March 15, 2008

* South Carolina is the hot spot for locating your nuclear biz today

March 5, 2008

* Friends of the Earth protests Duke plan for new n-plant

December 14, 2004

* Y-12 loans equipment to SCSU engineering program
Oak Ridger (registration required)
In September, Y-12 signed a Mentor-Protege Agreement with South Carolina State University, which is the only historically black college and university with a nuclear engineering program. As part of the program, Y-12 is loaning the school some radiation detection equipment to be used for training and research projects. The equipment includes a portable alpha-beta sample counter and associated electronics; two portable radiation survey "pancake" detectors; an ionization chamber dose rate instrument; and one of the large stand-in types of personnel contamination monitors.

March 10, 2004

* South Carolina - U in incinerator ash exceeded criticality control limits (Westinghouse-Columbia)

March 8, 2004

* Westinghouse-Columbia SC - uranium concentration in incinerator offgas system higher than expected

September 30, 2003

Savannah River sees potential in hydrogen R&D

The South Carolina Hydrogen Coalition is working on ways to better store hydrogen for long-term use. The coalition includes the Savannah River Site, which has developed a hydrogen-powered bus, the Aiken and Edgefield counties' Economic Development Partnership, and USC in Columbia. The project has attracted interest from more than 10 companies. For example, the guest speaker at the development partnership's annual meeting tonight is the director of General Motors' hydrogen fuel cell research, Dr. Jim Spearot, who is set to discuss the use of hydrogen in the automotive industry. "He's here because the Savannah River Site and the Savannah River Research Center has the world's greatest expertise in hydrogen-related issues," said Tom Hallman, the chancellor of the University of South Carolina Aiken, which has applied for grant money to help promote hydrogen research.

[Ref: Josh Gelinas (Augusta Chronicle, South Carolina Bureau), "Business group pushes SRS; Officials tout hydrogen projects during slump", Augusta Chronicle, September 30, 2003]

September 10, 2003

* Pu Pit Plant - Bigger Econ Boost than Any Previous SRS Project

July 11, 2003

* South Carolina agreement state program - 2003 IMPEP review draft

May 23, 2003

* Maine Yankee's Reactor Vessel's Barge Stuck in High River Water near Savannah

* Barge Route to Barnwell for Reactor Vessel - Feds Allow Docking at Savannah River Site

April, 2003 -

Under South Carolina law, the Barnwell facility will ramp-down the total annual volume received at the site through the six-fiscal-year period that ends June 30, 2008. After that, the facility will only receive waste from generators in South Carolina and the other two Atlantic Compact states. The maximum waste disposal volumes that Barnwell is allowed to receive are listed below:

160,000 cubic feet in fiscal year 2001
80,000 cubic feet in fiscal year 2002
70,000 cubic feet in fiscal year 2003
60,000 cubic feet in fiscal year 2004
50,000 cubic feet in fiscal year 2005
45,000 cubic feet in fiscal year 2006
40,000 cubic feet in fiscal year 2007
35,000 cubic feet in fiscal year 2008

The State of South Carolina would like to enter into agreements with interested generators to reserve specific volumes of waste each year through 2008. This will allow generators some stability in planning their disposal needs. It will provide the State of South Carolina with a better basis for projecting disposal costs and revenues. South Carolina would like to reserve a significant portion of the available volume each year beginning now through 2008 through agreements of this type. The remainder of the volume that is not reserved through such agreements and is not set aside for Atlantic Compact regional generators will be made available to generators without such agreements each year on a space-available basis.

[Source: North Carolina Radiation Protection Commission, "Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management in North Carolina",, Draft, April 2003, p. 6]

December 11, 2002 South Carolina is a state that derives much benefit from nuclear. There are seven operating reactors in this state. And while the United States derives 21 percent of electrical needs from nuclear, South Carolina is almost 60 percent power from nuclear.[Ref: Steve A. Byrne (SCE&G vice president for Nuclear Operations), "Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Station License Renewal Application Public Hearing - Afternoon Session", December 11, 2002, Official Transcript of Proceedings, p. 59]

Clemson expands nuclear environmental program

Clemson University Trustees approved a plan to create a master's degree in environmental health physics, which would prepare students to protect people and the environment from ionizing radiation. Provost Dori Helms said the new degree program will be considered by the state Higher Education Committee next week and could receive final approval in time to accept students next fall.

Trustees also gave a nod to preliminary plans for a Center for Nuclear Environmental Engineering Sciences and Radioactive Waste Management.

[Source: Associated Press, "Clemson University wants to offer undergraduate genetics degree", September 25, 2002]