state contact (updated May 2011)
Ms. Ann Troxler
Surveillance, Enforcement, and Licensing
Emergency and Radiological Services Division
Office of Environmental Compliance
P.O. Box 4312
Baton Rouge LA 70821-4312

January 20, 2006

* Louisiana - lung brachytherapy catheter 15 cm shy - 750 cGy

August 23, 2005

* Blanco backs third power plant proposal
Melinda DeSlatte, Associated Press/Slidell Sentry News (LA)

Louisiana is the second most dependent state on natural gas for power generation -- and the price of natural gas has quadrupled in three years. Gov. Kathleen Blanco said energy prices are hurting businesses -- and the state's attempts to attract them. "Our industrial base is suffering. Our homeowners are suffering. Everybody is. It's time we look at the sources of fuel diversification," Blanco said. The Governor has given her support to three power plant proposals recently: last month to Cleco Corp.'s plans to build a new power plant in central Louisiana that would be able to use multiple solid fuels, primarily petroleum coke, a waste byproduct of crude oil refinement. Two weeks later, the governor announced that Louisiana was competing to land the country's first new nuclear energy plant in three decades. And on Monday, she announced support for a proposed $1 billion expansion of the Big Cajun II coal-fired power plant in Pointe Coupee Parish. Blanco lauded all three power plant proposals as economic development drivers that, in addition to creating permanent jobs in Louisiana, would shrink the state's heavy reliance on natural gas for electricity. The proposed expansion of Big Cajun II would add 675 megawatts of generating capacity. The expansion could provide enough electricity to serve as many as 675,000 households and would create 40 permanent jobs, in addition to 1,100 construction jobs, accorder to David Crane, president and CEO of plant owner ">NRG Energy Inc. He said NRG hopes to have the expansion running by summer 2009.

Environmentalists, however, have concerns about the proposals, worried they would be unsafe, worsen pollution and increase security risks. In the case of an expansion like the Big Cajun II project, environmental groups have repeatedly spoken out against coal-fired plants, saying they can increase mercury pollution -- which when accumulated in fish and eaten by humans can cause neurological and developmental problems -- and dump high quantities of the ozone-damaging pollutant nitrogen oxide into the air. "We did object to the expansion. It's just going to continue to add more pollution to an already polluted area," said Barbara Coman, chair of the Delta Chapter of the Sierra Club in Louisiana. Mike McDaniel, secretary of the state Department of Environmental Quality, said power plants are small overall contributors to mercury emissions in Louisiana, compared to pesticides, sewage sludge, landfills, old batteries and other products. "Power plants are a source of mercury. In this state, they are not a major source," he said. McDaniel also said mercury caused by power plants will be reduced further by two sets of new federal regulations that specifically target power plant emissions. As for nitrogen oxide emissions, officials on hand for Monday's announcement pointed to pollution control measures required as part of the air permit granted to the Big Cajun II expansion. NRG will add $200 million in new technology to the plant that McDaniel said will keep the expansion from emitting any additional nitrogen oxide. That is of special concern in the Baton Rouge area, which has been plagued with problems keeping ozone levels in compliance with federal regulations. "It will be one of the cleanest coal-fired plants on the planet. That makes me very proud," Blanco said.

June 1, 2005

Louisiana leads on DU screening of Gulf War vets

[Source: The Advocate (Baton Rouge, Louisiana), front page, June 1, 2005]

October 21, 2004

* Louisiana - wrong patient given xenon scan (28 mRad - Tulane U)

March 16, 2004

* Louisiana - radiographer retroactively explains why dosimeter shows 2 R for Dec instead of 0.3 R

March 3, 2004

* Louisiana - radiographer couldn't retract source (SPEC Model 150)

December 9, 2003

* Louisiana - radiography camera missing from pickup truck between Pierre Port and Amelia

August 5, 2003

* Louisiana - 20-700 rem hand exposure from Iridium wafer that should have stayed in Hot Cell; worker thought it was contamination on floor and tried to wipe it up by hand (Source Production and Equipment Co, Saint Rose LA)

June 12, 2003

Who should benefit from low cost of Arkansas Nuclear One?

Louisiana Public Service Commission filed a contention last week with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, arguing that Entergy should not charge such significantly higher rates in Louisiana as compared with the rates Entergy charges in Arkansas. The power generated in Louisiana is mainly from natural gas-fueled plants. Arkansas plants are mostly coal and nuclear. Natural gas prices are way up over the past three years. Louisiana wants Arkansas customers to pay $200-million to $400-million per year of the higher bills expected by Louisiana customers in near future. Entergy and Arkansas think Arkansas should continue to benefit from their choice made amongst competing generating methods, just as they bore the higher capital costs involved with those choices. Louisiana notes that FERC has previosly held that Entergy should keep production costs at its regulated subsidiaries "roughly equal". There's still room for disagreement. Entergy says if you look at the costs over a long period of time, like the 1986-2010 "System Agreement" period, the costs are roughly equal. Louisiana says that use of a 12-month period for comparison is the method Entergy has used in the past, and argues it is unreasonable to switch to 20-yr method now.