Energy and News Brief

News From the Week of May 19, 2008

2008-05-19T11:11:00.000-07:00

Solar Panels Unveiled at Fenway Park

Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant Violated Security Rules

Nuke Waste Move Brings Mishap at Vermont Yankee

EnergySolutions is Willing to Limit Foreign Waste

Idaho Environmental Group Questions Nuclear Waste Shipments

Solar Panels Unveiled at Fenway Park
By Andrew Ryan, Globe StaffThe green at Fenway Park will no longer be limited to the cushiony grass, historic rafters, and 37-foot-high wall in left field. Enough solar panels have been installed on the roof to heat a third of the hot water needed at the 96-year-old ballpark. The solar installation, which is being unveiled today, will provide 37 percent of the hot water needed at the stadium, reducing annual carbon dioxide emissions by roughly 18 tons. The project is being spearheaded by National Grid, which has committed $75,000 to Solar Boston. City and federal officials announced plans for the environmental upgrade at Fenway last month to highlight a $600,000 initiative to increase the city's solar energy output 50-fold by 2015. Dubbed Solar Boston, the effort will map neighborhoods to identify south-facing rooftops ideal for photovoltaic panels; market solar power to businesses and homeowners; and work to overcome technical and financial barriers to solar energy. "The program is designed to jump-start widespread solar installations throughout Boston with a public-private partnership," said James Hunt, the city's environmental and energy services chief. The goal is to increase solar output from the current 1/2 megawatt to 25 megawatts, which is enough to power 3,000 Boston households, Hunt said. Mayor Thomas M. Menino said last month that the goal is to "make clean, abundant, and affordable solar energy the norm and no longer an alternative source of energy." The program will be funded in part by $150,000 from the Department of Energy, a grant the city matched. The federal government will also provide an additional $250,000 in technical assistance over two years, and the state has agreed to contribute $50,000, Hunt said. The Menino administration plans to lead the citywide solar push by installing about $1 million worth of panels on municipal buildings, including Brighton High School, The Strand Theatre, Tobin Community Center, and the West Roxbury Branch Library. That is on top of Boston's $2 million Green Affordable Housing Program that has added solar to the roofs of six city developments.

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Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant Violated Security Rules
May 16 - United Press International

Federal nuclear regulators said they will be conducting inspections at Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station after a security lapse.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said the security issue, which occurred last summer, was discovered and reported by the operator of the plant, AmerGen Energy, The Patriot-News in Harrisburg, Pa., reported Friday.

The commission didn't specify the nature of the security lapse, only that it didn't involve inattentive or sleeping security officers and was of moderate to serious significance.

AmerGen Energy officials said the issue was immediately corrected.

A Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman said close inspections of security operations at the plant will be conducted during the next 12 months.

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Nuke Waste Move Brings Mishap at Vermont Yankee
BRATTLEBORO, Vt. (The Associated Press) - May 17

The first attempt by the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant to move highly radioactive spent fuel from a storage pool to a new concrete pad outside the reactor building ended in a mishap when a crane dropped a concrete storage cask 4 inches to the floor, officials said.

A faulty electrical relay in the crane was blamed for Monday's incident and has been replaced, said Vermont Yankee spokesman Robert Williams. The cask was not damaged and no workers were hurt, he said. The incident was not considered a safety hazard, which would have prompted a public posting on a Nuclear Regulatory Commission Web site. Williams said it is expected the crane will be back in operation sometime this coming week after testing.

The cask contained 68 spent fuel assemblies, the first to be moved from the spent fuel pool in the reactor building to the new "dry cask storage" pad in the adjacent plant yard.

Vermont Yankee won permission for dry cask storage two years ago, saying the fuel storage pool at the now 36-year-old reactor was filling up and that more waste storage was needed or the plant would have to shut down. The space crunch is due to the fact that the federal government has failed to date to open a long-planned site to take waste from nuclear plants, where it is backing up.

Vermont's Department of Public Service, which advises the governor on energy issues, agreed that there was no risk to workers or the public, said its spokesman, Stephen Wark.

Wark said the DPS had its nuclear adviser, Uldis Vanags, "on site as an observer. We have been aware of the transfer incident and backup safety systems worked as designed."

Wark said he was glad Vermont Yankee decided to make word of the incident public, calling it "an effort to further transparency."

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EnergySolutions is Willing to Limit Foreign Waste
SALT LAKE CITY (The Associated Press) - May 20 - By BROCK VERGAKIS
Associated Press Writer

The chief executive of EnergySolutions Inc. said Tuesday he wants to import a limited amount of foreign nuclear waste for disposal in the west desert to improve the company's chances of building dumps abroad.

EnergySolutions has an application pending before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to import 20,000 tons of low-level radioactive waste from Italy. It is the largest import license request for nuclear waste the NRC has ever received.

EnergySolutions wants to bring the Italian waste through New Orleans or Charleston, S.C., for processing and incineration in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The company then wants to bury 1,600 tons in Utah, home of the country's largest and only privately owned low-level radioactive waste dump.

The proposal has led to widespread opposition in Utah and other states the waste would travel through. It has also sparked a bill in Congress that would ban the importation of all low-level radioactive foreign waste unless it originated here or came from an American military facility.

The bill's sponsors worry that the U.S. won't have enough space for domestic waste if it accepts foreign waste.

During testimony in Washington, D.C., before a House subcommittee on the bill, EnergySolutions CEO Steve Creamer said capacity isn't a problem and he wouldn't do anything that might mean domestic customers have no place to dispose of waste.

"We do not want to bring wholesale radioactive waste into this country," Creamer said.

He said the intent in importing the waste is to "have an American company build a strong position internationally."

When the company went public last year, it listed its Utah disposal site as one of its competitive strengths.

In prepared remarks, Creamer told lawmakers that EnergySolutions is increasingly looking for international business, including the decommissioning of nuclear reactors in the United Kingdom.

"We are also exploring opportunities to site low-level waste disposal facilities abroad in order to help other countries address their waste management issues," Creamer said.

To allay concerns about capacity at the Clive, Utah, site about 70 miles west of Salt Lake City, Creamer said he would voluntarily ask state regulators to limit the amount of foreign waste disposed of at the site to 5 percent of the facility's capacity.

However, Gov. Jon Huntsman has said he doesn't want any foreign waste disposed of in Utah.

In prepared remarks, Kent Bradford, chairman of the Utah Radiation Control Board, told the House subcommittee that "any country that has the technological capability of producing nuclear power within its borders should not seek to dispose of its waste outside them. Development of nuclear power should go hand in hand with the development of disposal options."

Earlier this month, Utah used its veto authority on an eight-state interstate compact that governs nuclear waste management in the region to say Utah would no longer accept foreign waste.

EnergySolutions is challenging the compact's authority in a lawsuit in U.S. District Court. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has said the company's import license is dependent on it having a site to dispose of the waste.

A ruling on the license application is expected this summer.

On the Net: House Committee on Energy and Commerce
http://energycommerce.house.gov/cmte_mtgs/110-eaq-hrg.052008.RadioactiveWaste.shtml

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Idaho Environmental Group Questions Nuclear Waste Shipments
TWIN FALLS, Idaho (The Associated Press) - May 20

An Idaho nuclear watchdog group has asked the U.S. Department of Energy to conduct more environmental studies before going ahead with a plan that would increase the amount of nuclear waste being sent to eastern Idaho for processing.

The Snake River Alliance, in a May 14 letter to U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, asked that more analysis be done before going through with the plan that makes the Idaho National Laboratory the nation's primary processing center for transuranic waste from nuclear sites that don't have their own processing capabilities.

"It seemed to us there was a lot of information that wasn't taken into account when the Department of Energy made its decision," Beatrice Brailsford, Snake River Alliance program director, told The Times-News.

Transuranic waste includes building, laboratory and other debris contaminated with nuclear material.

The Energy Department announced earlier this year that it plans to send such waste from 14 facilities to the INL, an 890-square-mile federal nuclear research area in eastern Idaho, for repackaging before it is sent to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico.

As part of the plan, 9,000 cubic meters of radioactive waste from south-central Washington's Hanford nuclear reservation and 13 other areas would be sent to Idaho for repackaging.

The Snake River Alliance and four other similar groups say DOE documents contain conflicting information and errors about the shipments, and that could mean some of the waste stays in Idaho.

Joann Wardrip, a DOE spokeswoman, said the plan is meant to more efficiently treat and dispose of waste.

"We feel that the Idaho facility is very well equipped to treat this waste," she said. "It helps us get to our mission of safely cleaning up waste we have across (the country)."

The waste, according to department documents, would only be accepted if it meets requirements of an agreement with the state of Idaho. That agreement requires all waste to be treated within six months and shipped out within six months after that.

An analysis by the department found that any impact to the environment or worker safety would be within allowed limits.

The Snake River Alliance calls into question that analysis and asks for additional study.

Among the concerns noted by the alliance is that the New Mexico facility won't accept the waste from the INL due to shipping containers that have not yet been approved for such use, meaning it would remain in Idaho.

Wardrip declined to comment on specific concerns, noting the department is currently preparing a reply to the alliance.

Brailsford said the group expects to get the letter from the department by the end of the month. She said the group's next move depends on how DOE officials respond to the letter.

Joining the alliance in sending the letter were the Natural Resources Defense Council, Southwest Research and Information Center, Tri-Valley CARES, and Heart of America Northwest.
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News From the Week of May 12, 2008

2008-05-19T09:34:00.000-07:00

May 20 Public Meeting to Discuss Contamination of Groundwater at Indian Point Plant

Major New Technical Report Finds Wind Can Provide 20% of U.S. Electricity Needs by 2030

Your Home Might Be Turned into a Power Plant

Plan to Store Italian Nuclear Waste Rejected

Duke Energy Identifies Vibration at Oconee Nuclear Station

Nine Mile Point Plant Loses Power, Declares Unusual Event

NRC to Discuss Inspection of Company's Assessment of Groundwater Contamination at Indian Point Plant May 20
May 14, 2008 -- NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION DOCUMENTS AND PUBLICATIONS/ContentWorks

The results of a Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspection of Entergy's work on characterizing groundwater contamination at the Indian Point nuclear power plant will be discussed at a public meeting on Tuesday, May 20. Indian Point is located in Buchanan (Westchester County), N.Y., and operated by Entergy Nuclear Northeast.

Scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m., the meeting will take place at the Colonial Terrace, 119 Oregon Road in Cortlandt Manor, N.Y. Prior to the formal session, the NRC will offer an informational poster-board open house at the facility, from 4 to 6 p.m. At that session, members of the public will have an opportunity to discuss issues related to the subject on a one-on-one basis with NRC staff.

"Throughout the course of Entergy's efforts to determine the extent of the contamination and then develop a plan to address it going forward, we have closely followed the company's actions every step of the way," said NRC Region I Administrator Samuel J. Collins. "As part of our reviews, we have also conducted independent analysis and groundwater sampling. At the meeting on May 20th, we will explain what we found as a result of our inspections and whether we consider Entergy's plans for dealing with the contamination to be reasonable, thorough and protective of the public and the environment."

The groundwater contamination at Indian Point was first identified after cracks were found on a wall of the Unit 2 spent fuel pool during excavation work adjacent to that structure. Entergy notified the NRC of that condition on Sept. 1, 2005. The company initiated an investigation and subsequently determined that there was tritium contamination in the groundwater in the vicinity of the spent fuel pool. That discovery triggered a comprehensive effort to characterize the extent of any groundwater contamination at the site, to identify the sources and to develop a plan for addressing the problem.

On Sept. 20, 2005, the NRC commenced a Special Inspection to examine Entergy's actions in response to the problem. That inspection concluded that the groundwater contamination did not -- nor was it likely to -- affect public health and safety. The results of that review were discussed at a public meeting on March 28, 2006. Since then, the NRC has continued to inspect and monitor the company's activities. Reactor Oversight Process Deviation Memorandums, signed by the agency's Executive Director for Operations, authorized the allocation of additional inspection resources to carry out these reviews.

Entergy submitted to the NRC the results of its groundwater investigation on Jan. 11, 2008. It also provided its plans for remediation and long-term monitoring of the contamination. At the meeting on May 20th, prior to the NRC's presentation regarding its inspection, the company will discuss the results of its hydrogeophysical site characterization effort; its plans for continued monitoring of groundwater conditions at the site; and the upcoming drainage of water and removal of fuel from the Unit 1 spent fuel pool. The actions involving the Unit 1 spent fuel pool are expected to result in the halt of groundwater contamination from that location, which has been the most significant source of the contamination at the site.

The NRC staff will then provide details of its inspection. Among the objectives of the inspection were to understand the cause of the leakage and its radiological significance; ensure that appropriate and timely actions were taken by Entergy to investigate the condition; determine the company's conformance with applicable regulatory requirements; and provide an independent analysis to evaluate the quality of the company's assessment and investigation results. NRC inspectors reviewed company records and previous inspection reports issued by the agency; observed and inspected Entergy activities; interviewed company personnel; and independently collected and analyzed groundwater samples.

A copy of the inspection report will be available in the NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) under accession number ML081340425. ADAMS is accessible at:
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.html. Help in using ADAMS is available via the NRC's Public Document Room at 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, or by e-mail at PDR@NRC.GOV.

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Major New Technical Report Finds Wind Can Provide 20% of U.S. Electricity Needs by 2030
WASHINGTON, May 12, 2008 -- BUSINESS WIRE

Wind power is capable of becoming a major contributor to America's electricity supply over the next three decades, according to a report released today by the U.S. Department of Energy. The groundbreaking report, 20% Wind Energy by 2030: Increasing Wind Energy's Contribution to U.S. Electricity Supply, looks closely at one scenario for reaching 20% wind energy by 2030 and contrasts it to a scenario of no new U.S. wind power capacity.

"DOE's wind report is a thorough look at America's wind resource, its industrial capabilities, and future energy prices, and confirms the viability and commercial maturity of wind as a major contributor to America's energy needs, now and in the future," DOE Assistant Secretary of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy for the U.S. Department of Energy Andy Karsner, said. "To dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance our energy security, clean power generation at the gigawatt-scale will be necessary, and will require us to take a comprehensive approach to scaling renewable wind power, streamlining siting and permitting processes, and expanding the domestic wind manufacturing base."

Included in the report are an examination of America's technological and manufacturing capabilities, the future costs of energy sources, U.S. wind energy resources, and the environmental and economic impacts of wind development. Under the 20% wind scenario, installations of new wind power capacity would increase to more than 16,000 megawatts per year by 2018, and continue at that rate through 2030.

"The report shows that wind power can provide 20% of the nation's electricity by 2030, and be a critical part of the solution to global warming," said AWEA Executive Director Randall Swisher. "This level of wind power is the equivalent of taking 140 million cars off the road," he said. "The report identifies the central constraints to achieving 20% - transmission, siting, manufacturing and technology - and demonstrates how each can be overcome. As an inexhaustible domestic resource, wind strengthens our energy security, improves the quality of the air we breathe, slows climate change, and revitalizes rural communities."

The report finds that achieving a 20 percent wind contribution to U.S. electricity supply would:

-- Reduce carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation by 25
percent in 2030.

-- Reduce natural gas use by 11%;

-- Reduce water consumption associated with electricity generation by
4 trillion gallons by 2030;

-- Increase annual revenues to local communities to more than $1.5
billion by 2030; and

-- Support roughly 500,000 jobs in the U.S., with an average of more than 150,000 workers directly employed by the wind industry.

At 20% of electric power generation, significant growth in the manufacturing supply chain would create jobs and remedy the current shortage in parts for wind turbines.

Reducing the use of natural gas could save money for consumers due to the resulting downward pressure on the price of natural gas, according to AWEA.

"The report correctly highlights that greater penetration of renewable sources of energy - such as wind - into our electric grid will have to be paired with not only advanced integration technologies but also new transmission," DOE's Assistant Secretary for Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability Kevin Kolevar said. "In many cases, the most robust sources of renewable resources are located in remote areas, and if we want to be able to deliver these new clean and abundant sources of energy to population centers, we will need additional transmission."

"We must look at meeting future electric demands in a cost-effective way," said Suedeen Kelly, FERC Commissioner. "The 20% wind scenario would only cost 2 percent more than the cost of the baseline scenario without wind. At 50 cents per month for the average ratepayer, that is a small price to pay for the climate, water, natural gas, and energy security benefits it would buy--and it does not even count the stability provided to consumers by eliminating fuel price risk."

"Though economic and other factors will ultimately determine our energy future, we believe the 20 percent wind scenario is feasible, but only with a major national transmission highway system. Delivering power from the best windy regions to the growing urban supply requires a bigger, stronger transmission system. Strong regional and interregional planning as well as broad allocation of costs will allow the United States to rely on a broader diversity of generation resources," said Mike Heyeck, Senior VP of AEP Transmission.

The report comes at an important time in wind development. In 2007, wind was one of the fastest growing sources of electricity in the nation, second only to natural gas for the third consecutive year. According to an AWEA report released last week, the U.S. wind energy industry continued new installations at a breakneck pace in the first quarter of 2008, putting 1,400 megawatts (MW) or approximately $3 billion worth of new generating capacity in place--enough to serve the equivalent of 400,000 homes--coupled with investment in 17 new manufacturing facilities over the past year.

"Wind is an important part of BP Alternative Energy's business and of BP's diverse energy portfolio. Siting and wildlife issues will be a challenge, but AWEA and industry leaders are committed to working with stakeholders to make wind the environmental electricity choice," said Bob Lukefahr, President, Power Americas, BP Alternative Energy North America. "This report underscores the benefits of diversifying our electricity sources. Growing to 20% wind requires investment in new manufacturing and capital projects, an estimated 500,000 jobs, and brings rural economic development across the country."

Background

In 2006, President Bush articulated a national imperative for greater energy efficiency and a more diversified energy portfolio. Citing wind energy as part of the solution, he noted that areas of the nation with good
wind resources could satisfy up to 20 percent of America's total electricity demand.

Subsequently, government and industry came together to thoroughly explore the feasibility of generating 20 percent of U.S. electricity from wind by 2030 and produced this joint report to aid policy-makers and the public in better understanding the issues, investments, and likely outcomes associated with pursuing this objective.

To download the full report, please go to www.20percentwind.org.

AWEA is the national trade association of the U.S. wind energy industry. The association's membership includes global leaders in wind power development, wind turbine manufacturing, and energy, as well as a broad range of component and service suppliers. More information on wind energy is available at the AWEA web site: www.awea.org.

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Your Home Might Be Turned into a Power Plant
May 13 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Christopher D. Kirkpatrick The
Charlotte Observer, N.C.

Inside the garage of Duke Energy's chief technology officer, a refrigerator-sized battery-and-computer station processes electricity from rooftop solar panels.

The electricity powers his home directly. But the battery also stores some of it to be tapped later, if needed.

The battery station, with help from the home's new smart meter, also tracks electricity use, appliance-by-appliance, so a homeowner knows how best to save.

David Mohler's Lake Wylie residence, with all its gizmos, is ground zero for an ambitious solar energy experiment the Charlotte utility believes holds the key to meeting power demand more efficiently and cleanly.

"This is a future world," Mohler said as he stood in his driveway looking up at the gleaming panels on his roof. "But we need to figure out how to improve (solar) technology and bring down the costs. Today, it's too expensive."

The company would like to install similar systems in selected homes throughout its Carolinas territory within a decade. With the equipment, the homes and businesses could become mini-power stations, working as an extended network feeding the regional power grid with electricity.

The utility plans to finish outfitting 5,000 south Charlotte homes with smart meters by this summer and already has installed data relay devices on some power lines. The meters are part of an existing program to track and analyze customer power use. Duke said its 4 million customers in five states will have smart meters in five years. They also are key to a future solar network.

Duke plans to ask Carolinas regulators this summer for permission to start building the network. The batteries could come later.

Duke spokesman Tom Williams said Duke hasn't decided yet if customers will be able to volunteer their rooftops.

With the array of new technology, Duke could burn less coal by drawing unused solar power from homes. For example, Duke could draw power while residents are on vacation. It also could grab power stored in the batteries.

Officials estimate the first phase, over the next decade, would cost about $100 million, expenses passed on to customers through higher rates. Duke has suggested it could install the panels and equipment, while retaining ownership. It could then siphon extra power in exchange for breaks on customers' bills or other concessions, Williams said.

Duke and other utilities say they will need solar networks to meet future energy demand more efficiently as they work to curb carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired plants.

Rogers told shareholders Friday at the company's annual meeting that creating a network was integral.

The idea has been around for 10-15 years, said Steve Kalland, director of the N.C. Solar Center at N.C. State University. But advances in battery-storage technology has made it more practical, he said.

Solar energy's penetration in the Carolinas is almost zero, Kalland said. "I'm cautiously optimistic."

The technology's growing popularity has brought down costs, but price is still a major obstacle to widespread use, he said. The solar panels and installation at Mohler's house cost $24,000. And the battery, manufactured by GridPoint, was $10,000.

Obstacles also include aesthetics. Some homeowner associations have outlawed solar panels as unsightly, Mohler said. "There are some interesting social issues."

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Plan to Store Italian Nuclear Waste Rejected
May 09 - Deseret News (Salt Lake City)

The EnergySolutions proposal to store radioactive waste from Italy in Utah received a unanimous thumbs down Thursday from the Northwest Interstate Compact on Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management.

Utah's compact committee member Bill Sinclair, picked by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., read from a "clarifying" resolution after a 90-minute closed session to discuss a federal lawsuit EnergySolutions filed this week. Representatives on the eight-state compact all voted to approve the resolution.

The compact's document said EnergySolutions does not have the necessary "arrangement" with the compact to accept the Italian waste. Such an arrangement would need to be adopted by the committee prior to EnergySolutions' accepting that waste in Utah.

Sinclair said the intent of the resolution was to send a "clear message" on the compact's stand on foreign waste. A short time later the committee approved a resolution amendment that states the compact will also disregard a waste classification as domestic after incineration, that is, if the waste being incinerated originated in a foreign country.

The Northwest Compact is one of several throughout the country that help manage disposal of potentially dangerous waste from state to state. Utah is part of an eight-state compact that includes Alaska, Hawaii, Montana, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming and Oregon. Waste coming from Tennessee to Utah is under the watch of the Southwest Compact and Tennessee's own laws governing radioactive waste classification.

The committee's decisions came after EnergySolutions general counsel Val John Christensen asked the compact's committee to look past the "emotional protest of 'not in my backyard."'

In an April 23 letter to compact committee members, Christensen said the company's license application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has generated "political reactions, based almost entirely on misinformation."

License approval would mean EnergySolutions could accept up to 20,000 tons of low-level radioactive waste from closed nuclear reactors in Italy. The bulk of materials would be processed and recycled at an EnergySolutions facility in Tennessee. About one- third of the materials would be metal to be recycled for "beneficial" use, EnergySolutions' Tye Rogers said.

Then about 1,600 tons of Class A waste left over after processing would be transported to the company's disposal site in Clive, Tooele County. The company is not licensed to accept hotter Class D or C waste, which nuclear watchdog group Institute for Energy and Environmental Research president Arjun Makhijani recently suggested would actually be coming to Clive. EnergySolutions has denied that claim.

For Christensen, the main debatable issue should be whether his company's Clive facility in Tooele County has the capacity to store the waste. Rogers told the committee there is more than enough room, with 33 years of life left at the Clive site if an additional area there is developed for expanded disposal operations.

However, waste competitor Cedar Mountain Environmental's Charles Judd told the committee that EnergySolutions, using the company's figures provided to the state, the Clive site has only about five years of life left. Judd is currently challenging several issues, including capacity, related to the company's operating license, before the state's Radiation Control Board.

Judd said, as a competitor, the amount of Italian waste proposed for importing to EnergySolutions' Clive site was insignificant. He welcomed the resolution as a means of clarifying the waste marketplace.

Christensen also told the committee that for EnergySolutions to play on the "world stage," it needs to be authorized to accept foreign waste at the Clive site.

But the application has been met with opposition by Huntsman, Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, and Utah's own Radiation Control Board. The NRC also took a rare step in issuing a "fact sheet" due to the number of inquiries and negative public comments it received.

John Urgo of Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah urged the committee in Boise not to allow a major precedent-setting policy shift by letting EnergySolutions go after foreign waste, opening the door to more and more overseas shipments.

In their defense, company officials stated in documents prepared for Thursday's meeting that some electricity produced in Italy has come from American- and British-designed nuclear reactors, with fuel for those Italian reactors coming from uranium mined in the U.S. and even in Utah.

The company filed a federal lawsuit this week asking the U.S. District Court to make a declaratory judgment in the company's favor by declaring the compact lacks the authority to bar the company from storing the Italian waste in Utah. The company believes that will eventually allow them to receive the waste.

"We believe the courts will uphold the position that the Northwest Compact does not have authority to interfere with interstate commerce at a private facility," EnergySolutions spokesman Mark Walker said a statement following the meeting.

Sinclair asked Christensen whether EnergySolutions would drop the suit if the compact committee allowed the import of Italian waste under the condition that the amount of foreign waste coming to the Clive site in the future from foreign countries would be limited to 5 percent of the site's remaining capacity. Christensen said, in that case, the lawsuit would be dropped, but that compromise was not reached Thursday.

In its lawsuit and in front of the committee, EnergySolutions outlined several reasons why the compact lacks authority to prevent the company from receiving shipments of Class A low-level radioactive waste from foreign countries.

The company claims the compact, by design, has no statutory authority and that excluding the Italian waste "would amount to discrimination against foreign commerce and would therefor violate the Dormant Commerce Clause" of the U.S. Constitution.

EnergySolutions also believes that a 2007 agreement would be breached between the company and Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. if the compact, namely Utah's representative on the compact, ruled against the company's current state license. That license allows EnergySolutions to receive low-level radioactive waste, which the license has "never" distinguished between foreign and domestic, according to EnergySolutions.

Judd asked the committee at one point what authority Huntsman has in making an agreement on radioactive waste disposal with a private company. He also asked whether that agreement would hold up under a different governor.

"I don't know the answer to that question," Sinclair told Judd.

EnergySolutions also said any action by the compact to exclude foreign waste shipments would be "arbitrary and capricious and therefor invalid."

Committee members asked EnergySolutions officials about why no one in Europe will process or store the Italian waste or whether the company could partner with anyone overseas to handle the waste outside of the U.S. Montana committee member Roy Kemp asked if EnergySolutions has any plans to actually develop another waste site somewhere else. Christensen said his company does not have any such plans right now.

Before voting on the amendment to the resolution, the committee also talked about rules that govern how EnergySolutions classifies foreign waste. Company officials told committee members that some waste from outside the U.S. is no longer considered "foreign" after it is incinerated in Tennessee. In some cases the leftovers after incineration are declared as "Tennessee" waste, not foreign, before it is shipped to Clive for disposal.

E-mail: sspeckman@desnews.com

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Duke Energy Identifies Vibration at Oconee Nuclear Station
GREENVILLE, S.C. (The Associated Press) - May 13

Duke Energy says it's figured out what caused unusual coolant pump vibrations at a reactor at the Oconee Nuclear Station near Seneca.

The Greenville News reported Tuesday a Duke spokeswoman said the vibrations occurred because one of the four pumps was out of service.

Duke's Linda Conley says one pump had a small oil leak and had been shut down before the scheduled April 12 reactor shutdown. Conley says the change from four pumps to three caused the slightly higher vibration.

Conley says the Charlotte-based utility has replaced seals of all four pumps on the reactor.

Roger Hannah with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission says the agency was sending a team to the station Tuesday to study Duke's finding.

Conley says the matter did not affect the safety for the public, workers or the plant.

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Nine Mile Point Plant Loses Power, Declares Unusual Event
SCRIBA, N.Y. (The Associated Press) - May 13

An upstate New York nuclear reactor automatically shut down when off-site power to the plant was lost.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission says the incident Tuesday at the Nine Mile Point Unit 1 reactor is an unusual event, the lowest of its four emergency classifications.

The Lake Ontario plant has two incoming power lines, one of which was shut down for maintenance. Officials are trying to learn why the second stopped providing power just before 8:30 a.m.

Diesel generators at the plant kicked in, providing emergency power. Power was restored later in the morning and the unusual event was declared over at 10:22. a.m.

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News From the Week of May 5, 2008

2008-05-12T16:17:00.000-07:00

The Resurrection of the Clinch River Breeder Reactor!?

Unexplained Vibration Will Keep SC Nuclear Reactor Shut Down

Electric Bills Will Rise to Pay for New Nukes

Uranium Mining Appears Ready to Surge

Areva Plans to Build $2 Billion Uranium Plant in Idaho

Wal-Mart Selects 20 Capitols for Energy Audits

Ohio Requires 25% Renewable or Advanced Energy by 2025

Company Offers to Drop Lawsuit as States Consider Waste Plan

Utility Eyes Ratepayers for Building Costs: Georgia Power May Ask to Bill Customers for Reactors' Construction

The Resurrection of the Clinch River Breeder Reactor!?
Knoxville News Sentinel

TVA has received $4 million from the Department of Energy to develop a conceptual design for a nuclear waste reprocessing plant, with an eye toward building a demonstration facility, possibly on the former Clinch River Breeder Reactor site.

TVA President and CEO Tom Kilgore said Tuesday in an interview that TVA has long-term plans to develop a small-scale nuclear waste recycling facility to demonstrate technology that would allow useful material in nuclear waste sitting in storage on nuclear power plant sites to be reprocessed as fuel.

With power companies increasingly turning to nuclear as a source for the nation's future energy needs, how to handle the waste generated by these plants has become of increasing concern - and the focus of federal dollars.

"It's a long-term project," he said. "Something like this is going to take a decade, maybe two, to perfect. (This money represents) just a front-end, little sliver."

Such a project would ultimately cost "billions of dollars" if plans come to fruition, Kilgore said, and the demonstration facility TVA is envisioning would be a "10th or 20th" the size of a production-size reprocessing plant.

Kilgore said firm plans for locating the facility have not been made, and the Oak Ridge Reservation - home of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Y-12 Weapons Plant and East Tennessee Technology Park - could be a possible location as well.

"Our concept is that it would be close enough so that we would not have to have transport that would be at a very large distance," he said. "We've got Watts Bar and Sequoyah (nuclear plants) already here, so we've got the concept that it's not far from Watts Bar up to our Clinch River site."

The funding is part of a recent memorandum of understanding between TVA and the Department of Energy that DOE announced as a collaborative effort to deal with issues of nuclear waste as part of its Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, or GNEP.

TVA could end up collaborating with Oak Ridge National Laboratory or other DOE labs on the effort, Kilgore said, but that involvement is still in the discussion phase.

The Clinch River property was the planned site of a breeder reactor under development by the Department of Energy but cancelled in 1983. Now known as the Clinch River Industrial site, the property in 2006 was restricted by TVA from general industrial development as part of a policy that reserved the agency's shoreline property for manufacturers needing water for transportation or supply.

The location for the Clinch River Breeder Reactor was a 1,364-acre parcel adjacent to the Clinch River in Roane County but inside the Oak Ridge city limits. When mothballed in 1983 before completion, federal estimates put the cost of completing the breeder reactor at $8 billion.

Business writer Larisa Brass may be reached at 865-342-6318.

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Unexplained Vibration Will Keep SC Nuclear Reactor Shut Down
GREENVILLE, S.C. (The Associated Press) - May 4

Investigators say a reactor at the Oconee Nuclear Station will remain off-line until the cause of a vibration discovered as the plant was shutting down for refueling can be pinpointed.

The senior Nuclear Regulatory Commission resident inspector at the plant, George Hutto, says the investigation should be complete in the next couple of weeks.

The Greenville News reported Sunday that a special inspection last week failed to find the cause of high vibrations in three reactor coolant pumps for Unit 1 at the Duke Energy plant near Seneca.

The commission reported that one of the pumps also showed indications of a degraded condition.

The commission says there's is little safety concern because the reactor is shut down and will stay that way until the problem is solved.

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Electric Bills Will Rise to Pay for New Nukes
May 05 - The Miami Herald

Your electric bill is likely to go up $2 a month or more next year to start paying for the new nuclear power plants that Florida Power & Light hopes to put in service in 10 or 12 years.

In a filing last week with the Public Service Commission, FPL started the process to recover the costs associated with expanding the capacity at its existing nuclear operations at Turkey Point and St. Lucie, as well as the new nuclear generators planned at Turkey Point in South Dade.

The increase, if approved by regulators, would be a little more than 2 percent, the utility said. The average homeowner using 1,000 kilowatt-hours a month is now paying $102.49.

The nuclear surcharge would first appear on bills next January, recovering costs already incurred, plus costs for the rest of 2008 and estimates for 2009 expenses.

The utility is allowed to recover the costs associated with the expensive nuclear construction well in advance of the completion of construction because of a bill passed by the Florida Legislature and a regulation approved by the PSC. The new plants are not expected to come on line until 2018 or 2020.

The PSC has approved the new nuclear plants -- the first time a state regulatory agency in the United States has approved new nuclear power in 30 years -- but federal regulators and the state Department of Environmental Protection still have to sign off on the project.

The units are expected to cost $12 billion to $24 billion, depending on the technology used.

In March, FPL spokesman Mayco Villafana told The Herald that the utility planned to file a request in May to recover nuclear costs. The costs could fluctuate from year to year but would probably never be more than $6 a month, Villafana said.

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Uranium Mining Appears Ready to Surge
LOS ANGELES, May 4, 2008 -- UPI

Uranium mining in the United States may be about to surge, a spike in claims being filed indicates.

In five Western states where uranium is mined, 43,153 claims were filed last year, up from 4,333 in 2004, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday. The area of interest includes near the Grand Canyon, where U.S. Interior Department records show there are more than 1,100 claims within five miles of the national park, compared to only 10 in 2003, the Times said.

The closure of some mines in Canada and West Africa, combined with plans for more nuclear power plants around the world, has pushed up the price of uranium from $9.70 a pound in 2002 to $65 a pound last week, the newspaper noted.

The possibility of more U.S. mines has sent environmental groups to the federal courts and Congress to try to head off any mining near the Grand Canyon and other sensitive areas, the Times said. Rep. Raul M. Grijalva, D-Ariz., has introduced legislation to withdraw 1 million acres of federal land around the Grand Canyon park from consideration for mining.

