Radiation Protection News Room

News for February 4, 2010

Radioactive Waste

• $7B request could bode well for new Y-12 facility (OakRidge)
  President Obama has asked Congress for more than $7 billion for nuclear weapons activities in the National Nuclear Security Administration's budget -- which recommends an overall increase in funding next year for a new uranium processing facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex.
• TVA argues for tritium production at Sequoyah (Chattanooga Times)
  Concerns about protecting groundwater from radioactive tritium leaks while still meeting the demands of a multi-million-dollar Department of Energy weapons  contract prompted TVA to make tritium at a second nuclear plant on Chickamauga Lake.
• EnergySolutions flips on deal not to expand waste site (SLT)  
  EnergySolutions Inc. put the brakes on expansion plans for its Tooele radioactive waste site two years ago in an agreement with then-Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., who hailed the deal as a "monumental win" for Utah residents.

  Cleanup

• Federal funds aim to clean up nuclear wasteland (CNN International)
  The federal government has set aside nearly $2 billion in stimulus funds to clean up Washington State's decommissioned Hanford nuclear site, once the center of the country's Cold War plutonium production.

Safety and Security

• US-Supplied Radiation Detectors to Begin Operations at Three Foreign Ports
  (Global Security Newswire)
  The United States has finished deployment and testing of radiation detection technology at three ports in Mexico and Panama, the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration announced this week.
• Aging Nuclear Plants Complicate Obama's Energy Push (AOL News)
  While President Barack Obama's push for new nuclear power plants has put the controversial energy source back in the spotlight, the nation's existing power plants may be raising even more questions.
• Obama Certifies Indian Nuclear Inspection Regime (Global Security Newswire) 
  U.S. President Barack Obama yesterday issued a written confirmation that India has agreed to open its civilian nuclear facilities to international inspections, Agence France-Presse reported.

Risk Assessment

• Does safer flying mean a risk of radiation?  (The Guardian) 
  So-called "naked" body-­scanning machines at airports, the latest defence against would-be plane bombers, have already raised concern for breaching flyers' privacy and, potentially, feeding the voyeurism of security officials. But could being screened also pose a health risk?

Nuclear Power

• Discussing Iran Sanctions Hinders Diplomacy: China (NYT)
  China told other world powers on Thursday that discussing broader sanctions against Iran was counterproductive, striking a blow to a Western push to rein in Tehran's nuclear program.

Nuclear Weapons

• Russia, West closer on Iran sanctions: lawmaker (Reuters)
  Russia and Western powers have moved closer to agreement on the need for further sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, a leading Russian lawmaker said on Thursday.

Other

• Vermont regulator calls removal of nuclear plant official 'tokenism' (CanadianBusiness)
  The shakeup of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant team managing relations with state officials continued, after a top state regulator on Wednesday called the removal of one company official "tokenism."

News for February 3, 2010

Radioactive Waste

• Top Vermont Yankee official 'relieved of duties' (WP)
  Douglas' urging for management shake-up followed revelations that plant officials misled state regulators and lawmakers by saying last year the plant did not have the sort of underground pipes that could carry radioactive tritium.

Yucca Mountain

• Harry Reid seeks alternative uses for Yucca Mountain (Las Vegas Sun)
  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid today asked the Government Accountability Office to begin consultation with the state of Nevada and federal agencies on other uses for Yucca Mountain.
• Yucca's death spiral might hit NEI snag (Las Vegas Review)
  The nuclear industry’s trade group is signaling it might not go along with the Obama administration’s plan to withdraw from Yucca Mountain and make it difficult if not impossible to revive the proposed nuclear waste repository ever again.
• Yucca's 625 workers face uncertain futures (Las Vegas Review)
  The asphalt lot had more empty spaces than employees' cars. It was a sign that the once-bustling, multibillion-dollar effort to study and build a repository for the nation's most deadly nuclear waste was coming to a halt.

Cleanup

• Vt. bill requires Yankee cleanup (Rutland Herald)
  House lawmakers introduced a bill this week requiring the owner of Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant to put aside enough money to clean up its Vernon site if it shuts the plant down in March 2012.
• Murray questions White House on budget proposal (TheNewsTribune)
  "We're in a different place from last year when the (Department of Energy environmental management) budget had a proposed cut, and I do want to thank you for the proposed increase, which I view as an acknowledgment that the federal government does have an obligation to clean up these sites across our nation," Murray said.
• Chernobyl: Leaking radiation and sucking up Canadian money (Globe and Mail)
  Almost a quarter-century after its explosion killed hundreds and shocked the world, the Chernobyl nuclear reactor still sits crumbling amid an uninhabitable wasteland in northern Ukraine, still emits surprising amounts of radiation, and still absorbs vast amounts of money.

Safety and Security

• Oconee nuclear gets nation's first digital makeover (Greenville News)
  A $250 million digital upgrade of major safety-related systems at Oconee Nuclear Station will be the first of its kind at the nation’s 104 nuclear plants and will replace 1970s-era analog controls.
• Obama budget seeks 13.4% increase for nuclear security agency : Significant boost Could help build support for treaty (WP)
  President Obama's fiscal 2011 budget blueprint calls for an increase in funding of more than 13 percent for the agency that oversees the U.S. nuclear weapons complex, a greater percentage increase than for any other government agency.
  

