million tonnes of 

liquefied natural gas (LNG) for March. It burned the same volume of 

LNG in February.

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



S.Korea to conduct safety checks on nuclear plant



SEOUL, March 2 (Reuters) - South Korea will allow third-party checks 

on a nuclear power plant from this month following pressure from 

nearby residents worried about safety.



Nuclear power in South Korea normally accounts for 40 percent of the 

country's power needs, slightly ahead of neighbouring Japan, where 35 

percent of power comes from nuclear sources.



Seoul plans to conduct safety inspection on a 1,000-megawatt (MW) 

nuclear power plant in Yonggwang, in the south of the country, for 

about a month from next Monday before restarting it.



"The safety check is due to start on March 8 and likely to last for a 

month or longer than that," Kang Ho-sung, an official at the Ministry 

of Science and Technology told Reuters on Tuesday.



The plant, operated by state-run Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co 

(KHNP), was shut at the end of last year for decontamination work 

after a radioactive leak.



Officials at KHNP confirmed the timetable, adding the company would 

soon sign a deal with Germany's Oeko Institute, which was picked by 

Yonggwang residents to conduct the checks.



The plant was previously set to resume operation on March 14.



Due to pressure from residents, South Korea has delayed indefinitely 

the planned restart of another 1,000-MW plant in Yonggwang, which has 

the same type of nuclear reactor as the first one. The second plant 

was originally due to be restarted on February 26.



Kang at the science ministry said it was not yet clear whether this 

plant would also be checked by the German institute.



The government, however, does not plan to expand the inspection to 

other nuclear power plants, Kang said.



Seoul has 18 nuclear reactors, all of which are operated by KHNP, a 

unit of power monopoly Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO) Shares of 

KEPCO were up 2.2 percent on Tuesday.



NO RUSH FOR ALTERNATIVES YET



Adding to South Korea's growing nuclear power problems, KHNP delayed 

the restart of a 950-MW power plant in the southeastern town of Kori 

for about a week to March 6 due to a hydrogen leak in a generator, a 

science ministry source said earlier on Tuesday.



The nuclear power plant has been under regular maintenance work since 

January 17.



Another plant in Kori with a 587-MW capacity will be shut from 

February 26 to March 25 for routine maintenance, the source added.



The month-long safety check and other closures could prompt power 

generation companies to seek alternative fuels including natural gas, 

or oil to make up for lost supplies from the nuclear plants. But 

there was no immediate rush to seek alternatives.



Sources at state-run KEPCO's thermal power units said they had not 

yet been given government approval for additional purchases of oil.



Korea Gas Corp (KOGAS), which have bought three extra spot cargoes of 

liquefied natural gas so far due to the nuclear plants shutdowns, 

does not plan to buy additional cargoes for now.



Japan's biggest power producer, Tokyo Electric Power Co, shut down 

all 17 of its nuclear reactors for checks after admitting in late 

2002 it had falsified safety documents.



Since then, it has boosted fuel purchases to fire up idle or new 

thermal power units to make up for lost nuclear power generation 

capacity. TEPCO has has six reactors generating power.

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



8 sprayed with radioactive water at nuclear plant in Tsuruga



TSURUGA, Japan, March 3 (Kyodo) - Eight workers were sprayed with 

radioactive water in February while working at the No. 2 reactor of 

Japan Atomic Power Co.'s nuclear power plant in Tsuruga, Fukui 

Prefecture, the company revealed Wednesday.



The operator said the eight workers have not been affected by 

radiation despite the incident.



According to the Tsuruga city government, the water contained 170,000 

becquerel of radiation, about one-20th the amount a nuclear power 

plant operator is required to inform the government about.



The operator said it had reported the accident to the city and 

prefectural governments about one hour after its occurrence around 

9:30 a.m. on Feb. 25.



The accident took place at a fuel handling building at the reactor 

while the workers were fixing a plastic hose designed to be used for 

transferring water from a spent fuel pool to another pool, the power 

company said.



As a worker mistakenly switched on a water pump, about 45 liters of 

the radioactive water was sprayed in all directions, hitting the 

faces and uniforms of the eight workers, the operator said.

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



Power increase for WPS Wis. Kewaunee nuke approved



NEW YORK, March 3 (Reuters) - The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 

said on Wednesday it approved a 6 percent generating capacity 

increase for the 557 megawatt Kewaunee nuclear power unit in 

Wisconsin.