However, the measure would not stop claims already staked.

"If you can't stop mining at the Grand Canyon, where can you stop it?" asked Richard Wiles, executive director of the Environmental Working Group.

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Areva Plans to Build $2 Billion Uranium Plant in Idaho
BOISE, Idaho (The Associated Press) - May 6 - By JOHN MILLER Associated
Press Writer

French-owned energy services company Areva NC Inc. will build a $2 billion uranium enrichment plant near the eastern Idaho city of Idaho Falls, after winning tax concessions from the state Legislature.

The plant will be built near the Idaho National Laboratory, where scientists have done research into nuclear energy since the 1940s, the company said Tuesday.

A late-session push in the Legislature earlier this year extended a sales tax exemption for production equipment that handles nuclear fuel and capped property tax valuations at the proposed plant at $400 million.

Areva plans to build the plant by 2014. A program in which Russia has been converting weapons-grade uranium to uranium suitable for use in electricity-producing reactors and selling it to an Areva rival expires in 2013.

"The United States needs more clean energy to support its economic growth," Michael McMurphy, Areva NC's president and chief executive officer, said in a statement. "To enable us to meet those needs we have to expand our domestic nuclear infrastructure, secure our supply of enrichment services, and reduce our reliance on foreign imports. This new enrichment plant is a critical part of this process."

Before the plant is built, Areva still must get approval from local, state and national agencies, including a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to construct and operate the facility.

Areva selected Idaho over sites in Washington state, Ohio, Texas and New Mexico.

"While we had several attractive sites to choose from, we opted for Idaho Falls, which has strong ties to nuclear energy, and which welcomed Areva and its proposed enrichment facility to become a new member of its community," McMurphy said.

Joe Heaton, a Democratic New Mexico state representative from Carlsbad, told the Carlsbad Current-Argus that Areva decided against the southeastern New Mexico site because of a workforce shortage and concerns about the high cost of electricity.

Areva NC, headquartered in Bethesda, Md., is a subsidiary of France's Areva Group. Areva also is building a similar, larger uranium enrichment plant in France.

The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission took applications to build seven new commercial U.S. nuclear reactors last year, with 25 more licensing requests expected through 2009. As interest in nuclear power grows, there are two other uranium enrichment plants being built in the United States, one in southeastern New Mexico and another in Piketon, Ohio.

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Wal-Mart Selects 20 Capitols for Energy Audits
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (The Associated Press) - May 6 - By BRIAN CHARLTON
Associated Press Writer

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has announced partnerships with Missouri, 18 other states and Puerto Rico to help them save on energy and electricity costs at their capitols.

Wal-Mart will pay engineering experts to perform energy audits at the capitols and recommend ways to save energy, lower electricity costs and reduce greenhouse emissions, company officials told state leaders Tuesday at the National Governors Association's State Summit on Clean Power and Efficiency.

Over the past three years, Wal-Mart has worked to cut energy usage at its stores and suppliers. Through its Greening State Capitols partnership with the National Governors Association, Wal-Mart now will start working with the states.

"We want to offer our services and expertise and get them to a point where they can at least see the savings within five years," spokesman Nate Hurst said.

Wal-Mart officials said that since the company is the largest employer in many states, it is important for it to work with state governments.

The program also will help Wal-Mart market its audit services to other interested companies, Hurst said.

The other states included in Tuesday's announcement are Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.

Engineers will visit the capitols in 2008 and 2009 to examine lighting, heating, ventilation, air-conditioning systems, refrigeration equipment and building structures.

Wal-Mart will then provide recommendations based on technology it uses to reduce energy consumption at its stores, said Matt Kistler, Wal-Mart's senior vice president of sustainability.

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, a Democrat, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven, both Republicans, attended the announcement.

Both Sebelius and Hoeven said their states weren't part of the program because similar audits have already been conducted at their capitols.

Pawlenty said the public-private partnership was an example of how governors can lead an effort to become greener.

"The cleanest and cheapest energy is the energy we save," Pawlenty said.

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Ohio Requires 25% Renewable or Advanced Energy by 2025
EERE Network News - 5/7/08

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland approved a bill last week that will require the state's utilities to draw on renewable or advanced energy for 25% of their electricity supply by 2025. Senate Bill 221 requires renewable energy to meet at least half of that requirement, which starts at 0.5% by the end of 2009 and gradually ratchets up to 25% by the end of 2024. So the actual renewable energy requirement starts at 0.25% at the end of 2009 and increases to 12.5% by the end of 2024. The bill defines renewable energy as electricity produced from solar electric systems, wind power, geothermal energy, biomass energy, low-impact hydropower, and fuel cells, regardless of their type and the fuel they use. A small fraction of the renewable energy must come from solar energy, starting at 0.004% of all electricity sales by the end of 2009 and increasing to 0.5% of electricity sales by the end of 2024. At least half of the renewable energy facilities must be located within the state, and renewable energy credits may be used to meet the requirement.

The bill deviates from most state renewable energy requirements by allowing half of the 25% requirement to be met through demand-side management, energy efficiency improvements for customers, and efficiency improvements at existing power plants that increase the plants' generating capacity. It also allows for power produced from customer-located cogeneration systems, which produce both heat and electricity, and from "clean coal" power plants, advanced nuclear power plants, and advanced waste-to-energy plants. Utilities that fail to meet the requirements will have to make payments to the state's advanced energy fund, unless the utility can show that the electricity from renewable or advanced energy sources would cost at least 3% more than electricity from traditional energy sources. The bill also lifts some restrictions on net metering of customer-located power generators and lifts all restrictions on net metering of generators located at hospitals. Net metering is a method of giving credit for power fed into the grid by customers.

While allowing energy efficiency and demand-side management programs to meet a portion of the advanced energy requirement, the bill also establishes separate requirements for energy efficiency and demand-side management. Starting in 2009, utilities will have to implement energy efficiency programs that achieve annual energy savings equal to at least 0.3% of their electricity sales, gradually increasing to 1% of sales for 2014-2018, then doubling to 2% of their sales for 2019-2025. By 2025, this will achieve a cumulative energy savings greater than 22% of today's electricity sales. Utilities will also have to implement demand reduction programs designed to achieve a 1% reduction in peak demand in 2009 and an additional 0.75% reduction each year through 2018. To further encourage such programs, the state's utility commission may approve measures to decouple utility revenues from actual electricity sales, that is, if sales go down because of energy-saving programs, the utility's profits won't suffer. Such "revenue decoupling" measures may also be established for natural gas utilities. Utilities must also report on their greenhouse gas emissions and establish plans to control those emissions.

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Company Offers to Drop Lawsuit as States Consider Waste Plan
BOISE, Idaho (The Associated Press) - May 8 - By JOHN MILLER Associated Press Writer

Representatives from eight Western states met privately Thursday to discuss a lawsuit filed by a company that wants to bury a portion of 20,000 tons of Italian radioactive waste in Utah.

When they emerge, they could set a policy that governs foreign shipments of waste to Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

The states are part of the Northwest Interstate Compact on Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management, which was meeting in Boise.

Earlier this week, EnergySolutions Inc. filed a lawsuit to challenge the compact's ability to regulate shipments to its facility in Clive, Utah.

EnergySolutions wants to bring the Italian waste through New Orleans or Charleston, S.C., for processing and incineration in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

About 1,600 tons of waste - five or six rail cars a year - would then be shipped to the company's site in Utah, the largest and only privately owned low-level radioactive waste dump in the country.

Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman has pledged to use the eight-state compact to keep his state from becoming a dumping ground for foreign waste, partly because the move would sap space needed for domestic waste. Environmental groups have also panned the company's plan.

Utah's compact member, Bill Sinclair, could use his state's veto power to quash shipments to the state.

The decision of the compact members is expected to help set broader U.S. policy on shipments of foreign low-level radioactive waste. It could affect other countries as they scramble to find alternative locations if the United States restricts such cargo.

EnergySolutions offered to drop its lawsuit Thursday - if regulators agree to a plan that would restrict foreign shipments to 5 percent of overall storage capacity at the Utah site.

"We have confirmed from detailed analysis that 95 percent of the remaining capacity is more than enough capacity to handle all of the low-level radioactive waste" generated by all 104 existing U.S. power plants, hospitals and universities, said Val Christensen, EnergySolutions vice president and general counsel.

Congress created the compact in 1985 as a regional system for managing low-level radioactive waste. The compact's designated facility is in Richland, Wash. All radioactive waste from the eight states goes there, while EnergySolutions takes waste in Utah from other states.

In its lawsuit, the company concedes it has "coordinated some of its activities with the Northwest Compact" in the past, but insists the panel has no authority over what it handles because the Utah site is privately owned.

The Italian waste would come from four dismantled nuclear reactors. Opponents said the 5 percent storage limit still would mean too much radioactive waste destined for Utah.

"Shouldn't foreign countries be responsible for the waste they are generating?" said John Urgo of the Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah.

If Utah does use its veto, it will have an effect on EnergySolutions' import request at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the agency considering whether to allow the Italian waste into the United States.

NRC officials said there are a number of options, depending on the meeting's outcome.

"They could say we'd still like to bring the material for processing in Tennessee and dispose of it in some other way, presumably exporting the rest of it back to Italy," spokesman Dave McIntyre said in a phone interview.

The NRC public comment period on the import license ends June 10.

"If we get the letter from (the compact) saying 'No, this can't come to Utah,' I would doubt very much that we would just stamp a rejection on the application," McIntyre said.

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Utility Eyes Ratepayers for Building Costs: Georgia Power May Ask to Bill
Customers for Reactors' Construction
ATLANTA -May 08 - Florida Times Union

Slim or not, there's a chance that Georgia Power customers may foot the bill for two new nuclear reactors proposed for the utility's Plant Vogtle nuclear facility near Waynesboro before the 1,100-megawatt units are built.

David Ratcliff, CEO and president of Georgia Power's parent firm, the Southern Co., broached the idea of asking the Georgia Public Service Commission's permission to bill customers for construction costs for the reactors ahead of their construction during the company's earnings conference call last week.

But a decision on whether to do so has yet to be made, said Jeff Wilson, spokesman for Georgia Power.

"We are reviewing what other states have done in terms of financing, but we have not made a decision on that issue at this time," Wilson said.

Critics of the proposal, which would nearly double the amount of power Plant Vogtle can generate by 2016, assert that the PSC could be clearing the way for cost overruns if it were to allow Georgia Power to collect money ahead of construction.

"If they are allowed to, there is no - or a very small - incentive to keep the costs down," said Neill Herring, a lobbyist for several environmental groups aligned against the expansion.

Without the ability to collect ahead of construction, the company might keep a more watchful eye toward construction costs because the money is essentially coming out of investors' pockets, Herring said.

"If you remove that safeguard that provides they will just start spending wildly," Herring said.

Wilson said Georgia Power had no comment on critics' claims.

State law does not appear to prohibit investor-owned companies from collecting construction costs beforehand, but the commission has not allowed the practice since the early 1990s, said Bill Edge, spokesman for the PSC.

Other states, Florida among them, have changed laws that previously barred the practice.

The Florida Legislature nixed such a provision in 2006, and the Florida Public Service Commission has scheduled hearings in September to hear cases in which Florida Power & Light and Progress Energy seek approval on plans to bill customers ahead of construction, said Cindy Muir, the Florida agency's director of public affairs.

Georgia Power expects the cost of the two nuclear reactors will be unveiled this week, Wilson said.

An independent evaluator is analyzing bids for multiple methods of generating additional power. The company would then select the bid it prefers, and submit it to the PSC in August.

Since 2006, Georgia Power has had PSC approval to collect up to $51 million in permitting and licensing costs for exploring nuclear generation as an option for generating additional power, Wilson said.

Georgia needs to add about 1,000 megawatts a year in additional generation to meet demand, Georgia Power estimates.

The proposal comes during an upswing of interest in nuclear power.

Commercial energy companies are evaluating options to build 22 reactors at 16 different sites nationwide, according to the federal Energy Information Administration.

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News From the Week of April 28, 2008

2008-05-06T08:15:00.000-07:00

GoSolarCalifornia.org Web Site Re-Launched

Environmental Group Says It's Suing Detroit Edison

White House Undermines EPA On Cancer Risks, GAO Says

Decision On Nuclear Waste Disposal Delayed

SC Senate Gives Key Approval To Energy-Saving Incentives

Geothermal Utopia Gaining Steam in Utah

Senate Passes Energy Bill

Nuclear Inspectors Visit Oconee Station After Vibrations

Italy's Waste Is Called Too Hot For Utah

Former Nuke Plant Worker Gets Probation For Hiding Damage

GoSolarCalifornia Web Site Re-Launched
- Internet Portal Makes It Even Easier To Learn About Solar Energy
SACRAMENTO - 4/28/08

The California Energy Commission today re-launched www.GoSolarCalifornia.org, an online resource to help residents learn more about the benefits of new solar and energy efficient homes. The site will also serve as an information resource for home builders interested in developing new solar home communities.

"The Energy Commission is pleased to offer this site which will provide homebuyers with comprehensive information and the resources necessary to make wise choices about new solar and energy efficient homes," said California Energy Commission Chairman Jackalyne Pfannenstiel. "In addition to encouraging consumer interest in solar, the website will help us to educate home builders, local planning officials, and other interested stakeholders, while facilitating the growth of green communities."

GoSolarCalifornia.org and the New Solar Homes Partnership (NSHP), are components of the statewide solar program known as the California Solar Initiative. The NSHP provides financial incentives and other support to home builders, encouraging the construction of new, energy efficient solar homes that save homeowners money on their electric bills and help protect the environment. The goals of the NSHP are to create a self-sustaining market for solar homes within 10 years and gain builder commitment in constructing 100 percent solar, energy efficient communities.

The Energy Commission is working with builders and developers to incorporate high levels of energy efficiency and high-performing solar systems to help create a self-sustaining solar market. As part of this effort, the Energy Commission has also developed a builder tool kit that is available on the new site.

Research aimed at consumers, home builders and business owners shows that the majority of new and potential home buyers in California are looking for energy efficient options when purchasing a new home. Additionally, California is increasingly looking to develop communities using smart growth strategies. Building highly energy efficient solar homes are an important step toward reaching the state's greenhouse gas reduction goals and the www.GoSolarCalifornia.org site will serve as a valuable information tool to help guide smart decisions.

About the New Solar Homes Partnership:

The New Solar Homes Partnership is a component of the California Solar Initiative, signed into law in 2006 under Senate Bill 1 by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Through financial incentives, the partnership encourages builders to install solar energy systems on new homes as a standard feature for the home buyer. A new home that qualifies for the New Solar Homes Partnership will be at least 15 percent more efficient than the current energy efficiency standards. Beginning in 2011, builders in California will be required to offer solar as a standard feature in new home developments of 50 or more.

For updates about the New Solar Homes Partnership and a copy of the guidebook, visit the Go Solar California Web site at:
www.GoSolarCalifornia.org.

For more information: http://www.gosolarcalifornia.org

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Former Nuke Plant Worker Gets Probation For Hiding Damage

Environmental Group Says It's Suing Detroit Edison
WINDSOR, Ontario (The Associated Press) - Apr 28

Mercury discharges into the Detroit River are causing cancer, amount to "child abuse" and are damaging the quality of life in this border city, American environmentalist Robert Kennedy Jr. said Sunday.

Kennedy made the comments in announcing that his Riverkeeper group has launched a Canadian lawsuit against Detroit Edison Co. over discharges from one of the utility's two power plants in Detroit.

High rates of cancer - especially of the thyroid - in Windsor could be traced to the river pollution, Kennedy said.

"That's assault and battery, and worse because you can die from it," he said. "What's the difference if you die from a brain tumor or if you die from a bullet? There's no difference."

The lawsuit under the Canadian Fisheries Act accuses the utility of illegal discharges of mercury into the Detroit River, Kennedy said.

The son of the late U.S. Senator Robert Kennedy did not say where or when the suit had been launched.

A spokeswoman from Detroit Edison's parent company DTE Energy Co. would not comment on ongoing or pending litigation but said she was baffled to hear about the lawsuit.

Lorie Kessler said Detroit Edison was spending $1 billion on equipment to reduce mercury emissions by 2010. She also said the utility is working with the state of Michigan to develop legislation to achieve even further cuts to emissions.

Riverkeeper is based in Tarrytown, N.Y., but Kennedy said there is precedent for cross-border lawsuits over environmental conditions.

In 2004, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency successfully sued Teck Cominico over chemical discharges into the Columbia River at its lead and zinc smelting plant in Trail, B.C. That suit argued the discharge was creating pollution in neighboring Washington state.

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White House Undermines EPA On Cancer Risks, GAO Says
Apr 28 - Associated Press

The Bush administration is undermining the Environmental Protection Agency's ability to determine health dangers of toxic chemicals by letting nonscientists have a bigger - often secret - say, congressional investigators say in a report obtained by The Associated Press.

The administration's decision to give the Defense Department and other agencies an early role in the process adds to years of delay in acting on harmful chemicals and jeopardizes the program's credibility, the Government Accountability Office concluded.

At issue is the EPA's screening of chemicals used in everything from household products to rocket fuel to determine if they pose serious risk of cancer or other illnesses.

A new review process begun by the White House in 2004 is adding more speed bumps for EPA scientists, the GAO said in its report, which will be the subject of a Senate Environment Committee hearing Tuesday. A formal policy effectively doubling the number of steps was adopted two weeks ago.

Cancer risk assessments for nearly a dozen major chemicals are now years overdue, the GAO said, blaming the new multiagency reviews for some of the delay. The EPA, for example, had promised to prepare assessments on 10 major toxic chemicals for external peer review by the end of 2007, but only two reached that stage.

GAO investigators said extensive involvement by EPA managers, White House budget officials and other agencies has eroded the independence of EPA scientists charged with determining the health risks posed by chemicals.

The Pentagon, the Energy Department, NASA and other agencies - all of which could be severely affected by EPA risk findings - are being allowed to participate "at almost every step in the assessment process," said the GAO.

Those agencies, their private contractors and manufacturers of the chemicals face restrictions and major cleanup requirements, depending on the EPA's scientific determinations.

"By law the EPA must protect our families from dangerous chemicals," said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., the Senate committee's chairman. "Instead, they're protecting the chemical companies."

The EPA's risk assessment process "never was perfect," Boxer said in an interview Monday. "But at least it put the scientists up front. Now the scientists are being shunted aside."

The GAO said many of the deliberations over risks posed by specific chemicals "occur in what amounts to a black box" of secrecy because the White House claims they are private executive branch deliberations.

Such secrecy "reduces the credibility of the ... assessments and hinders the EPA's ability to manage them," the GAO report said.

The White House said the GAO is wrong in suggesting that the EPA has lost control in assessing the health risks posed by toxic chemicals.

"Only EPA has the authority to finalize an EPA assessment," Kevin F. Neyland, deputy administrator of the White House budget office's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, wrote in response to the GAO. He called
the interagency process "a dialogue that helps to ensure the quality" of the reviews.

One EPA scientist with extensive knowledge of the changes in the agency's risk assessment policies ridiculed the claim that the EPA still has the final say.

"Unless there is concurrence by other agencies, ... things don't go forward. It means we stop what we are doing," said the scientist, speaking on condition of anonymity because of fear of endangering his career.

"The (EPA) scientists feel as if they have lost complete control of the process, that it's been taken over by the White House and that they're calling the shots," the scientist said.

The GAO investigation focused on the EPA's computerized database, known as IRIS - the Integrated Risk Information System. It contains data on the human health effects of exposure to some 540 toxic chemicals in the environment. New chemicals are being proposed constantly for inclusion under a complicated assessment process that can take five years or more.

After years of stops and starts, the GAO said, the EPA has yet to determine carcinogen risks for a number of major chemicals such as:

-Naphthalene, a chemical used in rocket fuel as well as in manufacturing commercial products such as mothballs, dyes and insecticides.

-Trichloroethylene, or TCE, a widely used industrial degreasing agent.

-Perchloroethylene, or "perc," a chemical used in dry cleaning, metal degreasing and making chemical products.

-Formaldehyde, a colorless, flammable gas used to making building materials.

Environmentalists say these chemicals have been widely found at military bases and Superfund sites and in soil, lakes, streams and groundwater.

The findings, after an 18-month investigation by the congressional watchdog agency, come at a time of growing criticism from members of Congress and health and environmental advocates over alleged political interference in the government's science activities.

Last week, a confidential survey by an advocacy group of EPA scientists showed more than half of the 1,600 respondents worried about political pressure in their work.

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Decision On Nuclear Waste Disposal Delayed
Apr 28 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Annette Cary Tri-City Herald, Kennewick, Wash.

The Department of Energy will need an extra year to prepare a report on long-term disposal options for commercial and nonweapons radioactive waste, some of which could be sent to Hanford.

The schedule has slipped as DOE has greatly expanded the potential amount of waste to be studied, said Christine Gelles, director of DOE's environmental management office of disposal operations, during a visit to Richland last week.

A draft environmental study on the waste now is expected in early 2009 with a final study finished in early 2010.

Then DOE is required to report to Congress before making a formal decision on what to do with the waste.

The waste, called Greater Than Class C waste, initially included an estimated 7,280 cubic yards of radioactive metal from decommissioning commercial nuclear power plants and waste from other industrial uses, such as sterilizing medical equipment, treating cancer and testing welds.

But since work began on an environmental study on the waste, an additional 39,000 cubic yards have been added to the study for potential disposal. Much of that would be produced under the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, which is proposing building an Advanced Fuel Cycle Facility to develop ways to reuse nuclear power fuel.

That project, if it goes forward, would produce debris, such as clothing, contaminated with radionuclides classified as transuranic. DOE has typically sent such waste generated in nuclear weapons projects to deep geological repositories, such as the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant for transuranic waste in New Mexico.

It's considering 10 disposal options in the study, including deep geological repositories in New Mexico and Nevada.

Hanford may be more likely to be considered for waste that includes radioactive metals from decommissioned power plants. That waste also has increased since the report began from 3,380 cubic yards to about 9,600 cubic yards.

Although it's a relatively small amount of waste by volume compared to the low-level waste from past plutonium production to be disposed of in Hanford landfills, its radioactive content is significant. The original 3,380 cubic yards in the study has 110 million curies of radioactivity, which compares to 190 million curies in the 53 million gallons of waste awaiting treatment in Hanford's underground tanks.

Although the waste is considered low-level radioactive waste, the greater than class C designation indicates it's the most radioactive category of that waste.

The additional waste added to the study includes waste from new commercial reactors and from two West Valley, N.Y., nuclear burial sites that might be excavated. Most of the waste will be generated after 2035. Although the study originally included waste generated up to 2062, that may be extended.

The waste could be disposed of in a vault or in trenches with protective barriers and waste packaging. Also under consideration are deep bore holes topped with drilling deflectors to guard against people inadvertently disturbing the waste far into the future.

In addition to Hanford, DOE also is considering commercial disposal in unspecified locations and one or more sites in New Mexico, Nevada, Idaho, South Carolina and Tennessee.

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SC Senate Gives Key Approval To Energy-Saving Incentives
COLUMBIA, S.C. (The Associated Press) - Apr 29

South Carolina residents would get tax breaks when they buy energy-efficient appliances and manufactured homes under legislation heading to the House.

The Senate gave final approval to three energy-saving related bills Tuesday.

One proposal eliminates sales taxes on energy-efficient appliances, light bulbs, doors and other items in October beginning in 2009. That month is when groups encourage energy conservation.

The legislation also more than doubles a tax rebate to people buying manufactured houses that meet federal Energy Star requirements.

The proposal requires replacing incandescent lighting with compact fluorescent lights by July 2011 in government buildings and makes agencies set a goal for cutting energy demands by 20 percent by 2020.

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Geothermal Utopia Gaining Steam in Utah
Apr 29 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Mark Havnes The Salt Lake Tribune

Gary L. Benson envisions a steam-powered utopia.

Benson is a consultant for the development group NovaTech, which aims to build a self-sufficient community in Provo's Ironton, a former industrial area, by tapping steam to provide electricity and heat for homes and businesses. There are even plans for erecting greenhouses to grow food.

He attended a two-day workshop on geothermal energy last week at Southern Utah University in Cedar City. The workshop brought together experts on the potential use of subterranean steam as a renewable-energy source.

"I am on a learning curve so I can know enough about geothermal to make reliable projections concerning the use of steam," Benson said. "There have been a lot of utopian communities before, both religious and secular, but none completely economically independent like we plan."

Those at the workshop learned where steam resources are, how they can be captured for various uses -- from power generation to heating -- and the importance of snagging state-sponsored incentives to encourage development.

Utah's western desert has vast potential, but the steam is expensive to locate and develop.

The SUU event featured a visit to a steam-powered nursery in Iron County, an exploratory drilling operation in Beaver County and PacifiCorp's Blundell plant, north of Milford.

Started in the 1970s, the Blundell facility draws steam from the Roosevelt thermal reservoir to produce about 35 megawatts of electricity a year.

The company, which has owned the plant for two years, operates two generating units and has just finished a third, which could double the generating capacity.

Once the steam is pumped out of the ground to power turbines, it is reinjected to the reservoir, where it can be heated to about 500 degrees and used again, said plant manager Garth Larsen.

Robert Blackett, a geologist with the Utah Geological Survey, sees great potential for developing steam reservoirs in the Great Basin. "The biggest reasons it has not been developed are the upfront expense and risk of not finding what is hoped for."

But that may be changing.

"I'm getting a lot more calls of people interested in it," Blackett said.

Sam Liu, an engineer and analyst with the state's Division of Public Utilities, cites some advantages of steam -- especially when compared with solar and wind.

"The sun doesn't always shine, and the wind doesn't always blow."

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Florida Senate Passes Energy Bill
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Apr 30

An expansive energy bill headed for the governor's desk is just the first step in making Florida a national leader in clean energy, a lawmaker said Wednesday.

The Senate passed the bill on Wednesday, just a day after the House passed the same bill unanimously.

While the legislation represents a major shift in energy policy for the state, many lawmakers acknowledged that there was still more work to do. Sen. Burt Saunders, R-Naples, one of the bill's sponsors, said lawmakers will most likely have to look at the legislation again next year to make sure it's implementation is going smoothly. Several major provisions of the bill also require future approval from lawmakers.

The bill, for example, would authorize the Department of Environmental Protection to make electric utilities pay for the pollution they create, an effort to reduce greenhouse gasses. The department would set pollution limits for utilities and require the companies to buy carbon credits when they exceed those limits, offsetting those emissions.

The department also would develop rules that would require new vehicles sold in Florida to pollute less. The pollution limits the department develops for utilities and cars would both have to go back to the Legislature for approval.

The bill also would require private electrical utilities to generate a certain amount of the power the sell from renewable sources like wind and solar power. The state board that regulates private utilities would have to create standards for how much energy comes from those sources, which lawmakers would have to approve.

Lawmakers would also receive suggestion for future legislation from the newly formed Florida Energy and Climate Commission, which would be created by the bill. The board would take the lead in setting energy policy for the state and bring the functions of existing boards and departments into a single group.

Other provisions in the bill would strengthen green building codes and energy efficiency standards for appliances and simplify the approval process for nuclear power plants.

Gov. Charlie Crist said in a prepared statement that the bill signifies a commitment to protecting Florida's natural beauty and stimulating the state's economy. Crist made clean energy a priority for the state during a summit on global climate change last summer.

Earlier this week he announced that another summit will be held in Miami at the end of June. It will focus on attracting companies that use clean energy technologies to Florida to boost the state's economy.

The bill headed to the governor (HB 7135) passed the Senate 39-1.

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Nuclear Inspectors Visit Oconee Station After Vibrations
GREENVILLE, S.C. (The Associated Press) - Apr 30

Federal inspectors are spending a few days at the Oconee Nuclear Station after three coolant pumps experienced intense vibrations.

The Greenville News reported Wednesday the vibrations happened while the pumps were shutting down for a refueling outage on April 12.

Victor McCree of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said the agency also wanted to take a look at a simultaneous leakage from one pump, as well as possibly degraded conditions in a second pump.

Officials will issue a report about 30 days after they complete their investigation.

Duke Energy operates the plant near Seneca. In December, federal investigators said Duke could have addressed safety concerns at the site more quickly.

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Italy's Waste Is Called Too Hot For Utah
Apr 29 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Judy Fahys The Salt Lake Tribune

Radioactive waste that Italy wants buried in Utah might be too hot to handle here.

Critics looking at technical aspects of EnergySolutions' plans to import 20,000 tons of cleanup waste from Italy's nuclear reactors say state and federal regulators need more information before signing off on the Salt Lake City company's proposal.

The company's Italy waste plans have already come under fire on policy grounds, with Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. promising to use the state's vote on a regional waste panel to stop future foreign waste imports and Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson of Utah seeking federal legislation to do the same.

Company spokesman John Ward said EnergySolutions will screen the waste from Italy's defunct nuclear program four times:

--before sending it across the Atlantic;

--prior to recycling it at the company's Tennessee treatment plant;

--after usable metal is melted and recast as shielding; and

--before about 1,600 tons of Class A waste is buried in Tooele County, about 80 miles west of Salt Lake City.

Anything too radioactive will be returned to Italy, under an export license that the company also has applied for, he added. "We won't even begin transporting any material that we can't accept at Bear Creek [Tenn.] and Clive [Utah]."

But Arjun Makhijani, president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, said the company's import application before the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission suggests the material is so radioactive overall it would be Class C waste -- and too hot to be permitted under state law.

"It's very clear that some of this is going to be Class C," said Makhijani, criticizing the lack of details.

"The burden of proof is on EnergySolutions to provide the detailed information that regulators need to make a prudent decision on this request," said Vanessa Pierce, the director of the Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah, who released Makhijani's findings on Monday.

"It's appalling that the NRC and other regulators haven't asked for more" details, she said.

State regulators in Utah and Tennessee have already told the NRC the shipments would be permissible.

Others have raised concerns similar to HEAL Utah's.

Members of the Utah Radiation Control Board questioned EnergySolutions in March about ensuring the waste is safe for Utah.

And Marty Carson, a nuclear industry consultant in South Carolina, urged the NRC in February to require more information to demonstrate that too-hot waste will not be diluted so that it can meet Utah's standards.

"The application doesn't tell enough," said Carson in a telephone interview.

Carson calls himself pro-industry and pro-nuclear, yet he says federal regulators have allowed too many gaps in EnergySolutions' import request.

"I would be opposed to any company engaged in this work the way it's described" in the Italy waste application, he said. "We need to deal with this [waste] properly."

RADIOACTIVE WASTE

--States, including Utah, generally follow federal guidelines for categorizing and disposing of low-level radioactive waste.

--Class A waste must lose its radioactive punch within 100 years, regulations say. Utah's law allows nuclear waste no more radioactive than this.

--Class B waste is handled more carefully and disposed of with a 300-year safety period in mind. Class C must be contained so that it cannot become a health and environmental hazard for about 500 years, according to the regulations.

--In 2005, Utah lawmakers, with the backing of Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and EnergySolutions, barred Class B and C waste from the state.

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Former Nuke Plant Worker Gets Probation For Hiding Damage
TOLEDO, Ohio (The Associated Press) - May 1 - By JOHN SEEWER AssociatedPress Writer

A judge sentenced a former nuclear plant worker on Thursday to three years' probation for concealing from the government the worst corrosion eve found at a U.S. reactor.

David Geisen, the Davis-Besse plant's former engineering design manager, had faced up to five years in prison after being convicted of misleading regulators into believing the plant along Lake Erie was safe.

U.S. District Judge David Katz opted for probation and a $7,500 fine. The judge noted that Geisen already had been stripped of his license to work in the nuclear industry.

"It is both an economic and a career blow," Katz said.

Prosecutors said Geisen and two other workers lied in the fall of 2001 so the plant could delay a shutdown for a safety inspection. Months later, inspectors found an acid leak that nearly ate through the reactor's 6-inch-thick steel cap. It's not clear how close the plant was to an accident.

Federal prosecutors said Geisen told regulators that an area of the plant the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission was concerned about had been inspected and that there was no reason to worry. But the inspections weren't fully completed and Geisen knew it, prosecutors said.

Following the discovery of the leak, the NRC beefed up inspections and training and began requiring detailed records of its discussions with plant operators.

Geisen never was in a position to know how bad the leak had become at the plant, said his attorney, Richard Hibey. Geisen also had nothing to gain by delaying a shutdown, Hibey said.

Hibey asked for a sentence of probation, saying his client already has suffered a great financial loss and is now struggling to start a new business and provide for his family, including two children in college.

Prosecutors argued that Geisen deserved to spend time in prison because his actions posed a threat to public safety. They declined to comment after the sentencing.

Katz said there was no evidence that residents around the nuclear plant, which is about 20 miles east of Toledo, were in danger, and he said Geisen never profited by keeping the plant operating.

Jurors convicted Geisen in October. A private contractor, Rodney Cook, was acquitted by the same federal jury.

Before sentencing Geisen, the judge noted that there has been speculation that others may have been involved in convincing regulators to delay the shutdown.

The plant's operator, Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp., paid a record $28 million in fines a year ago while avoiding federal charges. It also spent $600 million making repairs and buying replacement power while the plant was closed from early 2002 until 2004.

None of the company's senior leaders were charged in the investigation.

Another former Davis-Besse employee, engineer Andrew Siemaszko, is to go on trial later this year. Design engineer Prasoon Goyal entered into an agreement with the government.

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News From the Week of April 21, 2008

2008-04-28T09:06:00.000-07:00

Geothermal Bounty Bubbles With Potential

Two Vermont Yankee Bills Advance

Going Solar Without Burning Family Budgets: Duke Energy Looks at a Way to Make Solar Energy Affordable for Many

EPRI Analysis Shows Energy Efficiency Can Curb Need for New Generation

Government to Release Proposed Fuel Economy Rules

Nuke Plant Near NYC Shuts Down

NY Reactor Restarted Again

U.S. Department of Energy Launches Website with Energy Saving Tips for Consumers

Energy Commission Approves New Energy Efficient Measures for California Homes and Businesses

Lawmakers Set to Pass Comprehensive Energy Bill

Energy Commission Approves New Energy Efficient Measures for California Homes and Businesses

US Government Scientists Complain About Political Pressure

SC Senate Gives Key Approval to Energy-Saving Incentives

Cost of Nuclear Plant Fuels Two-State Battle

Geothermal Bounty Bubbles With Potential
Apr 18 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Patty Henetz The Salt Lake
Tribune

Geothermal energy is clean, runs 24 hours a day and could be providing millions of people with electricity in Utah and the West.

