nuclear-news

The News That Matters about the Nuclear Industry Fukushima Chernobyl Mayak Three Mile Island Atomic Testing Radiation Isotope

19 legal challenges against relicensing of nuclear reactors

The contentions filed with the NRC address reactors at nuclear facilities nationwide, including 11 plants in the South: the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Watts Bar plant in Rhea County, Tenn. and its Bellefonte plant in Hollywood, Ala.; SCE&G’s Summer plant near Jenkinsville, S.C.; NRG’s South Texas plant near Bay City; Luminant’s Comanche Peak plant southwest of Dallas; Southern Co./Georgia Power’s Vogtle plant in Burke County, Ga.; FP&L’s Turkey Point plant south of Miami; Progress Energy’s Levy County plant in Florida and its Shearon Harris plant in Wake County, N.C.; Dominion’s North Anna plant in Louisa County, Va.; and Duke Energy’s Lee plant in Cherokee County, S.C

Concerns grow over risk of U.S. nuclear projects post-Fukushima, Facing South, By Sue Sturgis on August 11, 2011  The disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan is still unfolding five months later, with multiple meltdowns and significant radiation releases contaminating communities and farms downwind from the facility. Some nuclear experts are calling it “the biggest industrial catastrophe in the history of mankind.”

The Fukushima accident is also raising questions about the U.S. nuclear industry’s current plans to build new reactors and re-license old ones.
Today, environmental and public-interest advocacy groups filed 19 legal challenges that ask the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to put the brakes on reactor licensing until it fully incorporates into its regulatory process the lessons learned from Fukushima. Continue reading →

August 12, 2011 Posted by | Legal, USA | Leave a comment

UK Supreme Court backs atomic veterans right to appeal

UK nuclear test veterans win leave to appeal, LONDON  Jul 28, 2011 (Reuters) – Ex-servicemen who say they were made ill as a result of being exposed to radiation during British nuclear weapons tests in the 1950s won the latest stage of their battle for compensation on Thursday.

The Supreme Court gave the 1,011 veterans permission to further argue their right to seek damages, the Press Association reported.Veterans blame ill health — including cancer, skin defects and fertility problems — on their involvement in British nuclear tests in Australia, on Christmas Island and in the Pacific Ocean between 1952 and 1958.

The Ministry of Defense acknowledges a “debt of gratitude” but denies negligence. On Thursday, the Supreme Court gave the veterans the go-ahead to appeal against a lower court ruling that the cases were brought too long after the events to be heard…..http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/28/us-nuclear-test-veterans-idUSTRE76R7LL20110728

July 29, 2011 Posted by | Legal, UK | 1 Comment

UK legal fight continues for nuclear test veterans

Chronic health problems cited by them include cancers, skin defects, fertility problems and birth defects in their children…..In 1998, research from Durham University suggested that one-in-three servicemen died from bone cancers or leukaemia linked to the atomic and hydrogen bomb tests ….”Britain’s nuclear veterans are dying at a rate of around three every month but those who remain say they are determined to continue this battle.”

Nuclear test veterans set for Supreme Court appeal bid, BBC News 28 July 11,Veterans involved in Britain’s nuclear weapons tests in the 1950s are taking their case for compensation to the Supreme Court. More than 1,000 ex-servicemen say exposure to radiation during tests conducted between 1952 and 1958 left them with ill-health. Continue reading →

July 28, 2011 Posted by | Legal, UK | Leave a comment

Vermont Nuclear Plant to close while lawsuit continues

Judge denies Entergy’s injunction request; trial set to begin on Sept. 12, By Randolph T. Holhut/The Commons,18 july 11,BRATTLEBORO—Entergy Corp. has lost its bid for a preliminary injunction to keep the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant open while a lawsuit about its long-term future winds its way through the federal court system. Continue reading →

July 19, 2011 Posted by | Legal, USA | Leave a comment

USA Nuclear Regulatory Commission might be forced to get out of bed with the nuclear industry

 the days of uncontested, rubber-stamp relicensing may be drawing to an end. A new generation of legal warriors, armed with scheduled appeals and hotly debated contentions, have slowed some relicensing procedures to a glacial pace.   Today, relicensing applicants may encounter committed opposition in high places they didn’t bargain for…..