Export and Import of Nuclear Materials

• Utahns weigh in on radioactive waste in poll (LocalNews8.com)
  Most respondents to a recent poll support legislation to ban the importation of radioactive waste from foreign countries and oppose disposing of depleted uranium in Utah.

Nuclear Power

• NRC to discuss license renewal for Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant (San Luis Obispo Tribune)
  The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold two public meetings Tuesday to discuss license renewal for Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant.
  

Nuclear Weapons

• US, Russia nearing nuclear arms control agreement (WP)
  The first major U.S.-Russian nuclear arms control treaty in nearly two decades should be ready for signing by the end of March, a senior Russian legislator said Wednesday.
• Iran sends rocket with animal menagerie into space (SPI)
  As it seeks to expand its influence in the Middle East, Iran showcases its technological successes as signs it can advance despite the threat of U.S. and U.N. sanctions over its controversial nuclear program.
• Ahmadinejad backs deal to remove uranium : U.S. REACTS CAUTIOUSLY Iran formally rejected proposal (WP)
  long-dormant proposal to remove the bulk of Iran's enriched uranium from the Islamic republic appeared to be revived Tuesday as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran had "no problem" with a deal initially brokered by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
  

News for February 2, 2010

Radioactive Waste

• Vt nuke plant leaks renew debate over aging plants (WP)
  Radioactive tritium, a carcinogen discovered in potentially dangerous levels in groundwater at the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, has now tainted at least 27 of the nation's 104 nuclear reactors - raising concerns about how it is escaping from the aging nuclear plants.
• New well has higher levels of tritium (Brattleboro Reformer)
  A water sample from one of three new wells drilled at Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant last week showed tritium levels more than twice as high as those found in a monitoring well in January.
• Vermont Power Plant Continues to Leak Radiation (NYT)
  Technicians seeking the source of a leak of radioactive tritium at the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant have found concentrations in groundwater there that were three times higher than what was discovered last week, a plant spokesman said Monday.
• Salem application unaffected by radioactive leaks in Vermont (The News Journal) 
  Owners of the Salem/Hope Creek complex along the Delaware River say public concern about newly discovered radioactive water leaks at a Vermont nuclear plant hasn't affected their application for a license renewal.

Yucca Mountain

• Obama 2011 budget request: Energy Department (WP)
  The budget would eliminate funding, however, for the long-discussed Yucca Mountain, Nev., repository for nuclear waste. The budget proposal says that Yucca "is not a workable option."

Cleanup

• Hanford budget proposal includes vit plant bump (TCH)
  The fiscal 2011 budget for the Hanford nuclear reservation would increase at least $22 million from the current year's budget to about $2.1 billion under the Obama administration's proposal released Monday.

Safety and Security

• Airport scanners will soon use radiation to detect explosives and chemicals (WP)
  Long before the Christmas airplane bomber affair highlighted the threat of weaponized underwear, the Transportation Security Administration had begun test deployments of "whole-body" scanners that detect not only knives, guns and the like but also soft explosives or pouches of lethal chemicals that generally can elude traditional screening devices.

Export and Import of Nuclear Materials

• Radioactive waste not welcome here (SLT)
  Utahns strongly support a federal ban on importing radioactive waste from foreign nations. And, even more strongly, they oppose the disposal of thousands of tons of depleted uranium in their state.

Risk Assessment

• NIH Takes Step to Assess Any Possible Risk Associated With Low-Dose Radiation
  (Science Daily)
  Researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Center are incorporating radiation dose exposure reports into the electronic medical record, an effort that they hope will lead to an accurate assessment of whether any cancer risk is associated with low-dose radiation exposure from medical imaging tests.

Nuclear Power

• The Administration Puts Its Own Stamp on a Possible Nuclear . Revival (WP)
  The Obama administration's 2011 budget proposal gives its distinctive endorsement to a revival of American nuclear power.

Nuclear Weapons

• Obama, Medvedev back nuclear disarmament effort (WP)
  President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev have offered support for an international group trying to rid the world of nuclear weapons.
• Obama seeks money for nuclear weapons work (WP)
  President Barack Obama is seeking increased funding for nuclear weapons research and security programs next year, even as his administration promotes nonproliferation and has pledged to reduce the world's stockpile of nuclear arms.

News for February 1, 2010

Policy and Regulations

• Obama pushes nuclear energy to boost climate bill (WP)
  President Barack Obama is endorsing nuclear energy like never before, trying to win over Republicans and moderate Democrats on climate and energy legislation.

Radioactive Waste

• Vt. Yankee radiation level requires federal notice (Boston Globe)
  The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says more radioactive tritium has been found in two additional test wells at the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant in Vernon.
• Spanish nuclear waste plans draw bidders, protest (WP)
  At least seven small Spanish towns had submitted bids to build a nuclear waste dump by a deadline on Saturday, but opposition from regional authorities cast doubt over the long-delayed project.