So what's the holdup?

Utah academics, officials and business representatives will make that question the center of a two-day meeting and field trip next week for utilities, municipalities, students, homeowners and anyone interested in the geothermal potential bubbling up from Utah's hot pots.

Geologists, utilities and entrepreneurs already believe Utah possesses some of the best geothermal reservoirs in the nation, resources that could generate 850 megawatts, enough to meet the needs of 2.6 million people. And as the price of coal, natural gas and oil continues to climb, geothermal is attracting more interest.

Cost, though, still is an issue, because "it takes time and exploration dollars" to decide where best to drill, said Dianne Nielson, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s energy policy adviser.

Big projects can cost $1 million to $2 million to develop and take three to five years to start operations, said Jason Berry, who runs the state Energy Program through the Utah Geological Survey. Further, tax credits and other incentives have been unreliable over the long term, he
said.

But the financial and environmental future for conventional coal-fired energy is murky, too. That's why PacifiCorp is seeking to develop more geothermal energy than the 34 megawatts it generates at its Blundell plant in the Roosevelt hot springs area near Milford, said spokesman Jeff Hymas.

The Blundell generator was built in the mid-1980s and was the first geothermal plant constructed in the nation outside California, Hymas said. Even though the technology is carbon-free and California is willing to pay premium prices for the electricity, the cost-benefit remains shaky, he said.

"There's an inherent risk in developing geothermal resources," Hymas said. "Part of that is the large up-front capital cost."

The simplest way to use geothermal energy is to use steam for radiant heat. Both the Utah State Prison at Point of the Mountain and Milgro Nurseries in Newcastle draw heat from geothermal fields. Even less-technical geothermal heat pumps employ piping in horizontal
or vertical trenches to pre-cool or preheat the air going into air conditioners and furnaces, increasing appliance efficiency by 70 percent to 90 percent.

Large geothermal power plants pull hot water and steam from the ground, use the steam to drive turbines to create electricity, then return water to the ground. Plants also can use relatively low-heat "binary" geothermal technology by passing the hot water through a heat exchanger to boil a fluid such as isobutane at lower temperatures than water to create
steam.

Raser Technologies, a Provo company, is just starting on its third small project using the binary system in a kind of prefab plant to profit on Utah's largely untapped geothermal resources, 10 megawatts at a time.

Although Raser wouldn't mind getting tax credits and incentives, "we think these projects are profitable in themselves," said company spokesman Richard Putnam.

The company expects its first plant to start generating electricity in the Escalante Desert by the end of this year, said Putnam. The three plants would generate enough power for about 90,000 people.

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Two Vermont Yankee Bills Advance
MONTPELIER, Vt. (The Associated Press) - Apr 18 - By DAVE GRAM Associated
Press Writer

Vermont Yankee's team of lobbyists lost two rounds in separate legislative committee rooms Friday.

By a party-line, 7-4 vote, the House Commerce Committee approved a bill that would require the Vernon reactor's owner, Entergy Nuclear, to guarantee full funding for the plant's eventual dismantling before it goes ahead with a corporate restructuring.

Meanwhile, the House Natural Resources Committee unanimously passed a bill to require a special, independent inspection of the 36-year-old nuclear plant before the Legislature decides whether to allow it to extend its operating license for 20 years past its 2012 expiration date.

The bills are widely seen as among a series of opening salvos this year as lawmakers prepare for next year's debate on the license extension. Vermont is unique among states in that under state law the Legislature has veto power over the license extension. Other states leave such decisions to the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The decommissioning bill would require the state panel that regulates utilities, the Public Service Board, to certify that Entergy had guaranteed full funding of the decommissioning fund before Vermont Yankee is included in a group of nuclear plants the company plans to spin off into a new, separate corporation.

Rep. Warren Kitzmiller, D-Montpelier and chairman of the Commerce Committee, said in an interview that "in the past, Vermont Yankee was owned by a company with hundreds of billions of dollars of assets. But they want to insulate themselves by passing ownership to a small and highly leveraged company."

Opponents criticized the bill as imposing a new cost on Entergy that could be as much as $400 million. The plant has about $425 million in the fund, down from $439 million last year due to turmoil in the financial markets. Costs of decommissioning are currently estimated to be closer to $800 million.

Critics also maintained that because Entergy's corporate reorganization is currently before the Public Service Board, passing legislation on the topic amounted to undue interference in a quasi-judicial process.

The committee's approval of the bill came after it defeated an amendment that would have merely recommended to the Public Service Board that it consider the adequacy of the decommissioning fund as it reviews the reorganization. That also was defeated on a 7-4 party-line vote, with majority Democrats in opposing the amendment and supporting the underlying bill.

"I very much like my job and I know that my leadership will be disappointed if we amend the bill," Kitzmiller told his committee colleagues.

Entergy lobbyist Gerard Morris later called that an "outrageous" admission of improper influence over a lawmaker.

Kitzmiller said he saw nothing unusual in it. "Gerry's paid to make a stink," he said of Morris.

Kenneth Theobalds, vice president of government affairs at Entergy Nuclear Northeast, said in an interview that the financing involved in the reorganization would make the Vermont Yankee decommissioning fund stronger.

Meanwhile, the House Natural Resources an Energy Committee's bill followed similar Senate action calling for an independent review of Vermont Yankee's plant systems, but appeared to steer that process toward more independence from the NRC.

It would set up a special five-member oversight panel, which would be reported to by a technical team that would do hands-on inspections of eight different plant systems at Vermont Yankee.

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Going Solar Without Burning Family Budgets: Duke Energy Looks at a Way to
Make Solar Energy Affordable for Many
Apr 19 - The News & Observer

For decades, the biggest obstacle to adopting solar energy on a large scale has been the huge upfront cost.

Paying for the technology can exceed the price of a luxury automobile, putting solar power out of budgetary reach for most homeowners.

Solar advocates increasingly think that the challenge is no longer a question of technical feasibility, but rather a financial riddle that must be solved to unlock solar's potential to contribute meaningfully to the nation's energy mix.

The solar industry, encouraged by government policies that require public utilities to use more renewable energy, is working on a financing breakthrough.

In North Carolina, Duke Energy is developing a plan that could outfit thousands of homes and businesses with solar panels that would require little or no upfront expense from property owners. That's a welcome alternative to the usual expense: Buying a solar power unit could set a household back $50,000 for the photovoltaic panels required to tap sunlight as an energy source.

Even with federal and state tax credits that can cut the cost of a solar unit by about 65 percent and a subsidy from the state's N.C. GreenPower program, it could take two decades to pay off a system and break even, an unreasonable time span for most people.

The payback can take longer in North Carolina, where solar power competes against some of the nation's cheapest electric rates. One recent financing innovation steals a page directly from the
utility playbook.

The arrangement is gaining popularity in California and other states, where private solar installers own the solar panels on a customer's rooftop and sell the power to the property owner, bypassing the local electric utility.

The solar panels are in essence a rooftop power plant scaled to serve a single customer. The customer contracts to buy 20 years of electricity at a set price, hedging against future price increases.

SunEdison of Baltimore offers contracts with zero upfront costs, primarily in California. The company typically matches or beats the utility rates in other states, said Jigar Shah, SunEdison's chief strategy officer. "The other benefit is that the customer gets to lock in electricity
rates for 20 years," Shah said.

Such private contracts are not allowed in North Carolina, where electric utilities hold monopolies over power sales. Electric utilities could offer such programs to their customers, and Duke is studying a variant of this approach.

Duke expects to present its solar proposal this year to state regulators. The details haven't been worked out, but one possibility is that Duke would cover the cost of installing the solar panels on customers' rooftops. Customers could be rewarded with a discount on their electricity
bills.

"We are uniquely positioned to deliver something like this," Duke spokesman Tom Williams said. "One concept we're looking at is putting solar panels on rooftops -- installing them, maintaining them and operating them as we would a power plant."

If these financing models prove successful, some predict that public demand will increase for solar energy, reducing the need to build nuclear power plants and coal-burning power plants. They also would help Duke meet a state requirement to tap renewable resources to generate electricity.

Unlike states with deregulated power markets, North Carolina does not allow private energy companies to sell electricity to homes and businesses.

In California, by contrast, small private solar energy companies compete directly with public utilities. But in North Carolina, where utilities operate as a monopoly, innovative financing breakthroughs will have to be worked out by public utilities.

North Carolina power companies are required to buy electricity generated by independent producers, but the utilities typically pay a wholesale rate for that power -- not enough to cover the operating costs of a solar power generator.

Independent generators have made up the shortfall with state and federal tax credits. Many also collect supplemental payments from N.C. GreenPower, a nonprofit organization in Raleigh.

Some homeowners with solar panels choose not to sell the power to a utility, and instead use the power themselves, striving to achieve energy self-reliance.

They supplement their energy needs with utility power as necessary. For many of these homeowners, the motivation for solar is more about environmental concerns than economics.

But for solar to break into the mainstream in this state, it will have to be converted from an esoteric hobby to a financially sound energy solution.

"Solar has great potential in the Carolinas, but it's too expensive," Duke spokesman Williams said. "It's come a long way, and we're very open to it."

john.murawski@newsobserver.com or (919) 829-8932

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EPRI Analysis Shows Energy Efficiency Can Curb Need for New Generation
NEW YORK, Apr 21, 2008 -- BUSINESS WIRE

Energy efficiency improvements in the U.S. electric power sector could reduce the need for new electric generation by an additional 7 to 11 percent more than currently projected over the next two decades if key barriers can be addressed, according to a preliminary analysis of potential energy savings released today.

The analysis comes at a time when utilities, regulators, and policymakers are aggressively seeking ways to meet growing electricity demand, while reducing the carbon footprint of the U.S. economy. The key challenge is to maximize potential gains in energy efficiency, while
ensuring adequate new electric generation to maintain reliability and meet future demand.

The draft findings were presented by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) during an Edison Foundation conference, Keeping the Lights On: Our National Challenge, which examines strategies to meet the growing demand for electricity which is expected to soar 30 percent by 2030, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

That demand growth projection would be even higher without the implementation of existing building codes, appliance standards and market-driven consumer incentives, which will shave electricity consumption by 23 percent, according to the EPRI-EEI study. However, additional
efficiency gains could be achieved only by overcoming major market, regulatory and consumer barriers, the analysis found.

"This study demonstrates the potential of energy efficiency to offsetsome of the projected need for new electric generation as cutting-edge technologies become available and are adopted," said Dr. Michael Howard, senior vice president at EPRI. "We think a 7-percent efficiency improvement is realistic - and gains of 11 percent or more are technologically feasible - depending on the degree to which various obstacles can be overcome."

Essential steps include increased consumer education; adoption and enforcement of aggressive building codes and appliance standards; creation of utility business models that promote increased efficiency within the power sector; and adoption of electricity pricing policies that more accurately reflect the cost of providing electricity to consumers - and give them the information they need to use it wisely.

Diane Munns, executive director at EEI, said the power sector will seek the greatest efficiency gains possible, but cautioned that this will be no easy task and that utilities still must plan for substantial new generation and transmission to assure reliability.

"Achieving efficiency improvements going significantly beyond those already in the pipeline will be a major undertaking," Munns said. "No matter how you slice it, we'll have to build significant new generation to ensure that we meet demand. The greater gains we make in energy efficiency, the better off everyone will be, because we'll have more cost-effective options
for serving our customers," she said. "But if we overestimate what can be accomplished, we could find ourselves without an adequate supply of electricity to meet consumer needs."

Optimal electricity savings can be achieved only if the best available technologies are deployed throughout the U.S. economy, EPRI and EEI said. Much of the research involved in realizing more efficiency is being conducted by EPRI at its Living Laboratory for Energy Efficiency in
Knoxville, Tenn.

EPRI's programs and collaborations that evaluate cutting-edge technologies have identified numerous opportunities to markedly improve energy efficiency through use of "smart" and highly efficient electrical devices. For example, direct energy feedback devices, such as household thermostats that respond automatically to electricity price or demand
signals, can cut energy use and save customers money.

At the same time, consumers' ever-increasing appetite for electricity-hungry devices - even with continuing efficiency improvements - will keep electricity demand on a steady upward trajectory. A 42-inch plasma television consumes two and a half times more energy (250 watts) than a standard 27-inch TV (100 watts). And while many large household appliances
have become more efficient over the years, many smaller devices have not. Two 30-watt set-top television boxes, for example, may consume as much electricity as a large refrigerator.

"While electricity rates will rise due to increasing across-the-board costs of producing electricity, energy efficiency improvements can help reduce some of these costs to consumers," Munns said. "To maximize utility investment in efficiency programs, energy efficiency must be treated as an energy resource on par with new generation."

"We are making remarkable technological advances in the area of efficiency," Howard said. "The question is how much more can we achieve? The key will be finding the will to fully demonstrate and adopt both currently available and emerging, hyper-efficient electric technologies."

Copies of the EPRI-EEI presentation are available on the Edison Foundation's Web site, www.edisonfoundation.net

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Government to Release Proposed Fuel Economy Rules
WASHINGTON (The Associated Press) - Apr 21 - By KEN THOMAS Associated Press
Writer

The government on Tuesday plans to release a proposal to raise fuel efficiency standards for new cars and trucks, putting the nation's fleet on track to reach 35 miles per gallon by 2020.

Transportation Department Secretary Mary Peters was making the Earth Day announcement in Washington, responding to a new energy law pushed by Congress last year and signed by President Bush.

Congress sought tougher standards requiring the nation's fleet of new vehicles to increase its efficiency by 10 mpg from its current average of 25 mpg, or a 40 percent increase. The new law represented the first major changes to the auto mileage rules in three decades.

The proposal will set fuel economy standards from 2011 to 2015 and are expected to be finalized before the end of the Bush administration. A Transportation spokesman declined comment on the plan.

The fleet of new passenger cars is currently required to meet a 27.5 mpg average, while sport utility vehicles, pickup trucks and vans need to hit a target of 22.5 mpg.

Members of Congress and environmental groups have pushed for higher standards, arguing that requiring vehicles to become more efficient would help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the nation's dependence upon imported oil.

Democrats have said the fuel economy requirements will save motorists $700 to $1,000 a year in fuel costs and reduce oil demand by 1.1 million barrels a day when the more fuel-efficient vehicles are in wide use on the road.

Automakers opposed increases to the regulation in previous years, but supported a compromise version of the legislation amid rising gasoline prices and concerns about global warming. The new law is expected to push the auto industry to build more gas-electric hybrid cars, trucks and SUVs running on diesel and advances such as plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles.

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Nuke Plant Near NYC Shuts Down
BUCHANAN, N.Y. (The Associated Press) - Apr 21

Officials say New York's Indian Point 2 nuclear power plant has been shut down because operators noticed water levels dropping in the steam generator.

The plant, located in New York City's northern suburbs, had to be shut down manually just as it was powering up from a 26-day outage for refueling and maintenance.

Neil Sheehan of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission says the plant is stable.

A spokeswoman for plant owner Entergy Nuclear, Robyn Bentley, says the shutdown worked the way it was supposed to. The companion plant, Indian Point 3, is operating normally.

Entergy is applying for new 20-year licenses for both plants. Opponents, who want them closed, claim they are unsafe and a terrorist target.

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NY Reactor Restarted Again
BUCHANAN, N.Y. (The Associated Press) - Apr 22

Workers at the Indian Point 2 nuclear power plant in the New York City suburbs are trying again to get it up to full power.

The reactor was restarted Monday after a 26-day outage for refueling and maintenance, but had to be shut down within a few hours because of a problem involving water levels in the steam generator.

It was restarted again Tuesday morning after a faulty circuit was replaced, owner Entergy Nuclear said.

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U.S. Department of Energy Launches Website with Energy Saving Tips for
Consumers
Apr 22, 2008 -- Energy Department Documents and Publications/ContentWorks

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today launched a new internet feature which provides tips to consumers on how to make everyday Earth Day by making smart energy choices to save money while protecting the environment. The interactive web page, at www.energy.gov, shows consumers steps to use less energy with household electronics, lighting, and appliances to save on monthly bills and how to avoid wasting energy by improving the energy efficiency of their homes and cars.

The site also features the Department's work to develop cleaner, more affordable, diverse, reliable and sustainable energy sources supporting the President's goal to stop the growth of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 2025 while meeting increasing energy demands. DOE and its seventeen world class National Laboratories, in partnership with private industry and
universities, perform cutting-edge research to meet these challenges, developing innovative energy solutions in areas such as cellulosic biofuels, solar, geothermal, nuclear, and clean coal power. Other areas of emphasis highlighted include DOE's work to make a smart and efficient electric transmission grid, make homes, buildings and industrial sites more energy efficient, and reduce dependence on oil with Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles and hydrogen-powered cars.

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Lawmakers Set to Pass Comprehensive Energy Bill
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (The Associated Press) - Apr 23 - By DAVID FISCHER
Associated Press Writer

Florida could soon have an energy policy that lawmakers and others say would make the state a national leader in clean energy.

Similar bills nearing passage in the House and Senate would promote renewable sources of energy, as well as ways to use less power. A major provision would begin planning for a program that would require polluters to pay for the carbon emissions they produce.

Other provisions would strengthen green building codes and energy efficiency standards for appliances. The proposal also would set new goals for recycling and require gasoline sold in the state to contain more ethanol, a renewable source of fuel.

"Any one of these issues would have been difficult to fathom just two years ago," said Sen. Lee Constantine, R-Altamonte Springs, who has been a strong proponent of the legislation.

He attributes the legislation's success to a shift in attitudes toward clean energy and climate change issues as well as support from Gov. Charlie Crist, who has made addressing both a priority. Many provisions in the energy bill are also based on recommendations from the Florida Energy Commission, which was created by the Legislature two years ago and released its report in January.

While states like California and New York have led their parts of the country in promoting clean energy and fighting climate change, the South has been underrepresented in that effort, said Susan Glickman, a spokeswoman for the The Climate Group, an international nonprofit organization that promotes clean energy. The proposed legislation would give Florida a chance to be a regional and national leader, she said.

The Senate version of the bill (SB 1544) was to be discussed in the Legislature on Wednesday but that discussion was temporarily postponed. Senate and House versions of the bill are nearly identical, but staff members still have a few details to work out, said the bill's sponsor, Sen. Burt Saunders, R-Naples. The House bill (HB 7135) could make it to the floor of that chamber by Friday, said Rep. Stan Mayfield, R-Vero Beach, who chairs the Environment & Natural Resources Council. If that happens, the Senate should be able to pass its bill by early next week, Saunders said.

The energy bill addresses a wide range of topics:

CARBON EMISSIONS

Much of the legislation would focus on changes to the ways utilities are regulated. It would authorize the Department of Environmental Protection to adopt rules for an emissions trading program to address green house gasses released by electric utilities. The department would be allowed to set limits for emissions allowed by utilities and require the companies to buy carbon credits when they exceed those limits, offsetting those emissions.

When developing standards for Florida, DEP Secretary Mike Sole said his department has several models to look at in the country and around the world.

The bill also would lower emissions by simplifying the approval process for nuclear power plants, which produce fewer emissions compared to coal-burning plants. Florida Power & Light and Progress Energy Florida both have plans for nuclear power plants, but even with the changes to the process, it would still take more than a decade for any of the plants to be completed.

RENEWABLE ENERGY

Under the bill, utilities may be required to have a certain percentage of the energy they sell come from renewable sources. The bill would authorize the Florida Public Service Commission, which regulates the state's private utility companies, to adopt a renewable energy rule.

Utility customers would also be encouraged to generate renewable energy. Customers who generate more electricity than they need through solar panels or other devices could get credit for that extra power by sending it back out to the power grid. The bill also would create a property tax exemption for such devices, which would otherwise increase the taxable value of a person's home.

ENERGY EFFICIENCY

The bill would address energy conservation by requiring new homes and businesses to be more energy efficient. It also would require appliances like refrigerators and air conditioners to use less energy. The state would take the lead in this efficiency effort by requiring that all new construction and renovation of state agency buildings meet increased energy standards. Local governments would have to address improving air quality and reducing energy consumption in their long-term planning.

The bill also requires utility regulators the change the way they evaluate energy efficiency programs. The change would allow utility companies to increase rates to pay for efficiency programs, such as giving away compact fluorescent light bulbs and providing rebates to customers who improve their heating and air conditioning systems. Although rates would increase, customers who participate in the programs would save money by using less energy.

TRANSPORTATION

The bill would address emissions from automobiles by creating renewable fuel standards that would require all gasoline sold in Florida to contain at least 10 percent ethanol by 2011. This would decrease the state's dependecy on foreign fossil fuels and make up the difference with a renewable fuel.

The bill also would create an incentive for people to purchase hybrid vehicles by allowing them to travel in car pool lanes, regardless of how many passengers are in the car.

Although not in the energy bill, the governor has also directed the Department of Environmental Protection to look at California's clean tailpipe standards, which set limits for the amount of emissions vehicles can produce.

PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE

The bill would consolidate the state's climate change and clean energy efforts and create a single commission to address those issues. The newly-created Florida Energy and Climate Commission would take the lead in setting energy policy for the state and bring the functions of existing boards and departments into a single group.

The commission's responsibilities would include administering grants for groups that develop renewable energy, setting goals for utility regulators and advocating for energy and climate change issues. It also would oversee a new consortium of five state universities that would work on developing alternative energy. The consortium's specific goals would include preparing students to work in emerging energy fields and determining ways to make the new technologies profitable.

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Energy Commission Approves New Energy Efficient Measures for California Homes and Businesses
Sacramento -- 4/23/08

The California Energy Commission today announced dozens of new energy efficiency building standards for new construction that will save consumers money and reduce energy consumption.

"These new standards demonstrate that California is serious about energy efficiency," said Energy Commission Chairman Jackalyne Pfannenstiel. "These standards will help consumers reduce their monthly energy bills and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by improving the codes used in residential and business construction in California," she added.

The 2008 Building Energy Efficiency Standards, also known as Title 24, regulates construction of residential and nonresidential buildings. The new standards have been updated to include new code regulations for lighting; windows; roofing; skylights; swimming pool and spa equipment; heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment and controls; and the New Solar Homes Partnership.

High performance windows in new homes will now be required to be more resistant to heat and better insulated. Additionally, several changes make heating, ventilating, and air conditioning systems more efficient for homes and businesses.

"Cool roof" standards have also been upgraded to include residential and nonresidential buildings. "Cool roofs" are highly reflective, insulated roofing materials that stay up to 40 degrees cooler than a normal roof under a hot summer sun. "Cool roof" standards are designed to reduce air conditioner demand, save money, and reduce the urban heat island effect. A "cool roof" can reduce a homeowner's electricity consumption by as much as 20 percent.

Efficient lighting in both residential and nonresidential applications is a key improvement of the latest standards. Expanded use of skylights in these standards is evident in large nonresidential buildings. For example, the requirement to install skylights in commercial warehouses larger than 25,000 square feet has been changed to include warehouses starting at 8,000 square feet. As a result, businesses will use more natural daylight and save electricity costs.

Many of the changes in the standards are tailored to help reduce not only overall energy use, but peak energy use - electricity demand on hot summer days when air conditioning loads can cause California's need for power to nearly double. The latest efficiency standards will cut California's peak energy demand by 129 megawatts the first year the standards are in effect and increase cumulatively in subsequent years.

The standards have support from many sectors. According to Natural Resources Defense Council Senior Scientist Noah Horowitz, "By 2013, the new building code will save as much energy as a large (500 megawatt) power plant. These advanced performance standards place California on course to meet its future energy needs and help achieve its ambitious global warming reduction goals." Horowitz added, "Through these upgrades, California once again demonstrates its dedicated environmental leadership by having one of the most advanced building energy codes in the world."

For more information on the 2008 Building Energy Efficiency Standards, visit the Energy Commission's website:
http://www.energy.ca.gov/title24/2008standards/

For more information:
http://www.energy.ca.gov/releases/2008_releases/2008-04-23_2008_standards.ht
ml

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US Government Scientists Complain About Political Pressure
WASHINGTON (The Associated Press) - Apr 23 - By H. JOSEF HEBERT Associated
Press Writer

Hundreds of U.S. government scientists complain they have been victims of political interference and pressure from superiors to skew their findings, according to a survey released Wednesday by an advocacy group.

The Union of Concerned Scientists said that more than half of the nearly 1,600 Environmental Protection Agency staff scientists who responded online to a detailed questionnaire reported they had experienced incidents of political interference in their work.

EPA spokesman Jonathan Shradar on Wednesday attributed some of the discontent to the "passion" scientists have toward their work. He said EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson, as a longtime career scientist at the EPA himself, "weighs heavily the science given to him by the staff in making policy decisions."

But Francesca Grifo, director of the Union of Concerned Scientists' Scientific Integrity Program, said the survey results revealed "an agency in crisis" with low morale, especially among scientists involved in risk assessment and drawing up regulations.

"The investigation shows researchers are generally continuing to do their work, but their scientific findings are tossed aside when it comes time to write regulations," said Grifo.

The group sent an online questionnaire to 5,500 EPA scientists and received 1,586 responses, a majority of them senior scientists who have worked for the agency for 10 years or more. The survey included chemists, toxicologists, engineers, geologists and experts in the life and environmental sciences.

The report said that 60 percent of those responding, or 889 scientists, reported personally experiencing what they viewed as political interference in their work over the last five years. Four in 10 scientists who have worked at the agency for more than a decade said they believe such interference has been more prevalent in the last five years than the previous five years.

Timothy Donaghy, one of the report's co-authors, acknowledged that a large number of scientists did not respond to the survey and said the findings should not be viewed as a random sample of EPA scientists.

Nevertheless, said Donaghy, "we have hundreds of scientists saying there is a problem" with assuring scientific integrity within the federal government's principal environmental regulatory agency.

Asked to respond to the survey, Shradar, the EPA spokesman, said, "We have the best scientists in the world at EPA."

The EPA has been under fire from members of Congress on a number of fronts including its delay in determining whether carbon dioxide should be regulated to combat global warming. Johnson also has been criticized for rejecting recommendations from science advisory boards on a number of air pollution issues including control of mercury from power plants and how much to reduce smog pollution.

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SC Senate Gives Key Approval to Energy-Saving Incentives
COLUMBIA, S.C. (The Associated Press) - Apr 24

South Carolina residents would get tax breaks when they buy energy-efficient appliances and manufactured homes under legislation that has won key approval in the Senate.

One bill eliminates sales taxes beginning in 2009 during October, a month when groups encourage energy conservation.

A second proposal increases a tax rebate to people buying energy-efficient manufactured houses to $750 if the structures meet federal Energy Star requirements. A current energy-efficiency incentive limits the break to $300.

A third bill requires replacing incandescent lighting with compact fluorescent lights by July 2011 in government buildings. That proposal also says agencies have to set a goal for cutting energy demands by 20 percent by 2020.

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Cost of Nuclear Plant Fuels Two-State Battle
Apr 24 - The News & Observer

As the fight over nuclear energy shifts from safety to cost, timing the public release of the multibillion-dollar expense takes on an increasingly strategic value to both sides.

The estimated cost of new nuclear power plants has tripled in the past few years, with projections now hitting $6 billion to $9 billion per reactor. Cost estimates are expected to continue escalating. Soaring costs make the prospect of new nuclear power even harder to sell to a public that will ultimately pay for new plants through rate increases.

Nuclear critics are homing in on the staggering costs to lobby their case. It helps the opponents to have a dollar figure to object to, but electric utilities are reluctant to cooperate.

Nuclear opponents are trying to force Duke Energy of Charlotte to disclose the projected cost of a proposed nuclear plant in Cherokee County, S.C., that would serve the Carolinas. The groups have asked officials in both states to require that Duke disclose the estimate. South Carolina regulators are expected to rule on the request today. North Carolina regulators could decide as early as Tuesday.

"If you want the ratepayers to pay for something, are you going to tell them it's none of their business?" said C. Dukes Scott, South Carolina's consumer advocate, who represents the public in utility rate cases.

Scott agrees with anti-nuclear groups that the cost estimate should be made public.

Duke will have to reveal the project cost when it seeks a permit in South Carolina, but such a disclosure may be a year away. Nuclear opponents say the public shouldn't have to wait that long for vital information about such an important decision.

The cost estimates are available to state regulators, public officials and lawyers, as long as they sign confidentiality agreements.

Duke is still negotiating with vendors and contractors, contending that its cost estimates are proprietary and sensitive.

North Carolina's consumer advocate, Public Staff, agrees with Duke that the cost estimate qualifies as a trade secret under North Carolina law.

Releasing the company's preliminary cost projections could undermine Duke's negotiating leverage and ultimately hurt customers, it says.

"Our whole effort here is trying to get the best cost for our customers," Duke spokeswoman Paige Sheehan said. "The people who have intervened in this case are doing anything and everything they can to harm this project."

Nuclear opponents want the utilities to develop alternative energy and efficiency programs and rely on the construction of a power plant as a last resort. The state's utilities maintain that new power plants are needed to meet this region's growing demand for energy.

Nuclear critics insist that a ballooning price hurts the case for new nuclear plants and that cost revisions over time undermine a utility's credibility.

"The thing is just replete with uncertainty and risk on every front," said Jim Warren, director of N.C. Waste Awareness and Reduction Network, a Durham organization that opposes nuclear plants. "There's a lot of denial. They'd like to think they've got this thing nailed down."

Progress Energy won't reveal cost estimates for nuclear reactors proposed for its Shearon Harris nuclear plant in Wake County, where the Raleigh utility operates one reactor.

The company was required by Florida law to disclose the cost of proposed reactors in that state, revealing that each reactor would cost about $7 billion.

But Progress Energy warned that the estimate is preliminary and likely to increase. Residential utility bills in Florida could increase by as much as $25 a month to pay for the plant.

Duke is being challenged to disclose nuclear costs under new laws in North Carolina and South Carolina that allow utilities to start paying debt on power plants before the plants are built -- even if the projects are abandoned.

Duke isn't applying to raise customer rates now, but the company is asking regulators in both states for the green light to spend about $230 million in development costs as the company keeps its nuclear option open. Those costs include preparing an application for a federal nuclear license, federal regulatory fees, site evaluation, land and rights of way purchases, demolition and site preparation, and detailed engineering.

The nuclear reactors that Progress is planning in Florida -- the Westinghouse AP 1000 model -- are the same technology that Progress has proposed for the Shearon Harris site and Duke has proposed for Cherokee County, southwest of Charlotte.

Duke's 1.8 million customers in North Carolina would use most of the electricity generated by the proposed plant and would pay for about 70 percent of the cost of the project.

In February, Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers told South Carolina regulators that the Cherokee County plant would cost $6 billion to $8 billion, but the company now says that estimate is dated and inaccurate.

Scott, the South Carolina consumer advocate, said that he supports Duke's nuclear plans but that he wants the company to keep the public in the know.

"If the cost wasn't confidential in February," Scott said, "how is it confidential in April?"

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News From the Week of April 14, 2008

2008-04-20T12:27:00.000-07:00

Domenici Pans Yucca-Only Approach
Cashing in on Your Solar Savings: Bill Would Force Utilities to Pay for Excess Power

NRC Issues Report on Italy Waste

Justices to Decide Environmental Dispute Involving Utility Industry

Senate Passes One-Year Extension For Renewable Energy PTC

NRC Indicates 'Human Performance' Issues at Perry Nuclear Plant

Xcel Requests Extensions on Nuclear Plant Licenses

Utah Nuclear Waste Company Ramps Up Campaign Contributions

Unit 1 Corrections To Be Applied To Other 2 Reactors at Brown's Ferry NPP

Activists Warn Ontario Taxpayers on Hook for More Cost Overruns at Bruce Nuke Plant

Domenici Pans Yucca-Only Approach
Apr 11 - Las Vegas Review - Journal

Political support for a Yucca Mountain repository eroded further on Wednesday when a leading Senate advocate of nuclear power said it has become "foolhardy" to plan to store used nuclear fuel at the Nevada site.

Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., said the strategy to place spent nuclear fuel underground has become badly outdated in light of advances in waste reprocessing that could wring more energy from the assemblies. Even after nuclear fuel has been recycled, the resulting waste products might not need to be placed in the Nevada volcanic ridge, he said. At that point, the waste would be less toxic and could be stored safely in salt formations in New Mexico or elsewhere.

"The current strategy of limiting our options to a permanent repository for the disposal of spent fuel is deeply flawed," Domenici said. He said he was writing a bill that would alter the "Yucca only" approach.

"I'm talking about a bill that will start over and draft new law that puts America on a new path for commercial waste," he said after a Senate energy and water subcommittee hearing on the Yucca Mountain budget.

The senator's comments are reflective of a shift among key lawmakers frustrated by a decade-long delay in developing the Yucca Mountain repository, and who now are more amenable to alternatives they say are becoming more viable.

In the meantime, the Department of Energy continues to work toward licensing and building an industrial site 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas to handle 77,000 tons of waste generated by the government and commercial utilities.

At the hearing, senators praised DOE nuclear waste director Ward Sproat, saying he has put the Yucca program finally on a track. But Domenici, a 35-year Senate veteran who has written a book on nuclear policy and authored key bills promoting the technology, said it might be too late.

"I am not saying that Yucca should go away, but I am saying you don't need Yucca" for managing power plant fuel, he said. "It would never have been the direct policy of the country for Yucca if you were going to have recycling like we are talking about. I want to make it very clear that I would not stop Yucca flat now," Domenici said. "I wouldn't just say cut it off because it may be used for something," perhaps burial of waste from Navy ship reactors, other military nuclear waste and other highly radioactive material that cannot be recycled.