The End of the NRC Rubber Stamp?   OpEd News, By Abby Luby  16 July 11 On Friday, a major victory by New York State upset the Nuclear RegulatoryCommission’s rubber stamp process to relicense the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant. The historical decision by the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board ruled in favor of a petition served by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman that argued the NRC’s environmental review violated the law.

This was the first successful motion of its kind and it heralds the growing trend to battle “business as usual’ when it comes to relicensing aging nuclear power plants who want to stay in business past their 40-year life expectancy. Continue reading →

July 16, 2011 Posted by | Legal, USA | Leave a comment

Court action in Germany aimed at removing USA nuclear warheads

Activist takes Germany to court over nuclear warheads , Gabriel Borrud, Deutsche Welle, 15 July 11, Retired pharmacist versus Germany: a Cologne court has begun hearing the case of an activist intent on having Germany remove US nuclear warheads being stored at a military base located in western Germany. Continue reading →

July 14, 2011 Posted by | Germany, Legal | Leave a comment

USA govt to pay up for victims of Hanford Nuclear radiation

The government indemnified the contractors, E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. and General Electric Co., and is on the hook for their legal fees (which now total about $60 million), and damages. …..Plaintiffs contend that the radiation caused cancer and other illnesses, including hypothyroidism, 

 After Two Decades of Litigation, Energy Department Settles 139 Hanford Radiation Claims, BLT – THE BLOG OF LEGAL TIMES, JULY 13, 2011 The Department of Energy has tentatively agreed to settle 139 suits brought by people who claim that radiation from the now-shuttered Hanford Nuclear Reservation gave them thyroid disease. Continue reading →

July 14, 2011 Posted by | Legal, USA | 1 Comment

Hospital fined for losing radioactive material

Federal nuclear regulators fine Bozeman hospital after losing radioactive material

July 12, 2011 Posted by | Legal, USA | Leave a comment

Entergy not to be charged over its lies about nuclear radioactive wastes

Vermont won’t charge Entergy over leak -Atty Gen

 * State wants Vermont Yankee reactor to shut in 2012
 * Entergy wants plant to run until 2032
 By Scott DiSavino NEW YORK, July 6 (Reuters) - Vermont's attorney general
decided not to charge Entergy Corp (ETR.N) or any of its
current or past employees with perjury for misleading state
officials during an investigation into a radioactive tritium
leak at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in 2010.
 That leak, and misleading comments by Entergy employees
that there were no underground pipes at the plant leaking
tritium, helped convince state officials the reactor should be
shut in March 2012, even though U.S. regulators renewed its
original 40-year operating license for another 20 years.
 Unless state officials change their minds or New
Orleans-based Entergy, the No. 2 U.S. nuclear power operator,
wins a court case to block the state from shutting the reactor,
Vermont Yankee will close in March 2012.......
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/06/utilities-entergy-vermont-idUSN1E76518U20110706

—

July 10, 2011 Posted by | Legal, USA | Leave a comment

USA taxpayers to pay Xcel for temporary nuclear waste storage

A proposed permanent storage site for U.S. nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada was dropped from consideration last year by the Obama administration. The blue ribbon commission has been studying what to do next……..

U.S. to pay Xcel $100M for nuclear waste storage: DAN BROWNING and NEAL ST. ANTHONY , Star Tribune ,  July 8, 2011  In the latest in a series of settlements with the nation’s electric utilities, the government agreed to bear the cost of storing waste……Xcel announced Friday that the government will pay $100 million to settle a lawsuit it filed in 1998. The payment is reimbursement for 10 years of storage costs incurred by the utility and its customers,…… Continue reading →

July 9, 2011 Posted by | Legal, USA, wastes | Leave a comment

Britain drags out nuclear veterans compensation case, hoping they’ll all die off

Britain urged to settle nuclear payout for veterans, THE AUSTRALIAN , July 04, 2011 THE British government was under pressure last night to settle a multimillion-pound fight with more than 1000 veterans of nuclear tests in Australia and the Pacific or risk wasting even more money on a “morally unjustifiable” legal battle that could drag on for years.

