Chinese contract for Mirion

Chinese contract for Mirion
06 August 2009

US-based Mirion Technologies has been awarded a contract - its largest ever - to supply radiation monitoring systems for ten new nuclear power reactors to be constructed in China.

Hongyanhe
The Hongyanhe plant will be monitored by Mirion systems
Under the contract, awarded by China Nuclear Power Engineering Co (CNPEC), Mirion will supply ten complete sets of radiation monitoring systems anticipated to be delivered between 2011 and 2013. The systems will be utilised in units at the Hongyanhe site in Liaoning province, the Ningde site in Fujian province and the Yangjiang site in Guangdong province. All the reactors will be of the Chinese CPR1000 design. Financial details of the contract were not disclosed.

The systems will include components related to barrier leak control, effluent release monitoring, process operations, post-accident management and radioprotection of workers. The project covers the design, engineering, manufacturing, commissioning and training of all the systems, including several safety-related monitors.

In May, Mirion said it had been awarded a contract to supply over 20 body contamination monitors to the Smolensk and Volgodonsk nuclear power plants in Russia. The previous month the company won a contract to supply process and event monitoring systems to the Ulchin, Shin Kori and Shin Wolsung plants in South Korea.

In February, Mirion was awarded a contract to supply visual systems for the new interim spent fuel storage facility to be constructed at the Ignalina nuclear power plant in Lithuania. The same month, the company signed a contract with Canada's Bruce Power for the supply of over 100 whole body monitors.

Mirion was awarded a contract in January by Electricité de France (EdF) to supply 19 of its nuclear power reactors with active neutron dosimeters and readers. Last October, Mirion was awarded the contract to supply the process radiation monitoring systems and the building radiation monitoring system for the France's first EPR reactor, currently under construction at Flamanville.

http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/C-Chinese_contract_for_Mirion-0608094.html

Nuclear Power in the USA

Nuclear Power in the USA

(Updated July 2009)

Related pages: US Nuclear Power Policy
US Nuclear Fuel Cycle

* The USA is the world's largest producer of nuclear power, with more than 30% of worldwide nuclear generation of electricity.
* The country's 104 nuclear reactors produced 809 billion kWh in 2008, almost 20% of total electrical output.
* Following a 30-year period in which few new reactors were built, since mid-2007 there have been 17 licence applications to build 26 new nuclear reactors.
* Government policy changes in the last 10 years have helped pave the way for significant growth in nuclear capacity. Government and industry are working closely on expedited approval for construction and new plant designs.
Go to article:
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf41.html

Go-ahead to break ground for new US reactors

Go-ahead to break ground for new US reactors
09 April 2009

Southern Nuclear has given notice to its main contractors to proceed towards two new reactors at Vogtle. Permissions already in place allow some construction work to begin.

Vogtle - new reactors
How Vogtle 3 and 4 could look
The reactors in question are two Westinghouse AP1000 units which Southern's subsidiary Georgia Power contracted Westinghouse and Shaw to build in April exactly one year ago. That contract was submitted to the Georgia Public Service Commission and gained approval in mid March - including permission for Georgia Power to begin recovering the cost of the new reactors from ratepayers bills.

The engineering procurement and construction (EPC) contract with Westinghouse and Shaw will see the companies supply and construct the entire facility with the exception of 'certain items' provided by the plant's co-owners, although exact contract terms, conditions and value have not yet been released.

"We are poised to break ground on
one of the first new US nuclear
construction projects in more than
30 years."

J M Bernhard
Chairman, president and CEO of Shaw

Southern's application to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission(NRC) reached a certain point in February at which limited construction work would be permitted at the site when the NRC released the final safety evaluation related to Southern's application for an Early Site Permit. The full result of the ESP application should be known by the end of this year.

Full construction, however, can only start once a combined construction and operating license is issued for the project, expected in mid-2011.

Two reactors already operate at Vogtle, starting up in May 1987 and May 1989. Each of the Westinghouse pressurized water reactors (PWRs) is capable of generating 1215 MWe. The two new units will each produce 1105 MWe.

http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/NN_Go-ahead-for_groundbreaking_on_US_reactors_0904092.html

Reactors ready for floating plant

Reactors ready for floating plant
07 August 2009

Russia's Afrikantov OKBM has completed the assembly of the second KLT-40S reactor for the country's first floating nuclear power plant, currently under construction in St Petersburg. The first reactor has already been delivered.
http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/NN-Reactors_ready_for_first_floating_plant-0708094.html