Domenici said he was writing a bill that would divert a portion of the nuclear waste fund being set aside to build Yucca Mountain. Some of the funds in the account, which now totals $21 billion, would be steered to finding and developing reprocessing sites, and temporary nuclear fuel storage nearby. The bill would direct the Department of Energy to negotiate with interested communities.

Domenici is retiring from the Senate at the end of the year and was uncertain whether his bill would go anywhere. He said he is shopping it to senators and influential members of the House.

"This one I am really going big on," he said. "I don't know whether we can get this done while I am still a senator. ... But I want to lay down at least a cornerstone to what I think is absolutely imperative."

(c) 2008 Las Vegas Review - Journal.
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Cashing in on Your Solar Savings: Bill Would Force Utilities to Pay for
Excess Power
Apr 12 - San Jose Mercury News

Electricity generated by a solar roof cuts a homeowner's utility bill, but some of those folks are upset when they learn that the best they can do is end up with a $0 bill, no matter how much power they produce.

That could be about to change.

AB 1920, working through California's Assembly, might mean that big utilities, such as Pacific Gas & Electric, would have to write checks to customers whose solar-roof power generation exceeds the amount they use.

California could be the first state with such a program, although others, including Michigan, Minnesota and Rhode Island, are considering similar strategies. Under California's Solar Initiative and current laws, the size of a solar installation is limited so that generation and consumption are roughly equal.

That's why Chris Bellizzi, who lives in a 5,100-square-foot home in Saratoga with a 3.73-kilowatt photovoltaic array on his roof, ended up owing PG&E just 25 cents in September. (Customers with solar systems reconcile generation/consumption accounting with PG&E once a year.)

Bellizzi sees an unfairness in the system. "If you owe them, you've got to send them a check," said the owner of a tree service. "If they owe you, they'll pocket it."

In fact, he said he abandoned his usual power-conserving ways last year when it looked as if PG&E would get $100 he feels he earned from his solar roof. "I used a bunch of power I normally wouldn't," he said, telling his kids they could run the air conditioning more.

That's just the type of "perverse message" that prompted Assemblyman Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, to introduce AB 1920. The measure passed the assembly's utilities and commerce committee this week and will be heard by the natural resources committee Monday.

The state, through the California Solar Initiative, wants 1 million solar roofs. Huffman said his bill will reduce some of the impediments to getting to that goal.

Right now, the size of a solar installation directly relates to the amount of power a homeowner or business uses, he said, so bigger systems that make more power aren't allowed. "If they generate surplus power beyond their own energy needs, that's a gift to the utility," he said. "There's no compensation."

That's enough to keep some folks from installing solar, Huffman said, and it certainly limits the size of installations.

"This bill for many people will improve the economics," he said. PG&E, based in San Francisco, has 20,000 solar customers right now, generating 175-megawatts of electricity. Of those, spokesman Keely Wachs said, 22 percent have a financial credit at year's end. That's because the state mandates that utilities pay solar owners a "premium rate" of 30 to 35 cents a kilowatt-hour for the power they generate. But even if they earn it, those customers don't get the extra money.

Only 7 percent of PG&E's solar customers generate more kilowatt-hours than they use, Wachs said.

The utility, which touts itself as a major proponent of solar, finds itself in the unusual position of arguing against AB 1920. PG&E feels the bill would mean that all of its customers would end up subsidizing those with solar systems, who tend to be wealthier customers. Plus, as written, the bill requires only investor-owned utilities, such as PG&E and Southern California Edison, to make payments, not municipally owned utilities, Wachs said.

The utility feels that AB 1969, passed in 2007, offers a better solution, he said. Under that law, customers can decide to become energy producers and sell power to PG&E. But with that option, they would lose both solar-initiative rebates and the premium rate for their power, earning a market rate of perhaps 9 to 10 cents a kilowatt-hour. And this would apply only to customers who decide to enter into the agreement and forgo other payments, while Huffman's AB 1920 would apply to everyone with a solar roof.

A San Francisco ratepayer advocacy group shares PG&E concerns, which itself is a rare occurrence. The Utility Reform Network, which usually criticizes PG&E for wasting customer money, opposed AB 1920. "Homeowners who generate excess electricity should be paid fairly for that electricity, but shouldn't be subsidized a third time by the rest of the ratepayers, who already fund generous subsidies for rooftop solar," said TURN staff attorney Marcel Hawiger.

Supporters of the bill include Environment California. "We should take away any disincentives there are," said Dan Jacobson, the group's legislative director. "We don't expect this to be a huge moneymaker," he said. "It's not like people won't need to get jobs and live off their solar. This will only help to pencil out solar a little faster."

Huffman said it's likely the bill will be altered to reflect some of the concerns, and questions about how much to pay for the excess power haven't been resolved. He thinks the bill's chance for passage is "pretty good."

Contact Matt Nauman at mnauman@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5701.

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NRC Issues Report on Italy Waste
Apr 11 - Deseret News (Salt Lake City)
By Stephen Speckman Deseret News

In an uncommon move this week the Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued what it calls a "fact sheet" on EnergySolutions' application to import low-level radioactive waste from Italy. NRC spokesman David McIntyre said release of the document was due to an outpouring of interest that includes members of Congress. The public comment period on the issue was recently extended to June 10.

"We have received an unusually high number of comments on this application," McIntyre said. There are over 900 comments, "overwhelmingly against" EnergySolutions' proposal.

EnergySolutions wants to import up to 20,000 tons of contaminated materials from decommissioned nuclear facilities in Italy. Most of the materials would be recycled in Tennessee and less than 1,600 tons of what's left over would be shipped to Clive, Tooele County, for disposal at an EnergySolutions dump site.

EnergySolutions spokesman Mark Walker would only say Thursday that the new NRC document is part of the process. His company will continue to follow the guidelines of the process until a decision about its license is made.

McIntyre said one of the main questions the NRC answered in an April 9 letter to Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., comes down to whether EnergySolutions is properly licensed in each state to do what they're proposing. "Both Tennessee and Utah have said 'yes' to that," McIntyre said.

The gist of this week's letter to Gordon described the NRC's role as regulatory, to ensure that the import process can be done safely and securely under state and federal laws, McIntyre said.

Last month Gordon and fellow House Energy and Commerce Committee members Reps. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, and Ed Whitfield, R-Ky., sponsored legislation that would ban import of nuclear waste unless it was originally produced in the U.S. An exception would be U.S. military waste generated abroad.

According to the NRC's fact sheet, the Low Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act places the responsibility of regulating access to low-level radioactive waste disposal facilities on individual states. The document goes on to say that the NRC will consult with all affected states before it
grants the license to import the waste.

The NRC still expects to hear from the eight member states of the Northwest Interstate Compact on Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management, which McIntyre said is scheduled to meet in May to discuss the application. There may also be an adjudicatory hearing for the Atomic Safety Board's chance to weigh in on the matter.

Utah's own advisory Radiation Control Board wrote a letter to the NRC opposing the import proposal. Gov. Jon Hunstman Jr. penned a cover letter to the NRC urging it to be the deciding agency on whether portions of the "finite" amount of this country's disposal space for radioactive material should be set aside for importing waste from other countries.

If EnergySolutions can clear all of the hurdles currently in its way, it could begin importing waste from Italy as soon as August. To critics of the proposal, the NRC's fact sheet this week has only added fuel to a growing opposition movement.

"Though it may contain useful information, people should not take issuance of a fact sheet to mean the license application will be opposed by the NRC," Friends of the Earth's Tom Clements said Thursday. "Pressure should be kept up to stop the license and prevent Tennessee, Utah and the nation from becoming an international nuclear waste dumping ground."

E-mail: sspeckman@desnews.com

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Justices to Decide Environmental Dispute Involving Utility Industry
WASHINGTON (The Associated Press) - Apr 14 - By PETE YOST Associated Press
Writer

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear an environmental case in which utility companies want to revive an industry-friendly regulation put in place by the Bush administration. The dispute with environmental groups revolves around the harm
companies cause when they draw water from rivers and lakes to cool electric generating equipment, then return it to the waterway. The process kills aquatic life.

The Environmental Protection Agency allowed the industry to forgo the most expensive solution, installing closed-cycle cooling systems which would cost billions of dollars at 550 generating units around the country including 104 nuclear power plants. The units account for 40 percent of the country's energy production.

The EPA rule allowed the companies to decide how to comply with the Clean Water Act by conducting cost-benefit analyses of the available options. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City ruled against the companies, saying they must adopt the best technology available.

The appeals court called into question EPA's conclusion that closed-cycle cooling costs could not be reasonably borne by the industry. Last month, the Bush administration said in a court filing that it would support the industry position were the case to come before the Supreme Court.

With a new administration taking office next January, an EPA run by different presidential appointees might choose to change positions on the issue.

Robert Goldstein, general counsel at Riverkeeper Inc., one of the environmental groups involved in the dispute, said "it's about time this law enacted in 1972 get some teeth."

"We've seen this so many times with this administration, regulations basically to alleviate the burdens of the law rather than to impose the burdens of the law," said Goldstein.

The cases are Entergy Corp. v. EPA, 07-588; PSEG v. Riverkeeper, 07-589; and Utility Water Act Group v. Riverkeeper, 07-597.

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Senate Passes One-Year Extension For Renewable Energy PTC
Wind Energy Weekly - 4/14/08

The U.S. Senate overwhelmingly approved a housing bill amendment from Senators Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and John Ensign (R-Nev.) that includes an extension of the renewable energy production tax credit (PTC).

The Clean Energy Stimulus Act provides for a one-year extension of the PTC, a federal incentive which provides a tax credit of 2 cents per kWh to wind farms and other renewable energy facilities for electricity produced. Following the vote, AWEA released the following statement by Senior Director of Governmental & Public Affairs Gregory Wetstone:

"Today's 88 to 8 Senate floor vote on the Clean Energy Stimulus Act is a testament to the strong support for renewable energy across the political spectrum. We are especially grateful to Senators Maria Cantwell and John Ensign and the many bipartisan cosponsors of this legislation. We look forward now to working with our many friends in the U.S. House of Representatives to secure an extension of the renewable energy tax credit, spurring economic growth and creating jobs even as we move to reduce global warming pollution."

This was the fourth time the full Senate has voted on a PTC extension. The three previous efforts narrowly fell short of the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster, in two cases by a single vote, as a result of partisan disagreements over issues related to how the credits are paid for. This latest vote is a demonstration of the broad bipartisan support the wind industry can secure when it is able to separate the PTC from other sources of controversy.

The next challenge is to get the House of Representatives to support this approach. The House has on multiple occasions passed a long-term PTC extension coupled with provisions designed to offset the budget impacts of an extension through the elimination of tax incentives for the oil and gas industry. Wind energy advocates generally seek to decouple the PTC extension from issues related to tax policy for the oil and gas industry to allow for smoother passage.

AWEA urges its members to contact their Senators to thank those who supported the Cantwell- Ensign amendment and to express disappointment to the few who did not.

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NRC Indicates 'Human Performance' Issues at Perry Nuclear Plant
PAINESVILLE, Ohio (The Associated Press) - Apr 14

Regulators overseeing the Perry nuclear power plant in northeast Ohio have expressed concerns about staff performance. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has sent a letter to the power plant's management about what is described as "an adverse trend in human performance."

Akron, Ohio-based FirstEnergy Corp. operates the plant in North Perry, about 25 miles east of Cleveland. Company spokesman Todd Schneider says FirstEnergy intends to explain at a public meeting Tuesday in Painesville how it has a plan to satisfy NRC concerns with how the Perry plant staff follows procedures.

In May of last year the NRC ended a period of heightened regulatory oversight at Perry.

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Xcel Requests Extensions on Nuclear Plant Licenses
MINNEAPOLIS (The Associated Press) - Apr 15
Xcel Energy says it wants to extend licenses to operate the Prairie Island nuclear plant near Red Wing. Xcel submitted applications Tuesday for 20-year license extensions for the two reactors at Prairie Island. The plant's current licenses expire in 2013 and 2014.

Xcel also wants to increase Prairie Island's power generation capacity. The company says it will ask the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission later this spring to increase the generating capacity of each reactor by about 80 megawatts. Right now each reactor generates up to 538
megawatts.

Xcel also says it will ask state regulators to increase the number of used fuel storage containers at the site.

Xcel officials say the Prairie Island plant generates about 20 percent of the electricity used by Upper Midwest customers.

Editor's note: The plant is owned by Northern States Power Company (NSP), a subsidiary of Xcel Energy, and is operated by the Nuclear Management Company (NMC). In 1991, the company requested permission from the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission to eventually store waste in 48 dry casks on the site. Opposition by environmentalists and the neighboring Prairie Island tribe led the Minnesota Legislature to decrease the number of allowed casks to 17. Eventually, those casks filled, and Xcel Energy requested that the limit be expanded beyond 17 casks. The legislature granted the request, but required the company to make greater use of renewable energy such as wind power and to pay the local Indian community up to $2.25 million per year to help with evacuation improvements and the acquisition and development of new land and to help pay for a health study and emergency management activities.

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Utah Nuclear Waste Company Ramps Up Campaign Contributions
SALT LAKE CITY (The Associated Press) - Apr 16 - By BROCK VERGAKIS
Associated Press Writer

A Utah disposal company seeking federal permission to import more than 20,000 tons of nuclear waste from Italy has raised its campaign contributions to lawmakers by hundreds of thousands of dollars. Salt Lake City-based EnergySolutions Inc. is aggressively donating to members of key energy committees in Congress as it increasingly seeks lucrative federal contracts and legislation beneficial to the nuclear power industry.

Since 2005, the company's political action committee, executives and investors have poured nearly $400,000 into congressional campaigns through January, up from about $40,000 in the four previous years, Federal Election Commission reports show.

The company's growing influence in Washington will be tested this year as it tries to kill a bill that would ban the importation of low-level radioactive foreign waste, which would be disposed at its dump in western Utah's desert.

"I'm sure this means many millions of dollars to them, so I'm sure they're going to be working hard to stop it," said Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., the bill's co-sponsor. U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield, R-Ky., is also a co-sponsor.

EnergySolutions increased lobbyist spending from $680,000 in 2006 to more than $1 million last year, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan research group.

The company already handles some foreign waste, but the amount it wants to import from Italy would be the largest ever from another country, Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman David McIntyre said.

The volume and the publicity surrounding it have generated more than 900 public comments on the company's application to the NRC, he said. Import-license applications typically don't receive more than a handful of comments, if any.

EnergySolutions says it welcomes the comments but contends Gordon's bill is unnecessary.

"The NRC has the scientific and technical expertise to make thoughtful decisions based on the facts," EnergySolutions spokesman Mark Walker said.

The company has never shied away from the fact that it donates heavily to state politicians, but the emphasis on contributing to nearly four dozen federal lawmakers from across the country is new.

Political giving, Walker said, "gives us the opportunity to participate with elected officials and offer solutions to growing concerns within the energy sector."

Last year, EnergySolutions CEO Steve Creamer donated the maximum allowed by law - $28,500 - to Democratic and Republican senatorial campaign committees.

The biggest recipient of EnergySolutions' recent spending spree is Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., an ardent supporter of nuclear energy. Graham has received $24,000 in campaign contributions from EnergySolutions' PAC and more than $19,000 from company investors and
executives since December 2006. He is encouraging the NRC to allow the construction of two nuclear power plants in South Carolina, where EnergySolutions manages the site through which the Italian waste could be imported.

The company wants to import the waste through the ports of Charleston, S.C., or New Orleans for processing in Tennessee.

After processing, about 8 percent, or some 1,600 tons, would be shipped to EnergySolutions' Utah facility, about 70 miles west of Salt Lake City, for disposal. It is the largest and only privately owned radioactive-waste dump in the United States.

The plan has drawn opposition from environmental groups.

"Public opinion should rule and not political opinion that's influenced by campaign donations," said Tom Clements of Friends of the Earth in Columbia, S.C. He fears Charleston will become the nation's gateway for nuclear waste, putting it at risk in the event of an accident.

The bill by Gordon, Whitfield, and Jim Matheson, D-Utah, would allow only nuclear waste that originated in the United States or came from an overseas American military base. "If we start taking it from other countries, then it's going to diminish our ability to take care of our waste with a rejuvenated nuclear power industry," Gordon said.

EnergySolutions says capacity is not an issue, insisting that the Italian waste would represent less than 1 percent of all waste disposed at its Utah site each year.

Gordon said the bill would also limit the possibility of terrorists targeting a shipment at a U.S. port.

It's unclear when the legislation will receive a hearing, but the NRC is expected to rule on the Italian waste this summer.

Gordon, Whitefield and Matheson sit on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Since 2005, committee chairman John Dingell, D-Mich., has received $6,000 from EnergySolutions' PAC, while executives and company investors have given him more than $7,000 since December. Matheson has received $6,000.

EnergySolutions has spent heavily to polish its image and bought the naming rights to the arena where the NBA's Utah Jazz play. It became a publicly traded company in November.

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Unit 1 Corrections To Be Applied To Other 2 Reactors at Brown's Ferry NPP
Apr 17 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Karen Middleton The News Courier,
Athens, Ala.

Earlier this year the Nuclear Regulatory Commission assigned a yellow performance indicator for the newly restarted Unit 2 reactor because of five unplanned scrams in its first 7,000 hours of operation.

The NRC uses color-coded performance indicators and inspection findings to evaluate performance at all nuclear power plants. The colors start with "green" and then increase to "white," "yellow" or "red," commensurate with the safety significance of the issues involved.

While yellow indicates "substantial safety issues" in the grading system, NRC Region II officials said in a Wednesday meeting at Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant that all three reactors "operated in a manner that preserved public health and safety" throughout 2007.

Unit 1 was restarted May 22, 2007, after a 22-year shutdown and a five-year, $1.8 billion recovery. The Tennessee Valley Authority took Unit 1 off line in 1985 because of safety concerns.

Unit 1 is one of just eight reactors of a total 104 in the U.S. to receive the yellow performance indicator.

Thierry Ross, senior NRC resident inspector said within the industry, 7,000 hours is not enough hours to give an idea of overall reactor performance. "Typically, it takes 36 months of data for a valid performance indicator," said Ross.

NRC Public Affairs Officer Roger Hannah further explained during a break that, "If you have a bad period, the findings are not valid until your have larger period of time to gauge performance. It should not be gauged on an isolated period."

It was determined that the Unit 1 shutdowns -- or scrams -- resulted from problems in the electronic hydraulic controls and in the moisture separator drain tank.

Browns Ferry Site Vice President Rusty West said the lessons learned from Unit 1 reactor's first 7,000 hours would be applied to units 2 and 3. "We do value the process and agree," said West.

West said that although the yellow performance indicator might make it seem that plant officials do not value the health and safety of the public, that is not the case.

"We will make sure we resolve this before going forward," said West. "Safety is paramount to TVA. All the corrective actions will be applied to all three units."

Unit 3 reactor is currently down for refueling. TVA spokesman Craig Beasley said that when Unit 3 was taken out of service for refueling and maintenance a month ago, it was expected it would be off line for two or three months.

Typically, those in the nuclear industry are vague about the length of outages because of how it can affect the price of energy on the open market.

NRC will conduct a supplemental inspection of Unit 1 in the summer.

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Activists Warn Ontario Taxpayers on Hook for More Cost Overruns at Bruce Nuke Plant

(The Associated Press) - Apr 17

Environmentalists are warning that Ontario electricity consumers are on the hook for some of the escalating costs of refurbishing two reactors at the Bruce nuclear station.

Bruce Power says the estimated cost for bringing the two reactors back on line could be $3.4 billion, up from the original estimate of $2.5 billion.

The World Wildlife Fund says the province's hydro customers will have to pay more than $237 million as their share of the cost overruns to date.

WWF spokesman Keith Stewart says that figure dwarfs the $163 million the Liberal government spent on energy conservation programs during its first mandate.

Bruce Power spokesman Steve Cannon says the nuclear sector isn't alone in facing higher costs for construction materials and labour.

Cannon says about 60 per cent of the work on the two reactors has been completed, including many jobs such as replacing steam generators that had never been done before.

The two reactors at the Lake Huron nuclear plant that were idled in the 1990s are scheduled to be back on line by mid-2009 or early 2010.

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News From the Week of April 7, 2008

2008-04-14T17:26:00.000-07:00

Sierra Club Sues Duke Energy Over Coal-gasification Plant

Study: New Street Light Technology Could Save Energy, Money

Local Woman Takes On a Power Giant

"Unusual Event" at Waterford Nuclear Power Complex

Bills Offer More Tax Breaks to Save, Produce Alternative Energy

Labor, Environmentalists Join Forces to Launch National 'Green Jobs for America' Campaign

NRC Monitoring Unusual Event At Millstone 2 Nuclear Plant

US Senate Votes For Solar, Wind Tax Credits; Faces Hurdles

Senate Passes Tax Incentives for Energy Efficiency

Feds Propose Florida Power & Light Fine for Sleeping Security Guards at Nuclear Plant

Sierra Club Sues Duke Energy Over Coal-gasification Plant
INDIANAPOLIS (The Associated Press) - Apr 4 - By RICK CALLAHAN Associated
Press Writer

The Sierra Club is suing Duke Energy Corp. over an aging coal-fired power plant in southwestern Indiana set to be replaced by a high-tech plant, alleging that the current facility violates provisions of the Clean Air Act. The federal lawsuit filed Thursday in Indianapolis is the Sierra Club's latest action targeting Duke's planned $2 billion coal gasification power plant in Edwardsport. It alleges that Duke has not obtained required permits for changes it has made over the years to the 160-megawatt coal-fired plant and has failed to install rigorous pollution controls the group contends are required under the Clean Air Act.

Because of that, the lawsuit claims, Duke cannot claim emission reductions from the shutdown of the older plant toward its new 630-megawatt coal gasification plant, for which the company obtained a state air permit in January.

"That plant has been operating illegally without pollution controls for over a decade so they can't take credit and claim voluntary reductions when those emissions have been illegal for all those years," said Bruce Nilles, a Madison, Wis.-based attorney for the Sierra Club.

Duke spokeswoman Angeline Protogere said Duke's Edwardsport coal-fired power plant operates in full compliance with the Clean Air Act. She said the air permit approved in January by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management is a "legal air permit." Because the new plant's future emissions were compared with the existing plant's emissions as part of the permitting process, Protogere said Duke contended that it did not have to go though a review to identify the best available control technology. She said IDEM agreed with that position in approving the permit.

"Some critics don't acknowledge the plant's advanced technology because they don't want anything to do with coal," Protogere said in a statement. "Once this plant is completed, it will be one of the cleanest coal-fired plants in the world."

Protogere said construction is under way on the new coal gasification plant along the White River near Edwardsport, about 15 miles northeast of Vincennes. The current plant was built in stages between 1944 and 1951, she said.

The Sierra Club's suit asks the court to prohibit Duke from building the new plant and from continuing to operate the current plant unless the company makes the emissions control upgrades and obtains the permits the group maintains are needed.

Dan Murray, assistant commissioner for IDEM's Office of Air Quality, said the Sierra Club's contentions of Clean Air violations are not correct. "I am not aware of any pending or open enforcement actions against Duke for any of these things the Sierra Club is alleging," he said.

Duke says the plant, tentatively slated to open in 2012, stands to become the nation's first large scale project to use coal gasification technology. Unlike traditional coal-fired power plants that burn coal to produce electricity, coal gasification converts coal into a synthesis gas that's processed to remove pollutants such as mercury and sulfur. That gas is then burned in a traditional turbine power plant to produce electricity.

In February, the Sierra Club joined three other groups in appealing Indiana's approval of an air permit for the new plant. They contended that plant would allow air pollution increases that would raise nearby residents' risk of heart and lung ailments and other conditions.

They also warned that the plant would boost emissions of pollutants linked to global warming and burden Duke ratepayers with paying for a costly coal plant.

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Study: New Street Light Technology Could Save Energy, Money
WASHINGTON (The Associated Press) - Apr 7 - By SARAH KARUSH Associated Press
Writer

The nation's roads are a major source of greenhouse gases - but it's not just from the cars and trucks traveling on them. The lamps that light the way for those vehicles gobble up their share of energy, too.

By switching to a more efficient lighting for their roads, the 10 largest metropolitan areas could reduce annual carbon dioxide emissions by 1.2 million metric tons - the equivalent of taking 212,000 vehicles off the road - and save $90 million a year, according to a study released in March.

"Even if there wasn't the thought of global warming, this would make sense because it saves electricity, it saves taxpayer dollars," said Robert Grow, the study's author and government relations director of the Greater Washington Board of Trade. "It's really a no-brainer."

Grow wrote the report as part of a fellowship on sustainable growth funded by the Ford Foundation through the American Chamber of Commerce Executives. He focused on two strategies. One would be to simply change the type of lamps used to electricity-sipping light-emitting diodes, or LEDs. The other would be to create a centrally controlled street-light network that allows managers to adjust brightness based on environmental conditions and to quickly pinpoint malfunctioning lights - including ones that stay on in broad daylight.

Grow said he was surprised to learn that more hasn't been done already to improve street light efficiency around the country.

Perhaps the biggest effort is in Ann Arbor, Mich. The city announced in October that it would convert all its downtown street lights - some 1,400 - to LED lights, an effort estimated to cut electricity use in half. The Ann Arbor lights are manufactured by Durham, N.C.-based Cree Inc.; other manufacturers promise similar savings.

LED traffic lights have become common in much of the country, but LEDs that produce white light, instead of red or green, use newer technology. Ram Sarma, street light coordinator for Virginia's Arlington County, said LED street lights have only now been around long enough for local decision-makers to have data about actual costs and potential savings.

Arlington, which has committed itself to reducing greenhouse gases produced by the county government by 10 percent from 2000 to 2012, is in the process of installing five LED street lights. The county wants to gather feedback from drivers on the quality of the light they produce before it embarks on a wholesale replacement project.

The high pressure sodium lamps that the county now uses are about a decade old. They are about 25 percent to 30 percent more efficient than the mercury vapor lamps they replaced, Sarma said.

Besides LEDs, Grow looked at the centrally managed street light network being implemented in the city of Oslo, Norway. The system feeds data into a control center that keeps track of lights that need to be fixed and automatically dims street lights based on the season, local weather and
traffic density. Street lights at dawn, for example, don't have to be at full power to still do their job, said Julia O'Shaughnessy, a spokeswoman for San Jose, Calif.-based Echelon Corp., which owns the technology being used in Oslo.

Sarma said he had heard about that technology but that the capital costs were too high and potential savings not great enough for Arlington to try it.

Grow estimated it would cost nearly $70 million to install such a system throughout the entire Washington region and would take about seven years to pay for itself in energy and maintenance savings.

Based on Oslo's experience and the estimates of LED streetlight manufacturers, Grow's analysis assumed a 50 percent reduction in electricity usage for any kind of street light improvement. He calculated the Washington region alone could save $6 million a year on electricity and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 78,000 metric tons.

Grow then extrapolated his basic assumptions to the 10 largest metropolitan areas. Besides Washington, they include New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Philadelphia, Houston, Miami, Atlanta and Detroit.

Maryland State Highway Administrator Neil Pedersen said his office was reviewing Grow's report and that it would seriously consider efficiency improvements to the lights on the roads it operates.

"There are capital costs associated with it that we need to understand," he cautioned. "There's still questions about what the longevity is of some of these lights."

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Local Woman Takes On a Power Giant
Apr 6 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Stephanie Vosk Cape Cod Times,
Hyannis, Mass.

For Christmas, Mary Lampert asked her husband for a nuclear engineer.

For her birthday -- the Duxbury resident will turn 66 tomorrow --Lampert is just looking for some peace and quiet.

Since moving to town in 1987, Lampert has been fighting for change at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in nearby Plymouth. She formed the citizen group Pilgrim Watch in 2004. She has spent day after day, dollar after dollar, preparing to almost single-handedly take on Pilgrim's owners at a hearing before a panel of judges from the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board on Thursday.

Pilgrim Watch has about 70 members, but it's Lampert who has researched endlessly and taught herself how to battle a power giant. It's Lampert who has succeeded in a demand for a hearing, a stage only one other citizens group has reached in the relicensing of about 50 nuclear power plants across the country.

"I'm not a lawyer, I'm not a nuclear engineer, the group is unfunded," said Lampert, who has degrees in the field of sociology. The last chemistry class she attended was at the Beaver Country Day School in the ninth grade, she said.

With the nuclear engineer and hydrologist she hired in tow, Lampert will argue one reason why the plant -- about 15 miles from her house -- should not be relicensed for 20 years.

Her contention that the plant does not have an adequate plan to maintain buried tanks and pipes is the only one of many issues she raised that made it to the hearing stage.

"I have a right to live here in safety and know what's being emitted," Lampert said. "I have a right to feel secure."

Entergy Nuclear Operations, which owns the plant, will present its own experts to dispel Pilgrim Watch's argument, spokesman David Tarantino said. "The plant is saying that the plan for ensuring the integrity of underground pipes and tanks is working and they are in good condition and that we have adequate monitoring in place," he said.

Tarantino declined to speculate on the hearing's outcome or the possibility of an appeal by Entergy, but he said if the safety and licensing board makes reasonable recommendations, the plant would likely comply.

Pilgrim's license expires in 2012.

Last September, a watchdog group in New Jersey argued before the safety and licensing board that the drywell casing at the Oyster Creek Generating Station would not survive another 20-year license. A drywell casing is part of the containment system for a nuclear reactor. The board disagreed, but the case is still on appeal.

The New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution, another citizen watchdog group, will get its hearing in July on the relicensing of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station.

Whether the watchdog groups are successful in their quest to block relicensing, the hearings draw out the relicensing process. Without hearings, decisions are handed down in about 22 months. With hearings, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission sets a 30-month timeline for relicensing decisions.

The Oyster Creek relicensing process has already gone beyond 30 months, NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said.

In most of the relicensing cases in recent years, the NRC did not get hearing requests, he said. In New Jersey, while the outcome of the Oyster Creek hearing is still up in the air, it nevertheless helped to spotlight the issue, Sheehan said.

No relicensing application has ever been denied.

"It's the way the process is designed to work," Sheehan said. "It's another opportunity for any individual group or governmental body that wants to raise issues to do that."

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"Unusual Event" at Waterford Nuclear Power Complex
WATERFORD, Conn. (The Associated Press) - Apr 7

Operators at the Millstone 2 Nuclear Power plant in Waterford say they detected "an unusual event," the lowest of four emergency classifications, during preparations for a shutdown Sunday. The plant is beginning a shutdown process for refueling and maintenance.

A spokesman for Millstone owner Dominion Nuclear Connecticut says that in preparation for the refueling outage, water has to be moved through the system.

In Sunday's incident, about 1,000 gallons of water from the reactor coolant system flowed into a 500,000-gallon refueling water storage tank. Spokesman Peter Hyde and the NRC say the leak was stopped and none of the water had been released into the environment.

Some low-level radioactive gas was released through the tank's designed vent but Hyde said it was within allowed federal limits. The NRC said is evaluating the release and sent inspectors to the plant to monitor the company's actions.

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Bills Offer More Tax Breaks to Save, Produce Alternative Energy
COLUMBIA, S.C. (The Associated Press) - Apr 7 - By JIM DAVENPORT Associated
Press Writer

Bills offering bigger tax breaks for South Carolina residents to buy energy efficient homes and appliances are expected to come before lawmakers this week.

"Based on everything I see, we're heading toward energy shortages up the road unless we employ energy conservation, energy efficiency and energy production," said Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell. The Charleston Republican has three bills Tuesday before the Senate Finance Committee that deal with energy-related tax breaks.

One bill eliminates sales taxes on a variety of home products that meet or exceed federal Energy Star rating requirements including refrigerators, water heaters, dishwashers, clothes washers, air conditioners, fluorescent light bulbs, programmable thermostats and doors and windows. But the items must be bought this October or April 2009 and the break is limited to $2,500 in merchandise.

"Every kilowatt hour we can save off of energy efficiency is the cheapest energy we can produce," McConnell said.

People tend to buy the cheapest and least energy efficient models because there's little incentive to look for energy efficiency in South Carolina, said Erika Hartwig, the renewable energy coordinator for the State Energy Office.

A second bill would give a sales tax break to companies buying machinery, tools or parts to produce electricity from alternative sources, including solar, wind, tides and biomass.

That kind of break and other energy production incentives have been a huge benefit for companies like Ecogy Biomass, a company that began turning soy oil into biodiesel in Estill in January.

Hal Wrigley, president of Ecogy Biomass and Knightbridge Biofuel said the soy oil for his biodiesel cost $1.75 a gallon a last year and was $5.25 a gallon last month. "Right now, the only lucrative place to sell it is over in Europe," Wrigley said.

Wrigley wants to see more incentives that encourage companies to mix biodiesel with regular diesel and tax breaks for truckers and other consumers buying biodiesel. Other bills being considered address existing incentives for people installing solar water heaters or panels to generate electricity.

State and federal income tax breaks for installing those devices have helped Bruce Wood's Sunstore Solar in Greer. South Carolina had lagged North Carolina and Georgia for years in state tax breaks, Wood said. That meant that he was doing 70 percent of his business out of state. But now 75 percent of his business is in South Carolina and his payroll has tripled to nine people.

"There's a green movement that's afoot," Wood said.

The tax break makes the cost of putting in solar panels more reasonable while shortening the time it takes for the systems to pay for themselves with reduced energy bills. A solar hot water system that costs $6,000 comes earns an $1,800 federal tax credit and $1,500 from the state.
That means the system will be paying for itself in less than six years, instead of the 12 years it would take without the break, Wood said.

Encouraging alternate sources of energy could help the state's economy too. One recent report showed the state could expect to create more than 22,300 jobs in wind, solar, geothermal and biomass production, Hartwig said.

Energy independence has another benefit in South Carolina. "Last year we spent $18 billion on energy in South Carolina and almost all of that money left the state to import" oil and coal, Hartwig said.

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Labor, Environmentalists Join Forces to Launch National 'Green Jobs for America' Campaign
PITTSBURGH, April 8, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --

The United Steelworkers (USW), the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Blue Green Alliance, a partnership of the USW and Sierra Club, today launched the national Green Jobs for America campaign. The campaign will focus on the ability of a serious commitment to clean, renewable energy to make us more energy independent, help us end our dangerous dependence on fossil fuels and create over 820,000 new green jobs
nationwide.

