Nuclear waste

November 3, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment unanimously approved Congressman Bart Gordon’s bipartisan legislation to ban the importation of foreign-generated radioactive waste for disposal in the United States.

The full Energy and Commerce Committee will consider Gordon’s legislation on Thursday, November 5, at 10:00 a.m. CDT.

“We’re the only nation in the world that buries the nuclear waste of other countries in our soil,” said Gordon. “I am pleased that my colleagues on the Subcommittee recognized the importance of stopping this practice and I am glad the full Energy and Commerce Committee will move forward with my bill on Thursday.”    » read more »

October 16, 2009, WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon’s bill to ban imports of nuclear waste got a boost today when an official from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission confirmed the agency currently lacks the power and authority to stop imports and disposal of foreign-generated radioactive waste in the United States.    » read more »

October 13, 2009, WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Bart Gordon said he was pleased the U.S. Department of Energy revised its decision to send radioactive waste from New York to Tennessee for disposal in municipal landfills. The decision comes after DOE held a conference call and was met with strong opposition to the plan from interested stakeholders, including Congressman Bart Gordon, Tennessee environmentalists and government watchdog groups.

“This decision is a victory for Tennessee,” said Congressman Gordon. “This contaminated waste is radioactive and should be disposed of in a landfill that is officially certified to handle this kind of waste. There is no reason for New York’s radioactive waste to be dumped in any of Tennessee’s municipal landfills.”    » read more »

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy Encourages Congress to Support Development of Recycling Technology to Turn Used Nuclear Fuel into an Asset

WILMINGTON, N.C.--18 June 2009-- As the White House and U.S. Congress create a new national strategy for managing used nuclear fuel, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) is encouraging lawmakers to support the research and development necessary for recycling nuclear fuel.

Testifying before the U.S. House of Representatives’ Science & Technology Committee on Wednesday, Lisa Price, a GEH senior vice president, briefed lawmakers on GEH’s proposed Advanced Recycling Center (ARC). The concept offers a timely solution to the industry’s most significant public policy and environmental challenges by turning used nuclear fuel into an asset.    » read more »

Recognized for Nuclear Fuel Recycling Technology Leadership

WILMINGTON, N.C.—June 16, 2009—GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) announced today that the American Nuclear Society (ANS) has honored engineer Charles Boardman with the prestigious Cisler Medal for his decades of leadership in the development of GEH’s “Generation IV” PRISM reactor technology.

The PRISM reactor is a cornerstone of GEH’s proposed Advanced Recycling Center (ARC) for recycling spent fuel from nuclear power plants. The technology offers a timely solution to one of the industry’s most significant public policy and environmental challenges, turning spent nuclear fuel into an asset.    » read more »

June 14, 2009 -- PARK CITY, UTAH -- The Western Governors’ Association and U.S. Department of Energy signed a Memorandum of Agreement today that will enhance the safety and security of transporting nuclear waste from sites within and outside the Western region to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico.

The agreement was signed during the WGA’s Annual Meeting here by Gov. Brian Schweitzer, WGA’s new chairman; C.L. “Butch” Otter, incoming Vice Chairman; and Steven Chu, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy. It expands upon current efforts aimed at ensuring the safe and uneventful transportation of nuclear materials.    » read more »

June 2, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI) joined six members of the House Committee on Homeland Security in releasing a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) entitled "Nuclear Forensics: Comprehensive Interagency Plan Needed to Address Human Capital Issues (GAO-09-527R)."    » read more »

May 29, 2009 -- OLYMPIA – Washington Governor Chris Gregoire today announced that the U. S. Department of Energy has awarded more than $2.2 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds for Washington State energy recovery. Most of the investment will accelerate clean up efforts at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Richland.

“This is great news for the state of Washington,” said Gregoire. “This investment will support and create hundreds of jobs, it accelerates the cleanup of the most dangerous contaminated site in the nation, and it moves us toward a clean-energy economy for the 21st century.”

The funding will benefit the following areas:    » read more »

Advancement has applications in many areas involving remote sensing

ARGONNE, Ill. (March 24, 2009) — Radio frequency identification (RFID) devices have been widely used for tracking for years; recently, scientists from U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory have developed a unique tracking technology that also monitors the environmental and physical conditions of containers of nuclear materials in storage and transportation.    » read more »

Bailout estimates for failed projects could range from hundreds of billions to more than a trillion

March 4, 2009 -- The nuclear power industry is pressuring Congress to dramatically expand federal loan guarantees for building new plants, which would put taxpayers and ratepayers at significant financial risk, according to a report released today by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).    » read more »

February 25, 2009 -- (Salem) – Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski and Attorney General John Kroger announced today that Oregon will seek to join a lawsuit against the federal government over the longstanding failure to clean up the Hanford Nuclear Reservation on the Columbia River.

“This suit is about compelling the federal government to uphold its commitment to protect fully our environment and our citizens,” Governor Kulongoski said. “Further delay is unacceptable. The federal government must make this clean up a priority and meet its obligations to address the environmental and public health risks that the Hanford site continues to pose.”

“Hanford poses a major risk to our health and environment,” Kroger added. “It is time to clean it up.”    » read more »

McCain Touts Plan at Nuke Plant That Partially Melted Down, Gave Rise to Term "China Syndrome" & Caught Fire Just This Past May

August, 2008 -- Washington, D.C.--As John McCain is paying a visit today to the Enrico Fermi nuclear generating station in Monroe, Michigan he can be expected to tout his costly plan to build 45 new nuclear plants by 2030 and 55 more after that. This plan would effectively double the number of nuclear reactors and the amount of dangerous high-level nuclear waste that would need to be transported across the country.    » read more »

August, 2008 -- Solomons Island, MD - A coalition of safe energy advocates warned today that the third reactor proposed at the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant is not in the public’s best interest and likely will become an extremely costly and dangerous mistake for the region’s energy policy. The advocates were scheduled to testify at Maryland Public Service Commission’s first public meeting Monday night on the proposal to build a new atomic reactor on the Chesapeake Bay.

UniStar, a consortium of Baltimore-based Constellation Energy and the French electricity operator EDF, has selected the Calvert Cliffs nuclear power station in Lusby, Maryland, for the construction of the first 1,600-megawatt Evolutionary Power Reactor (EPR) proposed for the United States.    » read more »

August, 2008 -- The Department of Energy's (DOE) plan to turn 34 metric tons of surplus nuclear weapons plutonium into "mixed oxide" (MOX) fuel for irradiation in nuclear power reactors has stumbled into yet another serious roadblock. Duke Energy has prematurely terminated a multiyear test of four experimental MOX fuel assemblies in its Catawba 1 reactor in South Carolina because of a potentially serious defect in the fuel design.    » read more »

Nuclear Power Plant Proposed for Victoria Puts Region at Risk

May 8, 2008 -- AUSTIN, Texas – While an environmental consultant brought to Victoria to tout nuclear energy is quick to claim that a new reactor proposed for the area would be “clean and safe,” he is less likely to discuss today at a private gathering of business and community leaders his ties to the industry, which is sponsoring his speaking tour.

Nuclear plant: Photo by Gabriel (CC)    » read more »