Nuclear Power & Radiation

"Japan's Atomic Energy Agency says it has restarted a controversial nuclear reactor, more than 14 years after its operations were suspended."

The $2 billion in federal stimulus money was welcomed in southeastern Washington, where the government has been working for decades to clean up the Hanford nuclear complex. But newly hired workers on the project may be facing dangers because of inadequate training and precautions for the threat of deadly beryllium dust.

"Twenty concrete vaults sit side-by-side, like self-storage containers, next to the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant. These concrete tombs hold fuel cells, each containing 12-foot rods of enriched uranium. The rods are toxic and radioactive and were never intended to be stored here indefinitely, among Ocean County's 560,000 residents."

"As Southern Company and its partners, armed with federal loan guarantees of $8.3 billion, move toward construction of two new reactors at a site near Augusta, Ga., opponents are taking aim at the design details." A new engineering study funded by several anti-nuclear groups says corrosion in the reactor's containment could vent radioactivity to the atmosphere in the event of an accident. Westinghouse, the reactor's maker disputed the study.

"A panel of experts convened on Tuesday by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to discuss how the agency should approach tritium leaks at reactors suggested that the biggest risk that nuclear operators faced was the erosion of public trust."

"Vermont Yankee is one of more than two dozen aging U.S. reactors that have leaked radioactive tritium from underground pipes. Its case has cast a pall on the revival of nuclear power and revived the anti-nuclear movement."

"European investors and consumers take note: plans by power companies to cut carbon emissions with a new range of nuclear power stations are a big gamble for companies and joe public will have to foot the bill."

"President Barack Obama and presidents, prime ministers and other top officials from 47 countries start work Monday on a battle plan to keep nuclear weapons out of terrorist hands."

"Sixteen utilities and a trade association sued the Energy Department on Monday to halt the government’s collection of nuclear waste disposal fees, arguing that the country no longer had a disposal plan after ruling out Yucca Mountain, Nev., as a repository."

"In a major victory for environmental advocates, New York State has ruled that outmoded cooling technology at the Indian Point nuclear power plant kills so many Hudson River fish, and consumes and contaminates so much water, that it violates the federal Clean Water Act."