Nuclear News: The Search For A Nuclear Graveyard
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Today's big stories from the nuclear industry:
The search for a nuclear graveyard
Wanted: Friendly, open-minded community in need of jobs and a whack of infrastructure cash. Must be willing to play host to nuclear waste, perhaps until the end of time.More than six decades after joining the nuclear club, Canada is home to 22 nuclear reactors, 18 of them in operation, producing about 15 per cent of the country's electricity. Canada also has 40,000
metric tonnes of radioactive waste - and counting. For years, the issue of how to best dispose of this waste has plagued policy-makers, scientists and citizens. Suggestions have included shooting it into outer space or exporting it to the South Pole. Now, Canada is preparing to get rid of its nuclear detritus once and for all - by burying it. That solution will cost $16-billion to $24-billion, and it could take until 2020 just to choose a location. But if all goes well, millions of bundles of spent nuclear fuel will be buried half a kilometre underground in a complex network of
subterranean rooms forever. Or at least until future generations come up with something better to do with it. One niggling question remains: Where?
No Iran atom expansion since May
Iran has not expanded the number of centrifuges enriching uranium at its Natanz nuclear site since the end of May after increasing capacity steadily over the previous three years, diplomats said. The reason for the slowdown was unclear. The International Atomic Energy Agency is due to issue a report later this week that will influence big-power talks due to consider harsher sanctions on Iran over its disputed nuclear campaign.
TEPCO gets final OK to restart second nuclear unit
Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) received final local approval on Tuesday to restart a second reactor at its quake-damaged nuclear plant in northwest Japan, a move that will help the utility lower its fuel bill. The heads of three local governments approved the restart after a panel of experts judged that anti-quake safety had been secured at the 1,356-megawatt No.6 reactor at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, a prefectural official said.
New steam generators for Belgian reactor
Two new steam generators have been delivered to Electrabel's Doel nuclear power plant near Antwerp, Belgium. They were made by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) at its Kobe shipyard. Steam generators are crucial components of plants based on pressurized water reactors (PWRs), transferring the thermal energy generated in the reactor vessel to the turbine generator by producing steam to drive the turbine.
Atomic Agency Is Pressed on Iran Records
The Obama administration and its European allies are pressing the International Atomic Energy Agency to make public evidence that they believe points toward an Iranian drive to gain the ability to build a nuclear weapon, part of a broad effort to build a case for far more punishing sanctions against the country. The International Atomic Energy Agency's leader, Mohamed ElBaradei, is said to worry that his agency could appear biased. The request has touched off an internal debate in the agency over how directly to confront Iran over its continued refusal, over several years, to answer questions about documents and computer files suggesting military-led efforts to design a nuclear weapon. Iran has charged that the documents, many of which came from American, Israeli and European intelligence services, are fabrications. The agency, according to current and former officials there, has studied them with care and determined that they are probably genuine.
Russian Power Company to Mine Uranium in Mongolia
Russia's state-owned nuclear power company, whose expansion on the international market in recent years has outstripped the country's capacity to supply uranium fuel to the new power plants, won a large concession on Tuesday to mine uranium in Mongolia. The company, Rosatom, will form a joint venture that will have access to a deposit that could produce about a quarter of Russia's total current uranium output. The deal was reached during a state visit to Mongolia by President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia and after the two countries agreed on a settlement of $150 million in Soviet-era debt. The move into Mongolia is a lift for Rosatom at a time when Russia's industry is making a big push to expand. The company is marketing nuclear reactors bundled with the fuel to power them to developing countries around the world. While best known for its decade-old contract to build a nuclear power plant in Iran, the company is also active in China, India, Eastern Europe and elsewhere.
