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IN BRIEF

Nuclear Monitor Issue: 
#654
20/04/2007
Article

Regular water leaks at Temelín trigger tensions - First block's restart delayed twice.

(March 19, 2007) Political tensions over the Czech Temelín nuclear power station have reached a new peak following two leaks, totaling 3,100 liters of radioactive water in early March. Austrian opposition parties urged faster preparation of a lawsuit against the Czech Republic, alleging breach of a 2000 agreement. On March 14 and April 11, Austrian opponents of Temelín blockaded respectively four and seven border crossings. Dana Drabova, head of the Czech State Authority for Nuclear Safety said: "It is not so much the seriousness of the leaks, but their frequency which is unacceptable." On March 15, the Czech Ministers of Industry and Environment forced the power company CEZ and the State Authority for Nuclear Safety to submit a comprehensive report in a month's time listing all the technical faults at Temelín since it began operating and also the reactions of the nuclear safety authority to them. Government ministers will discuss the report and decide on the need for personnel changes. Environment Minister Martin Bursik, who initially accused the head of the Nuclear Safety Office of playing down the seriousness of the accidents, says the report will show how efficient the body is. At the time of printing, the report was not available yet.
The first Temelín block was to be originally restarted in late March, but the end of the stoppage was delayed over another leak of about 1,000 liters of radioactive water during a pressure test. According to analists, one day of stoppage cost about Kc12m (US$580,000 or €430,000). The stoppage was prompted by troubles with fuel supplied by the U.S. Westinghouse company, some of which got deformed in the reactor more than expected.
After block 1 was finally started up, it quickly had to be run down again, according to officials because of a too high level of humidity in the turbine-hall. There are indications that another secondary cooling pipe burst or leaked, but these are not confirmed. The now scheduled start-up date is April 20th.
Earlier leaks of radioactive water at Temelín: 31 May 2001 (several 1000s l) - 21 December 2004 (20,000 l) - May 2005 (3,000 l) - 2 August 2006 (several 1000s l).
ENDS Europe Daily, 15 March 2007; Radio Praha (www.radio.cz) several reports March 2007; Prague Daily Monitor, 10 April 2007; WISE Brno 17 April 2007

U.S.A. Davis-Besse: owner looking for insurance money.

(March 19, 2007) First Energy Nuclear Operating Company has asked its insurer Nuclear Electric Insurance to pay for two years of lost production because of corrosion that it called "unexpected and unforeseeable," at the Davis-Besse reactor in Ohio. But First Energy had resisted government pressure to inspect for acid leaks just before the problem was uncovered in 2002. The corrosion in the lid of the reactor vessel at Davis-Besse almost ate through the steel, leaving a hole the size of a football and nothing but a thin liner of stainless steel holding in the cooling water that surrounded the radioactive core. Before the plant's owner discovered the problem during routine maintenance, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission had ordered inspections of reactors of that type to see if there was any damage around the vessel head. The company had petitioned for a delay, which the agency granted.
In a report made public early April by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which was prepared as part of the company's insurance claim, First Energy said the corrosion might have occurred over a matter of weeks. When the company was seeking permission to reopen its reactor, it told the commission that the corrosion had occurred over a period of three years. Discovery of the corrosion shocked the industry. The General Accounting Office, as it was then named, called it "the most serious safety issue confronting the nation's commercial nuclear power industry since Three Mile Island in 1979." (see Nuclear Monitor 565, March 22, 2002: "Millimeters from disaster") The company is seeking US$80 million (€60 million) for replacement of the vessel head, and US$106.7 million (€79 million) for the cost of replacement power. The plant was shut for two years.
New York Times, 6 April 2007

 

Urenco: 23% of world-wide enrichment market.

(March 19, 2007) Urenco's share of the world's enrichment services market was about 23% in 2006, up from just under 20% in 2005, the company said March 20. In reporting its 2006 results, Urenco said that its order book stood at €15 billion (US$20 billion) at the end of 2006, an increase of more than 90% compared to the European enrichment consortium's order book at the end of 2005. Urenco indicated that growth occurred in Europe, Asia, and North America. By comparison, the US enrichment company USEC Inc. reported recently that its sales backlog totaled US$7 billion.
Urenco also noted that the first production from its LES enrichment plant in the US will occur in mid-2009 instead of the end of 2008. But according to Urenco, LES customer deliveries will remain on schedule because additional enrichment capacity will be installed at Urenco's European plants.
Nuclear News Flashes, 20 March 2007

 

UK: Nirex gone.