Iran Nuclear Capability After 2013, Says US Intelligence by Daniel Luban

Iran Nuclear Capability After 2013, Says US Intelligence
by Daniel Luban, August 08, 2009

http://original.antiwar.com/luban/2009/08/07/nuclear-capability-after-2013-says-us-intelligence/

TVA backs firm exploring small nuclear reactors $1 million contract may spur development

TVA to study installing small reactor at Oak Ridge
The Tennessee Valley Authority plans to spend about $1 million in the next year studying the possibility of putting a small nuclear reactor, designed by Babcock & Wilcox of Lynchburg, Va., near Oak Ridge, Tenn. Babcock is seeking certification for the reactor, which is about one-tenth the size of traditional reactors and would provide enough power for a city of 100,000 people. "It's part of TVA's interest in looking at different options going forward," said TVA spokesman Terry Johnson. Tennessean (Nashville), The (08/03)

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090803/NEWS01/908030339/TVA%20backs%20firm%20exploring%20small%20nuclear%20reactors

Industry research group sees need for 45 more nuclear plants by 2030

Industry research group sees need for 45 more nuclear plants by 2030

NEI SmartBrief | Aug 04, 2009

The Electric Power Research Institute on Monday issued a report calling for 45 more nuclear reactors to be built by 2030 in order for the U.S. to meet new standards for emissions reductions. The group also called for more cleaner-coal power plants and an 8% reduction in electricity consumption. Reuters (08/03)

Report Ties Dubious Iran Nuclear Docs to Israel
by Gareth Porter, June 04, 2009
http://original.antiwar.com/porter/2009/06/03/report-ties-dubious-iran-nuclear-docs-to-israel/

A report on Iran’s nuclear program issued by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last month generated news stories publicizing an incendiary charge that U.S. intelligence is underestimating Iran’s progress in designing a "nuclear warhead" before the halt in nuclear weapons-related research in 2003.

That false and misleading charge from an intelligence official of a foreign country, who was not identified but was clearly Israeli, reinforces two of Israel’s key propaganda themes on Iran – that the 2007 U.S. National Intelligence Estimate on Iran is wrong, and that Tehran is poised to build nuclear weapons as soon as possible.

But it also provides new evidence that Israeli intelligence was the source of the collection of intelligence documents which have been used to accuse Iran of hiding nuclear weapons research...


The most revealing glimpse of Israeli use of such documents to influence international opinion on Iran’s nuclear program comes from the book by Frantz and Collins. They report that Israel’s international intelligence agency Mossad created a special unit in the summer of 2003 to carry out a campaign to provide secret briefings on the Iranian nuclear program, which sometimes included "documents from inside Iran and elsewhere."

The "alleged studies" collection of documents has never been verified as genuine by either the IAEA or by intelligence analysts. The Senate report said senior United Nations officials and foreign intelligence officials who had seen "many of the documents" in the collection of alleged Iranian military documents had told committee staff "it is impossible to rule out an elaborate intelligence ruse."

It Pays to Have a Nuke By ALEXANDER COCKBURN

It Pays to Have a Nuke

By ALEXANDER COCKBURN


What’s the lesson for Iran in this story? It pays to have a nuke. You get some respect, even a visit from Bill Clinton.

http://www.counterpunch.org/

Kim Jong-Il opens line to Washington: analysts

Kim Jong-Il opens line to Washington: analysts
Washington (AFP) Aug 5, 2009 - North Korea's Kim Jong-Il has deftly changed a tense game of nuclear brinksmanship with Washington by allowing a former US president to rescue two imprisoned journalists, analysts said Wednesday. Former president Bill Clinton's surprise visit to Pyongyang and the release of journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who flew home to an emotional reunion Wednesday, opened a new path that could lead ... more
http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Kim_Jong-Il_opens_line_to_Washington_analysts_999.html

Final Modernization First Stage ICBM Rocket Motor Delivered

Final Modernization First Stage ICBM Rocket Motor Delivered
Clearfield Ut (SPX) Aug 07, 2009 - Northrop Grumman has delivered the final, first stage solid rocket motor for the Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) July 23 to the U.S. Air Force under the Propulsion Replacement Program (PRP). The delivery represents a significant milestone in the continuing modernization of the ICBM land-based arsenal. The first stage rocket motor was delivered at teammate Alliant Techsy ... more

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Final_Modernization_First_Stage_ICBM_Rocket_Motor_Delivered_999.html

US, UAE Nuclear Deal Would End if Terms Violated

US, UAE Nuclear Deal Would End if Terms Violated
Richard Lardner, Associated Press
The U.S. would cancel a nuclear energy agreement with the United Arab Emirates if the Middle East nation were to violate any terms of the deal, an Obama administration official said Wednesday.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/articl...ZYItpwD99AEEF01

* Statement by US Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security Ellen Tauscher before the House Foreign Affairs Committee

http://www.state.gov/t/us/125782.htm

G-8 Nations Press Iran on Nuclear Program

G-8 Nations Press Iran on Nuclear Program
Peter Baker, The New York Times
G-8 SummitThe world’s major industrial nations have given Iran until September to negotiate the dispute over its nuclear program, but remain vague and divided over what consequences they might try to impose should Tehran continue to defy them.

