Ireland to inspect nuclear plant

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

Index:



Ireland to inspect nuclear plant  

Concerns overruled on N.M. nuclear plant

Residents offer Oyster Creek solutions

Norway nuclear waste languishes

S Korea To Pick Nuclear Waste Site By First Half Of 2005

Malaysia no to nuclear energy

MPs criticise "lack of urgency" over storing nuclear waste

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



Ireland to inspect nuclear plant  



Dec 10 (BBC) Sellafield is on the west coast of England The Irish 

government has been granted unprecedented access to the Sellafield 

nuclear processing plant in Cumbria as part of a unique partnership. 

The Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland (RPII) and Irish 

police will be allowed to visit the site.  



The agreement comes after legal action brought by Ireland. 



There have been fears from the Irish government that Sellafield 

radiation may be responsible for poor health in some people on the 

east coast. 



The east coast of the country lies across the Irish sea from 

Sellafield. 



The RPII will also have access to the UK's radiation monitoring 

system. 



Irish environment minister Dick Roche described the agreement as a 

"positive development in our shared interest in managing our 

respective positions on the nuclear energy issue". 



But Mr Roche stressed that the total closure of Sellafield is the 

Irish Government's objective. 



Stewart Eldon, British Ambassador to Ireland, said: "The governments 

discussed a wide range of issues to ensure that the system of inter-

governmental notification and co-operation is as robust and effective 

as it can be." 



The Irish government has also been increasingly concerned about the 

catastrophic effect a possible terrorist attack on Sellafield would 

have on Ireland.

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



Concerns overruled on N.M. nuclear plant



Santa Fe, NM, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- The U.S. government is going ahead 

with plans to build a nuclear plant in New Mexico despite health and 

safety issues raised by state regulators. 



The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said it will not reconsider an 

earlier decision barring the New Mexico Environment Department and 

the New Mexico Attorney General's office from pressing their concerns 

about the planned uranium-enrichment plant, the Santa Fe New Mexican 

reported Friday.



"We are disappointed but not surprised by the NRC's decision," said 

Chris Coppin, special counsel to New Mexico Attorney General Patricia 

Madrid.



"The attorney general has directed her staff to review all of the 

state's options, including a possible appeal of the NRC's recent 

decision."



Gov. Bill Richardson said last week he was putting his support for 

the proposed plant on hold because of concerns over the storage of 

radioactive waste.

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



Residents offer Oyster Creek solutions 



TINTON FALLS Dec 10 -- Retiree Sam Attner has a single solution for 

the two controversies concerning the way New Jersey should get its 

energy: have offshore windmills replace the aging Oyster Creek 

nuclear power plant.



Brendan P. Tobin, a Tinton Falls councilman, speaks to the audience 

Thursday during a forum on the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in 

Lacey.  



Attner's idea was pitched among many others during a special meeting 

called by Assemblyman Michael J. Panter Jr., D-Monmouth. He held the 

meeting to gather perspectives he plans to consider when drafting the 

state's official position on whether the nuclear plant should be 

allowed to operate beyond 2009 -- when its operating license expires.



Panter asked the approximately 50 people gathered in the Seabrook 

Village retirement community auditorium to give him their 

recommendations on what the state Legislature should do about the 

Oyster Creek operator's plans to apply for a 20-year renewal from 

federal regulators in about seven months.



Panter told Attner he would look into his suggestion, which stemmed 

from news about two firms wanting to build windmill farms off the 

Jersey coast. Acting Gov. Codey said Tuesday that he intends to 

impose a moratorium on the placement of offshore windmills until the 

state comes up with a policy for the devices.



"I would like to see windmills all over the country," said Attner, a 

Seabrook resident.



Panter heard many ideas from Shore area residents and advocacy 

groups. The opinions given represented multiple sides of the license-

renewal issue.



One activist called on state officials to immediately close the 

reactor, which generates 650 megawatts of electricity. Others said 

they wanted the plant closed when its license expires, although many 

in that category cited different reasons.



Stephen Collins, a vacuum instrument designer from Oceanport, said 

state officials should not turn to fossil fuel-powered plants to 

compensate for the loss of Oyster Creek if the reactor closed. The 

plant's closure, he said, would hurt the state's energy supply.



"When the environmentalists talk out of the other side of their 

mouth, they're talking about global warming," Collins said.



Emissions from fossil fuels, such as coal, have been blamed for what 

some scientists call global warming.

  

The meeting allowed the public more chances to speak than during a 

public hearing that was held in Brick on Dec. 2. Advocacy groups on 

both sides of the issues dominated that meeting, which the Assembly 

Environmental and Solid Waste Committee hosted.

Panter, the committee vice chairman, said he held his meeting after 

many constituents told him they could not attend the one in Brick. 

Monmouth County residents, he said, wanted to speak about license 

renewal or learn more about it.



Panter said he wants the committee to unanimously agree on a 

resolution addressing the license renewal but would move ahead alone 

if the panel -- five Democrats and two Republicans -- failed to find 

a consensus. Panter said he wasn't sure when he would draft the 

resolution.



License-renewal critics have said that a state position calling for 

the reactor's decommissioning would sway the Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission, the sole agency responsible for deciding whether Oyster 

Creek should operate for an additional 20 years.