(March 19, 2007) The UK Government's policy of giving the job of building and managing a nuclear waste repository to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has reached a major milestone. All staff and responsibilities of Nirex, the former waste management organization, have now been transferred to the NDA which has established a new directorate - the Radioactive Waste Management Directorate (RWMD). The RWMD will set up a subsidiary of the NDA to devise "a safe, environmentally sound, publicly acceptable, geological disposal solution" for the UK's high- level wastes - civil and military. The NDA said the next step is "proposals for a voluntarist/partnership approach to site selection".
Nirex was formed in 1982 to develop an intermediate-level waste disposal facility, with shares held by British Energy, BNFL, the UKAEA and the government. It carried out detailed studies and in 1994 sought permission to construct an underground rock laboratory to investigate the suitability of a site near Sellafield for deep geological disposal. Permission was refused three years later and UK radioactive waste policy has been confused ever since.
N-Base Briefing 521, 15 April & AUA Weekly Digest, 13 April 2007

 

German waste site go-ahead incontestable.

(March 19, 2007) Germany's first disposal site for low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste is set to go ahead after the Federal Administrative Court ended years of legal argument and delay.
The plan to convert the Konrad site, a former iron ore mine in Lower Saxony, and to use it as a final repository, was first approved by the state environment ministry in 2002 after almost 20 years of proceedings. Local communities and farmers appealed against the licensing decision. Those lawsuits were dismissed in March 2006, without leave for further appeal, but subsequent appeals were made against the denial of leave to appeal. These were finally dismissed on 3 April, exhausting the legal process and rendering the site license to convert the Konrad mine into a final repository incontestable.
The Konrad site will hold up to 303,000 cubic meters of waste - some 95% of the waste volume with 1% of the radioactivity from Germany's nuclear industry. It may be operational about 2010. The low- and intermediate-level waste includes items like filters, tools, chemical wastewater, sludges/suspensions, cleaning materials and contaminated metals and non-metals. The waste undergoes treatment to reduce its volume before being packed into drums for disposal.
World Nuclear News, 12 April 2007

 

Piebalgs petitioned to end Euratom and nuclear power after 50 unhappy years.

(March 19, 2007) On the occasion of the 50th anniversaries of the EU and its pro-nuclear Euratom Treaty, 782 organizations and 634,686 individuals have demanded abolition of Euratom and a phase-out of nuclear power across Europe. European Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs received birthday presents packed with signatures, and campaigners encouraged EU member states to consider the legally sound option of unilateral withdrawal from the nuclear treaty. European Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said, after receiving the petition: "We have a consensus to push for renewable energy and energy efficiency and we should work for this. The number of signatures on this petition against Euratom and nuclear power is impressive. Certainly, the voices of these Europeans will be taken into consideration."
Frank van Schaik, from the European Petition Campaign against Nuclear Power said: "For the last fifty years, the Euratom Treaty has given unjustified and undemocratic preferential financial support to nuclear power. People across Europe have demanded that the treaty should be scrapped. And failing that, member states should exercise their sovereign right to withdraw unilaterally and halt their own contribution to this outdated nuclear fund." Several recent studies published by German and Austrian professors of international law conclude that it is legally possible for the EU member states to independently pull out of the Euratom Treaty, without affecting their position in the EU. The petition enforces the recent Eurobarometer poll showing that 61% of the overall EU population thinks the share of nuclear power should be decreased due to concerns such as nuclear waste and the danger of accidents. French and Belgian anti-nuclear campaigners marched from Lille through Belgium to hand over their contribution to the petition.
Source: European Petition against Nuclear Power 23 March 2007

 

"G7 recognizes benefits of nuclear energy".

(March 19, 2007) Finance chiefs from the seven world's leading industrial nations have endorsed nuclear energy. The Group of Seven (G7), following a meeting in Washington, U.S.A. on 13 April, issued a joint statement which said, "In order to ensure energy security and to address climate change, we consider energy efficiency and the promotion of energy diversification to be important issues for both developed and developing economies. Diversification can include advanced energy technology such as renewable, nuclear and clean coal." The group at previous meetings had been unable to agree on a text citing nuclear power, primarily due to opposition from Germany. French finance minister Thierry Breton said he had put "a lot of energy" into getting the G7 to include nuclear among potential alternative power sources. He said, "It wasn't my first attempt but it was the first time it was unanimously accepted."
One reason more to participate in the international mobilization against the G8 summit 2007 early June in Heiligendamm, Germany. Look at www.dissentnetwork.org for more information.
WNN Daily, 16 April 2007

 

Higher electricity prices to help Duke to recover planning costs.

