by NUCBIZ

Many of the inspection reports specifically reference procedures as part of the problems with many of the events and shortfalls in operations, maintenance and engineering. This continues to be an issue. For the last 4 years PROS has asked INPO and the NRC for an additional performance matrix or oversight on procedure backlog issues at the INPO/NRC Senior Executive Meetings.  This was a topic discussed with the NRC Chairman at PROS Meeting with NRC Commissioners last month.

BROWNS FERRY NUCLEAR PLANT - NRC INTEGRATED INSPECTION REPORT - February 2, 2010

SL-IV: A Severity Level IV, non-cited violation (NCV) of 10 CFR 50.72(b)(3)(iv)(A) and 10 CFR 50.73(a)(2)(iv)(A) were identified by the inspectors for the licensee’s failure to recognize that a valid automatic reactor protection system (RPS) actuation while shutdown was a reportable condition. Consequently, the licensee failed to make an eight hour report as required by 10CFR50.72 and submit a licensee event report (LER) within 60 days as required by 10CFR50.73.

reviewjournal.com

A devastating blow last week to a plan to bury nuclear waste under Yucca Mountain has bolstered another controversial idea: reprocessing nuclear waste at the same location on the Nevada Test Site.

Several Republican candidates -- including leading U.S. Senate candidates Danny Tarkanian, Sue Lowden and Sharron Angle -- have expressed support for studying or experimenting with reprocessing, a method of extracting useful fuel from radioactive waste.

Two Republican gubernatorial candidates are also open to the idea, despite...

Helsingin Sanomat

“It is incredible what that crazy [supervisor] kept talking about. It was impossible to work with him, but he was responsible for building the reactor”, says Polish builder Zbignew Mulczynski, describing his foreman hired by the French construction company Bouygues.

Olkiluoto 3, Finland’s fifth commercial nuclear reactor, is in its sixth year of construction. The facility, which is being built under the supervision of the French company Areva, was supposed to have been churning out electricity for Finns already in 2009. Now cautious estimates are for a startup in late 2012, and even that might prove to be too optimistic.

A number of explanations have been put forward about why the schedule has not held. There were complaints of red tape. Areva was said to have started the construction work without sufficiently detailed blueprints. Subcontracting chains were said to be too complicated, and the job to do reportedly proved to be more challenging than usual.

“Some are saying that the sixth nuclear installation will be ready before the fifth”, says Kyösti Suokas, co-chairman of the Finnish Construction Union.

 The Globe and Mail

Canadian medical officials are bracing for “significant shortages” of a key isotope used to perform imaging tests and warning a lack of supply this spring could hamper diagnoses of life-threatening illnesses such as cancer and heart disease.

Doctors have been grappling with a decline in isotope production since last May, when the nuclear reactor in Chalk River, Ont., was shut down for repairs.

But the shortfall is about to get worse.

The aging Petten reactor in the Netherlands, which has helped to fill the void while the Chalk River facility sits idle, will be turned off on Feb. 19 to repair leaks, and it is expected to remain closed until summer.

Together, these two reactors produce about 60 per cent of the world's supply of an isotope called technetium 99, a radioactive substance used in 85 per cent of diagnostic imaging procedures.

“We are definitely exquisitely anxious. But I don't think that anybody has real solutions,” said Jean-Luc Urbain, president of the Canadian Society of Nuclear Medicine.

Businessday.co.za

KOREA Electric Power yesterday said it had signed a n agreement on uranium mining with Areva.

The partnership followed the utility’s purchase of a 10% stake in the Imouraren uranium mine in Niger, the Seoul-based company, also known as Kepco, said.

Korea Electric and unit Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power said on December 10 they would buy shares in a unit of Paris-based Areva, the world’s biggest maker of reactors, which owns the mine.

South Korea, which operates 20 nuclear power plants, plans to add eight more by 2016 as Asia’s fourth-largest oil importer seeks to reduce its dependence on crude. Kepco said it aimed to secure as much as half of its uranium needs by developing mines overseas by 2020, and to buy more stakes in African and central Asian producers this year.

“It’s the right move as Kepco tries to reduce the impact of changes in raw material prices,” said Joo Ick Chan, an analyst at Eugene Investment & Securities who rates the stock “buy” with a share-price forecast of 60000 won. Korea Electric was also seeking to boost exports of nuclear plants, Joo said.

The utility was in discussions with at least five countries to build nuclear-power plants, Chung Kun Mo, an adviser to Kepco, said last month. Kepco led a consortium to win a tender in the United Arab Emirates worth 40bn for four nuclear plants in December.

South Florida Business Journal

Albuquerque, N.M.; Chattanooga, Tenn.; Detroit; Newport News, Va.; San Francisco; Denver; San Antonio.

There’s no shortage of American cities vying to become a major hub for energy development, one of the most promising sectors of the national economy. Many deserve legitimate consideration. Even Idaho Falls, Idaho, has its flag planted firmly as a center for the nuclear industry.

These are just some of Charlotte’s rivals vying to deliver on the “new energy capital” initiative — the nationwide push to create a market leader in new technologies for generating electricity.

“From a nuclear-energy perspective, the Carolinas have a great head start,” says Mark Fecteau, managing director of strategic project development at Westinghouse Electric Co. in Columbia, S.C. “My sense is that for the broader energy industry you talk about in Charlotte, there is a lot more competition. There’s a lot of people who would like to call themselves the energy capital.”

msnbc News

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. - An explosion that sounded like a sonic boom blew out walls of an unfinished power plant and set off a fire during a test of natural gas lines Sunday, killing at least five workers and injuring a dozen or more.

The explosion at the Kleen Energy Systems plant in Middletown, about 20 miles south of Hartford, could be heard and felt for miles.

Deputy Fire Marshal Al Santostefano told The Associated Press on Sunday night that no one was known to be missing amid the rubble from the damaged plant. Still, crews planned to spend all night going through debris in case there were any more victims. The cause of the gas explosion was unknown, and the investigation was to begin Monday morning, he said.

China Knowledge

Feb. 8, 2010 (China Knowledge) - China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group, one of China's two major nuclear power plant operators, recently inked a memorandum of understanding with Ukraine National Nuclear Power Corp on nuclear power cooperation, sources said.

Pursuant to the MOU, the two companies will exchange opinions on the design, construction, operation and maintenance of nuclear plants. In addition, they will share research on nuclear power equipment as well as staff training.

Qian Zhimin, president of the Guangdong-based group, said this partnership is a starting point for further  mutual beneficial cooperation between the two companies.

Reportedly, Ukraine National Nuclear Power Corp has 15 generators with a total gross capacity of 13.84 million kilowatts. There will be another seven units above 1 million kW before 2020.

China Guangdong Nuclear Power has four generators with a total gross capacity of nearly 4 million kW. Another 12 units are under construction.

Green Car Congress

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (Pty) Ltd (PBMR Pty) of the Republic of South Africa to study the area of collaboration in the development of the helium-cooled, High Temperature Reactor (HTR) Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR).

Based on the MOU, MHI will initially study the area for possible collaboration in the design of 200 MWt (megawatts thermal) plant, which PBMR Pty is currently...