The time for a national push for renewable energy is now, said USW International President Leo W. Gerard. What is really exciting about this campaign is the opportunity to create jobs, help fix our broken economy and contribute to solving the biggest environmental challenge of our generation at the same time.

The Green Jobs for America campaign will demonstrate that investing in clean, renewable energy is the best way to fight global warming, bring skyrocketing energy costs back under control, create new, good-paying jobs and put us back on the path toward economic growth and prosperity. In addition to encouraging the right investments from the private sector, the
campaign will also focus on the kinds of policies that are needed to fight global warming, expand clean energy production and reform unfair trade agreements.

The public education campaign will take place in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, Missouri, Virginia, Tennessee, Florida, Oregon, and Nebraska. The campaign will run through September 15, 2008.

Teams of organizers from the USW, Sierra Club, NRDC and Blue Green Alliance will undertake grassroots organizing activities, conduct a series of public events, release independent studies highlighting the potential for tens of thousands of new green jobs in each state and generate thousands of signatures on a petition calling for green jobs, clean energy solutions and fair trade agreements.

An independent study conducted last year for the Blue Green Alliance by the Renewable Energy Policy Project found that these twelve states in particular stand to gain nearly 170,000 new manufacturing jobs in wind turbine manufacturing and almost 93,000 new manufacturing jobs making the parts for solar power equipment.

Blue Green Alliance Executive Director David Foster said that green jobs are not only those that produce a green product designed for a specific environmental purpose but also include existing jobs that involve a green process or a green purpose. He said that steelworkers building components for wind turbines are performing green jobs, as are chemical workers making
products that are not harmful to humans or the environment.

The green revolution isn't just creating new and different jobs," Foster said. "It's revitalizing and creating new investment in a lot of the jobs we already have.

The campaign builds on the momentum of the Good Jobs, Green Jobs National Conference held in Pittsburgh last month, which brought together over 1,000 participants, over 80 organizations, elected officials, and leaders from industry, community groups, environmental organizations, and labor unions. The Green Jobs for America Campaign expects to add additional allies to this new national movement focused on making the clean energy future a reality.

We saw a glimpse of the clean energy future last month in Pittsburgh, said Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope. The Green Jobs for America campaign will bring the power of that future to communities across the country. We aim to show people that we can start building that clean energy future today -- a future that promises a strong economy, good jobs, fair trade agreements, a clean environment, and a stable climate for our children and grandchildren.

Energy efficiency is a largely untapped resource that can save consumers and businesses money on their energy bills and cut our global warming emissions, all while creating tens of thousands of new jobs.

Technologies like wind and solar are just part of the story. This is also about job security. Making homes, offices and factories more energy efficient not only saves money, it also represents a huge growth opportunity for the people who build our communities and keep them running, said Frances Beinecke, President of the Natural Resources Defense Council. Were talking about architects and engineers. Drywall and lighting contractors. Electricians and carpenters. Everything from construction to computing. And these are jobs that cannot be shipped offshore, and pay lasting dividends to the American economy.

Founded in 2006, the Blue Green Alliance is a strategic partnership of the United Steelworkers, North Americas largest manufacturing union, and the 1.3 million members and supporters of the Sierra Club, the nation's oldest and largest grassroots environmental organization.

The Natural Resources Defense Council is a national, nonprofit organization of scientists, lawyers and environmental specialists dedicated to protecting public health and the environment. Founded in 1970, NRDC has 1.2 million members and online activists, served from offices in New York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Beijing.

For more information, please visit:

www.bluegreenalliance.org

www.usw.org

www.sierraclub.org

www.nrdc.org

SOURCE Blue Green Alliance

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NRC Monitoring Unusual Event At Millstone 2 Nuclear Plant
(The Associated Press) - Apr 8

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is monitoring an Unusual Event declared early this afternoon at the Millstone 2 nuclear power plant in Waterford, Conn. An Unusual Event is the lowest of four levels of emergency classification used by the NRC.

Dominion, the plants owner and operator, made the declaration at 1:17 p.m. after an increase in unidentified leakage was detected at the plant. Millstone 2, a pressurized-water reactor, was shut down at the time for a scheduled refueling and maintenance outage.

When operators placed a system into service to further cool down the plant, they observed increased reactor coolant system leakage and an increasing level in an on-site water-storage tank. The leakage between the reactor coolant system and the storage tank was captured by the tank and therefore there was no liquid release to the environment. The leakage to the tank has since been halted.

The storage tank, by design, has a vent to the atmosphere. Some low-level radioactive gas was likely released through the tank vent. The NRC is independently evaluating any potential release and radiological consequence.

The NRC began formally monitoring the event at 2:30 p.m. today. Inspectors assigned to the plant reported to the site to follow the company's actions in response to the event. In addition, the Incident Response Center at the NRC's Region I Office in King of Prussia, Pa., was activated to track developments at the plant, maintain close communications and determine if any additional actions were needed.

Millstone 3, an adjoining pressurized-water reactor operated by Dominion, was not affected by the event and continues to operate at 100-percent power.

Federal and state officials have been notified regarding the event.

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US Senate Votes For Solar, Wind Tax Credits; Faces Hurdles
Dow Jones & Company, Inc. - Apr 10

The U.S. Senate on Thursday voted to extend tax credits for wind-power and solar-energy projects, but the measure is unlikely to become law in its current form due to concern it would add to the nation's deficit.

By 88-8, the Senate added the renewable-energy tax credits to a major housing bill. Companies such as utility XCel Energy Inc. (XEL), the largest U.S. seller of wind-generated energy, have been calling on Congress to act quickly. The tax credits expire at the end of the year, but executives are making decisions now about whether to invest in renewable projects beyond
this year.

The U.S. House of Representatives has hardened its opposition to this version of the tax-credit extensions, which are estimated to cost $6 billion over 10 years. House leaders have strong objections to deficit-financed tax breaks, and with few exceptions offset lost tax revenue with tax increases or spending cuts elsewhere.

"I doubt that the House will accept these extensions without some corresponding offsets," said Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., on the Senate floor. "This leaves the administration with a key role to play in developing a compromise that will be acceptable to both chambers."

The warning to the White House came amid negotiations with Bingaman and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., about a compromise measure that would offset the budget shortfall created by extending the renewable-energy tax credits. While the Senate Democrats have reportedly given ground by dropping plans to finance the renewable-energy
tax breaks by taking away tax breaks from oil companies, the talks appear to have reached an impasse.

The White House "rebuffed our request to identify any acceptable offsets," Bingaman said. He called on the Bush administration "to work with Congress in good faith to find a way to pay for these incentives."

A Treasury Department spokeswoman referred calls to a Treasury tax aide, who declined to comment.

Details Of Senate Measure

Under the Senate measure, put forward by U.S. Sens. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and John Ensign, R-Nev., companies would be able to continue taking a tax credit equal to 30% of the cost of buying solar equipment through the end of 2016.

Companies would be able to take a tax credit for starting up through next year new projects that produce electricity from renewable sources such as solar and wind power.

A host of other tax credits would be extended, including those for producing energy-efficient dishwashers, washing machines and refrigerators, and for residential purchases of solar hot water heaters and solar panels used to generate electricity.

Solar energy company stocks and options surged last week on optimism that Baucus was working on a compromise bill. Stocks in companies including Evergreen Solar Inc. (ESLR), First Solar Inc. (FSLR), SunPower Corp. (SPWR), Energy Conversion Devices Inc. (ENER), and Suntech Power Holdings Co. (STP) all rose at least 7% on Friday.

-By Siobhan Hughes, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6654; Siobhan.Hughes@
dowjones.com

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Senate Passes Tax Incentives for Energy Efficiency
ROSSLYN, Va., April 10, 2008

Today, the U.S. Senate passed a comprehensive piece of housing legislation that included several critical tax incentives that encourage use of energy-efficient technologies and renewables. The bill, S. 3221, aimed to assist ailing homeowners included several provisions that are set to expire. The tax incentives included in this bill are one-year extensions that will allow homeowners and businesses to better plan for the future and should have a stimulative effect in the economy. Due to these tax incentives, such as the energy-efficient commercial buildings tax deduction, more energy-efficient products manufactured by NEMA companies will be used in the marketplace.

This Senate-passed legislation includes:

-An extension of the energy-efficient commercial buildings tax
deduction,

-Extension of the renewable energy production tax credit,

-Extension of the solar energy and fuel cell investment tax credit,
and

-Extension of residential energy efficient property tax credit.

The current commercial building tax deduction will expire on December 31, 2008. The deduction and incentives assist homeowners and businesses to purchase and install energy-efficient technologies, which provides economic benefits in lowering energy bills, contributing to construction and manufacturing jobs, and benefiting the environment. "While negotiations continue on a long-term extension of these tax incentives, NEMA calls upon the U.S. House of Representatives to act swiftly to pass this legislation so it can be signed into law," urged NEMA President and CEO Evan Gaddis.

"NEMA has been vigorously lobbying Congress for a long-term extension of the commercial building tax deduction and other energy efficiency and incentives, and while this is only a one-year extension, NEMA praises the U.S. Senate for its action on ensuring this vital incentive is continued," commented Gaddis.

NEMA is the trade association of choice for the electrical manufacturing industry. Founded in 1926 and headquartered near Washington, D.C., its approximately 450 member companies manufacture products used in the generation, transmission and distribution, control, and end-use of electricity. These products are used in utility, medical imaging, industrial, commercial, institutional, and residential applications. Domestic production of electrical products sold worldwide exceeds $120 billion. In addition to its headquarters in Rosslyn, Virginia, NEMA also has offices in Beijing, São Paulo, and Mexico City.

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Feds Propose Florida Power & Light Fine for Sleeping Security Guards at
Nuclear Plant
MIAMI (The Associated Press) - Apr 10

The federal government wants to fine Florida's largest electric company $130,000 because security guards slept on duty at a nuclear plant.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says Florida Power & Light Co. violated security requirements at the Turkey Point plant from 2004 to 2006. It says guards served as lookouts while others slept on the job.

The commission says in a letter to the utility that its "inattentive behavior" is of particular concern and can't be tolerated.

The utility's nuclear spokesman says the company has made security changes to ensure this doesn't happen again.

The guards were employed by Wackenhut Nuclear Services. Wackenhut did not return phone messages.

The commission says Wackenhut has agreed to make sure its workers are
attentive on the job.

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News From the Week of March 31, 2008

2008-04-06T13:44:00.000-07:00

NRC says TVA Using Old River Data to Support New Reactors

Future Jobs Loaded With 'Green'

NRC Responds To Unusual Event At The Byron Nuclear Plant

NRC Adds Sequoyah Plant To Initial Scope Of State-Of-The-Art Reactor Consequence Analysis

NRC says TVA Using Old River Data to Support New Reactors
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (The Associated Press) - Mar 28 - By DUNCAN MANSFIELD
Associated Press Writer

The Tennessee Valley Authority used a decade-old computer model to forecast river flooding affecting what could become one of the United States' first new nuclear plants of the 21st century.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Friday cited the country's largest public utility for "quality assurance" violations in its bid for a build-and-operate license for a two-reactor nuclear station at its never-completed Bellefonte site in northeast Alabama. The NRC said TVA used a 1998 computer model, supported by data from a 1963 flood, to predict how fast the Tennessee River could rise and flow after heavy rains upstream or near the proposed plant in Scottsboro.

The computer model failed to reflect modifications to the upstream Chickamauga Dam, the effects of a new Chickamauga Lock or even valley wide flooding in 2003, according to the NRC. Supporting data not only was old - developed using the comparatively ancient Fortran computer program - it couldn't immediately be found, NRC engineering division director Patrick Hiland complained in a March 19 letter to TVA nuclear vice president Ashok Bhatnagar.

Bottom line: "TVA was unable to provide evidence to confirm that TVA conducted verifications and validations to ensure that the (forecasting) computer program functioned correctly," Hiland wrote.

The NRC cited TVA for three level-four violations, the lowest level on NRC's list, and probably will not assess fines, NRC spokesman Roger Hannah said.

However, the problems have come up less than two months into a multiyear process to license one of the first U.S. nuclear plants applied for in 30 years, and one that will use a next-generation Westinghouse AP1000 pressurized-water reactor design. The nuclear industry is watching.

"TVA is going to work with the NRC to resolve these issues," TVA spokesman Terry Johnson said, adding there "is the possibility that other issues are going to be raised as they go through this application review."

TVA, which provides electricity to about 8.7 million consumers in Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi, Alabama,

Georgia

, North Carolina and Virginia, has nine power company and reactor manufacturing partners in the Bellefonte license. The consortium is called NuStart Energy Development LLC.

They have applied for permission to build and operate a plant on the site of a two-reactor station TVA began in the 1970s, scrapped before it was finished in the 1980s and wrote off in the 1990s.

Not much of that old plant would be remain for the new plant. TVA has yet to say if it will build the station, although agency officials say they likely will need the power by 2017 or 2018 when the plant could be finished.

TVA manages the entire Tennessee River system on a minute-by-minute basis through a series of dams to ensure navigation, power generation, recreation, water quality and flood control. But the computer modeling TVA submitted to the NRC for Bellefonte suggests it just dusted off materials from decades ago.

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Future Jobs Loaded With 'Green'
Mar 29 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Rob Varnon Connecticut Post, Bridgeport

Global warming and limited resources are forcing humanity to change how it gets energy, but in that change could lie a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for businesses and individuals to make money and reshape the world.

This according to a panel of business and government representatives speaking at a recent forum about green energy at Fairfield University's Dolan School of Business. With more than 65 people in the audience, the Wednesday evening event attracted a strong mix of students, area residents and professors. Two managers from General Electric Co. spelled out why the conglomerate is investing so heavily in wind and solar energy plants across the globe.

"A lot has changed in the world," said Kevin Walsh, renewable energy managing director for GE Energy Financial Services. Walsh, a Fairfield University alumnus, said global population growth and over-dependence on oil and other fossil fuels requires the

United States

and other nations diversify their fuel sources. That's why GE has been so aggressive in its investment in wind and solar energy projects around the globe, he said.

His GE EFS colleague, Jerry Eyster, went into more detail to show the audience how big the mission of curbing global warming is and, therefore, how much potential there is for students and visionaries to carve out solid careers.

Eyster, a senior vice president of strategic marketing, said in order to stabilize the temperature of the planet, the world will have to cut 1 gigaton of carbon dioxide -- which is one of the "green-house gases" blamed for thickening the atmosphere around the planet so heat cannot escape -- in the next 50 years to keep the temperature to only a 1-to-2 degree increase.

While green-house gases are not the only reason for rising temperatures, Eyster said the consensus feeling is that carbon dioxide does contribute to warming and, therefore, reducing this gas could help stabilize the Earth's temperature.

But the magnitude of cuts needed is daunting. One gigaton is more than all the potential solar energy on the planet, he said, or all the potential wind energy. "It is a big problem and it's going to take a lot of people with a lot of skills," Eyster said.

One tough issue is how to deal with the emerging industrial nations, he said. From 1900 to 1999,

America

, Europe and the other industrialized areas of the world produced almost all the world's greenhouse gases. That's changed, but Eyster said world leaders have to consider whether it's fair to tell developing nations they can't have TVs or refrigerators, or whether industrialized nations should have to pay some sort of price for putting the planet in this situation.

Eyster said most of the green-house gases in the

U.S.

come from transportation and the production of electricity. Dealing with this problem means finding alternative sources of energy that don't generate pollution and finding ways to trim our energy consumption, according to the panelists.

This need doesn't just mean the world needs engineers with new ideas-- it also needs financiers with vision.

Martin Whittaker, director of Norwalk-based Mission Point Capital Partners, said his firm specializes in investing in green technology. The company, founded in 2006, invests in fledgling companies and helps build them up to the point where they can be sold to larger corporations or taken public, he said.

Whittaker said his firm invests in some basic areas, including in companies that create systems that produce energy from fossil fuel more efficiently or from fuels that release no green house gases.

Frank Wolak, vice president of business development at Danbury-based Fuel Cell Energy, said technical careers also abound. His company has been installing fuel cells, which generate electricity through a highly efficient system, throughout the world and country. He highlighted several examples of how the technology was being used, including the Sierra Nevada Brewery project. The brewery's fuel cells run partially on a beer byproduct, reducing the amount of natural gas the brewery consumes to make electricity, he said.

While the panel was generally confident in the future of green technology, all said these devices still need government support through subsidies or by placing taxes on the emissions generated by older technologies, such as coal-burning plants.

Robert Wall, director of the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund's market initiatives, said the state is doing its part in this arena. For example, Wall said, the CCEF has helped GE and Bigelow Tea in Fairfield fund solar panel installation on their buildings to reduce their consumption of fossil-fuel-produced energy.

Rob Varnon, who covers business, can be reached at 330-6216.

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NRC Responds To Unusual Event At The Byron Nuclear Plant
(The Associated Press) - Mar 28

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has responded to an unusual event at the Byron Nuclear Power Plant. The unusual event was declared on March 25, at 6:49 PM. The NRC has continuously evaluated plant conditions since the event declaration. The two-unit facility, located about 25 miles southwest of Rockford, Ill., is operated by the Exelon Generation Company.

An unusual event is the lowest of four levels in the NRC's emergency classification system. An unusual event is declared when events are in process or have occurred which indicate potential degradation in the level of safety of the plant. No release of radioactive material requiring offsite response or monitoring has occurred or is expected to occur.

We activated the regional Incident Response Center as soon as the unusual event was declared to evaluate the utility's response to the event. The plant is in a stable condition, said James Caldwell, Regional Administrator for the NRC's mid-west region. Our staff in the Lisle office, at NRC headquarters, and NRC inspectors at the plant monitored the plant overnight and will continue to do so until the problem has been corrected.

The unusual event was declared when outside electrical power delivered to Byron Unit 2 was interrupted due to a problem with electrical transformers. Both Byron units are in a stable condition. The incident presents no threat to public safety.

Byron Unit 1 is shut down for a refueling outage. Unit 2 did not shut down as a result of the off-site power loss. Unit 2 is sharing off-site power with Unit 1 and will continue to do so until off-site power to Unit 2 is restored.

The NRC will continue to evaluate the utility's response to the event, its efforts to identify the root cause of the problem, the proposed actions to fix the problem and the implementation of repairs.

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NRC Adds Sequoyah Plant To Initial Scope Of State-Of-The-Art Reactor Consequence Analysis
(The Associated Press) - Mar 28

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is adding information from the two reactors at the Sequoyah nuclear power plant to the continuing State-of-the-Art Reactor Consequence Analysis (SOARCA) project, which will be used to realistically model the outcomes of potential accidents at commercial U.S. reactors.

The Tennessee Valley Authority, which operates the plant outside of Chattanooga, Tenn., volunteered to take part in the project.

The staff is moving SOARCA through its first phase, which focuses on ensuring the project's analysis methods mesh properly and have the data necessary for the most realistic results. The pressurized water reactors at Sequoyah join the project's first two plants, the boiling water reactors at Peach Bottom in Pennsylvania, and the pressurized water reactors at Surry in Virginia, in the initial scope of the project. When this phase is completed, the Commission will provide guidance on how the staff should proceed with the remaining

U.S.

commercial reactors.

Having Sequoyah's data means we can examine one more combination of reactor and containment types found in the

United States

, said Farouk Eltawila, Director of the Division of Risk Assessment and Special Projects in the NRC's Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research. The results will help refine our methods for examining other sites. NRC staff will gather relevant information from the plant and conduct the analysis along with contractors from Sandia National Laboratories.

Our research replaces what was done 25 years ago - studies that were so conservative that the results fell short of what's useful for guiding public policy. Those study results have often been misused, Eltawila said.

The advanced computers, detailed software models and vast information databases available today are in a much better position to realistically evaluate potential nuclear power plant accidents. Everyone should have a clearer understanding of the realistic consequences of such potential accidents once we're finished.

Nuclear power plant accidents are extremely unlikely; should one occur, several layers of plant safety features and emergency procedures would mitigate most types of accidents. Nevertheless, it's important to understand an accident's possible consequences. SOARCA will analyze

U.S.

reactors, incorporating more than 25 years of research to develop realistic estimates of possible consequences resulting from a potential accident. The
analyses will use site-specific weather and population data to determine how the accident might affect public health and safety. The staff will compile the analysis results and issue a public document once the entire project is
complete. More information on SOARCA is available on the NRC Web site here:
http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/regulatory/research/soar.html.

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News From the Week of March 24, 2008

2008-03-30T15:52:00.000-07:00

Indian Point Guards Test Positive for Cocaine & Are Suspended

NRC Endorses Industry Revised Guidance On Conducting Hostile Action-based Emergency Drills

The Vermont Yankee Nuclear Plant Moves Step Closer to Re-licensing

Major Business Group Opposes Appeal of Power-plant Permit

Indian Point Guards Test Positive for Cocaine & Are Suspended
BUCHANAN, N.Y - (The Associated Press) - Mar 22

Two Indian Point nuclear power plant security guards have been suspended for coming to work with cocaine in their systems, a spokesman for the plants' owner said.
The workers' apparent drug use didn't compromise safety at the plant 35 miles north of midtown Manhattan, Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Neil Sheehan said.
The security guards' suspensions came a month after a construction company supervisor tested positive for alcohol use and was barred from working at the plant.
The security guards - employed by New Orleans-based plant owner Entergy Nuclear - are on paid leave for two weeks. The company fires employees who fail drug tests twice, Entergy spokesman Jim Steets said.
One guard was tested for drugs after leaving her post unexpectedly and failing to respond when commanders radioed her Wednesday; she was found sick in a bathroom, Steets said. The other guard was tested Thursday because he was returning from an absence of more than 29 days; he had been on military leave, according to plant officials.
Federal regulations say there can be no trace of alcohol or drugs in anyone working at a nuclear plant. Only 209 of the more than 70,000 tests of nuclear plant workers and contractors nationwide in 2006 came back positive, according to the NRC.
Steets said the security guards' test results were unfortunate but showed that the plant was succeeding in efforts to make sure workers were fit for duty. The NRC is "satisfied with how the company is handling the situation," Sheehan said.
Another Indian Point security worker got into trouble in August, when the armed guard was found dozing at an inner-ring security gate. The NRC later determined the incident was of "very low security significance."
The plant has about 1,300 employees.
Critics regularly express concern about the plant's safety, but federal regulators have rejected calls to shut it down. Entergy has applied for new licenses that would let Indian Point keep running into the 2030s.
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NRC Endorses Industry Revised Guidance On Conducting Hostile Action-based Emergency Drills
Mar 21, 2008 -- NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION DOCUMENTS AND PUBLICATIONS/ContentWorks

The NRC issued a document today endorsing revised guidance developed by the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) for how nuclear power plants should voluntarily conduct baseline hostile action-based emergency preparedness drills. The Regulatory Issue Summary (RIS) requires no action or written response by licensees.

Current NRC regulations do not require licensees to use hostile action scenarios in their emergency preparedness drills and exercises. However, in 2005, NEI offered a phased approach for licensees to voluntarily conduct such drills within a three-year period. These "off-year" hostile-action based drills, also called "Phase 3 Drills," are not evaluated by the NRC or the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and provide a "no fault" opportunity for licensees to demonstrate responses to the unique challenges
security actions pose to existing emergency preparedness programs. During 2007, nine hostile action-based drills were conducted, and 26 are scheduled for 2008.

The revised guidance being endorsed clarifies the scope and methods of demonstration of key objectives of these hostile-action drills. NRC is working with FEMA to identify proposed changes to emergency preparedness regulations and guidance to incorporate hostile action-based scenarios into biennial emergency preparedness exercises. A copy of the RIS can be found
at: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/gen-comm/reg-issues/2008/index.html.
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The Vermont Yankee Nuclear Plant Moves Step Closer to Re-licensing
MONTPELIER, Vt. (The Associated Press) - Mar 21 - By DAVE GRAM Associated
Press Writer

The Vermont Yankee nuclear plant on Friday moved another big step closer to being to run for 20 years beyond its currently scheduled 2012 shutdown date with the approval of its license renewal application by a Nuclear Regulatory Commission panel.

The federal agency's Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards said it had reviewed a safety evaluation conducted by NRC staff and concurred with the staff that Vermont Yankee, a 650-megawatt reactor in Vernon in the state's southeast corner, could operate safely until 2032.

"The programs established and committed to by the applicant to manage age-related degradation provide reasonable assurance that (Vermont Yankee) can be operated in accordance with its current licensing basis for the period of extended operation without undue risk to the health and safety of the public," the panel concluded.

It also agreed with the staff's call for more analysis of metal fatigue in some plant components, including the nozzles of valves used to move water to and from the reactor.

"Performance of the remaining analyses at least two years before entering the period of extended operation will be a license condition," the panel said in a letter to NRC Chairman Dale Klein. "We agree with the staff's conclusion."

Vermont Yankee spokesman Robert Williams hailed the ruling.

"This is a very positive decision from the ACRS and a major milestone for us," Williams said. "It was an independent look at the NRC's recent safety evaluation and this independent scientific panel agrees that our long-term maintenance and inspection programs will ensure safe operations under a renewed license."

Arnie Gundersen, a nuclear safety expert who has testified in regulatory hearings as a witness for groups critical of nuclear power, took a different view. He said he remains worried that running the plant for an extra 20 years, in combination with the permission it won two years ago to boost its power output by 20 percent, had narrowed safety margins.

The positive ruling from NRC headquarters came the same day lawmakers in Montpelier continued to give headaches to Vermont Yankee owner Entergy Nuclear. In legislative developments:

-The Senate passed a bill that would require Entergy to top off Vermont Yankee's decommissioning fund before spinning the Vernon reactor, as well as five others into New England, New York and Michigan, off to ownership by a newly created company. Supporters of the bill expressed concern that the new company might not have the money to cover dismantling the plant when it eventually shuts down.

-Lawmakers had heard in committee testimony that the decommissioning fund is about $260 million short of current estimates of what is needed. Williams disputed this in an interview Friday, saying the fund's current funding level meets minimum NRC requirements.
-The Senate gave preliminary approval to a bill that would set up a new siting authority to find a new location for storage of highly radioactive spent fuel now being stored in dry casks at the plant site in Vernon.

-Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin, whose Windham County district includes Vermont Yankee and who has been a fierce critic of the plant, has pushed this measure, saying he wants other parts of Vermont to share the risks of hosting the high-level waste.
Williams took a dim view of this as well. The Vernon site is "licensed for nuclear operations," and is under 24-hour guard, making it "obviously preferable" for storage of high-level radioactive waste, he said.

-Meanwhile, a House committee began taking testimony on a Senate-passed bill calling for a special inspection of Vermont Yankee before it gets a license extension.
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Major Business Group Opposes Appeal of Power-plant Permit
VERNAL, Utah (The Associated Press) - Mar 24

The nation's largest manufacturing group is asking the federal government to allow expansion of a coal-fired power plant in Utah.

The National Association of Manufacturers is challenging an appeal by conservation groups, which claim the plant would release nearly 2 million tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere annually.

The Environmental Protection Agency issued a permit Aug. 30, approving the expansion at the Bonanza plant southeast of Vernal. The new generating station is designed to turn waste coal into energy.

The EPA said it did not have to consider the effect of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse-gas emissions. Critics challenged it, citing a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that said the federal agency has the authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.

The issue at the Utah plant is over carbon-dioxide emissions.

The National Association of Manufacturers is concerned that including carbon dioxide in EPA approval regulations would bog down the system well outside the energy industry because the gas is so common.

"The EPA has the discretion to interpret what the permit requirements are in respect to carbon dioxide," said Quentin Riegel, vice president of litigation for the group.

The

NAM

, the American Petroleum Institute and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce filed a brief last week with the EPA appeals board, saying that considering carbon-dioxide emissions in the permitting process would mean anything from schools to restaurants would need EPA permits.
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News From the Week of March 17, 2008

2008-03-18T12:21:00.000-07:00

Energy Department Floats Public-Private Plan for Nuclear Waste Dump At Yucca Mtn.

Boston Red Sox Join Solar Energy Team

DOE: Expect License Application For Yucca Mtn. After All

Renewable-Energy Supporters Rally in Reno Against Coal Plants

Wal-Mart's Latest Green Store Cuts Energy Use Up to 45 Percent

Cost of Coal Power is Rising

Energy Department Floats Public-Private Plan for Nuclear Waste Dump
- By ERICA WERNER Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Mar 13, 2008 (The Associated Press)

Energy Department officials trying to promote nuclear power are suggesting that private industry assume some responsibility for the country's nuclear waste.

Edward F. "Ward" Sproat said Thursday that the idea could ensure more stable management and financial support for the long-delayed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump project in Nevada that he manages.

"I do think that providing some sort of an organization with legislative fiat that provides that stability and fixes some of these institutional problems is a good idea," Sproat said after addressing a conference of nuclear regulators. "But it's got to be done right." He heads the Energy Department's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management.

Even Yucca Mountain supporters say stability has been lacking at the 77,000-ton repository planned 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. It is intended as the resting place for the spent reactor fuel and high-level defense waste piling up at power plants and other sites around the country.

Yucca Mountain's most ardent critic, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is in position to engineer annual budget cuts of $100 million or more.

Sproat suggested a public-private partnership modeled on, for example, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the nation's largest public power company. The TVA was created by Congress and has a board of directors appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, but raises its own money and manages its own employees.

A power point briefing prepared for lawmakers by Dennis R. Spurgeon, the Energy Department's assistant secretary for nuclear energy, includes a slide showing a "nongovernmental entity" that would manage nuclear waste disposal and fees from nuclear utilities in concert with a still undeveloped recycling program supported by the Bush administration. The power point was obtained Thursday by The Associated Press.

Yucca Mountain's opening date has been delayed repeatedly since the original 1998 goal. Sproat had pegged 2017 as the best achievable opening date. But that has slipped and he could not give a new one on Thursday. He did say that plans to submit a required construction license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by the end of June are back on track, after coming into doubt this year because of Reid's budget cuts.

Meanwhile, liability to taxpayers is surpassing $7 billion because the department contracted with utilities to take possession of their nuclear waste beginning in 1998.

The idea of a public-private partnership to manage Yucca Mountain and other elements of spent fuel disposal has support from the nuclear industry and is garnering some interest on Capitol Hill. But the change would require legislation that also would have to deal with the liability to utilities and dedicating money from a special nuclear waste fund paid into by utilities, according to Sproat. No one thinks that could come about anytime soon.

"A move like that would greatly enhance the chances of success of the Yucca Mountain project and recently Congress is not inclined to enhance the success of the Yucca Mountain project," said Steve Kraft, senior director for used fuel management at the Nuclear Energy Institute.

Reid has long been declaring Yucca Mountain dead and his spokesman said no new plan would change that. "It's hard to privatize something that's not going to be built in the first place," said Reid spokesman Jon Summers.

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Boston Red Sox Join Solar Energy Team

Posted by David Beard, Boston.com Staff March 14, 2008 05:55 PM

Batter up for solar!

Construction will soon begin on a solar hot-water project at Fenway Park, an energy official said. The move is one of several efforts to make the park more environmentally friendly before its 100th anniversary. The disclosure came Thursday at a solar energy session of the Building Energy ‘08 conference.

According to Christina Halfpenny of National Grid, the Sox will be able to meet 37 percent of its water-heating load in a system that will take 16 years to pay for itself, after incentives.

The Red Sox would not confirm the details on Friday. "It would be premature to make a comment at this point," a team spokeswoman said. She added that the team plans to make an announcement next month that will discuss some of the changes fans will see at Fenway Park during the 2008 season, including "greening" initiatives the team is pursuing.

In September, the Sox announced it would explore making Fenway Park "even more green" through a series of environmental initiatives before Fenway's 100th anniversary in 2012.

Among the items considered at that time, beyond some rooftop solar panels, were recycling, improved refuse removal, and the installation of more energy-efficient lighting.

Editor's Note: The Sox will join the Cleveland Indians, and, in the National League, the Colorado Rockies and the San Francisco Giants in using solar power at their home fields.

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DOE: Expect License Application After All
Mar 17.2008 (Las Vegas Review - Journal)

The Energy Department has readjusted its Yucca Mountain work plans after a deep budget cut and will be ready after all to apply for a license in June to build a Nevada nuclear waste repository, the program director said Thursday.

Managers postponed work on a Nevada rail line and other segments of the Yucca program, and redirected money and personnel to reach the most pressing goal of meeting a June 30 license application deadline, according to Ward Sproat, director of the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management.

Applying for a construction license has been a long-sought but out-of-reach milestone for DOE at Yucca Mountain. The department has encountered legal and budget problems, and a number of internal missteps in recent years.

Speaking at a conference organized by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Sproat expressed confidence the application will pass initial muster to be docketed by the NRC for more thorough safety reviews and hearings.

Cutbacks will reduce the work force from 2,600 to 1,500-1,700. The Energy Department has singled out key scientists and engineers within DOE, the U.S. Geological Survey, the national laboratories and contract firm Bechtel SAIC who will be needed to defend the license.

"We have identified who those people are to make sure they know their jobs are not in jeopardy," Sproat said. "We have an army of national lab PhDs and engineers on our defense team."

Sproat's upbeat assessment came minutes after a lawyer who represents Nevada in its ongoing battle against Yucca Mountain declared the program is on a "death watch" and is destined for failure.

Martin Malsch, of the firm Egan, Fitzpatrick & Malsch, said DOE will continue to face increasingly severe budget problems. He said DOE's application will be rushed and incomplete and predicted a "huge dispute" over whether it should be accepted for review by regulators.

Beyond that, Nevada is poised to challenge DOE's qualifications andother key aspects of the project, he said. On top of that, both Democratic presidential candidates have pledged to stop the program if elected.

"Yucca Mountain's breaths are short and its heartbeat is faint," Malsch said. "I really don't think it has very long to continue." In response, Sproat said: "The death watch is going to continue for a very long time because I see this program being very alive and well."

The Energy Department was sent back to the drawing boards late last year when Congress cut the 2008 Yucca Mountain budget by $108 million, a 22 percent reduction.