Supporters of the pensioners, who participated in Britain’s atomic bomb trials in the Pacific in the 1950s, said that it was time for the Ministry of Defence to follow the world’s four other main nuclear powers and pay compensation. Continue reading →

July 4, 2011 Posted by | Legal, UK | Leave a comment

Legal battle- South Carolina’s nuclear waste not to go to Nevada

A federal report issued early in June said the U.S. has generated more than 82,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel and high-level nuclear waste, which it was storing at 80 sites in 35 states.

The amount of waste is expected to double by 2055, the Government Accountability Office said.

Appeals court dismisses nuclear waste suit, Macon.com  By NEDRA PICKLER and DINA CAPPIELLO – Associated Press, 1 July 11, WASHINGTON — The Obama administration won a legal battle Friday in the long-standing fight over where to bury the nation’s nuclear waste, but it’s not likely to be the last.  The federal appeals court in Washington ruled against South Carolina, Washington state and others that want to ship radioactive spent nuclear fuel they are temporarily storing to a repository 90 miles from Las Vegas at Yucca Mountain. Continue reading →

July 2, 2011 Posted by | Legal, USA | Leave a comment

Legal moves against nuclear power in Japan

Opposition to nuclear power plants grows in Japan , People’s World, 8 June 11 Japan Bar Assn. calls for end to nuclear power plants The Japan Bar Association at its general meeting in Tokyo on May 27 adopted a declaration calling for the phasing out of existing nuclear power plants in Japan and a stop to the program to construct more nuclear reactors.

The declaration requests that the government separate the nuclear safety regulatory body from the nuclear promoting ministry and agency, and promote renewable energy sources as a main pillar to energy policy based on the principle of sustainability.

Residents near Hamaoka plant file lawsuit Residents living near the Hamaoka nuclear power station in Shizuoka’s Omaezaki City on May 27 filed a lawsuit against Chubu Electric Power Company with the Shizuoka District Court, seeking a permanent shutdown of all reactors at the plant.

The group of plaintiffs consists of 35 residents, including two Japanese Communist Party members of the Kakegawa City Assembly, in Omaezaki, Kikukawa, and Kakegawa cities located within a 30km-zone of the plant. JCP member of the Omaezaki City Assembly Shimizu Sumio heads the group of plaintiffs.

They aim for the decommissioning of the reactors at the earliest possible date, arguing that the Hamaoka plant is located at the focal region of an inevitable Tokai earthquake…http://peoplesworld.org/opposition-to-nuclear-power-plants-grows-in-japan/

June 9, 2011 Posted by | Japan, Legal | Leave a comment

Nuclear worker falsified safety documents

A Hixson man pleaded guilty in Federal Court on Wednesday morning to falsifying documents related to an inspection at the TVA Watts Bar facility. The Chattanoogan.com 8 June 11, 
Matthew David Correll, 31, faces up to five years in prison. He will be sentenced by Judge Curtis Collier on Oct. 6 at 2 p.m…..
Prosecutor James Brooks said Correll made false statements that he had measured cables for a safety system at the plant.The plea agreement says Correll was working for Williams Specialty Services, a sub-contractor of Bechtel Corp.

As part of the plea agreement, Correll stipulated that in August 2010 in Spring City, he completed TVA forms purporting to state micrometer readings of cables that had been installed to provide energy to equipment, including to safety equipment, inside the containment structure at Unit 2 of the Watts Bar nuclear plant. The defendant made approximately 200 entries. After the entries were submitted, it was discovered that the entries were either inaccurate or purported to be measurements of cables that did not in fact exist. The defendant was questioned and admitted that he had falsified all of the entries….

June 9, 2011 Posted by | Legal, USA | Leave a comment

Sheep Mountain Alliance has legal win in its battle against uranium milling

Denver District Judge Brian Whitney sided with the Telluride-based Sheep Mountain Alliance, which contends the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) may have violated various state and federal laws in issuing a permit for the mill. The lawsuit can now move forward…...

Denver district judge allows uranium mill lawsuit to move ahead, The Colorado Independent,  By David O. Williams | 05.27.11  A Denver district judge this week rejected motions by the state of Colorado and a Canadian uranium mining company to throw out a lawsuit challenging the proposed Piñon Ridge Uranium Mill in Montrose County. Continue reading →

May 28, 2011 Posted by | Legal, Uranium, USA | Leave a comment

« Previous Entries     Next Entries »