nuclear.com info nuggets - December 19, 2003

info nuggets - Dec 19, 2003

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Today's info nuggets

[see yesterday's items]

* List of 243 new documents today from NRC PDR

* Vermont - patient was given 14.6 mCi Tc-99m for unordered test (Bennington)

* Calif - Fed Ex can't find 2.1 Ci Xe-133 source which supposedly left Oakland Friday; shipment was from GE Vallecitos, bound for University of Alabama

* Nebraska - four tritium exit signs (1980s-vintage) apparently scrapped during renovations over the years (Novartis Consumer Health Inc., Lincoln NE)

* Finland to add an EPR

Today's source articles

* Russia welcomes Iran's signing NPT additional protocol
Xinhua News Agency
Valery Govorukhin, Russian Deputy Minister of Atomic Energy, was quoted by Interfax as saying Thursday that Iran informed Russia that it is prepared to sign the protocol on the return of spent nuclear fuel with Russia in January, 2004... "We think this should be done in Moscow." He denied that Russia was linking Iran's signature of NPT additional protocol on nuclear inspections with Iran's singing of the protocol on the return of spent nuclear fuel.

* Areva wins nuclear contract
Paul Betts (Financial Times-Paris) and Christopher Brown-Humes (Financial Times-Stockholm), Financial Times (London, England) [subscription required]
The US$3.7-billion contract is for a 1,600-megawatt plant expected to be operational in 2009. Areva, the winning bidder, is 66% owner of Framatome ANP, the EPR designer. Areva's CEO, Mrs. Anne Lauvergeon, is quoted: Areva is in position to be "a significant player in the renaissance of the nuclear industry." Areva's bid beat out the competitors General Electric of USA and Atomstroyexport of Russia.

* Contract confirms new future for nuclear energy in Europe
FORATOM European Atomic Forum press release (pdf)
Finland's TVO decided to go with the advanced European PWR design in awarding contract for its fifth reactor to the consortium of AREVA and Siemens. FORATOM's Secretary General notes that ÒFrance is already seriously considering the EPR as a replacement for its existing large fleet of power reactors, so the new contract could be just the first of many more to come.Ó

* Nuclear plant to be built in Finland
Sun News Services, The Vancouver Sun (British Columbia)
The Finnish utility which placed order for the first European nuclear plant to be built since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 is controlled by, among other companies, two paper-makers and a chemical-maker. The plant has the approval of the Finnish parliament.

* Areva-Siemens Group Gets Finnish Reactor Project
The Energy Daily (subscription required)
The choice was consistent with Teollisuuden Voima Oy's October announcement that Areva-Siemens consortium was the "preferred bidder". It is thought that the winning 1,600-MW design was competing against the 1,000-MW VVER Atomstroi Export design and a 1,400-ME ABWR GE design.

* Russia welcomes Iran signing of nuke protocol
Agence France Presse
IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei says "Iran has turned a new leaf". Russia's Foreign Ministry statement: "We welcome this responsible step by Iran's government which shows Tehran's intention to move along the road toward ensuring complete transparency of its nuclear program".

* Commerce Minister Vows Pro-Business Policies
Kim Sung-jin (staff reporter), Korea Times
New Minister of Commerce, Industry and Energy Lee Hee-beom yesterday told reporters that a referendum will take place to finalize whether local residents want to host the nation's first radioactive waste repository in Puan County on Wido, an islet off the coast of North Cholla Province. "I will approach the sensitive issue in strict accordance with principle," he said. "MOCIE [the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy] cannot be involved in the Puan County residents' vote on nuclear waste dump on Wido, but as the ministry in charge and responsible of the matter, I will handle the matter according to principles," he said.

* State officials prepare for big Yucca hearing
Suzanne Struglinski, Las Vegas SUN

* Nuclear Waste: Lawyers preview arguments against dump
Steve Tetreault, Las Vegas Review-Journal

* Bomb detectors approved for port
Paul T. Rosynsky, Oakland Tribune

* Contractor sees OR cleanup as challenge
Frank Munger, Knoxville News Sentinel

* Three companies to tackle low-level waste
Paul Parson, Oak Ridger

* USEC, Mead job decisions await 2004
Joe Walker, Paducah Sun

* EPA: Radiation levels at site are OK
Benjamin Y. Lowe, Philadelphia Inquirer

* Conn. Yankee reactor vessel ships out
Stamford Advocate

* Entergy considers spent fuel options at Vermont Yankee
Barre Montpelier Times Argus

* Public speaks on plant -- NRC gets opinions on 2nd reactor
Edith Brady-Lunny, Bloomington Pantagraph

* Report IG-0633: Inspection Report on "The Security of Uranium Hexafluoride at the East Tennessee Technology Park (U)"
DOE (pdf)

* Report IG-0632: Audit Report on "Modernization of Tritium Requirements Systems"
DOE (pdf-801K)