NUCLEAR NOTES

There also have been published reports of interest in resuming construction on Washington State’s abandoned WNP-1 reactor, and in either restarting Oregon’s Trojan reactor or in building a new reactor in that state.

It is well-known that the Tennessee Valley Authority would like, all things being equal, to resume construction of its two-unit Bellefonte reactors in Alabama. The TVA attempted, for a brief period, to jump on board the DOE’s nuclear weapons bandwagon, and offered Bellefonte as a tritium-production reactor, if only DOE would pay for the construction costs. DOE declined the offer.

Meanwhile, in the first sincere expression of interest in construction of a new western nuclear plant in several years, Finland has received a request for permission to build a new reactor in that country. Environmental groups already have begun a worldwide campaign to stop the project, which still has to undergo a year of more of government examination. And Taiwan, which recently put a stop to a fourth new reactor, was forced to backtrack February 5^th, when a governmental crisis erupted between the anti-nuclear presidency and the pro-nuclear legislature. A compromise between the warring parties allows construction on the General Electric reactor to resume until the end of the year, when a new legislature will have to make a final decision on the project. The reactor has been highly controversial in Taiwan, with anti-nuclear demonstrations regularly bringing out tens of thousands of demonstrators.

Taken together, the various nuclear projects either on or near the table indicate that—contrary to most popular wishes and beliefs—the nuclear industry is not dead, and its state of near-comatose is coming to an end. In other words, grassroots activists are in for a period of intense, active work and increased participation if sustainable energy technologies are to persevere.

Despite widespread knowledge of the study’s basic findings among environmental groups, the NRC refused for weeks to provide the contents of the study for the public. Congressional intervention finally forced the study to be posted on NRC’s website.

The study’s findings could cause substantial revisions in how the NRC regulates closed reactors, as well as how it will be forced to cope with issues of long-term radioactive waste storage and transportation.

ADAMS was intended to serve as the electronic document-master for the NRC, and all documents were to be routed through that system. But it suffered from numerous shortcomings, to the point that if the Nuclear Energy Institute and NIRS could agree on one thing, it was that ADAMS just didn’t work.

Grassroots activists who have tried to access ADAMS’ somewhat bizarre document accession scheme found long download times, especially with normal modem connections; inexplicably unavailable documents; and a generally unfriendly and un-intuitive interface. Moreover, ADAMS was never even designed to work with MacIntosh or Linux-based computers.

NIRS has complained since its inception that the ADAMS system was designed to prevent public access to necessary documents; now it appears that the NRC has finally bowed to public pressure that its documents be made available in a format and means that people actually can use.

The memo argued that there are no scientific barriers in the way for Yucca Mountain’s approval as a waste dump, only political ones, and offered strategies for getting around those political issues.

The groups signing the letter vehemently disagreed with that conclusion, pointing out the numerous scientific uncertainties and deficiencies of the Yucca Mountain project, and argued that the memo indicated a bias toward the project unsuitable for dispassionate scientific research.

In a January 19 reply to the letter, just before the Clinton Administration left office, Ivan Itkin, Director of DOE’s Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management said the memo "was neither approved nor condoned by the Department." He added that, as has been reported, a full investigation of the memo was ordered by outgoing DOE Secretary Bill Richardson. It is expected that this investigation will delay the issuance of a final suitability recommendation for Yucca Mountain by about six months. The final recommendation on the site is now expected by the end of 2001.

The lawsuit settled in September 2000, but the terms have never been made public. Envirocare became controversial in Utah, although it continues to operate in that state, over allegations that it made payoffs, including apartments and other benefits, to Utah regulators.

Environmentalists in the remote west Texas region Envirocare had targeted celebrated the news of the company’s departure from the region, but also made clear they intend to oppose any expansion of WCS’ existing reach into west Texas.

WISE-Amsterdam defended itself in court, and the day the first such transport took place the court ruled in favor of WISE, ruling that the injunction violated freedom of speech.

Despite the injunction against WISE on the first day of the transport—before the judge’s ruling had taken effect--activists from the Dutch group GroenFront and Greenpeace blocked roads and locked themselves down in front of the transport casks. WISE protested on the sidelines, with NIRS’ inflatable nuclear waste cask as a visible prop.

Said Peer de Rijk of WISE-Amsterdam, "we are glad that the judge has confirmed our right to protest against the absurdity of reprocessing nuclear waste." More protests are likely against future shipments.