                     Yucca Mountain

• Budget Will Eliminate Yucca Nuclear Waste Repository, Says Sen. Reid (NYT)
  The White House will propose eliminating the budget and office in charge of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said yesterday.

                              Hanford

• Deadline pressure at Hanford to remove radioactive waste (Seattle Post Intelligencer)
  Hanford will have to pump highly radioactive wastes out of underground tanks much faster than it has ever done to meet a proposed new cleanup deadline

• Nuclear: Panel named to make recommendation on Hanford vit waste (Mid Columbia Tri City Herald)
  A Blue Ribbon Commission was named Friday to recommend what the nation should do not only with its spent commercial nuclear fuel but also weapons waste, such as the glassified high level waste from Hanford’s vitrification plant.

Health

• NIH will start keeping track of patients' radiation exposure (USAToday)
  Concerned that Americans may be accumulating too much lifetime radiation exposure from medical tests, doctors at the National Institutes of Health will begin recording how much radiation patients receive from CT scans and other procedures in their electronic medical records.

Nuclear Power

• Iran warns West it will make its own nuclear fuel (USAToday)
  Even if Tehran started working on the fuel production immediately, it would likely take years before it could master the technology to turn uranium enriched to the level of 20% into the fuel rods it needs for a medical research reactor.

Nuclear Weapons

• Obama to seek major increase in nuclear weapons funding (Kansas City Star) 
  The Obama administration plans to ask Congress to increase spending on the U.S. nuclear arsenal by more than $5 billion over the next five years as part of its strategy to halt the spread of nuclear weapons and eventually rid the world of them.

Science

• Hospital scanner could curb nuclear waste threat (Eurekalert)
  Medical equipment used for diagnosis of patients with heart disease and cancer could be a key weapon in stopping nuclear waste seeping into the environment, according to new research.
• Ten Serious Nuclear Fusion Projects Making Progress Around the World (BNET)
  Interest in nuclear fusion, in which atoms are forced to join and thus release some of their energy, has been on the rise along with the development of solar, wind and other renewable energy technologies.

Space/Cosmic Radiation

• Paved way for modern astrophysics, cosmology; bucked big bang theory (WP)
  Astrophysicist Geoffrey Burbidge, 84, who with his wife and two other colleagues determined how elements are synthesized in the nuclear reactors of stars, died Jan. 26 at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, Calif. A cause of death was not reported.

News for January 29, 2010

Radioactive Waste

• New Panel Will Study Disposal of Waste (The New York Times)
  The Energy Department plans to announce on Friday the formation of a “blue ribbon” commission to study the disposal of nuclear waste.
• A Venus Flytrap for Nuclear Waste (U.S. News & World Report – Science)
  Northwestern University researchers have created a synthetic material which is extremely successful in removing cesium -- found in nuclear waste but very difficult to clean up -- from a sodium-heavy solution.

Hanford

• Federal funds aim to clean up nuclear wasteland (CNN)
  The federal government has set aside nearly $2 billion in stimulus funds to clean up Washington State's decommissioned Hanford nuclear site, once the center of the country's Cold War plutonium production.
• Deadline pressure at Hanford to remove radioactive waste (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
  Hanford will have to pump highly radioactive wastes out of underground tanks much faster than it has ever done to meet a proposed new cleanup deadline.

Safety and Security

• Raytheon to Develop Improved Radiation Detection Equipment (Global Security Newswire)
  Raytheon Co. announced this week that it signed a $4.3 million contract with the U.S. Homeland Security Department to engineer better equipment for detection of nuclear and radioactive materials.
• Prominent US Radiology Association Says Airport Body Scanners Safe (American Cancer Society)
  According to a recent statement, the ACR says it is "not aware of any evidence that either of the scanning technologies that the TSA is considering would present significant biological effects for passengers screened."

Nuclear Power

• Is nuclear power the future? Obama calls for more plants (USA Today)
  As other countries, including the United Kingdom, push to open new nuclear power plants, industry lobbyists have been encouraging the Obama administration to do the same -- with some apparent success.

Nuclear Weapons

• Clinton: Iran leaves penalty as only choice (The Washington Post)
  Iran leaves the world no recourse but to apply penalties aimed at curbing a fast-track nuclear program, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Thursday.

Science

• Cleveland BioLabs Granted European Patent for Radiation Protection Drug CBLB502 (CNN Money)
  Cleveland BioLabs, Inc. announced today that the European Patent Office (EPO) has granted an European Patent titled "Methods of Protecting Against Radiation Using Flagellin." Allowed claims cover the method of protecting a mammal from radiation using flagellin or its derivatives, including Protectan CBLB502. The United States, nine member countries of the Eurasian Patent Organization, and two additional countries have already granted this patent.
• Did a Nuclear Blast Give Birth to the Moon? (Discovery)
  In a new theory, some scientists are proposing that a massive nuclear explosion occurred at the edge of Earth's core, flinging red-hot, liquid rock into space. The orbiting detritus gradually congealed into what is now our planet's lone satellite.