Bigger bailout for BE.
(October 4, 2002) The UK government has not just renewed its temporary loan to British Energy (see WISE/NIRS Nuclear Monitor 573, "In Brief") - it has increased it to £650 million (US$1 billion). Belgium has complained to the European Commission that the loan is in breach of European competition rules, and could distort the electricity market. BBC, 2 October 2002
U.S. waste setbacks.
(October 4, 2002) The State of Nebraska has been fined US$151 million for refusing to issue a license in 1998 for a dump for low-level radioactive waste from five states (Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana). The state has already started its appeal against the ruling.
Also, a federal court has struck down a deal that the Energy Department made with Peco (now part of Exelon) to offset part of its contributions to the nuclear waste fund so as to pay for on-site dry cask storage at Peach Bottom.
Finally, in California, Governor Gray Davis has vetoed a bill that would have put strict limits on the disposal of low-level radioactive waste, but issued a moratorium on waste from decommissioned nuclear sites going to municipal landfills. Sierra Club spokesman Bill Magavern criticized the moratorium because it "still allows for recycling of radioactive waste". omaha.com, 1 October 2002; Las Vegas Review-Journal, 27 September 2002; AP, 30 September 2002
Bulgaria issues EU ultimatum.
(October 4, 2002) Bulgaria has told the European Union that it will delay closure of Kozloduy 3 and 4 unless the EU sends experts to inspect the units' safety and to re-evaluate the demand that the reactors should be closed by the end of 2006. The reactors have no containment and are amongst the most dangerous of the Soviet-designed pressurized water reactors (VVERs). AP, 24 September 2002
China: Qinshan-4 critical.
(October 4, 2002) The CANDU reactor Qinshan-4 achieved criticality on 22 September, three weeks ahead of schedule. It is due to be connected to the grid in October achieve commercial operation by the end of 2002. WNA News Briefing, 25 September - 1 October 2002
US: Practice emergency turns real.
(October 4, 2002) An emergency drill at the Oak Ridge Y-12 plant turned real after a fire ignited under a uranium hood on 26 September. Workers had to go out of the emergency exercise and evacuate the plant for real. The fire occurred when depleted uranium metal which was being used in the hood ignited spontaneously. No-one was reported to be injured. The Oak Ridger, 26 September 2002