Nuclear Waste Removed From Hanford Site

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

Index:



Nuclear Waste Removed From Hanford Site

Pantex Nuclear Facility Repairs Costly

NEI Files Petition for Appellate Court Rehearing on EPA's Yucca M

Iran Plans to Build 2nd Nuclear Reactor

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Nuclear Waste Removed From Hanford Site



RICHLAND, Wash. (Aug. 23) - Workers at the Hanford nuclear 

reservation Monday celebrated the removal of millions of gallons of 

liquid radioactive waste from old, leak-prone tanks.



State and federal officials called the achievement a major milestone 

in the decades-long cleanup of the contaminated site.



For 40 years, Hanford made plutonium for the nation's nuclear weapons 

arsenal. Now, work centers on a $50 billion to $60 billion cleanup 

for a scheduled finish in 2035.



Much of the cleanup involves retrieving and treating 53 million 

gallons of highly radioactive waste from World War II and Cold War-

era plutonium production. The liquid, sludge and saltcake sit in 177 

aging underground tanks.



Most critical was the liquid waste in 149 tanks that had a single-

wall construction, making them more susceptible to leaks as they 

aged. An estimated 67 of the tanks leaked radioactive brew into the 

soil, contaminating the aquifer and threatening the Columbia River 

less than 10 miles away.



Five years ago, the state complained about the slow pace of the tank 

cleanup. The state and the federal Energy Department then agreed to a 

court-enforced timetable; more than 3 million gallons of liquid waste 

was pumped out of the tanks and transferred to newer, safer doubled-

walled tanks.



The deadline for transferring the waste was Sept. 30, 2004.



"We knew they were literally a threat to the Columbia River, which I 

consider the lifeblood of the Pacific Northwest," state Attorney 

General Christine Gregoire said at a ceremony Monday.



The focus now shifts to removing the solid waste from tanks. The 

Energy Department is required to have all the wastes removed from the 

single-walled tanks by 2018.



The tank waste will be turned into glass logs, in a process 

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



Pantex Nuclear Facility Repairs Costly



AMARILLO, Texas (AP) - Sealant used in a nuclear weapons plant to 

prevent plutonium from leaking in case of an accidental blast is 

peeling, and a repair job could cost $20 million, a government report 

shows.



The Department of Defense's Pantex Plant is the nation's only nuclear 

weapons assembly and disassembly plant and technicians work with 

radioactive and explosive materials at the complex around the clock.



According to a report by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, 

sealant had been applied to faulty door welds on underground 

workshops at the plant after officials learned that a 6-year-old work 

order to repair them was never completed.



The government temporarily halted nuclear weapons operations at the 

plant while it repaired the welds with the sealant. Afterward, 

operations resumed.



But in a July 21 report, an official with the nuclear facilities 

safety board found the sealant was peeling away in places. Now, 

safety board officials say sealing potential leak spots could cost 

between $15 and $20 million.



Engineers at the plant are studying the extent of the problem and 

will report its findings to the safety board.



The cells that contain the subterranean workshops are designed to 

prevent the spread of radioactivity in the unlikely event of an 

accidental blast. The cells are supposed to collapse inward and trap 

radioactive debris.

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



NEI Files Petition for Appellate Court Rehearing on EPA's Yucca 

Mountain Radiation Standard



WASHINGTON, Aug. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- The Nuclear Energy Institute 

filed a formal petition for rehearing today with the U.S. Court of 

Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit seeking review of a 

recent decision on the Environmental Protection Agency's compliance 

standard for the planned Yucca Mountain, Nev., used nuclear fuel 

repository.



NEI's petition for rehearing argues that EPA did, in fact, do what 

the court last month said was required under the Energy Policy Act of 

1992 to comply with the National Academy of Sciences' 1995 

recommendation for a radiation standard for the underground disposal 

facility to be built in the Nevada desert.



The court ruled on July 9th that EPA's standard improperly deviated 

from the NAS recommendation that the compliance period during which 

the repository design must be able to limit the presence of 

radionuclides within several miles of the site should encompass a 

period beyond 10,000 years. EPA established a radiation protection 

standard of 15 millirem for Yucca Mountain -- about the same as an X-

ray.



"We take issue with the court's July decision because the EPA did 

what it was supposed to do by starting with the NAS report, factoring 

in policy considerations and coming up with a standard," said Michael 

Bauser, NEI associate general counsel. "In its ruling the court also 

ignored the fact that EPA's 10,000-year compliance standard is 

consistent with other waste management practices, dealing with both 

radioactive and non-radioactive material, and ensures public health 

and safety by limiting radiation exposure to the public of less than 

one-20th of natural background levels."



The NAS acknowledged in its 1995 recommendation that it looked only 

at scientific issues in its study and advised that the EPA needed to 

take policy issues into consideration in developing its standard.



The court's ruling on the length of the compliance period was the one 

instance in which the court didn't reject the state of Nevada's many 

legal challenges to the federal government's Yucca Mountain program. 

Ruling in a group of consolidated cases, the appellate court 

addressed and rejected 11 of 12 issues raised by Nevada, including a 

constitutional challenge.



