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Judge orders Entergy Nuclear to document safety resolution
Index:
Judge orders Entergy Nuclear to document safety resolution
Radiation sensors deployed as Boston probes threat
Normal work to resume at Los Alamos National Laboratory
Berlusconi reopens nuclear debate in Italy
Nigeria seeks IAEA help for nuclear power plants
Commission: operations at Cooper Nuclear improve
Delegation heads to Washington to defend shipyard
No major damage in fire at Hungary's nuclear power plant
==========================================
Judge orders Entergy Nuclear to document safety resolution
VERNON, Vt. (AP) - A judge has ordered Entergy Nuclear to document
its claim that it has resolved a safety issue discovered during a
recent special engineering inspection at the Vermont Yankee Nuclear
Power plant.
Attorneys for the Department of Public Service had asked for the
documentation, but were told by Entergy that they could come to the
Vernon reactor and search for what they wanted.
After a three hour telephone conference on Friday, a judge with the
Atomic Safety and Licensing Board told Entergy to send the documents
to the state, said Neil Sheehan, spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission.
Entergy spokesman Robert Williams said Entergy would comply within
the 30-day timeframe.
Entergy had proposed that the state come to the Vernon reactor to go
through the technical documents because, in the long run, it would
have been more efficient, Williams said.
"It's simpler, they can get what they want immediately in person, at
the plant," he said.
The documents deal with whether Vermont Yankee control room operators
can get to a remote control room panel and shut down the plant within
20 minutes in the event of a fire in the main control room.
The problem was discovered during the special engineering inspection,
conducted last summer by the NRC as part of a detailed review of the
plant undertaken because of a proposed 20 percent power boost.
Sarah Hofmann, an attorney with the Department of Public Service,
said the state wanted to know how Entergy would now meet the time
requirement under the fire scenario.
"We want to see the underlying documentation," she said. "We'll
definitely be looking at them very carefully."
Hofmann said Entergy Attorney Jay Silberg "just kept on putting up a
wall" as to why the documents couldn't be sent.
The state had filed another complaint with the Atomic Safety and
Licensing Board over the issue of the emergency response to a fire in
the control room.
The board, a quasi-judicial board made up of nuclear experts from
industry and academia, is reviewing criticisms of Entergy's plan for
the 20 percent power increase. The complaints have been lodged both
by the state and the anti-nuclear group, New England Coalition.
-----------------
Radiation sensors deployed as Boston probes threat
BOSTON, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Police carrying radiation detectors
patrolled Boston's subway system on Friday after the FBI added
another 10 names to a list of people it wants to question over a
reported "dirty bomb" plot in the city.
Authorities reassured area residents that there was no cause for
panic two days after an uncorroborated tip triggered a Federal Bureau
of Investigation manhunt. Media reports spoke of threats to explode a
so-called "dirty bomb" which disperses low-level radioactive
material.
The top federal prosecutor in Massachusetts would not rule out the
possibility of a hoax, while Boston newspapers reported on Friday
that officials were eyeing revenge as a possible motive for the
anonymous tip received by California police.
"It could be a drug deal gone bad and (the tipster is) using this
threat of a terrorist attack to bring a ton of heat down on someone,"
the Boston Herald quoted one unnamed law enforcement official as
saying.
While there was no change in the terror alert status either
nationally or in Massachusetts, authorities appeared to be treating
the potential threat seriously.
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, the region's mass
transit system, deployed more officers than normal around downtown
Boston and some were using radiation sensors, according to Deputy
Chief John Martino.
"As is the case with any alert we deploy teams of officers with
radiological detectors throughout the system," Martino told Reuters,
adding that such deployments were also standard for big events such
as the Boston Marathon and July 4.
The FBI, which on Wednesday night released the names and photographs
of two Chinese men and two Chinese women it sought for questioning in
connection with the potential threat, released the names of another
10 people on Thursday night.
The FBI called the 10 people -- nine men and one woman -- "persons of
interest in the unspecified potential threat to the City of Boston."
But as with the four names released on Wednesday night, the FBI said
none of the names had ever shown up on any "watch list."
Eight of the nine men had Chinese names, while the ninth was named
Jose Ernesto Beltran Quinones.
The FBI released passport numbers and possible dates of birth for six
of the 10 people. The lone woman, Yu Xian Weng, was listed with two
passport numbers and two possible dates of birth.
Officials at the Chinese Embassy in Washington were not immediately
available for comment.
-------------------
Normal work to resume at Los Alamos National Laboratory
LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) - One of the nation's leading nuclear weapons
laboratories will be fully operational within two weeks after work
was halted last summer due to security and safety concerns.