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



Norway nuclear waste languishes



Dec 10 - Three years after an expert committee urged the building of 

a new central repository for Norway's most dangerous nuclear waste 

radioactive material is being stored behind garage doors.



Machinist Knut Arne Hov works at the temporary storeroom for nuclear 

waste at a garage near the Halden-reactor.

 

After 50 years of operation, four research reactors at Kjeller and 

Halden have produced 16 tons of highly radioactive nuclear waste - 

chiefly uranium fuel - and 10.1 kilograms of plutonium.



This was poses an extreme potential health hazard for thousands of 

years and an extra security risk as an attraction for terrorists 

seeking radioactive material for a so-called 'dirty bomb'.



Storehouses for low and medium level nuclear waste are built, but no 

facility exists for securing the most dangerous waste.



"We believe it is completely indefensible to have highly radioactive 

fuel rods stored under reprehensible conditions in the middle of a 

built-up area," said Erik Martiniussen of environmental group 

Bellona. 



"In the center of the city of Halden there are over 10 tons of highly 

radioactive waste. To get to one of these storage points all you need 

to do is pass a thin garage door made of aluminum," Martiniussen 

said.



The PST (Norwegian Police Security Service) have carried out a 

security assessment of the Kjeller and Halden facilities but refused 

to disclose how they were finally rated.



In September 2003 the International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA carried 

out a ten-day long inspection of the nuclear facilities at Kjeller 

and Halden and eventually issued strong criticism of the lack 

physical security.



Consultant Heide M. Eidet at the Ministry of Trade and Industry 

agreed with Bellona that improvements were coming slowly but denied 

that they were dawdling.



Eidet said the matter required careful investigation and that they 

expected to complete the second phase of preparations in the course 

of the next two to three years.



"Afterwards the issue will likely go to political treatment where it 

will probably take a lot of time to discuss where storage should be 

placed," Eidet said.

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



S Korea To Pick Nuclear Waste Site By First Half Of 2005

 

SEOUL, Dec 10 Asia Pulse -- The South Korean government will try to 

select a new storage site for nuclear waste by the first half of 

2005, a government source said Friday.



The move comes after a government plan to build a nuclear waste 

repository in an island on the West Sea was foiled by strong 

opposition from residents early this year. 



"The government will decide on a revised site selection procedure by 

the end of January," said the official at the Ministry of Commerce, 

Industry and Energy on condition of anonymity.



"A detailed poll of residents in the candidate regions will be made 

before a local referendum is held. This should be completed in April 

and May."



Roughly 15 candidate sites are on the table, including regions around 

existing nuclear power stations, he said.



Once polls show public opinion favoring the building of a waste site, 

a referendum will be held to make certain people want such a facility 

near their homes, the source added.



In July last year, the government picked Wido Island in Buan, about 

280 kilometers southwest of Seoul, as the candidate site for a 

nuclear waste repository.



Despite the government promise of huge financial aid, Buan residents 

bucked against the choice and held a referendum in February this 

year, thwarting the construction project.



South Korea relies heavily on nuclear power for its electricity 

supply, and experts have said since the 1990s that a new repository 

is urgently needed to handle nuclear waste filling storage areas 

inside power plants.

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



Malaysia no to nuclear energy



Dec 10 - MALAYSIA would not turn to nuclear power as an alternative 

source of energy despite rising oil prices, it said today.



The country should instead harness alternative energy sources from 

the sun, water and waves to reduce dependence on fossil fuel, Deputy 

Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Kong Cho Ha said.



"Nuclear energy is not an option for the Government," Kong was quoted 

as saying by the Bernama news agency.



"We should look into other alternative energy sources because 

petroleum price is increasing and unstable, causing a lot of problems 

to economic growth, especially in developing countries."



Malaysia's energy needs are met mainly by natural gas, coal, hydro 

and oil.

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



MPs criticise "lack of urgency" over storing nuclear waste



Dec 10 - Proposals to tackle nuclear waste such as blasting it into 

space are a waste of time and should not be considered by the 

government.



That is the conclusion of an inquiry by peers into the UK's slow 

progress in developing a coherent radioactive waste management 

policy.



It is nearly 30 years since the Royal Commission on Environmental 

Pollution first emphasised the need for a long-term solution to 

storing radioactive waste.



Today the House of Lords science and technology committee said it was 

"astonished" that the government instructed a new advisory body to 

start from a 'blank sheet of paper' when the overwhelming scientific 

consensus is that underground disposal or storage is a safe solution.



Committee chairman Lord Oxburgh accused ministers of using "perpetual 

consultation exercises" to put off making the crucial decisions.



The peers conclude that the committee on radioactive waste management 

(CoRW) lacks relevant scientific and technical expertise and should 

stop wasting time considering alternatives to underground storage.



They also said the government should stop using the failure to 

develop a long-term radioactive waste management strategy as a reason 

for delaying a decision on the future of nuclear power.



The government's failure to consult the chief scientific adviser to 

the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is also 

criticised and it is urged to appoint new science, material and civil 

engineering experts to CoRWM.



"We are dismayed by the government's lack of urgency," Lord Oxburgh 

said.



"The UK has generated radioactive waste for more than half a century 

and still hasn't decided how to deal with it. Ministers seem to be 

using perpetual consultation exercises to put off making the crucial 

decisions."



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

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) 296-1902 



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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