The NEI petition also asks the court to reconsider its decision to 

allow EPA to include a separate standard to regulate the 

concentration of radionuclides in groundwater that are in addition to 

regulations that limit total radiation exposures due to possible 

releases from the Yucca Mountain repository-a limit that includes 

exposure due to the groundwater pathway.



"The separate EPA groundwater standard is in violation of the Energy 

Policy Act of 1992 and provides no additional protection as the all-

pathways exposure limit in the regulation includes radiation doses 

from any releases through groundwater," Bauser said.



The state-of-the-art disposal facility planned for Yucca Mountain 

would isolate used fuel from the commercial nuclear power plants that 

supply electricity to one of every five U.S. homes and businesses, 

and high-level radioactive waste from U.S. defense programs. The 

Department of Energy plans to file a license application with the 

Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the Yucca Mountain repository this 

December.



Congress endorsed the suitability of the Yucca Mountain site, which 

the government hopes to open in the year 2010, in 2002.



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

organization. This news release and additional information about 

nuclear energy are available on NEI's Internet site at 

http://www.nei.org

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



Iran Plans to Build 2nd Nuclear Reactor

   

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran said Sunday that it plans to build a second 

nuclear reactor with Russia's help and that at least two other 

European states have expressed interest in such a project, brushing 

aside U.S. accusations that the Islamic state wants to build atomic 

weapons.



Russia is building Iran's first nuclear reactor, which was begun by 

West Germany but interrupted during the 1979 Islamic revolution. 

Damage caused to the nearly completed facility in Bushehr during 

Iran's 1980-88 war with Iraq also led to the postponement of its 

planned inauguration from 2003 to August 2006.



Despite the delays and the project's $800 million cost, Iranian 

nuclear officials say they want Russia to build more nuclear reactors 

to help generate greater amounts of electricity.



The comments Sunday reflect Iran's determination to push ahead with 

its nuclear program despite U.S. and international concerns that it 

seeks to develop nuclear weapons.



The United States has been lobbying for the International Atomic 

Energy Agency to refer Iran's nuclear dossier to the Security 

Council, which could impose sanctions. Tehran denies seeking to 

develop weapons.



Asadollah Sabouri, deputy head of the Atomic Energy Organization of 

Iran, did not say when construction might begin but insisted Russia 

was obligated to build more than one nuclear reactor under a 1992 

agreement between the two countries.



"We have contracts with Russia to build more nuclear reactors. No 

number has been specified but definitely our contract with Russia is 

to build more than one nuclear power plant," Sabouri said, adding 

that Tehran has carried out several studies and technical reports for 

the construction of new facilities.



Despite U.S. pressure, Russia has been reluctant to abandon the 

nuclear reactor refit project at Bushehr, a coastal town in southern 

Iran.



The spokesman for Russia's Federal Atomic Energy Agency, Nikolai 

Shingaryov, told The Associated Press by telephone that he was 

unaware of contracts for Russia to help build any more reactors. He 

said the two countries have held discussions on building a second 

one, as called for in the 1992 agreement, but an actual contract 

would be needed to begin construction.



Sabouri said later that Russia will build a second reactor in Bushehr 

and that Iran is studying other sites here for more possible 

reactors. Most areas in Iran are prone to earthquakes, restricting 

choices for setting up nuclear facilities.



He also said at least two European countries had expressed interest 

in the projects, but refused to name them.



"They have given us documents expressing their readiness to join the 

projects. We welcome them. My message to the Europeans is that we 

have to pass the paperwork stage and go for binding contracts as soon 

as possible," he said.



Iran insists it is only pursuing nuclear technology to produce 

electricity.



"By 2021, Iran's electricity consumption will reach 56,000 megawatts 

and we need to have capability to produce 70,000 megawatts of 

electricity. Some 7,000 megawatts, about 10 percent, will be met 

through nuclear power plants," Sabouri said.



Sabouri said the first Bushehr plant is expected to be operational by 

August 2006. It had initially been scheduled to open in 2003, but 

Sabouri said repairing damage from the eight-year war with 

neighboring Iraq, meeting safety regulations and redesigning the 

reactor has taken longer than expected.



Sabouri said the Bushehr complex has the capacity to house at least 

four nuclear reactors.



During the Iran-Iraq war, work on a second nuclear reactor in Bushehr 

was partly completed before it sustained heavy damage during 

fighting. Sabouri said it was unfeasible to repair and rebuild that 

facility and Iran planned to construct a new reactor next to it.



Another possible site for building new nuclear reactors would be 

Darkhovein, a city close to the Arvand River in Khuzestan Province, 

southwestern Iran, Sabouri added.



He also said Russia must provide Iran with nuclear fuel by the end of 

2005 at the latest, or the Bushehr plant's inauguration will be 

delayed.



Tehran and Moscow have agreed to return the spent nuclear fuel to 

Russia.



"There is no ambiguity on returning the spent fuel. The Iranian 

government has already made the decision to return the spent fuel 

back to Russia. What we haven't agreed on with Russia is the 

expenses," Sabouri said



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

Sandy Perle 

Senior Vice President, Technical Operations 

Global Dosimetry Solutions, Inc. 

2652 McGaw Avenue 

Irvine, CA 92614 



Tel: (949) 296-2306 / (888) 437-1714  Extension 2306 

Fax:(949) 296-1144



E-Mail: sperle@dosimetry.com 

E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net 



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

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





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