Los Alamos National Laboratory Director Pete Nanos told employees
Wednesday it should "look like a normal day" at the lab by Jan. 31,
with "productive work proceeding without impediment."
"I'm not going to give up the progress we made," he said. "It's been
a long six months, and we've all paid the price in one way or
another."
Los Alamos shut down virtually all its divisions for review after two
computer disks believed to contain classified information were
reported missing and an intern suffered an eye injury from a laser.
Nearly all of the lab's projects have since restarted, but some high-
risk operations - mostly involving weapons-related work - have had to
wait until now.
During the shutdown, the lab found about 3,000 issues that needed
fixing, said lab spokesman Kevin Roark.
New procedures developed during the six months must now become part
of the structure of the lab, Nanos told the employees.
Training from top to bottom is part of the plan.
The lab also has a new way to store and track computer disks
containing top-secret information in centralized libraries. And it's
starting a safety program under which individuals take responsibility
for their actions.
"This will be a tough year, but I feel that fundamentally we are
moving in the right direction and laying the groundwork to ensure
this institution's future and your future," Nanos said.
But The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, a government-funded
advisory group, questions the lab's track record in fixing problems.
"Over the years, LANL has often identified valid issues, prepared
corrective-action plans that appeared credible, and then failed to
execute," according to a Dec. 31 memo written by two board
technicians stationed at Los Alamos.
Nanos insisted the lab wants "a continually improving state where we
don't slip backward."
Los Alamos has been managed by the University of California since its
creation as a top-secret World War II project to develop the atomic
bomb. A series of management failures and security problems led
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham to announce in April 2003 that the
contract would be put up for bid.
The government last month issued a draft request for proposals to
operate the lab.
Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., said Friday the draft must require the
new contractor to provide adequate health, retirement and other
benefits to lab employees.
"It is critical that the new contract very clearly outline the
benefits due to current future and past lab employees," Domenici
wrote Linton Brooks, administrator of the National Nuclear Security
Administration. "The draft is insufficient in that area and must be
rewritten."
Domenici also urged the NNSA to quickly select a contractor.
"This process has already created an enormous distraction for lab
employees and they must get on with the work of national defense,
combating nuclear proliferation and other scientific research," he
wrote.
----------------
Berlusconi reopens nuclear debate in Italy
ROME (AP) - Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi has reopened a debate
over whether Italy should use nuclear energy, saying the country was
penalized by overreliance on imported energy.
The issue made front-page headlines Friday, with scientists,
environmentalists, and economists offering their views. Italy imports
around 85 percent of its energy, well above the European average.
Nuclear power was banned in Italy following a referendum in 1987, a
year after the explosion and fire at the nuclear power plant in
Chernobyl, Ukraine. Italy's four nuclear plans were shut down and
dismantled.
In September 2003 the country was hit by a blackout that left the
whole country in darkness, except for the people of Sardinia and a
few tiny islands that have their own electric supplies.
The outage apparently began when a tree branch hit a power line in
Switzerland during a storm.
But Greens leader Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio reacted to Berlusconi's
comments by dismissing nuclear energy as "dangerous and
uneconomical."
"Italy and the European Union should focus on the development of
renewable and safe energy, without giving way to nuclear nostalgia,"
he said, according to news agency ANSA.
-----------------
Nigeria seeks IAEA help for nuclear power plants
LAGOS, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Nigeria has asked the world's nuclear
watchdog for help in building two atomic power plants to supply
electricity to the energy-starved oil exporting nation, local
newspapers reported on Friday.
Nigerian Science and Technology Minister Turner Isoun made the
request during a four-day visit of the head of the International
Atomic Energy Agency to the West African nation.
"We would like to seek the assistance and support of the IAEA for the
development of two full scale 1,000 megawatt nuclear power plants for
the generation of electricity," Isoun was quoted as saying at a
dinner on Wednesday night.
Nigeria commissioned its first nuclear reactor, a small academic
research reactor at the Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, last year.
Nigeria is Africa's most populous country and has huge oil and gas
resources, but corruption by successive governments and inefficiency
in the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) have led to massive
shortfalls in power supply.
Investors cite constant blackouts as one of the country's top
economic hurdles, and they spend millions of dollars every year on
diesel-fuelled generators to keep industry running.
NEPA, which currently supplies about 2,600 megawatts, has been split
into seven generating companies, 11 distribution firms and one
transmission company ahead of its planned privatisation later this
year.
Nigerian officials insisted that they were seeking nuclear technology
for peaceful purposes, and pointed to the country's ratification of
the non-proliferation treaty and additional protocols as evidence of
that.
