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US NRC to resume Yucca Mountain waste repository licensing review

Washington (Platts)–18Nov2013/410 pm EST/2110 GMT The commissioners of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission ordered agency staff Monday to complete and publish a safety evaluation report on the proposed Yucca Mountain, Nevada, nuclear spent fuel and waste repository. “The Commission has also requested [Department of Energy] to prepare a supplemental environmental impact statement requested by the staff in order to complete [NRC’s] environmental review of the application,” NRC said in a statement Monday. The multi-volume safety evaluation report, or SER, reflects NRC staff’s assessment of the repository proposed for the site roughly 95 miles (about 153 km) outside Las Vegas and is considered in NRC’s determination of whether the facility would meet regulatory requirements. Volume 3 on the post-closure safety of a repository at Yucca Mountain is central to making that determination. The Nuclear Energy Institute, which represents the US nuclear power industry, was among those who have recommended that […]

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Fuel removal at Fukushima plant: What's at stake

TOKYO (AP) — Workers started the difficult task Monday of removing nuclear fuel rods from a heavily-damaged reactor building at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant in Japan. It’s the first major step toward decommissioning the plant, a decades-long process fraught with uncertainty and challenges. Q: How many fuel rods are there, and how long will it take? A: There are 3,106 fuel rod assemblies, each holding about 60-80 rods, in four reactors, Units 1-4. The goal is to remove them over the next five years. What started Monday was the removal of the 1,533 assemblies in Unit 4, which is the only one of the four reactors being decommissioned that didn’t melt down. Unit 4, as well as Units 5 and 6, were offline for regular safety checks and maintenance at the time of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Unit 4 had no fuel rods inside it. […]

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Fuel removal at Fukushima plant: What’s at stake

TOKYO (AP) — Workers started the difficult task Monday of removing nuclear fuel rods from a heavily-damaged reactor building at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant in Japan. It’s the first major step toward decommissioning the plant, a decades-long process fraught with uncertainty and challenges. Q: How many fuel rods are there, and how long will it take? A: There are 3,106 fuel rod assemblies, each holding about 60-80 rods, in four reactors, Units 1-4. The goal is to remove them over the next five years. What started Monday was the removal of the 1,533 assemblies in Unit 4, which is the only one of the four reactors being decommissioned that didn’t melt down. Unit 4, as well as Units 5 and 6, were offline for regular safety checks and maintenance at the time of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Unit 4 had no fuel rods inside it. […]

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Japan Starts Removing Fukushima Nuclear Fuel

TOKYO—More than 2½ years after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Tokyo Electric Power Co. 9501.TO +0.18% Tokyo Electric Power Co. Inc. Japan: Tokyo ¥ 557 +1 +0.18% Nov. 18, 2013 3:00 pm Volume : 34.96M P/E Ratio 3.87 Market Cap ¥893.50 Billion Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee ¥129,550,000 More quote details and news » 9501.TO in Your Value Your Change Short position began Monday the painstaking and potentially dangerous process of removing fuel rods from one of the plant’s damaged reactor units. The operation, expected to take more than a year to complete, is Tepco’s first step toward dismantling the devastated plant and is an important milestone in what is expected to be a 30- to 40-year cleanup process after one of the worst nuclear accidents in history. The removal of the fuel also provides the operator of the plant with an opportunity to regain a measure of public […]

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Iran puts brakes on nuclear expansion under Rouhani, IAEA report shows

VIENNA (Reuters) – Iran has virtually halted a previously rapid expansion of its uranium-enrichment capacity since Hassan Rouhani became president, a U.N. inspection report showed on Thursday, in a potential boost for diplomacy to end the Iran nuclear dispute. In another finding that may be seen as positive by the West, the quarterly report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said no further major components had been added to a potential plutonium-producing reactor since August. The marked slowdown in the growth of Iranian activity of possible use in developing nuclear bombs may be intended to back up Rouhani’s dramatic shift in tone towards the West after years of worsening confrontation, and strengthen Tehran’s hand in negotiations with world powers due to resume on November 20. The Arak reactor, which Iran previously said it would start up in the first quarter of 2014 but later postponed, is of great […]

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Iran’s nuclear expansion slows, says IAEA

Hassan Rouhani addresses the 68th United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York ©Reuters Hassan Rouhani addresses the UN General Assembly in New York Iran has sharply slowed down the expansion of its nuclear programme over the past three months, the international nuclear watchdog said on Thursday, providing a potential boost to ongoing nuclear talks with Tehran . The International Atomic Energy Agency said that Iran was continuing to enrich uranium which could potentially be used to build a nuclear bomb , in contravention of a series of UN resolutions. However the Vienna-based watchdog said the rapid expansion in the Iranian programme had come to a near-halt since August, coinciding with the start of the new government of Iran’s more pragmatic president Hassan Rouhani . The report comes ahead of a new round of international talks next week to try and strike a deal that would place […]

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Israeli PM dismisses IAEA report on Iran

  • Netanyahu said he was “not impressed” by the report which charged Iran slowed nuclear activities.   • Netanyahu reiterated his stance that the world powers must keep sanctions against Iran intact.   • Netanyahu campaigns against lifting sanctions and “hurrying into a deal”.   JERUSALEM, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) – Israel i Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday dismissed a report released by the International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA ), which indicated that Iran had significantly slowed down its efforts to reach nuclear capabilities. Speaking at a convention for American Jewish youth in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said he was “not impressed” by the report which charged that the rate of uranium enrichment at the nuclear facility in Natenz had dropped significantly in the past three months, under the regime of the recently-elected Hassan Rouhani. The report specifically stated that the stockpile of high-level enriched uranium had risen by five percent since […]

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Ex-Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi urges zero nuclear power

TOKYO, Nov. 13 (UPI) — A former Japanese prime minister has urged the government to abandon plans to restart the nation’s nuclear power generating plants. Speaking at the Japan Press Club in Tokyo Tuesday, Junichiro Koizumi , who served as prime minister from 2001 to 2006 and led the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, said, “I think we should go to zero nuclear power now.” All 50 of Japan’s working reactors remain offline, pending safety checks after the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster triggered by a massive earthquake and tsunami. Shinzo Abe , the current prime minister and LDP leader, wants to have Japan’s reactors brought back online after the country’s nuclear regulatory agency declares them safe. He’s also in favor of selling Japan’s nuclear technology to other countries. “Restarting the reactors will only result in the buildup of more nuclear waste materials,” Koizumi said. Koizumi had, […]

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Fukushima Watch: Some Power Companies in Black without Nuclear Restarts

The latest earnings show that many of Japan’s major utilities generated a profit in the first half of this fiscal year, even without the help of their nuclear power plants. Amid uncertainty about whether nuclear restarts can win regulatory approval, that is good news for shareholders. But it puts the utilities themselves in a difficult position, since they have been loudly complaining that without their nuclear plants, they will remain in the red. Five of the nine regional utilities that have nuclear power plants posted a net profit for the six months ending Sept. 30. They include Tokyo Electric Power Co., whose Fukushima Daiichi plant in northern Japan was at the center of the nuclear crisis that led to the shutdown of nuclear plants amid safety concerns. Also making profits were Tohoku Electric Power Co., Hokuriku Electric Power Co., Kansai Electric Power Co. and Chugoku Electric Power Co. The […]

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