[see yesterday's items]

* List of new documents today from NRC PDR

Today's source articles

* Control over hazardous shipments questioned
Cy Ryan, Las Vegas SUN
Nevada Highway Patrol conducted 17,000 inspections of trucks last year, with about 50,000 violations noted, according to NHP Lt. Bill Bainter. There were 1,209 stops made of trucks carrying hazardous materials last year. And most of them "toe the line," troopers told a state Legislative Commission on Monday. Assemblyman Bernie Anderson (D-Sparks) said that nobody knows if a "dirty bomb" or other hazardous materials are being hauled by trucks in and out of Nevada.

* Environmentalists target Ensign
Launce Rake, Las Vegas SUN
Running scared about the prospects of the energy bill passing in January, an all-star lineup of so-called environmental groups are trying to convince Nevada Senator John Ensign that a vote for cloture would be a vote for Yucca Mountain. Ensign voted for cloture on November 21, although he has said he opposes the bill. "The cloture vote in the Senate is an up or down vote on Yucca Mountain," said Dan Geary, Nevada spokesman for the National Environmental Trust. Ensign's press secretary diagrees: "The statement that a vote for cloture is a vote for Yucca Mountain is almost too ridiculous for comment," Finn said. "The senator felt, much like the vote for judicial appointees, the Energy Bill deserved a straight up-or-down vote." The Sun characterized the greens argument thusly: "Environmental groups say the bill... would provide a huge impetus to the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump through more than $5 billion in subsidies to the nuclear industry." Your humble nuclear.com editor thinks the argument of the greens is fundamentally dishonest in this case. Yucca Mountain's space is already spoken for. New reactors such as the hydrogen-making project envisioned by the energy bill are about as unrelated to Yucca Mountain as can be.

* Government owes fallout victims debt
St. George Daily Spectrum
This editorial out of southern Utah is an eloquent version of the "Burn me once, shame on you..." line of thought. It expresses concern about the prospects of a repeat of the abuses of the public trust associated with a-bomb testing. It decries a federal government unconscionably preparing to dump more highly toxic nuclear waste at the Yucca Mountain site in Nevada, lower the standards to allow for storage of other nuclear waste in the West and approving a $25 million bill to update the Nevada Test Site "where, we fear, underground testing of so-called bunker-busting, mini-nukes looms in the not-too-distant future."

* States push pollution rules, power line authority
Stateline.org
This is a preview of the energy section of a "2003-year-in-review" style publication due next month -- Statline.org's "State of the States 2004". Efforts to enhance reliability of electricity grids is a big part of the story, and it includes significant differences of opinion as to what authority states are willing to cede to the federal government.

* Survey: Nevada's Democratic superdelegates undecided
Brendan Riley, Las Vegas SUN

* DOE plans to speed up repository work
Steve Tetreault, Pahrump Valley Times

* Air Force fights YMP transports
Steve Tetreault, Pahrump Valley Times

* Craig seeks White House help for funding new INEEL reactor
Steven Friederich, Idaho State Journal

* Operators of nuclear reactor seek extension for repairs
Fort Worth Star Telegram

* State moves ahead with radioactive waste process
Natalie Gott, Houston Chronicle

* Your View: Says EPA, ATSDR differences may continue for years
Alfred A. Brooks, Oak Ridger

* Board letter to Dr. Margaret Chu on issues discussed at September meeting (pdf-57K)
NWTRB

* Union fears for uranium workers' safety
ABC

* Progress made for new round nuclear talks: S.Korean FM
EastDay

* North Korean nuclear crisis drags on
Charles Whelan, Manila Times

* Letter: Nuclear waste puzzle
Dr David Lowry, The Guardian

* British Energy is between walking wounded and living dead
Robert Cole, London Times

* Iran to sign protocol on nuclear inspections Thursday: IAEA
SpaceDaily

* EU still troubled by Iranian nuclear programme: Germany
SpaceDaily

* Russia and Iran to sign agreement on nuclear reactor soon
SpaceDaily

* Shore cleanup effort in limbo
John Stang, Tri-City Herald

* Watchdog group tackles Hanford landfill
KXLY

* Workers start digging at INEEL's Pit 9 ahead of schedule
Steven Friederich, Idaho State Journal

* New law defies judge-approved Superfund plan
Kaitlin Gurney, Philadelphia Inquirer

* NRC gives initial thumbs up to extending license of Quad-Cities nuclear power plant
Thomas Geyer, Quad City Times

* Did waste contaminate water?
Scott Carroll, Sarasota Herald-Tribune

* Clash brewing over landfill water
Lawrence Hajna, Cherry Hill Courier Post

* Plan To Seal Off BNL Reactor
Ann Givens, Newsday

* Mesler: Case for nuclear power more compelling today
Russell B. Mesler, Topeka Capital Journal

* The Enola Gay In a Truly Terrifying Light
Courtland Milloy, Washington Post

* No new nukes to U.S. arsenal, Nunn urges
George Edmonson, Atlanta Journal Constitution

* Chemical, Nuclear Arms Still 'Major Threat,' Cheney Says
Mike Allen, Washington Post

* Expert: Nuclear terror a reality
Jonathan Segal, Monterey County Herald

* RULES Spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste; independent storage; licensing requirements: Approved spent fuel storage casks; list Correction, 70121 [03-31090]
Nuclear Regulatory Commission

* NOTICES Applications, hearings, determinations, etc.: Southern Nuclear Operating Co., Inc., et al., 70320 [03-31091]
Nuclear Regulatory Commission

* EPA probes Olympic Dam spill
ABC

* Japanese leery of nuclear power as nation bids for ITER reactor
SpaceDaily

* Japan still confident of winning thermonuclear plant bid
SpaceDaily

* Central Government invites bids for nuclear power construction
Interfax

* Allies resigned to lost hopes for NKorea nuclear talks this year
SpaceDaily

* Nuclear crisis talks ruled out this year: SKorean FM
SpaceDaily

* Letter: Nuclear waste puzzle
Dr David Lowry, The Guardian

* AWE's nuclear decommissioning 'appropriate'
Reading Chronicle

* Boost for crisis-hit British Energy
The Scotsman

* Dim prospects at British Energy
Patrick Hosking, Evening Standard

* British Energy says position "fragile"
Andrew Callus, Reuters

* Moment of truth for nuclear fusion scheme
SpaceDaily

* Workers at Dukovany nuclear plant announce strike alert over wages
Interfax

* No accord on return of spent nuke fuel this year
IranMania

* Iran says may sign accord on tougher UN nuke inspections "tomorrow"
SpaceDaily

* Iran sets date for nuclear accord
BBC News