Sproat initially expressed doubt DOE would meet its deadline, but he said managers deferred work on all but the most pressing tasks. For instance, work on a proposed Nevada rail line to the site has been pushed back. To save money further, technical specialists were rotated in for short periods to perform specific tasks and then let go, Sproat said.

Questions remain about the repository, which would need billions of dollars to be built. Sproat confirmed the Bush administration is considering a proposal to reorganize the Yucca project and other nuclear waste programs into a government-chartered corporation similar to the Tennessee Valley Authority or the Bonneville Power Administration.

Promoters contend such an organization would have the advantages of a private business to hire and fire managers, set salaries to attract talent and promote accountability. Sproat said it would stop a revolving door that has seen numerous top managers trying to run the Yucca program for short terms.

But such a big change would require a number of fundamental changes and approval by Congress, which might not be willing to give up control.

The Energy Daily in a Feb. 26 story quoted sources saying the DOE proposal has been at the White House for consideration since at least December. Sproat could not confirm that, saying he understood the concept still was being mulled within DOE.

"I personally don't expect we are going to make anything significant happen on this over the next three to six months," he said. Steve Kraft, senior director for used fuel management at the Nuclear Energy Institute, said a "move like that would greatly enhance the chances of success of the Yucca Mountain project and recently Congress is not inclined to enhance the success of the Yucca Mountain project."

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., long has been declaring Yucca Mountain dead and his spokesman said no new plan would change that.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.Contact Stephens
Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault at stetreault@stephensmedia.com or
(202) 783-1760.

(c) 2008 Las Vegas Review - Journal.

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Renewable-Energy Supporters Rally in Reno Against Coal Plants
By MARTIN GRIFFITH Associated Press Writer

RENO, Nev. - Mar 15, 2008 (The Associated Press)

A group of renewable-energy supporters rallied Saturday in Reno against plans to build three coal-fired power plants in eastern Nevada near the Utah border.

Speakers urged Gov. Jim Gibbons, Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto and other local and state officials to join Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., in opposing the use of coal and supporting development of alternative energy sources.

They said coal-fired plants spew out pollutants that contribute to global warming, and a shift to renewable energy would create jobs in a state rich in geothermal, solar and wind power.

"As a mother, I am concerned about mortgaging our children's energy future with polluting coal plants instead of investing into positive renewable energy resources", said Sara Bruso of the Nevada Clean Energy Campaign. "Nevadans are looking to (Gibbons and Masto) for leadership on this."

About 50 people gathered at the downtown's Brick Park for the rally. They placed pictures of windmills and solar panels into a plastic "pot of gold" as a symbol of the bright future the new technologies promise for Nevada.

The rally comes as Sierra Pacific Resources, Dynegy-LS Power Group and Sithe Global Power are pursuing separate plans to build the coal plants near Ely and Mesquite. Gibbons, a Republican, has said the proposed coal plants will burn cleaner than older plants and are crucial for economic development.

Demonstrators urged Masto, a Democrat, to recommend a suspension of state proceedings on the plants. "Senator Reid has already taken a strong stand on this and our state and local officials should do the same," said state Demographer Jeff Hardcastle, who spoke as a private citizen.

David von Seggern of the Sierra Club praised the Reno City Council's recent resolution encouraging the use of solar power in city buildings.

Coal plants provide just over half of the nation's electricity. They also are the largest domestic source of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, emitting 2 billion tons annually, about a third of the country's total.

Wal-Mart's Latest Green Store Cuts Energy Use Up to 45 Percent
By MARCUS KABEL Associated Press Writer

BENTONVILLE, Ark. - Mar 18, 2008 (The Associated Press)

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will open its latest generation of energy-efficient test stores this week with a Las Vegas Supercenter that uses new cooling technology to cut overall energy use by up to 45 percent.

The Las Vegas store opening Wednesday builds on advances in earlier pilot stores that reduced energy use in areas including lighting, refrigeration and water flow.

The previous pilot stores in the Midwest cut energy use up to 25 percent compared to a typical Supercenter built in 2005, the year Wal-Mart launched a broad environmental program to reduce energy use and packaging waste and to sell more sustainable products.

Wal-Mart said the new Las Vegas store adds to those savings with a new cooling system based on water evaporation for total energy savings of between 35 percent and 45 percent.

Wal-Mart has said it is the biggest private user of electricity in the world and has huge potential to cut back on greenhouse gases from fossil fuels burned to create electricity. It aims to use technologies proven in the pilot stores to develop a prototype in 2009 for all new Supercenters
that will be between 25 percent and 30 percent more energy efficient.

An outside engineering and efficiency expert said Wal-Mart's advances in saving energy, including the new Las Vegas store, are leading the field for big-box retailers. "This is not just a baby step. This is a big step," said Terry Townsend, past president of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers.

Townsend said Wal-Mart's pilot stores are important because they show other retailers how to use available technology to improve energy efficiency. Wal-Mart says it is sharing its lessons with retail industry
groups.

The latest store is built specifically for the arid climate of Western states, where water evaporates faster than in the more-humid East. It uses rooftop cooling towers to chill water that then runs in conduits under the floor of the store. The radiant cooling from the floor
replaces traditional electricity-powered air conditioning.

The store also incorporates innovations from the previous pilot stores that include recycling heat from refrigerators and combining low-power LED lights in freezer cases with sensors that turn off those lights when no customers are around.

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Cost of Coal Power is Rising
Mar 20, 2008 - The Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Missouri)

Electric bills are poised to soar for customers of utilities building coal-fired power plants.

The plants, long-trusted purveyors of low-cost power, no longer seem like such good bets because of soaring construction costs and the surging cost of coal. Moreover, many think Congress will impose penalties on emissions that contribute to global warming.

To be sure, some in the electric industry still view coal-fired plants as the best low-cost option to provide year-round power. But the growing costs, driven by burgeoning global demand, have prompted warnings of "seismic shifts" in the way the industry views the plants.

"It's a very tough environment right now," said Lawrence Makovich, a vice president for Cambridge Energy Research Associates.

Topeka-based Westar Energy, for example, was so troubled by the changes that it tabled plans for a coal-fired plant. But the shift is being played out in a more dramatic fashion at Kansas City Power & Light, which is leading a group of four utilities already building Iatan 2, an 850-megawatt coal-fired plant near Weston.

The plant, which was originally estimated to cost $1.3 billion, already is $400 million beyond that figure and is expected to go up further. In the wake of "cost pressures," KCP&L now is "refocusing" its Iatan 2 budget and could release a revised estimate as early as April.

"What we're seeing is that increased pressure on prices," said Michael Deggendorf, a vice president for KCP&L.

The utility has faced questions about mismanagement of the construction. But the utility has denied that and added that KCP&L has fixed prices on some components of Iatan 2, which should help moderate the increased cost.

Even so, the eventual cost of the plant could be daunting. The cost of similar plants built elsewhere have doubled or more. That could mean that Iatan 2 could ultimately cost $2.6 billion, plus financing expenses.

That would set the stage for a rate shock for KCP&L customers, which will be responsible for paying for a majority of the plant. At the original price of the plant, KCP&L estimated that rates could go up 20 percent. But a rate increase of as much as 40 percent is conceivable if costs mount as much as at other plants.

Such a spike in electric rates would have implications not only for the utilities and their customers but also for economic development. Affordable electricity has served as a major selling point for Kansas City in attracting business investments.

"The increased cost is an issue that we're facing all over the country," said Jim Zakoura, an area lawyer who represents industrial customers.

Cost vise

KCP&L isn't alone in getting squeezed by coal-plant costs. The cost for the two generators that Sunflower Electric Energy Corp. wants to build in western Kansas has more than doubled to $4.2 billion, according to industry experts.

David Schlissel, a senior consultant with Synapse Energy Economics, said cost issues facing utilities are akin to building a new home without knowing how much it would cost, how much the taxes would be or the cost of financing.

"It is a worn-out cliche, but I call it a train wreck," he said.

KCP&L officials said a specific cost estimate for Iatan 2 would not be available until the current review was completed. But they said it would be competitive with other new coal-fired plants. Iatan 2 could be open as early as 2010.

"We're moving forward," said Matt Tidwell, a spokesman for KCP&L.

The same goes for Sunflower Electric, which along with two partners is pushing plans for 1,400 megawatts of coal-fired generation in Kansas. Thecontentious project was halted last fall by the state's top environmental regulator. The project was resurrected by the Kansas Legislature, but that decision now faces a gubernatorial veto.

Steve Miller, a spokesman for Sunflower, said not building new coal plants could affect the economy because Americans continue to use more electricity.

"Does that mean we are going to continue to run dirty old power plants and we can't grow the consumption of electricity?" Miller said. "Surely America is not going to get to that point." Others are taking a more cautious approach.

Westar in late 2006 said it was postponing plans to build an 800-megawatt coal-fired plant. The plant's cost had initially been estimated at just over $1 billion. But rising costs for materials and labor increased the price to $1.7 billion. Today it would be more than $2 billion, said Jim Ludwig, a vice president for Westar.

In addition, the possibility of a carbon tax on greenhouse gases could cost utilities dearly. Even the price of coal can no longer be safely predicted. "All these things are converging," Ludwig said.

Westar decided to postpone the plant indefinitely. It sketched out its plans in a document released in February called "A Strategic Plan for Uncertain Times."

The document mentioned "seismic shifts" in the industry and recommended a plan to keep demand down as much as possible with energy efficiency. The company could improve the distribution of electricity on its lines so less power is lost. Meanwhile, consumers would be encouraged to conserve.

Westar also plans to have 300 megawatts of wind energy in operation by the end of the year. Gas-fired plants, which cost less to build but more to fuel, also would be used more by Westar. The utility relies on natural gas to generate 4 percent of its power. The national average for natural gas is about 10 percent.

Concerns about coal plants are spreading. "You've got to ask: 'Do you think we have reached a point where it economically doesn't make sense?' " said Michael Dworkin, law professor and
director of the Institute for Energy and the Environment at Vermont Law School.

The stakes are enormous, especially for utilities that are in the middle of constructing coal-fired plants.

Wall Street investors last month announced that loans to build coal-fired power plants were risky because of escalating costs and uncertainty about environmental regulations. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has stopped providing loans and subsidies to rural and municipal
utilities to build coal plants.

In a letter to Rep. Henry Waxman, a California Democrat, the agency's administrator wrote that there would be no loans until the agency could "develop a subsidy rate that reflects the risks associated with the construction of new base load generation plants."

Ripples from such decisions are already being felt. This month, Associated Electric Cooperative, whose territory includes all of Missouri except Kansas City and St. Louis, decided not to build a
plant 50 miles east of Kansas City. The cooperative was turned down for a federal loan.

In 2004, Southern Montana Electric Generation and Transmission Cooperative wanted to build a 250-megawatt coal plant. By last fall, the estimated cost of the plant was $750 million, said Jay Fletcher, spokesman for the federal government's utilities program.

On Feb. 19, the cooperative's request for a loan was turned down.

"One of the things we cited is the extremely high cost of the project," Fletcher said.

Fletcher said that in each of the past four years, the cost of building a power plant has gone up 30 percent. The measurement used to estimate costs reveal the increases. A few years ago, it cost about $1,500 a kilowatt hour to build a plant. The cost to build an almost 1,000-megawatt plant planned by AMP-Ohio is now at $3,000 a kilowatt hour.

Then there is the fuel.

Coal is still considered the cheapest fuel except for nuclear. But coal prices have gotten volatile.

In 2003, a ton of coal delivered to electric utilities was $24.74 a ton. Last year, it was $36.09, an increase of nearly 50 percent.

Prices are being pushed higher by burgeoning global demand driven by emerging economies such as China. Some estimates call for coal prices to eventually be less volatile, but others expect prices to continue to increase.

"There's not going to be a reduction short of a war or plague or radical new technology," Dworkin said.

Carbon taxes

Soaring construction and coal costs are known factors for the utility industry. What is less certain is when Congress will enact global-warming regulations requiring utilities to pay for emissions of CO2, a greenhouse gas.

Waxman and fellow Rep. Edward J. Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, filed a bill Tuesday that would place a moratorium on all new coal plants until technology is developed to control global warming emissions or CO{-2}.

"This bill will make companies prepare for the future and prevent them from building low-tech, coal-fired power plants before a global warming bill is passed," said Markey, chairman of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.

One approach being considered is used in Europe, where emissions can cost up to $30 a ton.

"Federal regulation of greenhouse gases is no longer a matter of if --it is a matter of when," Schlissel said in testimony submitted to the Kansas Legislature.

Schlissel calculated that the CO{-2} emission penalties for Sunflower's proposed 1,400-megawatt plant could be from $67 million to $334 million annually by 2015. By 2030, the range is predicted to be $387 million to $966 million.

Experts do not think that the technology to prevent CO2 emissions will be available until at least 2030 -- if ever.

Miller, of Sunflower, discounted the cost of CO2 regulations. "I cannot believe our Congress, and our Legislature, is going to allow the price of electricity to get so high the common person can't afford to pay their bill," Miller said. "In the end, it is all going to be about what the ratepayers are going to pay. I can't see Congress putting trillions of dollars on the taxpayers."

To reach Steve Everly, call 816-234-4455 or send e-mail to severly@kcstar.com. To reach Karen Dillon, call 816-234-4430 or send e-mail to kdillon@kcstar.com.
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The NRC seems to have forgotten their mission as an independent oversight agency

2008-03-13T11:41:00.000-07:00

http://www.nukefree.org

EDITOR'S NOTE: The NRC seems to have forgotten their mission as an independent oversight agency, and now seems more interested in promotion than their charter would seemingly allow. They should be admonished for this by the public and the Congress. Of course, we all recognize they are a captured agency and a revolving door to high-paying industry jobs.......................

US Government Loan Guarantees For New Nuclear Too Small - NRC -- Dow Jones & Company, Inc. - Mar 10

The U.S. government's $18.5-billion federal loan guarantees falls short of the $500 billion needed to build the country's next generation of nuclear powered reactors over the next decade, the commissioner of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Monday.

The loan guarantees would only be enough to finance two to three nuclear reactors and could ultimately hinder companies from building all the new units they apply for, said the NRC's Gregory Jaczko in London.

"It's a far cry from what's needed," said Jaczko. "Congress is supportive, but have decided not to provide more federal loan guarantees - there's a disconnect there, so financing would have to happen without federal loan guarantees," he added.

The U.S. is on the verge of a nuclear power revival after 30 years of no new build and companies say the loan guarantees are crucial to get the first wave of new plants up and running.

"That first wave of new nuclear would need assistance as there's no commercially available financing now because of the uncertainties and because it's been 30 years since one was built," said Michael Wallace, CEO of Constellation Energy Group Inc. (CEG).

"But once we demonstrate that, we should be able to finance the next wave with commercial loans," Wallace told Dow Jones Newswires on the sidelines of a utilities conference.

Constellation Energy hopes to break ground on a new nuclear power reactor at its Calvert Cliffs plant in Maryland at the end of this year following a final decision in November. The company plans for the 1.6-gigawatt reactor to come on line in 2015.

To date, the NRC has received five complete applications and one partial application for licenses to operate and construct a nuclear power plant, Jaczko said. He expects to receive 17 applications for 30 nuclear power reactors with around 45 GW of capacity over the next two to three years. It's not yet clear how many licenses will be approved, Jaczko said.

Some construction, such as site clearing, can begin before a company receives a license, he added.

The NRC is likely to settle on three new reactor designs out of the five it is currently evaluating so as to simplify the licensing process and encourage standardization across the industry, he said.

Nuclear power is on the verge of a revival in the U.S. due to efforts to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, reversing three decades of stagnation following the 1979 disaster at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant. Last September, NRG Energy Inc. (NRG) became the first company in 30 years to file an application to build new nuclear power plants.

Jaczko said around 50 new nuclear reactors would be needed to replace the country's aging plants and keep the amount of electricity produced from nuclear steady at 20%.

-By Selina Williams, Dow Jones Newswires, +44 207 842 9262;
selina.williams@ dowjones.com

News from the week of March 10, 2008

2008-03-12T15:50:00.000-07:00

Energy Secretary Envisions 20% Wind

Clean Energy Bank Proposed: Domenici Backs Tech Investment

Judge Threatens Audience Evictions at Westchester Nuclear Hearing

NY Senators Demand More Indian Point Hearings After Audio Woes

Court Rejects Challenge to Nuclear Waste Storage

Utah State Board Rejects Import of Italian Nuclear Waste

Southern Utah Developer Builds Zero-Energy Houses

Nuclear Reactors' Cost: $17 Billion

NRC Announces Opportunity To Request Hearing On License Renewal Application For Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant

SC Utility Rebate Available For Solar Panels

Renewable Energy Continues Rapid Global Growth in 2007

Report Places Even Odds on Hoover Dam Running Dry by 2017

Senate Advances Bill Calling for Vt. Yankee Inspection

Matheson Moves to Block Foreign Nuclear Waste

Settlement Over Diablo Nuke Plant Generator Replacement

Energy Secretary Envisions 20% Wind

- Mar 10, 2008 (Wind Energy Weekly)

Pointing to the dramatic achievements of the wind energy industry as an indication that the world is moving toward a cleaner energy future, U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman expressed a vision for wind to provide 20% or more of the nation's generation capacity.

Bodman addressed attendees of the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference on March 4. "In 2007, the United States installed 5,240 MW of new wind power, a 45% increase over 2006," said Bodman. "The U.S. has had the fastest growing wind power capacity in the world for the last three years in a row, and is anticipated to resume its position as the world leader of total installed wind capacity by the end of 2009."

Thanks in large part to wind power, said Bodman, "[R]enewable energy sources accounted for 30% of all new nameplate electricity capacity additions in the U.S. in 2007-up from just 2% in 2004. And we envision a future where wind supplies 20% or more of our total national generating capacity."

Bodman said such numbers confirm that federal policy supporting renewable energy is having an impact and underscored the need for even more "predictable and durable policies that enable greater private investment." That statement resonated with the wind industry, which is urging Congress to quickly pass an extension of the production tax credit (PTC), which expires at the end of the year, so that the industry can operate in a stable policy environment. Bodman, however, did not specifically reference the PTC, instead following the remark with a mention of the $38 million in loan guarantees the Department of Energy is arranging over the next three years primarily to support the next generation of nuclear plants or other technologies that sequester or avoid greenhouse gas emissions.

"This whole set of global energy challenges grows more acute with time," said Bodman. "But I'm confident that we will meet them. And, even more than that, I'm optimistic that they represent a major opportunity for the world. Because just as the components of the problem are all too clear today, the components of the solution are also coming into focus-and more so everyday."
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Clean Energy Bank Proposed: Domenici Backs Tech Investment
- Michael Coleman Albuquerque Journal, N.M.
-Mar 7, 2008 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News)

Sen. Pete Domenici wants to put more federal financial muscle behind new clean energy technology, and he has proposed a U.S. Clean Energy Investment Bank to do it.

Domenici, the top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, introduced a bill Thursday that would create a bank structured similar to the U.S. Export-Import Bank and Overseas Private Investment Corporation.

The clean energy bank would focus solely on spurring U.S. clean energy technology investment. It would take over the Department of Energy's existing loan guarantee program, which has been criticized for not issuing loans fast enough.

The new federal bank would have the ability to issue loans, loan guarantees, equity investments and insurance products.

During a speech on the Senate floor Thursday, Domenici said renewable energy entrepreneurs need the solid financial footing the government could provide.

"Unlike traditional fossil energy projects, which are able to more easily secure long-term debt financing, clean energy markets have a greater level of risk both commercially and technically," Domenici said. "That is why the certainty provided by federal government support would be
beneficial."

The bill has been referred to the Senate energy committee for a hearing.

Sen. Jeff Bingaman, Democratic chairman of the energy committee, is intrigued by the idea of a clean energy bank but wants to know more before committing to it, an aide said.

"Sen. Bingaman thinks this is an interesting idea," said Jude McCartin, the senator's press secretary. "He'd like to learn more about the particulars of the legislation and looks forward to having further discussions with Sen. Domenici about it."

EDITOR'S NOTE: Given Domenici's support for nuclear power, it would not be a surprise this will be the funding source for that technology intransitional economy nations like Namibia.

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Judge Threatens Audience Evictions at Westchester Nuclear Hearing
By JIM FITZGERALD Associated Press Writer
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. - Mar 10, 2008 (The Associated Press)

An administrative judge at a federal hearing on the relicensing of the Indian Point nuclear power plants has refused to make arrangements that would allow the public and the news media to clearly hear testimony.

The judge also threatened to evict anyone who questioned his decision on Monday.

Lawrence McDade, chairman of the Atomic Safety Licensing Board and one of three judges at the hearing in Westchester County, told those present: "The next time somebody in the audience speaks out, we will ask them to be removed from the facility."

He made the remark after Michael Kaplowitz, a Westchester County legislator, complained from the courtroom's gallery.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Neil Sheehan said it was the judge's call, but he hoped something could be done to make testimony audible.

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NY Senators Demand More Indian Point Hearings After Audio Woes
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. - Mar 11, 2008 (The Associated Press)

New York's two senators and four other members of Congress are demanding a do-over of an Indian Point nuclear power plant hearing that was nearly inaudible to the public.

The first several hours of a hearing Monday on new licenses for Indian Point were conducted without microphones for most of the participants, and the presiding judge threatened to evict anyone who complained. Additional microphones were installed later.

In a letter sent Tuesday to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's chief administrative judge, Sens. Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton and Reps. Nita Lowey, John Hall, Maurice Hinchey and Eliot Engel say Monday's events cast doubt on the commitment to an open process. They want another day of hearings.

The NRC hasn't commented.

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Court Rejects Challenge to Nuclear Waste Storage plan
By STEPHEN SINGER Associated Press Writer
HARTFORD, Conn. - Mar 10, 2008 (The Associated Press)

The state Supreme Court on Monday upheld a lower court ruling allowing the Millstone nuclear power plant in Waterford to build onsite storage units for spent radioactive fuel rods.

The justices ruled unanimously that a New Britain Superior Court judge properly dismissed a legal challenge by Nancy Burton and William Honan, members of the Connecticut Coalition Against Millstone who sued to overturn a decision by the Connecticut Siting Council.

The Siting Council had granted a certificate allowing Dominion Nuclear Connecticut Inc. to build the storage facility. The Supreme Court said the Siting Council acted within its jurisdiction in reviewing the distance of the plant from residential areas, a flood zone and other environmental matters. The decision "largely serves to support and validate how we conduct our work here," said Derek Phelps, executive director of the Siting Council.

A message was placed seeking comment from the Connecticut Coalition Against Millstone.

The Connecticut Siting Council in 2004 granted a permit for bunkers and dry casks to store spent fuel at Millstone Power Station, but prohibited the transfer of spent fuel from other sources to Millstone. Millstone has already built 10 concrete bunkers to store the rods, spokesman Peter Hyde said. The rods will remain at the site until the federal government decides where to build a national repository, he said.

"We're obviously pleased the Supreme Court agreed with the Siting Council and upheld the decision," he said. "We're confident we can safely store the nuclear rods."

The Supreme Court also agreed with the lower court's ruling that the Siting Council is pre-empted by federal laws and regulations from considering radiological risks of nuclear storage and the related potential impact on the environment.

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Utah State Board Rejects Import of Italian Nuclear Waste
SALT LAKE CITY - Mar 8, 2008 (The Associated Press)

Utah's Radiation Control Board will ask federal regulators to deny a request to allow Italian nuclear waste to be imported here for storage.

Utah-based EnergySolutions has asked the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to allow 20,000 tons of Italian waste into the country for disposal. About 1,600 tons of waste would go to the company's Clive, Utah facility about 80 miles west of Salt Lake City. The rest would be processed by the company's Bear Creek, Tenn., site.

In a letter approved unanimously Friday, the state board cites concern for maintaining storage capacity for domestic waste and questions the tact of a country that uses nuclear power, but sends its waste elsewhere.

"We believe that any country that has the technological capability of producing nuclear power within its borders should not seek to dispose of its waste outside them," says the letter. "Development of nuclear power should go hand in hand with the development of disposal options."

Lisa Roskelley, spokeswoman for Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, said the governor will likely draft a cover letter to accompany the radiation board letter, stating his full support of the board's position. Utah's Democratic Rep. Jim Matheson has also spoken against bringing the Italian waste to the state.

EnergySolutions officials insist the company has no intention of becoming the primary source of disposal for the world's nuclear waste. In a letter sent Feb. 21 to the radiation board, company CEO Steve Creamer said he believes it is "essential to maintain Clive's capacity principally for
domestic needs."

The NRC is taking public comment on the issue through June 10.
go here to comment

here are some talking points on the issue from HEAL Utah

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Southern Utah Developer Builds Zero-Energy Houses
- Mark Havnes The Salt Lake Tribune
Mar 10,2008 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News)

A Southern Utah developer is building zero-energy houses -- homes he believes will offset utility bills and give cash back to owners over the years.

Aaron Needham, with sponsorships from General Electric and JP Morgan Chase Bank, is building the houses in Ivins and Washington City, as well as in Midway. His company, Needham Homes and Development, has been building energy-efficient houses for two years in Cedar City. Recently, he had his renewable-energy-credit building program certified by an independent
consultant.

"We now have documentation that will guarantee lower utility bills," Needham said. Kevin Emerson, with Utah Clean Energy, described the builder's concept as "unique and innovative."

Clean Energy is a 6-year-old, nonprofit that works with Utah residents and government agencies to educate and advocate for energy-efficient policies.

"[Needham] is definitely breaking new ground," said Emerson. "Other builders in Utah are building zero-energy houses, but nothing like [Needham's] model. "He is working with some impressive partners, especially Building America that gives him the measure of verification he needs."

Needham said the energy-efficient homes are not subject to negative forces currently influencing the real-estate market in states other than Utah. That, he said, makes them attractive to build. The homes range in price from $200,000 to $500,000.

"The reason people are not building homes now is because a lot of them [in markets elsewhere] are worth less the day you finish them than the day you started," Needham said. "Our homes are appreciating -- not depreciating."

Needham said owners of his homes can expect to see a reduction of 70 percent in utility bills. Such savings are achieved through construction methods that pay attention to sealing exterior doors and windows, installing special insulation and using energy-efficient appliances, furnaces and air conditioners.

The houses also use wind and solar power for generating electricity and heating. And they provide renewable-energy credits. A credit is equal to a single megawatt of electricity produced by the homeowner through solar panels or wind generator. The homeowner will be paid up to $500 a year by a program that will then broker the credits to offset the carbon footprint of another person or company. Other ways the homeowner will save are through federal and state tax credits, Needham said.

And when buying the house through JP Morgan Chase Bank -- Needham's preferred lender -- up to 9 percent of the home's sales price will go toward a reduced down payment, a lower interest rate and offset six months of the first year's mortgage payment.

Needham said while the concept of energy-efficient construction is not new, his claims can be quantified and verified according to independent research. That research was done by Consol, a Stockton, Calif., firm that manages the Building America program for the U.S. Department of Energy.

Abe Cubano, a research engineer for the company, said he has evaluated and authenticated Needham's efforts, saying they are in line with federal standards. He believes the green builder is the nation's first to bring different elements such as financing constructing, brokering renewable energy credits and appraising together in a single package.

"He's done all the legwork, and it's amazing what he has done," said Cubano "[Needham's] homes produce something. They create a residual income. No one else in the nation is doing this."

Cubano said Utah is a good place for such a program to lay its foundation because it does not have the bureaucratic hoops to jump through like California., pointing out that the Beehive State's housing market is healthier than other parts of the country and more conducive to Needham's innovative ideas.

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Nuclear Reactors' Cost: $17 Billion
Mar 11, 2008 (The News & Observer)

Building two nuclear reactors in Florida would cost Progress Energy $17 billion, which would increase the bills of the company's customers in that state by an average of 3 percent to 4 percent a year for 10 years.

The cost estimates, to be filed with Florida regulators today, are an early indication of Progress' potential nuclear costs in North Carolina. The utility, based in Raleigh, is considering two new reactors at its Shearon Harris site in Wake County. The reactors proposed in Florida -- the Westinghouse AP1000 -- are the same models that Progress is planning at Shearon Harris.

The costs of building multibillion-dollar power plants are paid by utility customers through their monthly bills over several decades. Such costs have been shrouded in speculation as utilities, vendors and manufacturers sought to promote a resurgence in nuclear power while avoiding the negative repercussions of sticker shock.

Today's filing before the Florida Public Service Commission will be the subject of hearings in that state this year about the need for nuclear plants. It's one of the nation's first cost estimates for new reactors and is consistent with a recent appraisal from Florida Power & Light for two
Westinghouse units.

Progress officials promote nuclear energy as the cheapest option for meeting growing energy demand. Several years ago, the company was projecting a cost of $2 billion to $3 billion per reactor, but since then the cost of labor and materials has skyrocketed amid increasing global demand for energy.

Nuclear energy had stalled after the 1979 accident at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, but the technology has gained new advocates because of concerns about global warming.

The operation of nuclear generators, unlike that of coal-burning power plants, does not produce carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas blamed for heating the planet. Supporters promote nuclear energy as a clean fuel, despite its lethal byproduct: radioactive nuclear waste.

Nuclear critics who advocate renewable energy and conservation programs are sure to seize on the newest estimates as evidence that nuclear costs are spiraling out of control.

During the last period of nuclear expansion three decades ago, critics say, utilities lowballed nuclear cost estimates only to revise them mid-construction. In the 1970s, for example, the construction of Shearon Harris was originally projected to cost $1.1 billion for four reactors, but the actual cost was $3.9 billion for one reactor. The other three reactors were canceled amid cost overruns and reduced demand forecasts.

Progress is expected to submit a more detailed cost estimate for the Florida nuclear plants in May. The company's nuclear cost estimates include financing, land acquisition, construction, labor and regulatory fees. Progress spokesman Rick Kimble warned against extrapolating costs in North Carolina from the Florida estimates. He noted that the utility has not signed a contract with Westinghouse for reactors for North Carolina and could continue negotiating for months.

Progress officials have said they would not reveal cost estimates for new reactors at Shearon Harris until the company negotiates a contract. Progress' Florida cost estimate includes $3 billion to build about 200 miles of transmission lines and substations in 10 counties, an expense not anticipated in North Carolina.

In this state, the new reactors would be placed at a site that was designed for four reactors. The Florida nuclear plants, however, would be built about seven miles from the company's Crystal River Nuclear Plant on 3,100 acres of former timberland that Progress bought for about $43 million last year.

The first of Progress' planned nuclear plants in Florida is expected to begin operation in 2016, with the second unit going online in 2017. In North Carolina, the first unit would begin operating between 2018 and 2020 if the company decides it can afford to build it. A final decision is at least a year away.

EDITORS NOTE: If one 1100-mW nuclear plant and infrastructure costs $8.5 billion, then the installed capacity cost is $7,727/kW. If such a plant operated with a 90% capacity factor and 20% of the gross generation was lost to meet the needs for the parasitic requirements of the facility's internal
pumps and such, and said facility was financed at a 9% interest rate for a 30 year period, then the amortization would result in a cost of about 12.0 cents/kWh. Adding to that the roughly 2.0 cents/kWh needed for the production costs means the busbar power cost is about 14.0 cents/kWh.

Accounting for the non-factored costs of transmission and distribution will be a roughly 2x multiple of the busbar cost, meaning that the delivered cost to the end consumer is roughly 25.0 cents/kWh. By logic, any conservation, efficiency or renewable technology placed on the customer's side of the meter that costs less than 25.0 cents/kWh should be deployed first, as they will be more "cost-effective" than buying the electron of nuclear generation.

While the use of the Shearson Harris site in NC will provide some common infrastructure, there will be a cost for adding the required upgrade to transmission lines and substations. Even if no infrastructure upgrades were required, the busbar cost at Harris would still be about 12.0 cents/kWh.

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NRC Announces Opportunity To Request Hearing On License Renewal Application For Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant
- Mar 11, 2008 (The Associated Press)

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission today announced the opportunity to request a hearing on an application to renew the operating license for the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, Unit 1, for an additional 20 years.

Three Mile Island Unit 1 is a pressurized water reactor located 10
miles southeast of Harrisburg, Pa. The plant owner, AmerGen Energy Co., submitted the renewal application Jan. 8. The current operating license for Unit 1 expires April 19, 2014.

The NRC staff has determined that the application contains sufficient information for the agency to formally docket, or file, the application and begin its technical and environmental reviews. Docketing the application does not preclude requesting additional information as the reviews proceed, nor does it indicate whether the Commission will renew the license.

A notice of opportunity to request a hearing will be published soon in the Federal Register. The deadline for requesting a hearing is 60 days after publication of the notice. Petitions may be filed by anyone whose interest may be affected by the license renewal and who wishes to participate as a party in the proceeding. Background information regarding the hearing process was provided by NRC staff to members of the public during public information sessions conducted March 4 near the plant.

A request for a hearing and a petition for leave to intervene must be filed through the NRC's E-Filing system. Anyone wishing to file should contact the Office of the Secretary by e-mail at HEARINGDOCKET@nrc.gov at least five days before the filing deadline to request a digital ID certificate and allow for the creation of an electronic docket.

The Three Mile Island license renewal application is posted on the NRC Web site at www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applications/three-mile-island.html

A schedule for reviewing the application will be posted soon. License renewal reviews typically take 22 months with no hearing, or 30 months if a hearing is granted.

Information about the license renewal process can be found on the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal.html

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SC Utility Rebate Available For Solar Panels
- Mar 11, 2008 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - The Sun News, Myrtle Beach,S.C.)

Santee Cooper launched its Solar Homes Initiative on Monday, meaning homeowners can apply for up to a $12,000 rebate to install a solar panel. People can apply through April 10, and Santee Cooper will give 10 qualified homeowners a rebate. To qualify, homeowners must be Santee Cooper customers, have owned the free-standing property for at least a year and live in it.

They also must agree to get their power through the Green Energy Buy Backs Program -- where Santee Cooper buys excess green energy customers produce -- for at least five years.