(March 19, 2007) US energy company Duke Energy is likely to increase its electricity prices to recover the costs of planning a new nuclear power plant. The North Carolina Utilities Commission (NCUC) granted Duke the permission for this. Duke needs the rate increases to recover up to $125 million (€92.3mn) in costs for planning the facility. In a possible breach of state law, Duke asked the NCUC in September 2006 for assurance that its investment to evaluate and develop a nuclear plant in the Carolinas was prudent and that the North Carolina allocable portion of such costs could be recovered in a timely manner. Opponents told the commission that state law does not allow a utility to recover power plant costs until the plant is operating. The NCUC ruled that it is appropriate for Duke to pursue the development of the project to preserve nuclear generation as an option for customers. However, Duke said it faced an unacceptable financial risk otherwise. The company's proposed $6 billion (€4.43bn) William States Lee III plant in Cherokee County, South Carolina, will be jointly owned by Southern Co.
Associated Press 20 March 2007, World Nuclear News 21 March 07

 

France: occupation of pylon near Flamanville.

(March 19, 2007) According to a statement from Sortir du Nucleaire, the last two anti-nuclear activists climbed down from a pylon supporting a 400 kilovolt transmission line near Flamanville on April 16. The two were the last of four protesters who, on April 14, climbed up the pylon to protest the government's authorization April 11 of Electricite de France's EPR project at Flamanville, and its associated new 400-kV line. The pylon is about 500 meters outside the plant site boundary.
The protesters had hitched themselves to the metallic structure a few meters under the transmission cables, and spread out banners reading "Stop EPR" and "Stop THT," the latter the French acronym for very high voltage. The two other activist climbed down on April 14 and 15.
Nuclear News Flashes, 16 April 2007

 

Holiday? Walk towards a nuclear Free Future: UK, May 12 - August 6. On May 12, Footprints for peace will embark on an 86 day pilgrimage working with local communities to raise public awareness about the suffering and coercion that communities through out the world face by the nuclear industry. The walk will travel a route along the east coast of Ireland, beside the Irish Sea, one of the most nuclear contaminated seas in the world due to the operations at Sellafield nuclear facility, UK. We aim to connect with local communities who are affected daily, and hear from them about the devastating impact on both the people and environment.
From Belfast we will ferry to Glasgow and from here walk up to Faslane in solidarity with the local community opposed to Britain¹s Trident Submarine Base. The base is home to all 4 of Britain¹s operational intercontinental nuclear submarines, consisting of nearly 200 warheads: From Faslane we will continue to walk down to the Sellafield Nuclear Site in England. This site is the worlds largest nuclear facility which is responsible for reprocessing the majority of the worlds spent nuclear fuel.
From Sellafield the walk will participate in the annual July 4th gathering at Menwith Hill U.S Spy Base, before continuing onto Aldermaston Nuclear Research Facility. The Blair Government has recently increased funding for Aldermaston to build the Orion Laser System and expand the already existing nuclear weapons facility.
From Aldermaston the walk will go to London where it will arrive on August 6. Footprints for Peace is a grassroots, non-profit peace group and "we invite everyone to join us in Closing the Nuclear Industry Step by Step. Please walk with us for as long as you can - a single step or for the entire walk." Web: http://www.footprintsforpeace.net/
Contact: ka@footprintsforpeace.net

On April 10, Paul Leventhal died.

(March 19, 2007) Paul's work was at the heart of key security issues: nuclear terrorism, Iran's atomic aspirations, North Korea's atomic ambitions, and the future of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, which is up for review again in Vienna soon. He founded the Washington based Nuclear Control Institute 25 years ago, and during his 21 years as the NCI's president, he prepared five books, including the pathbreaking Nuclear Terrorism Taskforce final report (1985) and lectured on the threat of nuclear proliferation. The NCI website's research themes sum up his concerns: nuclear power and the spread of nuclear weapons; nuclear terrorism and how to prevent it; Saddam Hussein and the bomb; the role of India and Pakistan; plutonium and reprocessing; plutonium sea shipments; plutonium and the net; and plutonium disposal. "What distinguished Paul," wrote one of his colleagues, "was his deep-seated commitment, in a city (Washington DC) full of opportunists."
Paul Leventhal, educator, journalist and nonproliferation expert, born February 12 1938; died April 10 2007