-----------------
Commission: operations at Cooper Nuclear improve
Operations at Cooper Nuclear Station in Brownville, Neb., have
improved and the plant could be removed from heightened federal
oversight.
In April 2002, the power plant was given the lowest rating it could
have without being shut down. Federal officials have said the plant
never posed a threat to public health, but that the issues centered
on internal procedures.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Victor Dricks said emergency
preparedness, employee performance and equipment at Cooper have
improved significantly since NRC gave the plant the low rating.
"They are no longer in that category," Dricks said.
On Jan. 30, 2003, the NRC issued a letter to the Nebraska Public
Power District, the utility that owns Cooper, demanding that plant
operations and conditions improve.
In September 2003, NPPD contracted the Mississippi company, Entergy
Nuclear Inc., to manage Cooper and improve the plant's operation.
Beth Boesch, a spokeswoman for NPPD, said the utility learned last
July that the plant was no longer ranked in the NRC's lowest
category.
Boesch said NPPD is optimistic that the NRC will be satisfied with
how Cooper is operating.
"NPPD feels that we have met the full intent of the (letter) and we
are driving well beyond the requirements that are outlined in that
document," Boesch said.
----------------
Delegation heads to Washington to defend shipyard
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (AP) - Four community leaders from the region plan a
trip to Washington next week to lobby again for the Portsmouth Naval
Shipyard.
The yard is a major employer in eastern New Hampshire and southern
Maine, with peak civilian employment last year of 4,803.
It specializes in maintaining and overhauling nuclear submarines for
the Navy, but is considered vulnerable in the Pentagon's next round
of base closings and realignments.
William McDonough, head of the Seacoast Shipyard Association, will
accompany the community leaders in a mission to try to keep
Portsmouth off the closing list.
"If you're on that list, you're dead," McDonough, a retired Navy
captain, said at a briefing Thursday.
The community leaders are Dick Ingram, president of the Greater
Portsmouth Chamber of Commerce; Portsmouth City Manager John Bohenko;
Kennebunk (Maine) Savings Bank president Joel Stevens; and Sanford
(Maine) Town Manager Mark Green. Congressmen and senators from both
states are expected to send representatives with the delegation.
The base closings are part of the Pentagon's continuing drive to
eliminate duplicative bases and turn work over to contractors.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld must recommend a list of target
bases to a special commission by mid-May.
At the briefing, McDonough cited statistics on the yard's importance
to the region's economy. He said the yard's civilian payroll was $318
million last year, up 12 percent from $284 million in 2003.
Its much smaller military payroll rose 83 percent, from $16 million
to $29.3 million. That reflected the Coast Guard's decision to make
the yard the home port for several cutters.
Portsmouth is one of four shipyards in the country left after
previous base closings that are capable of overhauling the Navy's
nuclear submarines.
In New Hampshire, yard workers are concentrated in Rochester, Dover,
Portsmouth and Somersworth, McDonough said.
In Maine, they are concentrated in the Sanford-Springvale area,
Kittery and Kittery Point, South Berwick and Eliot, he said.
He said the trend for more workers to live in Maine is due largely to
the higher cost of housing in New Hampshire.
-----------------
No major damage in fire at Hungary's nuclear power plant
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) - A fire at Hungary's only nuclear power plant
was quickly brought under control and did not affect the plant's
safety or operation, an official said Friday.
The fire broke out late Thursday in a designated smoking area inside
the Paks plant's No. 2 reactor, managing director Jozsef Kovacs said.
It was likely caused by an unextinguished cigarette butt which
ignited insulation materials stored in the area and used for roof
repair work, Kovacs said.
"The fire did not affect out technological or safety systems and will
not delay maintenance work in the No. 2 reactor," Kovacs was quoted
as saying by state news agency MTI.
Although the dense smoke touched off several detectors and briefly
resulted in a Level 5 emergency alert, the highest alert category,
the fire was quickly brought under control.
No injuries were reported and the material damage was estimated at
less than 100,000 forints (US$520, 400).
An April 2003 accident at the No. 2 reactor led to small amounts of
radioactive gas being released into the atmosphere after uranium fuel
rods overheated and warped due to a failed cooling system.
The damaged rods were sealed in the deep-water tank next to the
reactor and have remained there since.
The reactor was reconnected to the power grid in September, but shut
down again two months later for maintenance work which is still
ongoing.
The Paks plant, 110 kilometers (70 miles) south of Budapest, provides
around 40 percent of Hungary's electricity production.
----------------------------------------------------------------
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
Global Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com/
Personal Website: http://sandy-travels.com/
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