Coupled with up to $5,500 in available federal and state tax credits, a homeowner could get as much as $17,500 for a 4-kilowatt solar panel and installation.

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Renewable Energy Continues Rapid Global Growth in 2007
- Mar 12, 2008 (EERE Network News)

The global use of renewable energy sources continued its rapid growth in 2007, with 40 gigawatts of new renewable energy capacity added throughout the world, according to a new report. That capacity growth, which includes large hydropower, brings the world's renewable energy generating capacity to more than a thousand gigawatts. Excluding large hydropower, renewable generating capacity grew by 33 gigawatts to a total of 240 gigawatts, a 16% annual growth rate. At 95 gigawatts, wind power is the largest of the newer renewable energy sources, while grid-connected solar photovoltaic systems increased by 53%, reaching 7.8 gigawatts.

Among other renewable energy sources, ethanol production reached 12 billion gallons, biodiesel production exceeded 2 billion gallons, and there are now enough solar hot water systems to produce 128 gigawatts of thermal energy. The United States now leads the world in new wind capacity added each year and in annual ethanol production, and it also features the largest installed capacities for geothermal and biomass energy power plants.

While the REN21 report estimates last year's investments in renewable energy at $71 billion, analysts at New Energy Finance have increased their estimate to $148.4 billion, more than double the REN21 estimate and a significant increase from New Energy Finance's previous estimate of $117.2 billion, which was released in January. The new figure includes transactions made near the end of the year but not disclosed until more recently, and it reflects a 60% increase over investments in 2006, according to New Energy Finance.

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Report Places Even Odds on Hoover Dam Running Dry by 2017
- Mar 12, 2008 (EERE Network News)

A new study warns that the 2,080-megawatt Hoover Dam could have too little water to produce power within the next decade. The study by researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography concludes that the growing demand for water in the West, combined with reduced runoff due to climate change, are causing a net deficit of nearly 1 million acre-feet of
water per year in the Colorado River system, which includes Lake Powell and Lake Mead. Lake Mead feeds the Hoover Dam, and the researchers estimate a 50% chance that Lake Mead could drop too low for power production by 2017. According to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the Hoover Dam is one of the largest hydropower facilities in the nation, producing enough power to serve 1.3 million people in Arizona, California, and Nevada.

With recent droughts in the West, the Colorado River system is currently operating at only half of its capacity, and the researchers estimate that the system is already operating at a deficit. They find a 50% chance that Lake Mead could run completely dry by 2021 if the climate
changes as expected and if future water demand is not curtailed. The research paper has been accepted for publication in "Water Resources Research," a publication of the American Geophysical Union (AGU).

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Senate Advances Bill Calling for Vt. Yankee Inspection
By DAVE GRAM Associated Press Writer
MONTPELIER, Vt. - Mar 12, 2008 (The Associated Press)

The Vermont Senate has given preliminary approval to a bill calling for an independent inspection of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant before the state acts on its bid for a 20-year license extension.

The Senate voted 24-3 Wednesday on the bill. Final approval is expected Thursday.

The bill attempts to answer a call by critics for a top-to-bottom review of the 36-year-old Vernon reactor. A similar one helped lead to the shutdown of Maine Yankee a decade ago.

The Legislation comes as Vermont Yankee awaits final approval from the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission to extend its license for 20 years beyond its current 2012 expiration date. The Legislature and state Public Service Board also would have to approve such an extension.

Plant critics noted that the vote came on a day when Vermont Yankee was reported - by an NRC Web site - to have reduced to 65 percent power. Power reductions are often indicative of a problem at the plant, pointing to the need for a thorough inspection, they said.

"We think it's great that this vote should come on this particular day, when they've cut power by 35 percent," said Bob Stannard, a lobbyist for the anti-nuclear Citizens' Awareness Network.

Vermont Yankee spokesman Robert Williams said the power reduction was not due to a problem at the reactor. It was "a normal routine thing we do quarterly" in which fuel rods in the reactor core are rearranged "to ensure balanced power output in the reactor core," he said. He said the plant is expected to be back at full power by Thursday.

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Matheson Moves to Block Foreign Nuclear Waste
By Thomas Burr
Mar 13, 2008 (The Salt Lake Tribune)

Posted: 6:56 PM- WASHINGTON - Rep. Jim Matheson and two colleagues want to hand the Nuclear Regulatory Commission the power to prohibit foreign nuclear waste from being dumped in the United States, a move that could block a proposed shipment from Italy to Utah.

Matheson, along with Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., and Ed Whitfield, R-Ky., say the measure, introduced into Congress today, would ban the importation of low-level radioactive waste from foreign countries unless the waste was generated in the United States or from U.S. military facility.

It's a direct broadside aimed at plans by Salt Lake City-based EnergySolutions to seek a license to import 20,000 tons of low-level nuclear waste from decommissioned nuclear reactors in Italy. Most of the waste would be processed in Tennessee, but 1,600 tons will end up at the company's facility in Tooele County, according to the EnergySolutions' license request.

Matheson says the legislation likely would throw out any chance of the Italian waste hitting Utah, because while EnergySolutions has applied for the license, it hasn't been approved.

"The license hasn't been granted yet, so I think that in terms of that specific application, until it's granted, nothing is grandfathered," Matheson said. But, he added, the goal of the measure is broader as well: to ensure that America doesn't end up as the recipient of everyone else's radioactive waste.

"We're about to enter a period where a number of nuclear power plants will be decommissioned in Europe," Matheson says. "When that happens you will have substantial volumes of low-level radioactive materials that will need to be disposed of. And since these countries in Europe have not identified any disposal option, my fear is they will all look to follow the path to the United States."

Currently, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's regulations allow foreign countries to ship low-level radioactive waste to the United States if the recipient of the waste has a license to manage or dispose of it. The bipartisan group of congressmen says that's wrong.

"No other country in the world is accepting nuclear waste from other countries," Gordon said in a statement. "By doing so, the United States is putting itself in position to become the world's nuclear dumping ground."

EnergySolutions officials called the rationale for the bill baseless. "We believe that Congressman Gordon's legislation stripping the Nuclear Regulatory Commission of its jurisdiction over an issue within its purview is unwise, unwarranted and unnecessary. The NRC has the scientific and technical expertise to make thoughtful decisions based on the facts," the company said in a statement.

NRC spokesman David McIntyre declined comment because agency officials had not see the legislation.

The anti-nuclear waste group, Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah, applauded Matheson for pushing the legislation and called on Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. to do what he can to block the potential shipment.

"Gov. Huntsman can slam the door shut for Utah by telling the NRC "No Grazie" to EnergySolutions' request," said Vanessa Pierce, HEAL's executive director. Huntsman said last week that he supported a letter sent by the state's Radiation Control Board to the NRC opposing the EnergySolutions' proposal.

The legislation, expected to be assigned to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, on which all three sponsors sit, would allow the president to waive the importation ban if it would impede national security.

The NRC has received an unprecedented amount of interest during its public comment period on the potential to import the Italy waste. The agency has extended the time it will accept comment on the proposal to June 10.

tburr@sltrib.com

go here to comment

here are some talking points on the issue from HEAL Utah

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Settlement Over Diablo Nuke Plant Generator Replacement
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. - Mar 13, 2008 (The Associated Press)

Environmentalists have settled a lawsuit challenging a decision to allow a steam generator replacement project at the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant.

The Coastal Law Enforcement Action Network sued the California Coastal Commission in 2007 after the state agency issued a permit allowing Pacific Gas and Electric Co. to go ahead with the project. The lawsuit claimed violations of various environmental laws.

The company is moving forward with the replacement project. According the environmental group, in the settlement reached this week the gas company agreed to a variety of programs including developing an osprey and bald eagle nesting program at Montana de Oro State Park.

Pacific spokeswoman Emily Christensen confirmed the settlement but couldn't immediately provide details.

TOP

March 10, 2008 Energy News Update.

2008-03-10T13:04:00.000-07:00

High coal price may cost you: Soaring costs paid by utilities to generate power could mean higher monthly electric bills

Mar 8 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Greg Edwards Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va.

An upward trend in coal prices could mean higher electricity bills for consumers.

The cash price for coal that utilities burn to generate electricity exceeded $101 per ton this week at a West Virginia mine served by Norfolk Southern Railway.

The price was reported yesterday in Platts, a trade publisher for the energy industry. The price adds an exclamation point to a trend that saw the average price of high-quality, Central Appalachian coal climb from less than $50 per ton on the spot, or cash, market in October to roughly $85 per ton at the end of February.

High-heat, low-sulfur coal from Central Appalachian mines is popular with utilities because it burns cleaner and helps them comply with federal clean-air rules. Five years ago, the same coal was selling for around $30 per ton.

With half the state's and half the nation's electricity produced from coal, the price trend could mean higher electricity prices for Virginians. Utilities generally are allowed to pass along the increased cost of fuel for their power plants.

Behind the higher coal prices is a global shortage of utility coal that has led to increased U.S. coal exports. Also playing a role is a weaker dollar compared with foreign currencies that has made U.S. coal attractive abroad, said Ted Pile, a spokesman for Alpha Natural Resources Inc. of Abingdon, the largest producer of Virginia coal.

"The coal industry has never seen anything like this, at least in recent history," Pile said.

A severe winter in China caused that heavily coal-dependent country to halt its coal exports, Pile noted. Coal shortages also hit utilities in India and South Africa, the latter of which has seen blackouts.

Alpha Natural Resources was the largest U.S. coal exporter last year, shipping 8 million of the 59 million tons exported by U.S. mines. U.S. export numbers are expected to jump at least 20 million tons this year and could exceed 100 million tons total, Pile said.

At the same time, some utilities, such as Dominion Virginia Power, have found it economical to import coal for some of its plants from places such as South America.

Contact Greg Edwards at (804) 649-6390 or gedwards@timesdispatch.com.

Progress Energy sells noncore assets RALEIGH, N.C., Mar 07, 2008 -- AP

Progress Energy Inc. said Friday it has closed the sale of its Powell Mountain Coal Co., Dulcimer Land Co. and Kanawha River Terminals to an investor group for $94 million.

The utility first reported the deal in December as part of a restructuring plan to shed noncore businesses.

The transaction was the final step in the plan, which has allowed Progress to "strengthen its balance sheet and reduce (its) overall risk profile," Chief Executive Bill Johnson said in a statement. Progress is now positioned to focus fully on its utility business, Johnson said, with an emphasis on efficiency, renewable energy and "state-of-the-art" power plants.

The buyer group consists of Traxys North America LLC, Pegasus Capital Advisors LP and Kelso & Co.

Powell Mountain and Dulcimer hold about 40 million tons of coal reserves on 30,000 acres in Lee County, Va., and Harlan County, Ky. Kanawha operates five terminals on the Ohio River and its tributaries.

The facilities have the capacity to transfer, blend and store more than 40 million tons of coal and other commodities each year.

Progress shares fell 21 cents to $41.50 in morning trading.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press.

Clean Energy Bank Proposed: Domenici Backs Tech Investment Mar 7 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Michael Coleman Albuquerque Journal, N.M.

Sen. Pete Domenici wants to put more federal financial muscle behind new clean energy technology, and he has proposed a U.S. Clean Energy Investment Bank to do it.

Domenici, the top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, introduced a bill Thursday that would create a bank structured similar to the U.S. Export-Import Bank and Overseas Private Investment Corporation.

The clean energy bank would focus solely on spurring U.S. clean energy technology investment. It would take over the Department of Energy's existing loan guarantee program, which has been criticized for not issuing loans fast enough.

The new federal bank would have the ability to issue loans, loan guarantees, equity investments and insurance products.

During a speech on the Senate floor Thursday, Domenici said renewable energy entrepreneurs need the solid financial footing the government could provide.

"Unlike traditional fossilenergy projects, which are able to more easily secure long-term debt financing, clean energy markets have a greater level of risk both commercially and technically," Domenici said. "That is why the certainty provided by federal government support would be beneficial."

The bill has been referred to the Senate energy committee for a hearing.

Sen. Jeff Bingaman, Democratic chairman of the energy committee, is intrigued by the idea of a clean energy bank but wants to know more before committing to it, an aide said.

"Sen. Bingaman thinks this is an interesting idea," said Jude McCartin, the senator's press secretary. "He'd like to learn more about the particulars of the legislation and looks forward to having further discussions with Sen. Domenici about it."

EDITOR'S NOTE: Given Domenici's support for nuclear power, it would not be
a surprise this will be the funding source for that technology in transitional economy nations like Namibia.

Southern California Edison Plan Attracts More Than 2,500 Megawatts of New,
Cleaner Power Projects to California ROSEMEAD, Calif., Mar 07, 2008 -- BUSINESS WIRE

Southern California Edison (SCE) has signed four long-term power purchase contracts with winning bidders in a competitive solicitation program designed to attract new power generation facilities to help serve the region's growing power needs.

The contracts represent a potential generating capacity of 1,351 megawatts (MW) and bring the results of SCE's new generation initiative to a total of 2,556 MW, enough power to serve 1.7 million average Southern California households at a point in time. Contracts executed this week are subject to California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) approval.

"We thank all who participated in this important process that will significantly increase the reliability of our region's electricity system in coming years," said Alan Fohrer, SCE chairman and chief executive officer.

The new contracts are the outcome of a plan recommended by SCE in response to state forecasts of inadequate new power plant construction. The utility proposed offering 10-year power purchase contracts to new generation developers with the benefits and costs of the new resources allocated to all customers within SCE's service territory who would benefit from the enhanced reliability. The plan was approved by the CPUC on July 20, 2006.

SCE subsequently launched an open, competitive solicitation that has produced a total of seven agreements with five different project developers who have agreed to construct new, state-of-the-art Southern California generating resources. Many of the projects will produce electricity more efficiently and with far fewer pollutants than older power plants. In addition, several of the projects will use new turbine technologies capable of adjusting more rapidly to changes in power supplies and demand.

(a) Peakers using new, lower-emission technology.

(b) SCE's request for offers included the option of bidding a transmission project that would connect an existing generation resource with a remaining design life of at least 30 years to the California Independent System Operator grid serving SCE's service territory.

"This special procurement process provides a transitional means to attract much-needed new generation while a market framework is put in place that will provide new resources when needed," said Pedro Pizarro, SCE senior vice president of power procurement.

Background Facts

-- Initially, SCE was authorized to issue a request for up to 1,500 MW of new or repowered generating capacity. Subsequently, regulators expanded the authorization to up to a total of 3,200 MW and SCE included the option of bidding into one or more of three different "tracks," depending on when the bidder's project would be online. Contracts signed this week were bid into the third phase of the program.

-- Aug. 1, 2007 was the online deadline for Track 1 projects. Track 2 projects are expected online by Aug. 1, 2010. Contracts signed this week are for facilities that will be operational by Aug. 1, 2013.

Explanation of SCE's Competitive Solicitation Process

-- SCE power contract solicitations adhere to specific rules established by the CPUC to ensure the utility's power procurement process is open, fair, and transparent and delivers the greatest value possible to customers.

-- As the process begins, a public request for offers is widely distributed and solicitation information is posted on SCE's public access Web site. Independent power producers are encouraged to propose projects that will meet the future needs of SCE's customers outlined in the solicitation.

-- Bidder briefings are held to answer questions and provide information power producers need as they consider preparing contract
proposals.

-- Contract bids are received and evaluated by SCE. A short list of the most attractive offers is selected and final negotiations occur. At the same time, a detailed analysis is done of transmission resources available or needed to deliver the new generation to market.

-- Winning bidders are chosen and contracts signed and submitted to the CPUC for review and approval.

-- During the course of the solicitation, an independent evaluator (IE) oversees the process, verifying that no preferential treatment is provided to any bidder. Additionally, SCE consults frequently with an independent procurement review group comprised of CPUC staff members and representatives of consumer, environmental, and labor groups that are not market participants.

An Edison International (NYSE:EIX) company, Southern California Edison is California's largest electric utility, serving a population of more than 13 million via 4.8 million customer accounts in a 50,000-square-mile service area within central, coastal, and Southern California.

SOURCE: Southern California Edison

Duke Energy fighting for plant expansion Mar 7 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Drew Brooks The Star, Shelby, N.C.

Duke Energy officials say a federal court ruling made last month would not delay construction on its Cliffside expansion, even as a coalition of environmental groups asks the state to reconsider its decision to grant a permit to the company.

Nineteen groups sent a letter to the director of the N.C. Division of Air Quality, the governor, EPA officials and others on Wednesday.

"The groups have always said their main objective was to try to delay the project," Duke Energy spokesperson Marilyn Lineberger said. "This plant is good for our customers and it's good for North Carolina."

Written by John Suttles and Gudrun Thompson, lawyers for the Southern Environmental Law Center, the letter said Duke Energy's permit was invalidated by a ruling in the federal court of appeals that overturned federal mercury emission limits.

"North Carolina has issued an illegal permit that violates the Clean Air Act and a federal court ruling," Thompson said in a press release. "The Division of Air Quality must now go back and do its homework by first identifying the highest achievable level of control for this hazardous pollutant and then requiring Duke to implement it."

In response to the ruling, Duke Energy issued a release stating that there would be no impact on the Cliffside project.

"Construction continues at the site," said James L. Turner, president and CEO of Duke Energy. "No delay is expected as a result of this ruling."

The release said the new facility would emit between 70 and 80 pounds of mercury each year. Including the four units that will be shut down after construction is completed, the site currently emits an estimated 150 pounds each year.

Mercury can damage developing fetuses and cause harm to very young children.

Construction on the Cliffside project is expected to create jobs for an estimated 1,200 full-time employees for the four-plus-year job and would also require an additional 800 subcontractors.

The $1.8 billion investment is expected to economically benefit the surrounding region, area business leaders said, and was wholeheartedly supported by the Cleveland County Chamber.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Bids requested on Colo. uranium leases GRAND JUNCTION, Colo., Mar 07, 2008 -- AP

Leases of public land for exploration, development, and mining of uranium and vanadium ores are up for bids in southwestern Colorado near the Utah border.

The U.S. Department of Energy announced Thursday it will accept bids for 19 tracts of land in the Uravan Mineral Belt between the communities of Gateway and Egnar through May 9.

Uranium mining came to a near standstill when the bottom fell out of the industry when the Cold War ended and uranium from weapons stockpiles flooded the marketplace. Its price plummeted from $40 a pound in the late 1970s to less than $10 a pound in the 1980s, according to the Colorado Geological Survey.

With worldwide demand up, uranium prices are hovering around $90 to $100 per pound.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press.

N.M. among sites considered for uranium enrichment factory ALBUQUERQUE (The Associated Press) - Mar 8 - By MATT MYGATT Associated Press Writer

A company is considering building a $2 billion uranium enrichment factory in southern New Mexico, the same general area where another company already is building one.

The proposed factory would enrich uranium provided by utilities to fuel their commercial nuclear reactors, said Nancy Lang, external communications manager of Areva Inc., based in Bethesda, Md.

Areva Inc., a subsidiary of Paris-based Areva, also is mulling possible sites in Idaho, Ohio, Texas and Washington state, she said Friday.

The company hopes to select a site "in the coming weeks," said Lang, who declined to pinpoint the New Mexico site under consideration.

Areva Inc. would employ about 1,000 people during the factory's construction and about 250 people when the facility is in regular operation, she said.

The market for nuclear fuel is expected to increase as global warming concerns make nuclear energy more popular. Mining companies have been showing renewed interest in uranium in the Grants area of northwestern New Mexico as the price has hovered around $90 to $100 a pound.

Louisiana Energy Services is building its $1.5 billion National Enrichment Facility on one square mile of desert in southeastern New Mexico five miles east of the small community of Eunice. The factory will make fuel for commercial nuclear power plants.

Bob Poyser, vice president of Areva Inc., said his company has not hired lobbyists or an outside counsel in New Mexico.

"We're getting excellent cooperation from the individuals interested in the project in southern New Mexico," he said. "It's allowed us to work without lobbyists or outside counsel."

Areva Inc. officials have spoken with representatives in Gov. Bill Richardson's office and the state Environment Department, Poyser said.

Lang said Areva Inc. is judging each site on geological, environmental, economic, social and public acceptance factors.

"We consider that public acceptance is at least as important as any of the technical criteria," she said. "We don't want to be in a place where people don't want us."

The U.S. Nuclear Regulator Commission awarded LES a license to build its Eunice-area factory in June 2006. It was the first major nuclear facility to be licensed in the United States in three decades.

LES - made up of European-based Urenco, British Nuclear Fuels Unlimited and minor U.S. partners - expects to begin production by mid-2009.

The LES plant will become the first U.S. installation to use centrifuge technology, rather than a process known as gaseous diffusion that has been around since World War II.

Poyser said his company would use the same technology in its proposed factory.

Areva and Urenco are partners in Enrichment Technology Corp., which manufactures the centrifuge, he said.

Lang said Areva has a uranium enrichment facility in France using gaseous diffusion, which uses more electricity than centrifuge technology. Areva is in the process of building a second facility at the same French site that uses centrifuge technology, she said.

Uranium 235, a fissionable isotope, makes up 0.7 percent of uranium but needs to be increased to 3 percent to 5 percent in fuel used for power production.

Centrifuges in the proposed factory would spin uranium in a gaseous form at high speeds to create a centrifugal force that pushes the heavier nonfissionable isotope uranium 238 outward.

The Areva Inc. factory would increase the concentration of one of the two isotopes in natural uranium to make it suitable for fuel.

Areva Inc. has 5,000 employees in 45 locations in 20 states, Poyser said.

Associated Press Writer Sue Major Holmes contributed to this report.

Richland WA one of five finalists for uranium plant RICHLAND, Wash. (The Associated Press) - Mar 7

Richland is one of five sites under consideration for a new uranium enrichment plant to be built by Areva, Inc., the company said in a letter to Gov. Chris Gregoire.

The plant would cost $2 billion to $3 billion and have 350 to 400 permanent workers, according to projections by the Tri-City Development Council.

A site decision is expected before the end of the month, Anne Lauvergeon, Areva chief executive officer, said in the Feb. 27 letter to Gregoire.

Areva has a Richland plant that has been fabricating fuel for commercial nuclear power reactors for 38 years.

According to other news accounts, Areva is also considering sites for the enrichment plant in Idaho, Ohio, Texas and New Mexico.

The market for nuclear fuel is expected to increase as global warming concerns make nuclear energy more popular.

"Now, as we approach a final decision in the coming weeks, we are focused entirely on the economic evaluation of each site, including land and infrastructure costs, of course, but also tax structures and economic incentives," Lauvergeon wrote to the governor.

Areva, a French-based company, already employs about 650 people in the Tri-Cities, and also has workers in the Seattle area.

"The Tri-Cities is ideally suited to this kind of business and this is exactly the kind of high-quality business and good-paying jobs our state should be working overtime to attract," Todd Young, chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., said Wednesday.

Areva is proposing a gas centrifuge facility to enrich uranium that would require 20 megawatts of electricity seven days a week.

Washington has an attractive tax structure, said Gary Petersen, Development Council vice president of Hanford programs. Areva would not be required to pay sales tax on the plant or equipment and should receive a tax break on the state's business and operations tax based on its number of employees and their wages, Petersen said.

The plant would increase the concentration of one of the two isotopes in natural uranium to make it suitable for fuel. Uranium 235, a fissionable isotope, makes up 0.7 percent of uranium but needs to be increased to 3 percent to 5 percent in fuel used for power production.

The gas centrifuges in the proposed plant would spin uranium in a gaseous form at high speeds to create a centrifugal force that pushes the heavier nonfissionable isotope uranium 238 outward.

Now, enriched uranium is shipped to Richland for fuel fabrication at Areva NP, which produces nuclear fuel pellets for about 25 percent of the 103 operating commercial reactors in the United States, according to the Development Council. If the enrichment plant is based next to the existing Richland plant, unenriched uranium would be shipped to Richland instead.

The enrichment process would produce depleted uranium as a waste product, and plans call for sending the waste to Utah or the Nevada Test Site's low-level waste disposal facility.

Vermont Yankee Nuclear Plant Seeks To Extend License Dow Jones & Company, Inc. - Mar 7

Vermont Yankee nuclear plant has formally filed an application for a certificate of public good to stay open for 20 years past its scheduled 2012 license-expiration date.

Plant owner Entergy Nuclear, a unit of Entergy Corp. (ETR), filed the application with the state Public Service Board on Monday.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's review is under way, but the plant still needs approval of Vermont regulators and the Vermont Legislature, which isn't expected to vote on it until next year.

"This plant has proven itself a great asset to the region, and it's a great candidate for continued operation," said plant spokesman Rob Williams. "We've submitted our case on the environmental and economic benefits of continuing on after 2012.

"There are clear benefits. This country still burns coal for half its electricity, and I think most environmentalists believe that we must continue to make good use of our nuclear plants here and around the world," Williams said.

Department of Public Service spokesman Stephen Wark says the litmus test for certificate-of-public-good applicants is whether the facility provides a substantial good to citizens of Vermont.

Vermont Yankee's owners say it does, but lawmakers may take a dimmer view.

A series of events last summer - including the collapse of a cooling tower - have stepped up public scrutiny of the plant, which critics say shouldn't get the extension.

State Rep. Robert Dostis, D-Waterbury, who chairs the House Natural Resources and Energy committee, said the Legislature's decision could hinge on public perception.

"If Entergy is not able to convince the general public that they are good corporate citizens, that they are taking care of their plants and are truly concerned with its safety and the safety of people in the state, I think that will weigh very heavily on the decision-makers next year."

This summer, the Atomic Saefty and Licensing Board is expected to hold a trial on safety issues raised by the anti-nuclear group New England Coalition.

Con Edison Sets Record for Winter Electricity Mar 07 - MARKET WIRE

Con Edison set a record for winter electricity delivery of 14,732,319 megawatt hours in December through February. That topped the 14,443,186 megawatt-hour record set last year.

This winter's record usage follows the 2007 annual record usage of 62,591 gigawatt hours (GWh). One gigawatt hour equals 1,000 megawatt hours. A megawatt is enough electricity to power approximately 1,000 homes.

To continue delivering reliable electricity to 9 million New Yorkers in Westchester County and New York City, Con Edison is investing more than $7.5 billion over the next five years. EnergyNY, the company's recently announced plan to meet the future energy needs of its customers through infrastructure upgrades and energy efficiency programs, can be viewed at http://www.coned.com/energyny.

New construction and increased use of new electrical devices, including flat-screen televisions and associated on-screen games, computers, and various handheld gadgets, as well as record numbers of home offices, are all part of downstate's prosperity and contribute to increasing use.

Con Edison has the largest underground electrical system in North America with 94,000 miles of underground cables, enough to wrap the earth 3.6 times. The company also maintains 36,000 miles of overhead cables.

Con Edison is a subsidiary of Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE: ED), one of the nation's largest investor-owned energy companies, with approximately $13 billion in annual revenues and $28 billion in assets. The utility provides electric, gas, and steam service to more than 3 million customers in New York City and Westchester County, New York. For additional financial, operations, and customer service information, visit Con Edison's Web site at www.coned.com.

Contact: Chris Olert 1-212-460-4111
SOURCE: Con Edison Co. of NY, Inc.

Beshear Trumpets Ky. Coal Mar 07 - Evansville Courier & Press

Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear made clear that coal will continue to be a cornerstone of energy in Kentucky, but he added coal must be burned more cleanly and power must be used more efficiently.

"Kentucky is a coal state," Beshear said in remarks at the Illinois Basin Energy Conference here Thursday morning. "Let's not be bashful about it."

"Kentucky can be a national leader in energy technology and production," the governor said. "I intend to put this state on that path. I intend to make energy a top priority of the Beshear administration for the next four years."

Kentucky in 2004 produced 119 million tons of coal, with mines employing 15,000 people and paying $759 million in direct wages, he said.

But while coal provides 90 percent Kentucky's electricity, there are consequences, such as the release of vast amounts of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas suspected of causing global warming.

"Our power plants emit 93 million tons of carbon dioxide" per year, Beshear said. "We rank seventh in the nation."

That may not be permitted in the future. Congress has considered legislation limited carbon emissions.

Future lending

Further, "Wall Street banks have announced that emissions will factor into their willingness to loan money for building power plants," Beshear noted.

So, he said, "We must be a leader in clean coal technology."

Beshear said because of the energy bill passed last year, Kentucky is funding research and commercialization of carbon dioxide controls as well.

And the state is offering "hundreds of millions of dollars of incentives" to companies such as Peabody Energy Corp. if they build multi-billion-dollar plants to turn coal into substitute natural gas. Peabody is considering building such a plant in Western Kentucky.

"We stand ready to do whatever we can to make that a reality," Beshear said.

"There's a balancing act between jobs versus the environment, between coal versus other fuels," he said. "It's imperative to perform the balancing act and to know that protecting the environment does not mean losing jobs."

Energy efficiency

"In Kentucky we've been sloppy," failing to conserve electricity because Kentucky-generated power has long been cheap, Beshear said.

"We must use energy more efficiently as we transition to a carbon-constrained world," he said.

He applauded Henderson County officials who have formed the West Kentucky Regional Energy Team to promote energy production and research here and for expanding it to include Union and Webster counties.

Approximately 350 people registered for the conference held Thursday at the Henderson Community College Fine Arts Center.

The audience consisted of representatives of energy and utility companies, university and government researchers and public officials.

(c) 2008 Evansville Courier & Press.

Renewable Resources Are Rising Stars Mar 07, 2008 -- STATE DEPARTMENT RELEASE/ContentWorks

At the three-day Washington International Conference on Renewable Energy (WIREC), participants from public, corporate and private sectors repeatedly stressed the importance of quickly harnessing the earth's sustainable natural resources for energy.

Global warming is an increasing threat and its effects will worsen if damaging greenhouse gas emissions are not curbed. And, with oil hovering around $100 a barrel, there is even greater impetus for oil-dependent nations such as the United States to go green.

When President Bush addressed delegates of more than 100 nations on March 4, he picked up the theme, saying developing clean technologies was vital for security and environmental reasons.

"The United States is committed, and we're firm in our commitments, to deal with energy problem and to deal with global climate change," he said, after enumerating renewable technologies being funded by the U.S. government and businesses.

Besides federal funding, "There's a lot of smart money heading into the private sector to help develop these new technologies," Bush said.

The president said he aims "to reduce our dependence on oil by investing in technologies that will produce abundant supplies of clean and renewable energy and at the same time show the world we are good stewards of the environment."

First on his list were automobiles. He cited the mandatory reductions in passenger vehicle emissions of 20 percent over 10 years, a reduction mandated by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. He said he sees biodiesel made from oil crops and recycled waste as "the most promising" of clean fuels.

Production of corn ethanol has risen markedly, which is good for corn growers, but has a downside: rising prices of foods that depend on corn. It also cuts into profit margins of livestock ranchers and manufacturers of corn-based products. Acknowledging the problem, Bush said, "The best thing to do is not to retreat from our commitment to alternative fuels but to spend research and development money on alternatives to ethanol made from other materials."

Cellulosic ethanol made from switchgrass and woodchips was an example he gave, adding that the U.S. Department of Energy is investing nearly $1 billion in this research. Other technologies receiving Bush administration support are hybrid vehicles, both electric plug-in and hydrogen fuel cell-powered varieties.

Although Bush said his administration continues to back nuclear energy as an electrical power source, he also said that wind power is gaining traction in America. "This is a new industry for us, and it's beginning to grow." The solar energy industry also is growing fast.

CONFRONTING CLIMATE CHANGE

"The United States is serious about confronting climate change," he said, adding renewable energy technologies "are an integral part of dealing with climate change." He urged the major economies to set clear goals and develop strategies to meet the goals.

"It'll be different from country to country. We've got a different energy mix than a lot of nations do," he said.

One aim is to use clean-energy technology to help developing countries improve their quality of life and economies. Bush proposed an international clean-technology fund that would provide money "from the wealthy nations to help poorer nations clean up their environments."

The U.S. government is hosting WIREC 2008 to bring together the many entities in the field of renewable energy to evolve concrete strategies and make pledges to implement practices that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and develop sustainable energy sources in the short term. More than 100 nations are represented at the conference.

A large trade show, co-located with the conference in the Washington Convention Center, showcases technologies now on the market, from photovoltaic film and solar reflectors, to wind turbines, to a joint Volvo-Mack truck diesel-electric hybrid that is currently on the road and in use by the U.S. Air Force.

The conference runs from March 4-6. For more details see the WIREC home page at http://www.wirec2008.gov/wps/portal/wirec2008#.

Additional information on the Bush administration's energy initiatives is available in a White House fact sheet on investment in renewable and alternative-energy technologies.

Nuclear Power Stations, Uranium Processing Planned Windhoek, Mar 07, 2008 -- Namibia Economist/All Africa Global Media

The government has made a bold move towards making the country more self reliant in power generation. It has announced plans to ensure that the country maximises benefits derived from uranium oxide, which is currently on high demand on the world market. After months of speculation, the government has made known its intentions to develop nuclear power stations and uranium processing plants.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said in a statement this week that Cabinet has granted approval to the Ministry of Mines and Energy to develop a nuclear regulatory framework.

The framework is meant to pursue nuclear power and uranium beneficiation strategies, which the government said will provide a long term solution to the shortfall in electricity generation and enable the processing of uranium resources locally.

"The electricity shortages being experienced in southern Africa are expected to persist for many years. New electricity generation capacity installations appear to have become the trend worldwide towards achieving energy self-sufficiency, of which the southern African region and Namibia in particular should be no exception," the statement said. "Namibia has significant uranium reserves and the country can gain more if these reserves could have value added to them prior to export."

The statement said the beneficiated uranium product (BUP) is currently selling at US$3000/kg compared to roughly US$100/kg for yellow cake. The cost of producing BUP depends on processing levels and electricity costs, but a net profit margin of at least US$1000/kg can be expected, the statement added.

"Before Namibia can build either nuclear power stations or uranium processing plants, it requires a nuclear regulatory framework to be in place and to be developed in conjunction with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)," the statement said.

The IAEA was set up as the world's "Atoms for Peace" organisation in 1957 within the United Nations family. The agency works with its Member States and multiple partners worldwide to promote safe, secure and peaceful nuclear technologies.