Output at the unit, located near Green Bay, will rise to 590 MW by 

the end of May, the NRC said in a statement.



One megawatt can power 1,000 homes.



The NRC said it determined that the plant's licensee, Nuclear 

Management Co., could safely increase power output of the reactor 

primarily through minor component upgrades and evaluations 

demonstrating the plant can operate safely at the increased power 

level within its existing design.



The NRC said it published a notice about the power uprate application 

in the Federal Register, providing the public an opportunity to 

comment or request a hearing. No comments or hearing requests were 

received.



The NRC's safety evaluation of the plant focused on several areas, 

including nuclear steam supply systems, instrumentation and control 

systems, electrical systems, accident evaluations, radiological 

consequences, operations, and technical specification changes.



Nuclear Management Co. operates the Kewaunee plant along with a fleet 

of nuclear units in the Midwest.



The plant is jointly owned by Wisconsin Public Service Corp. and 

Alliant Energy Corp. unit Wisconsin Power & Light. Wisconsin Public 

Service is a unit of WPS Resources Corp. .



In November 2003, Dominion Resources Inc. unit Dominion Energy 

Kewaunee Inc. said it would buy the Kewaunee plant for $220 million. 

The deal is expected to close in autumn 2004.

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



Largest Supplier of Private Guards at U.S. Nuclear Facilities Putting 

Homeland Security at Risk, Says SEIU



Mounting Evidence of Lax Security, Ignored Safety Concerns, and Other

Problems Throughout Nuclear Power and Weapons Facilities

Guarded by Wackenhut



WASHINGTON, March 2 /PRNewswire/ -- There is mounting evidence of 

widespread security problems at sensitive U.S. nuclear power plants 

and nuclear weapons facilities guarded by Denmark-based security firm 

Group 4 Falck/Wackenhut, the largest supplier of private security 

officers to those sites. A comprehensive study of public documents, 

reports, news clippings, and court filings reveals security problems 

at multiple nuclear sites throughout the U.S. over the last several 

years. The most recent revelations, concerning the Oak Ridge Nuclear 

Weapons Plant in Tennessee were made public at the end of January.



"It is deeply disturbing that these kinds of problems continue to 

exist in this day and age," said Anna Burger, International Secretary-

Treasurer of the Service Employees International Union. "As the 

largest union of security officers, we are committed to improving 

security practices and raising industry standards for safety and 

training. The fact is, Wackenhut is undercutting efforts around the 

country to improve security standards, and the public deserves to 

know that. Especially when it comes to nuclear security, there is no 

margin for error."



Wackenhut has been caught:



Cheating on security drills at the Oak Ridge nuclear weapons plant in 

Tennessee. U.S. Department of Energy investigators heard testimony of 

a pattern of cheating during security drills at Oak Ridge.



Cutting corners on security at Indian Point nuclear plant near New 

York City. Wackenhut also provided false information to plant 

management who was conducting a government-ordered investigation into 

whether employees could freely report safety concerns.



Ignoring security concerns raised by guards at nuclear facilities and 

illegally punishing the guards who raised them. The concerns raised 

by guards that went unheeded included lax perimeter security at the 

Salem Nuclear Power Plant in New Jersey, negligence in taking 

inventory of plutonium stores, sloppy emergency drills, and 

elimination of a bomb-detection unit at the Rocky Flats Environmental 

Technology Site in Colorado, and shoddy employee screening at the 

Callaway Nuclear Power Plant in Missouri.



More details about these cases and Wackenhut's security record at 

U.S. nuclear facilities, are available online at 

www.EyeonWackenhut.com.



SEIU, America's largest private security officers' union, launched 

www.EyeOnWackenhut.com to educate security consumers about 

Wackenhut's business and employment practices. The site includes 

information based on a systematic analysis of public documents, press 

reports, and surveys of employees that reveal a Wackenhut track 

record of security problems at sensitive nuclear facilties, 

questionable hiring practices, poor officer training, and illegal 

retaliation against employees who raise security concerns.



SOURCE Service Employees International Union



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

Sandy Perle

Vice President, Technical Operations

Global Dosimetry Solutions, Inc.

3300 Hyland Avenue

Costa Mesa, CA 92626



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

Fax:(714) 668-3149



E-Mail: sperle@globaldosimetry.com

E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net



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

Global Dosimetry Website: http://www.globaldosimetry.com/



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