EJToday is SEJ's selection of new and outstanding stories on environmental topics in print and on the air, updated every weekday. SEJ also offers a free e-mailed digest of the day's EJToday postings, called SEJ-beat. SEJ members are subscribed automatically, but may opt out here. Non-members may subscribe here. EJToday is also available via RSS feed. Please see Editorial Guidelines for EJToday content.
"U.S. Moves to Abandon Costly Reactor Fuel Plant"
NY Times, 06/26/2013"The Energy Department is moving toward abandoning a half-built factory that has cost $3.7 billion so far and was intended to make reactor fuel out of plutonium from retired nuclear bombs — part of an agreement with Russia to shrink the world’s supply of nuclear bomb fuel after the cold war."
Higher Sea Tritium Levels Near Fukushima Suggest Leaks Not Plugged
Asahi Shimbun, 06/26/2013"Tokyo Electric Power Co. said radioactive water may still be leaking into the sea from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant after enhanced levels of radioactive tritium were detected in the port area in front of the facility."
"At Chernobyl, Danger Lurks in the Trees"
Daily Climate, 06/24/2013"For 27 years, forests around Chernobyl have been absorbing radioactive elements. A fire would send them skyward again – a growing concern as summers grow longer, hotter and drier."
New Scrutiny of 'Longwall' Mining Finds Damage in Pennsylvania Streams
Center for Public Integrity, 06/21/2013"The brutally efficient coal-extraction method known as 'longwall mining' has permanently damaged a half dozen streams in Pennsylvania, state regulators have found — a finding that could trigger deeper waves for such operations in the state."
"EPA Audit Faults Wash. State's Hanford Oversight"
Greenwire, 06/20/2013"A U.S. EPA draft report criticizes Washington state for lax oversight of the Hanford nuclear site, citing too few inspections and ignored violations."
"Japan Moves Toward Restarting Nuclear Reactors"
NY Times, 06/19/2013"TOKYO — Japan’s new nuclear regulator adopted a fresh set of safety guidelines on Wednesday, starting a process that could allow some of the country’s idled reactors to come back online early next year."
Nuclear Plants, Old and Uncompetitive, Closing Earlier Than Expected
NY Times, 06/17/2013"When does a nuclear plant become too old? The nuclear industry is wrestling with that question as it tries to determine whether problems at reactors, all designed in the 1960s and 1970s, are middle-aged aches and pains or end-of-life crises."
"Exelon Cancels Power Uprates for Lasalle, Limerick Nuclear Plants"
Platts, 06/13/2013"Exelon has canceled plans for power uprates at four of its nuclear power reactors in Illinois and Pennsylvania, the company has told the US Securities and Exchange Commission."
"Atomic Power’s Green Light or Red Flag"
NY Times, 06/12/2013"WAYNESBORO, Ga. — The two nuclear reactors rising out of the red Georgia clay here, twin behemoths of concrete and steel, make up one of the largest construction projects in the United States and represent a giant bet that their cost — in the range of $14 billion — will be cheaper than alternatives like natural gas."
"Canada To Make Nuclear Operators Pay More for Accidents"
Reuters, 06/11/2013"Canada will make operators of nuclear power plants liable for the first C$1 billion ($980 million) of damages in the event of an accident, up from C$75 million under existing rules, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver said on Monday."
California Nuclear Plant To Shut: Unforgiving Nuclear Economics
Christian Science Monitor, 06/10/2013"The San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS), a nuclear power plant set into the seaside bluffs in northern San Diego County, is closing after the high cost of repairs and a Nuclear Regulatory Commission board ruling prompted its owner, Southern California Edison, to pull the plug on the 45-year-old facility."
"Texas Site Begins Taking Federal Nuclear Waste"
AP, 06/07/2013"ANDREWS, Texas -- Republican mega-donor Harold Simmons' remote hazardous waste dump in West Texas began accepting low-level radioactive material Thursday from a federal lab in New Mexico — the latest step in Simmons' vision of a site that accepts all types of waste."
"U.S. Orders New Safety Upgrades at Nuclear Plants"
CNN, 06/07/2013"Washington -- U.S. regulators are directing 31 nuclear reactors similar in design to the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan, where an earthquake and tsunami caused a meltdown two years ago, to take additional steps to help contain radiation and other damage from any accident that is not quickly halted."
"Another Contaminated Water Leak at Japan's Fukushima Nuclear Plant"
Reuters, 06/06/2013"The operator of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant said it had found another leak of contaminated water on Wednesday, piling pressure on the utility to curb the problem as it seeks permission to release water to the sea."
"Rising Radioactive Spills Leave Fukushima Fishermen Floundering"
Reuters, 06/03/2013"Dozens of crabs, three small sharks and scores of fish thump on the slippery deck of the fishing boat True Prosperity as captain Shohei Yaoita lands his latest haul, another catch headed not for the dinner table but for radioactive testing."

Advertisements 