Dr Wotan Swiegers, who is a member of the Uranium Stewardship Committee of the Chamber of Mines of Namibia, told the Economist this week that it will be a long way before Namibia can build nuclear power plants, as the country does not have the infrastructure and personnel to manage such plants and stations.

"Uranium enrichment is at the high end of the process. What we know best at the moment is mining uranium. So it may take some time before we reach that stage," he said.

On its part, the uranium industry in the country has come up with the committee to safeguard the interests of the sector.

"We don't want rogue operators in the country. We want people who adhere to best practices and principles," said Swiegers.

If the government goes ahead with constructing a plant, Namibia would become the second country in Africa to have such a station after the Koeberg Power Station in Cape Town, South Africa, which is the only nuclear power station on the continent.

Action Alert: Oppose License Applications

2008-03-03T13:52:00.000-08:00

ALERT:
Oppose License Applications to IMPORT MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF NUCLEAR POWER WASTE from EUROPE to BURN, MELT, TRANSPORT and DUMP in the US!

EnergySolutions (often called EnergyPollutions) runs 2 commercial nuclear waste dumps in the US (in South Carolina and Utah) and incinerators, a metal melter and other “processing” facilities in Memphis and Oak
Ridge, Tennessee.

EnergySolutions is applying for a federal license to import 20,000 tons, one million cubic feet and over 600,000,000,000,000 becquerels (radioactive emissions per second) of radioactive waste (mainly from Italian nuclear power and related industries) into the US for processing including incineration, “recycling” (into unspecified waste streams and destinations), transport and disposal.

The “Low” and Intermediate Level Nuclear Waste from ITALY would

~Enter the US via Ports of Charleston and New Orleans (possibly others)

~Travel to and throughout Tennessee --

~Be Burned, Smelted, Chopped, and otherwise “Processed,” in Memphis and Oak Ridge giving off routine radioactive emissions and creating more waste.

Some could be “cleared” and Dumped in Solid Waste Dumps in TN or “Released” and “Recycled” for use as if not radioactive.

Some would be transported to Utah to be buried.

This opens the doors (or the borders) to foreign radioactive waste coming in from around the world.

This would give a huge financial boost directly to EnergySolutions (and indirectly to other “processors”) that routinely release radioactivity and use Tennessee (Dept of Envt and Conservation-TDEC) state licenses to release the waste from regulatory controls normally required for nuclear power waste. It facilitates dispersing nuclear waste in this country via Tennessee.

This would fill up existing (already-controversial) disposal capacity for the massive amounts of nuclear waste already generated by nuclear power and weapons in the US.

ACTION NEEDED:

Comment to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to say NO to License Applications Nos. IW023 and XW013 (Federal Register Volume 73, Number 28, 2/11/08)

Send copies of your comments to your Congressmembers and Senators and to your State legislators especially if you are in TN, UT, LA, SC and states between and downwind.

Comment to NRC (secy@nrc.gov) by March 12, 2008; Contact NIRS (dianed@nirs.org) to join requests for hearing(s) and to intervene.

From NIRS website: http://www.nirs.org/radwaste/llw/llwhome.htm

In the US “low-level” radioactive waste includes all the commercial nuclear waste except irradiated fuel from nuclear reactors, the liquid and sludge from reprocessing and the solid into which that is converted. In most of Europe this same range of waste is considered “low” and “intermediate” level. Regardless, it includes the same long-lasting, deadly radionuclides as in high level radioactive waste and sometimes in even greater concentrations.

Despite no place or technology to isolate the waste as long as it is radioactively
hazardous, the nuclear industry creates more and more.

UPDATE February 2008. A major US nuclear waste company, EnergySolutions, with a
near monopoly on commercial nuclear waste treatment and disposal in the US, proposes
large scale importation nuclear waste from Italy for processing and disposal in the US.

This import license application is open for public comment until March 12, 2008. On
February 28, 2008. over 50 national, state and local groups and individuals requested an extension of 90 days for public comment and requests to intervene and hold hearings.

Congressmembers including (Rep. Gordon and Rep.Matheson ), state legislators, a governor and newspapers have expressed concern and opposition.

A million cubic feet, 20,000 tons, and large amounts of radioactivity from the Italian nuclear industry facilities - what appears to be most of Italy’s “low” and intermediate level radioactive waste - could be brought around the globe to the US through the ports of Charleston, South Carolina and New Orleans, Louisiana. It would then go to Memphis and Oak Ridge Tennessee for “processing” and the remains transported to Utah for burial.

Comments submitted so far and the docket can be viewed on the NRC website
www.nrc.gov and searching in the electronic library ADAMS under the docket # 11005711.

Comment to NRC (secy@nrc.gov) re: Application No. IW023 by March 12, 2008;
Contact NIRS (dianed@nirs.org) to join requests for hearing(s) and to
intervene.

From NIRS

2008-02-27T10:17:00.000-08:00

Analysis:

Articles on spiraling decommissioning costs in the U.K., the cancellation of a new reactor in Idaho, a look at thorium reactors, and much more: Nuclear Monitor

www.nirs.org

www.nukefree.org

US House Set To Vote Next Week On Energy Tax Package

2008-02-26T13:09:00.000-08:00

US House Set To Vote Next Week On Energy Tax Package
Dow Jones & Company, Inc. - Feb 22

Congressional Democrats will try again next week to take away taxbreaks for oil companies in order to finance renewable-energy and buildingefficiency projects, but success remains elusive amid a shortage of votes inthe Senate.

The U.S. House of Representatives is tentatively set to vote onWednesday on the bill, which would repeal more than $17.6 billion in taxbreaks for oil and gas producers over 10 years. Consumers would gain new taxbreaks for buying plug-in hybrid cars. Companies would be able to continuetaking tax credits for wind, solar and other renewable-energy projects,extending breaks that expire at the end of 2008.

The House already cleared similar legislation last year, and passagenext week is almost assured. But in the Senate, Democrats have struggled toget around opposition from Texas Republicans and foes such as Sen. PeteDomenici, R-N.M. The Republicans side with oil companies in arguing that theway to address rising oil prices is through encouraging production throughtax incentives and favorable accounting treatment.

The resulting impasse has an effect on wind-project developers, whosefinancing depends on whether they can count on tax credits - which may onlybe taken once a project gets up and running. With uncertainty about whetherthe tax credits will be extended, "it just brings everything to a halt,"said Michael Eckhart, president of The American Council on Renewable Energy.

"It's not because it changes the economics. It's that it completelymakes it impossible to know how to finance the project not knowing what thevariables are."

Winners and Losers
New York, home of House Ways and Means Committee Chairman CharlieRangel, D- N.Y., would be a big winner in the bill. Under the bill, Congresswould provide tax credits for transportation projects connecting with theNew York Liberty Zone, the area of Lower Manhattan that was damaged in theSept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Oil and gas companies would lose some $13.6 billion in tax breaksgranted in 2004 for domestically produced goods. Exxon Mobil (XOM), ChevronCorp. (CVX), ConocoPhillips (COP), Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA), and BP Plc (BP)would lose the tax breaks entirely. The deduction would be frozen at 6% forsmaller oil and gas companies. That deduction had been scheduled to jump to9% in 2010, as part of a 2004 law that gradually phased in the manufacturingtax break.

Oil companies would also lose another $4.1 billion under provisionsthat provide less favorable tax treatment for certain kinds of foreignincome.

Under the bill, Congress would extend for three years, through the endof 2001, tax credits for wind, hydropower, and other facilities thatgenerate power from so-called renewable sources. The tax credit would becapped at 35% of the present value of a facility's cost, and is estimated tosubtract $6.57 billion from federal coffers.

Under the bill, Congress would extend for eight years, through the endof 2016, tax credits for commercial investments in solar-energy equipment.Companies are able to receive a credit of 30% of the cost of solar-energyprojects, with no limit, but those credits will expire at year's end unlessCongress acts. The proposal is estimated to cost $621 million.

Congress would extend until the end of 2014 the tax credit forhomeowners who buy solar panels or solar hot water heaters. The tax creditwould also be more generous, doubling to $4,000 from $2,000. The bill is H.R. 5351.

-By Siobhan Hughes, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6654;Siobhan.Hughes@dowjones.com

Maryland's Debate of Stranded Costs Heats Up -- AgainNGI's Power Market Today - 2/22/08
The Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) has ordered Baltimore Gas& Electric Co. (BGE) and its parent, Constellation Energy Group Inc., toappear at a hearing Tuesday (Feb. 26) in Baltimore to answer questions aboutstranded costs, nuclear decommissioning liability and the growing war ofwords between the companies and state regulators.

In late January the PSC called BGE and Constellation Energy officialson the carpet for faulting a PSC report on stranded costs and threateninglitigation (see Power Market Today, Feb. 1). In an earnings press releaseand during a conference call with financial analysts, Constellation had saidit was terminating a November 2006 litigation standstill agreementpertaining to $386 million that the company believed was unconstitutionallytaken in Maryland Senate Bill 1, which was passed in June 2006 during aspecial session of the Maryland General Assembly (see Power Market Today,Jan 31; Jan. 22; Feb 1, 2007).

"The recent [PSC] interim report on stranded costs and on BGE's 1999settlement injected a destabilizing element of uncertainty into theregulatory climate and energy marketplace in Maryland," said ConstellationCEO Mayo A. Shattuck III. "We cannot abide by efforts to use hindsight toreverse decisions and agreements that were made nearly a decade ago bymultiple parties in full accordance with the law."

Those remarks were followed by a PSC order that summoned BGE andConstellation executives to meet with commissioners following their regularweekly meeting on Feb. 6. The two companies submitted written responses toPSC questions on nuclear decommissioning liability and Senate Bill 1 on Feb.19 and are due to submit further written responses by Monday (Feb. 25).

In a report to the state legislature last month, the PSC said theactual costs to ratepayers of a 1999 deregulation bargain struck with BGEwere vastly underestimated. The PSC said it was opening investigations intohow the settlement was being carried out and asked the legislature foradditional authority to change some of the terms of the settlement and/ororder relief for ratepayers. A review of the settlement and how it hasplayed out, conducted by an outside law firm under the regulators'direction, had led the PSC to conclude that "the 1999 order approving thesettlement does not reflect the actual costs of the settlement toratepayers, nor the huge imbalance of costs and benefits."

The commission criticized the way the various costs were stated, whichit said contributed to a poor evaluation of the deal. "Had the full extentof costs and benefits been known and properly weighed we do not believe thatthe settlement would have been found to be in the public interest." It alsofound fault with allowing the sale of nuclear plants to a BGE affiliatewhile ratepayers retained the liability for decommissioning the plants witha decommissioning fund that was and is "seriously underfunded."

Constellation Energy immediately disputed major conclusions of thereport, saying it was "an attempt to rewrite the true history of what was acomplex, multi-stakeholder process." The commission and its staff, theOffice of People's Counsel and the Maryland Energy Administration were amongthose signing the agreement. Constellation defended the 1999 settlementsaying "it wrongly assumes that those stakeholders involved in the 1999deregulation legislation and subsequent settlement process did not know whatthey were doing."

The legislature should not consider attempting to undo cases thatalready have made their way through the Maryland courts, Constellation said.The stranded cost issue held up through two court reviews.

Ratepayers benefited from a six-year rate freeze worth about $1billion, Constellation said, and pointed to PSC staff expert testimony tothe effect that residential customer bills were no higher than they wouldhave been had there been no stranded costs.

A political shockwave hit the state in 2006 when after 13 years ofcapped or declining rates, the caps agreed to in the settlement were slatedto come off and it was disclosed that a typical bill for a residentialcustomer would have increased by a massive 72%, or $743 annually. The statelegislature acted to keep a modified cap in place through mid-2007, and BGEoffered customers a transition plan to market-based rates, which ended Dec.31, 2007 (see Power Market Today, May 29, 2007).

The chairman of the PSC and the head of the Office of Peoples Counselboth resigned early last year as a result of the public uproar over the ratechange. Their resignations came after the Maryland legislature triedunsuccessfully to fire the five members of the PSC (see Power Market Today,Jan. 30, 2007). Copyright 2008 IPress, Inc. All rights reserved.

US Governors: Coal Must Be Part Of Green Energy DebateDow Jones & Company, Inc. - Feb 23

U.S. governors pushing alternative energy development aren't shyingfrom coal, a major culprit in global warming but also a homegrown energysource and an economic lifeline for many states.

Leaders of coal-rich states say clean-coal technology is a must.Governors from states without coal want more evidence the technology works.

"There's no doubt there's a tension and there's no doubt there is veryrapidly growing public opposition to coal," said Gov. Jim Doyle, D-Wis. Hisstate relies heavily on coal for power although Wisconsin isn't a coalproducer.

Energy tops the agenda at the governors' annual winter meeting. Thegroup's new clean energy initiative seeks to promote renewable fuels such asethanol and biodiesel and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

"Next-generation coal is going to need to continue to be part of ourenergy future for this country," said GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota,chairman of the National Governors Association.

"It is abundant, it is available, it is Americanized in the sense thatwe control the supply," he said Saturday. "We would be incomplete and doinga disservice to the debate and the ultimate policy direction that we'regoing to take if we don't envision coal being part of that."

Next-generation coal typically refers to capturing and somehowsequestering or storing the carbon that coal produces. It also envisionsreducing or eliminating emissions as coal is burned.
Pawlenty has embraced renewable fuels such as corn-based ethanol andconservation, but he also promotes clean-coal technology.

Such technology is a rallying cry for many coal-producing states. Theysay it is possible to continue relying on the fossil fuel while minimizingits impact on the environment.
Gov. Ed Rendell, D-Pa., envisions an economic turnaround if clean-coaltechnology takes off.
"Coal states would be back in business big time and the economieswould flourish," said Rendell, the association's vice chairman.

Presidents of two of the country's biggest power companies urgedgovernors not to dismiss coal, calling it the country's most abundant energyresource.
"We cannot ignore coal, we cannot demonize coal," said Thomas Farrell,chairman of Richmond, Va.-based Dominion Resources Inc. (D).

Michael Morris, chairman of Columbus, Ohio-based American ElectricPower Co. (AEP), said "the whole notion of delegitimizing coal is somethingwe should all be frightened of."
Gov. John Baldacci, D-Maine, needs to hear more before he wouldinclude clean- coal technology among the promising energy ideas for thecountry. His state promotes renewable energy produced through wind, solarand even tides.

"You have to deal with the coal states, but I don't think you wantthem doing more of what they're doing until they change what they're doingand make it truly the next generation," he said in an interview.

"Not just say clean-coal technology, but really do clean-coaltechnology."

Proponents say all energy sources have their problems. The key, saysGov. Brian Schweitzer, D-Mont., is a national energy policy with manyoptions and sources.

That is important because electricity demand will increase in thefuture. For instance, Schweitzer predicted that 10 years from now asignificant number of cars will be plug-in hybrid vehicles, which willrequire more power plants, not fewer.

Coal "has a CO2 problem, wind has a reliability problem, solar has aprice problem, nukes have a price and radiation problem," Schweitzer said."So all of those technologies have opportunities. but they all have problems- coal's no different."

He added, "What I can say about coal, is we have it. We have it in agreater supply than anyplace else on the planet."

Doyle, the Wisconsin governor, said the emerging consensus is a mix ofapproaches. He said the state's reliance on coal for electricity willdecline but definitely not disappear.

NRC Will Release Vermont Yankee Nuclear Safety Evaluation MondayVERNON, Vt. - Dow Jones & Company, Inc. - Feb 22

Federal regulators are getting ready to issue their safety evaluationof Vermont Yankee's plan to stay open an extra 20 years.

Staff at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission are expected torelease the evaluation Monday, a key milestone in the 35-year-old nuclearpower plant's bid to operate past its scheduled 2012 closure.

Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for the NRC, says the draft date for theevaluation is Monday, but that an NRC subcommittee, could take until March6th to sign off on the evaluation.
Vermont Yankee is operated by Entery Corp. (ETR).

Yergin: Climate Change and Energy are Converging into New Era of CleanEnergyCAMBRIDGE, Mass., Feb 23, 2008 -- BUSINESS WIRE
"High energy prices, climate change and energy security are convergingas the new engine driving the development of clean energy," Daniel Yergin,chairman of Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) and executive vicepresident, IHS Inc., said today in Washington, D.C. "There is a major shiftin public opinion towards clean energy, which is being bolstered by thegrowing conviction that new carbon policies will reshape the competitivelandscape of the global energy business."

Yergin spoke at the 2008 National Governors Association (NGA) WinterMeeting. The organization's members are the governors of the 50 states,three territories and two commonwealths of the United States. Making thenation a global leader in clean energy was the key topic of this year'smeeting.

Citing CERA's new study, Crossing the Divide: the Future of CleanEnergy, Yergin said that renewable power and biofuels could be supplying asmuch as 16 percent of the global electric and transportation needs by 2030."We are going through a period of what I call the 'great bubbling,' a highdegree of innovation all across the energy spectrum," he said. "Toparaphrase a famous phrase about states as the laboratories of democracy,the states today are truly 'laboratories' of energy innovation andinitiative for the nation.

"There are a broad range of opportunities and benefits, as well asrisks, and pitfalls, as the modern energy industry increasingly moves toadopt clean technologies that will be part of the alternative, low-carbonpathway to the energy future," Yergin told the NGA audience. "Allparticipants in the global energy business, from traditional firms such aselectric power companies and oil and gas companies to new entrants such asventure capital firms and high tech companies will play a role in shapingthis changing energy future. So will government at both the state andfederal levels."

On current oil prices, he added, "A major reason for the current leapto around $100 a barrel is the economy - but now a weak U.S. economy, ratherthan the strong global economy that has been so important the last fewyears. A slowing U.S. economy, rate cuts by the Federal Reserve andexpectations of more, and a weak U.S. dollar - along with the reappearanceof inflation around the world - are driving investors into oil and othercommodities. Instead of the traditional 'flight to the dollar' during timesof uncertainty, we are seeing a 'flight to oil.'"

He cited several key insights from the Crossing the Divide study:
-- Renewable power technologies are poised for substantial growth -Wind will make the largest gains, followed by solar power and biomass --despite near-term bottlenecks in wind turbine manufacturing, supplyshortages in silicon and competitive pressures from escalating componentcosts.

-- Government policy remains a key driver for clean energy advancement- Putting a price on CO2 emissions, setting mandates and providing subsidiesall work to kick-start clean energy technologies by meeting the economiccompetitiveness and cost advantages of conventional technologies. Thechallenge in the years ahead is to provide subsidies in a way that ensuresthat these technologies get off the drawing board and are able to weanthemselves from support - allowing for a phase-out rather than an increasein subsidies - as they become commercially viable on their own. It is alsoimportant that mandates be set at achievable levels and with care so as notto create unexpected pressures from higher prices.

-- Clean energy portfolio - A full range of clean energy technologiesalong with demand side responses will be needed to address the challenge ofredirecting global greenhouse gas emissions trends. While many clean energytechnologies are commercially available, more work is needed to develop anddemonstrate a broader set of technologies including advanced coal systems.

-- Conventional emission-free technologies - Nuclear and hydroelectricgeneration will account for most of the clean energy impact for the nextdecade, and almost half the gross clean power additions by 2030. The coalresource base and utilization in the United States and China will create apowerful drive to develop "clean coal" technologies.

-- Asia demand and manufacturing - Rapid economic growth may pushAsian energy needs from 30 percent of current global demand to 40 percent by2030; combined with its manufacturing cost-competitiveness, this could makeAsia a nexus for clean energy technology research, development and equipmentproduction.

-- The Economy - Economic growth affects energy demand and carbonemissions as well as the political and financial support for research anddevelopment of new clean energy technologies.
-- The Big Three: "The Big Three" in terms of energy consumption - theUnited States, the European Union and China - will have a major impact ondevelopment of "clean energy," along with certain other countries,particularly Japan, India and Brazil.

Yergin explained how CERA's analysis in Crossing the Divide uses ascenarios framework to assess the prospects among the various clean energytechnologies and help define key risks and opportunities as companies seekto place their technology bets. The analysis addresses new and conventionalenergy technologies that can provide energy with a minimal carbon footprintand facilitate greater energy security. These technologies include biofuels,renewable power technologies, carbon capture and storage, nuclear andhydropower.

About CERA
Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA), an IHS company (NYSE:IHS), is a leading advisor to energy companies, consumers, financialinstitutions, technology providers, and governments. CERA (www.cera.com)delivers strategic knowledge and independent analysis on energy markets,geopolitics, industry trends, and strategy. CERA is based in Cambridge,Massachusetts, and has offices in Bangkok, Beijing, Calgary, Dubai,Johannesburg, Mexico City, Moscow, Mumbai, Oslo, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, SanFrancisco, Tokyo, and Washington, DC.

For information about Crossing the Divide, contact Michael Banville atmbanville@cera.com.
(C) 2008, Cambridge Energy Research Associates, Inc. All rightsreserved. CERA and the CERA logo are registered trademarks of CambridgeEnergy Research Associates, Inc.
SOURCE: Cambridge Energy Research Associates

Brazil not to yield gas to Argentina, offers nuclear energy agreementFeb 23, 2008 -- BBC Monitoring
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva withstood the charm of the president ofArgentina, Cristina Kirchner. He does not want to give up one bit of thenatural gas that Brazil receives from Bolivia to be sent to the Argentines.In a conversation called "friendly and frank" by Brazilian Foreign MinisterCelso Amorim, the presidents each expressed their needs. Today thediscussion continues with the presence of the Bolivian president, EvoMorales. Lula proposed that technical people from the sector also attend thebreakfast. Brazil will likely offer the Argentines different types ofenergy, but not gas.

The president of Petrobras [Brazilian Petroleum Corporation], SergioGabrielli, did not take part in the private conversation between Lula andCristina. Even so, he gave the tone of the dialogue between Brazil andArgentina, after the ceremony in the Casa Rosada [presidential offices]where a broad agreement for cooperation in various areas was signed.Gabrielli said that Brazil needs "every molecule" of the 30m cubic meters ofgas that it imports daily from Bolivia.

"That does not mean that Petrobras is not sensitive to the needs ofArgentina's electricity market. The company is ready to analyse somepossibilities for electricity supply in times of emergency, makingadditional electrical generation possible for export," Gabrielli said. Herevealed that teams from the two countries are conducting studies to findother sources of energy that can be supplied to Argentina to take care ofthe demand for energy that the country needs. On the list of options arethermal electric power plants run on fuel oil or natural gas, and it ispossible to regulate the supply to permit accumulation of water in thereservoirs of the Argentine hydroelectric power plants. It is cheaper forthe neighbour country, however, to buy natural gas to feed its thermalplants than to buy the Brazilian electric power. To offset that, Gabrielliaccepts correcting the possible difference in prices.

During an impromptu speech in the Argentine Congress, Lula said thatthe energy problems are structural and common to all of South America. "Weall have problems," he stated. He said the same to the president ofArgentina. He stated that, due to the lack of investments, the region isfacing serious difficulties. The president of Petrobras, meanwhile,explained that the results of the company's billion-dollar investments, bothin Bolivia and in Argentina, will come starting in 2010.

In the dispute over the Bolivian gas, the possibility of retaliationis hovering in the air, with withdrawal of the gas consumed by PetrobrasEnergia, whose headquarters is in Buenos Aires. Gabrielli denied pressurefrom the Argentine government for the state-owned company to give up part ofthe share of gas that it buys from Bolivia. "We have a good relationshipwith Argentina. It is a relationship typical of all the oil energy companieswith the governments of their countries. It is a love-hate relationship," hestated.

Plan To Have Nuclear Reactor

Brazil and Argentina want to develop a nuclear power reactor togetherand build a binational company for enrichment of uranium. The negotiationsto set up the company will start in June. The agreement is one of the 17items in the superpackage of commitments in the areas of politics,economics, production, science and technology, and energy signed yesterdayby presidents Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Cristina Kirchner.

"We are going to launch a joint satellite and develop a programme ofpeaceful cooperation in nuclear matters which will be a model for a worldinflamed by the arms race temptation and by ideological politicalintolerance," Lula told the Argentine deputies and senators yesterdayafternoon. In an attempt to facilitate the two countries' understanding inregard to energy sources, the agreement suggests that increasing theexportation of Brazilian electric power to Argentina move forward.

Lula and Cristina also asked to speed up the Garabi hydroelectricprojects. They were not satisfied with the schedule, which stipulatescompletion of the environmental impact studies only in March 2011. TheMinister of Foreign Relations, Celso Amorim, will be in charge of drivingthe technical areas to move up the schedule.

Also provided, according to the joint declaration of the twopresidents, is the creation of a binational biopharmaceutical and technologycompany, in order "to guarantee the supply of essential medications to thepublic health systems of Argentina and Brazil and the conditions of thepublic's access to these medicines," according to the document.

Brazil also promised to manufacture parts of Embraer's [BrazilianAeronautics Company] 170 and 190 family of airplanes. The aeronauticalcooperation agreement signed by the ministries of Defence, Embraer, andCordoba Materiel Area - AMC (the old Military Airplane Factory) - alsoprovides for the purchase of Brazilian aircraft and the development ofaeronautical projects of mutual interest. Also planned is theindustrial-scale production and marketing of the Gaucho, a military jeepdeveloped jointly by the Brazilian and Argentine armies.

Source: Correio Braziliense website, Brasilia, in Portuguese 23 Feb 08
BBC Mon LA1 LatPol tj

EGCO urges Thai Govt to consider coal-fired and nuclear powerBANGKOK, Feb 22, 2008 -- AsiaPulse

Concerned with high and rising production costs for electricity andthe dwindling supplies of local natural gas used to produce power,Thailand's Egco Group is urging the new government to build coal- andnuclear-powered electricity plants to meet national needs.

Visit Akaravinak, president of Egco Group, Thailand's firstindependent power producer, said the kingdom currently uses locally-suppliednatural gas for 70 per cent of its gas-powered electricity production, butlocal supplies are shrinking and becoming more expensive. He said Thailand'senergy minister should act, and build coal and nuclear-powered electricityplants despite protests from the public as such sources could bring down thelocal production costs as well as the prices paid by consumers.

The previous government planned to construct a 4,000-megawatt (MW)nuclear-power electricity plant and conducted a feasibility study, Mr Visitsaid. The government should implement the project under study, he said,noting that the Egco Group plans to provide knowledge about nuclear-poweredelectricity plants to its staff.

Currently, the Egco Group is jointly investing with the state-ownedElectricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) and two other Thai firmsin building 3,600 MW coal-powered electricity plant on Koh Kong in Cambodia.Costs are high because a 400-kilometre transmission line must be installed,he said. Construction will have to take place in Cambodia, Mr Visit said,because of protests over building any kind of electrical power plants inThailand.

Meanwhile, Energy Minister Poonpirom Liptapanlop said her ministrywould continue its feasibility study on a nuclear-powered electricity plant.Budget allocation on the study is set at Bt1.3 billion (US$41.19 million)and must be completed within three years, said Mrs Poonpirom.

If a nuclear-powered electricity plant is built within the next 13years, both pros and cons in regard to the population as well as theeconomy, and acceptance by the public must first be taken intoconsideration. (TNA-OANA)

Power unit at Russian nuclear plant back on line after shutdownVoronezh, Feb 22, 2008 -- BBC Monitoring
The fourth power generating unit of the Novovoronezh nuclear powerplant was reconnected to the power grid today after repairs, the plant'scontrol room has told ITAR-TASS.
Power generating unit No 4 was shut down on 19 February following abreakdown of an electric drive of the reactor protection control system. Thepower plant's specialists performed all necessary repairs to fix thebreakdown.

The fourth power unit of the Novovoronezh plant with VVER-440 reactorwith the capacity of 417,000 kW came on stream in 1972. Its 30-year designservice life was extended by 15 years after it had expired in 2002.

All three generating units of the Novovoronezh nuclear power plantwith a total capacity of 1,834 MW are operational now. The radiation levelat the power plant and the adjacent territory is normal.

Source: ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow, in Russian 0803 gmt 22 Feb 08
BBC Mon FS1 MCU 220208 yk/ab

UK Government: Clean up fund is precondition for new nuclear - HuttonFeb 22, 2008 -- M2 PRESSWIRE
New nuclear power station operators will be required by law to setaside money from day one of generating electricity for their eventualdecommissioning and waste costs, Business Secretary John Hutton made cleartoday.

Draft guidance published today sets out how clauses in the Energy Billrequiring operators of new nuclear power stations to meet the full cost ofdecommissioning and their full share of waste management costs would work.

Companies would be required to:
* Demonstrate detailed and costed plans for decommissioning, wastemanagement and disposal, before they even begin construction of a nuclearpower station;
* Set money aside into a secure and independent fund from day one ofgenerating electricity; and
* Have additional security in place to supplement the Fund should itbe insufficient, for example, if the power station closes early.
In ensuring these safeguards, the Secretary of State will draw onexpert advice from the soon to be established Nuclear Liabilities FinancingAssurance Board.

Mr Hutton said:
"Last month I invited energy companies to bring forward proposals fornew nuclear power stations and we are already taking steps to facilitatethis. It is in the national interest that the energy industry is able toinvest in secure low carbon energy sources.

"But it is also in the national interest that we take every step toensure that the taxpayer is protected from the clean up costs down the line.The Energy Bill and the guidance published today make clear that companiesare liable by law to meet their full costs.

"Let me be clear - full means full. Funds will be sufficient, secureand independent, it will be a criminal offence not to comply with theapproved arrangements and we are taking powers to guard against unforeseenshortfalls."

The draft guidance, published for consultation, will assist businessesin understanding their obligations under the Energy Bill, and what isrequired for a Funded Decommissioning Programme to gain approval.

Included is an indicative timeline by which the Government expects topublish its updated estimates of the costs of decommissioning and managingand disposing of the waste from new nuclear power stations, and therefore bein a position to set a fixed unit price for disposal of intermediate levelwaste and spent fuel. This fixed unit price will be set at a level over andabove expected costs and will include a significant risk premium, to providethe taxpayer with material protection.

We consider that a decision by an operator to proceed in principlewith building a new nuclear power station and therefore to request from theGovernment a fixed unit price for waste disposal in a Geological DisposalFacility could come as early as mid 2009.

1. This consultation on the draft guidance will end on the 16 May 2008and follows the publication of the White Paper on Nuclear Power on 10January 2008. The White Paper announced the Government's formal response tothe consultation on the future of nuclear power, that it would be in thepublic interest to allow energy companies the option of investing in newnuclear power stations.

2. Under the Energy Bill, operators of new nuclear power stations mustproduce a Funded Decommissioning Programme for approval, which consists oftwo parts: a Decommissioning and Waste Management Plan and a FundingArrangements Plan.

3. "Full decommissioning costs" are the costs for: dismantling theplant at the end of its operational life; and, returning the site to acondition agreed with the regulators (likely to be a state suitable forrestricted use, industrial or recreational).

4. The "full share of waste costs" means: The costs that are directlyattributable to disposing of new build waste in a geological disposalfacility; and, a contribution towards the fixed costs of building ageological disposal facility.

5. The first set of draft guidance (Part 1 - Decommissioning and WasteManagement Plan Guidance) will assist businesses in setting out and costingthe steps involved in decommissioning a new nuclear power station andmanaging and disposing of radioactive waste and spent fuel in a way whichMinisters may approve.

6. The second set of draft guidance (Part 2 - Funding Arrangement PlanGuidance) will assist operators in setting out acceptable proposals for howsufficient funds will be accumulated to meet the costs identified and setsout the guiding principles against which the Government will assess thefunding proposals submitted by nuclear operators for approval under theEnergy Bill.

7. The guidance flows from the clauses in the Energy Bill and can onlybe finalised after Royal Assent of the Bill. The consultation on draftguidance runs from today until 16 May 2008.

8. This guidance is statutory and will be laid before Parliament toensure transparency. As guidance it cannot compel, but taken together, it isintended to set out the matters which the Secretary of State may take intoaccount in determining whether to approve or approve with modifications, ormodify a Funded Decommissioning Programme.

9. This guidance is expected to be of interest to nuclear operators asthey will be responsible for submitting Funded Decommissioning Programmes,ensuring that financial security is provided, and, taking the technicalsteps set out in the approved Funded Decommissioning Programme as necessary.The guidance is also expected to be of interest to other stakeholders,including environmental organisations, investors, regulatory and consumerbodies and local communities.

10. Dr Tim Stone, a senior financier with experience of major capitalinvestment projects, was appointed in January 2007 to advise the Secretaryof State for BERR and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on financing thecosts of decommissioning, waste management and waste disposal for newnuclear power stations. The clauses in the Bill and the draft guidancepublished today for consultation are the result of this work.

11. Full documents are available for comment at http://www.berr.gov.uk

12. The Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform helpsUK business succeed in an increasingly competitive world. It promotesbusiness growth and a strong enterprise economy, leads the better regulationagenda and champions free and fair markets. It is the shareholder in anumber of Government-owned assets and it

M2 Communications Ltd disclaims all liability for information providedwithin M2 PressWIRE. Data supplied by named party/parties. Furtherinformation on M2 PressWIRE can be obtained at http://www.presswire.net onthe world wide web. Inquiries to info@m2.com.

Areva achieves carbon neutral statusFeb 22, 2008 -- Datamonitor
French power group Areva has achieved carbon neutrality and hasemitted less than one million metric tons of CO2 equivalent in 2007.

The company said that this was possible through an emission reductioninitiative in addition to the type of processes used in Areva's industrialactivities that generate little CO2. To make up for its share of unavoidableemissions, the firm bought CO2 credits on the market.

In order to prolong this compensation initiative, Areva isco-operating with EcoAct, with a view to selecting and supportingenvironmental projects of benefit to the local populations in countrieswhere the group has offices.

These include building refrigerated warehouses with no dieselgenerator sets in Niger, providing the Brazilian ceramics industry withbiomass and replacing coal by natural gas in a Chinese thermal plant, thecompany said.

Guy Bousquet, senior vice president, sustainable development andcontinuous improvement, said: "Areva is one of the only industrial groups toachieve carbon neutrality. This is not to be underestimated. Not only doesour offer contribute to the fight against climate change but so do ourindustrial activities."