After a long discussion Wednesday night, President Obama and counterparts from the rest of the Group of 8 powers called on Iran to compromise on its uranium enrichment program, condemned its crackdown on the dissent after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election and repudiated the president’s statements denying the Holocaust.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/10/world/mi...html?ref=europe

* G-8 Summit Release on Nonproliferation (PDF)

http://www.g8italia2009.it/static/G8_Alleg...iferation,0.pdf

The Long, Hard Road to Nuclear Safety

The Long, Hard Road to Nuclear Safety
Bryan Bender, The Boston Globe Two stories underground, in a concrete room with a heavy steel door, gloved technicians wearing smocks carefully measure and weigh the charcoal-gray pellets, 182 in all. They are among the most dangerous materials in the world: highly enriched uranium, the main ingredient for a nuclear bomb.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/ar...nuclear_safety/

Serbia, IAEA Sign Additional Protocol on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons

Serbia, IAEA Sign Additional Protocol on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
Xinhua
Serbia and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) signed here on Friday an additional protocol to the agreement on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-07/...nt_11649540.htm

U.S. and Russia to Reduce Arsenals Michael A. Fletcher and Philip P. Pan, The Washington Post President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev reached a preliminary agreement Monday to cut the American and Russian nuclear arsenals by as much as a third while exploring options for cooperation on missile defense.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/06/AR2009070600784.html

* Press Conference by President Obama and President Medvedev of Russia
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Press-Conference-by-President-Obama-and-President-Medvedev-of-Russia/

A Response to Jon Kyl and Richard Perle

A Response to Jon Kyl and Richard Perle
James Acton, George Perkovich, and Pierre Goldschmidt, Proliferation Analysis
Nuclear DeterrentPresident Obama's speech on April 5, 2009, in Prague, in which he pledged "America's commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons," was the most important statement of nuclear weapons policy in a generation. It is absolutely right to subject this policy to scrutiny. The critique by Senator Jon Kyl and Richard Perle in the Wall Street Journal last week is to be welcomed as a stimulus to analysis and debate. See http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124623202363966157.html

The Kyl and Perle op-ed is, however, based on a series of invalid premises. It focuses on arguments not actually made by those who advocate the vision of a world free of nuclear weapons.

http://www.carnegieendowment.org/publicati...p&proj=znpp

Could A North Korean Missile Reach Hawaii?

Could A North Korean Missile Reach Hawaii?
From The Christian Science Monitor:

North Koreans on Thursday tested several short-range missiles, but their track record on longer-range missile technology has been poor.

Washington - Could North Korea hit Hawaii with a missile, if it wanted to?

In theory, yes. Pyongyang has ballistic missile technology that technically, if it worked to perfection, could throw a small payload across the 7,100 kilometers or so that separate the Korean peninsula from Honolulu, according to a US Congressional Research Service (CRS) report.

But North Korea has tested its most advanced long-range missiles only a few times, and in each instance, something major has gone wrong. The warhead would be so tiny it would do little damage – if it survived the heat of reentry, which is doubtful. (It wouldn't be nuclear. North Korea remains years from developing that kind of capability.)

Accuracy would be problematic. The missile would be as likely to hit ocean as land.

Bottom line: For the moment, the chance of North Korea endangering Hawaii, or any other US territory, may be quite small.

Read more ....
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0703/p02s01-usgn.html

I personally am very skeptical that they can develop and engineer a missile that can hit targets thousands of kilometers away. Their track record is less than stellar, and the resources that they have to develop such a weapon system is dubious at best.

The only value that such a missile will have is a propaganda one .... and this the North Koreans have been masters at.

What our concern should be focused on is their short range missiles. This is a technology that they have developed, and a strike on our Japanese or South Korean allies will have an impact just as much as a strike against Hawaii or the U.S. mainland.

As for the U.S. scampering to positioning their anti-missile defense systems around Hawaii .... this is Washington political theatrics at its worse.

Time for an Israeli Strike? John R. Bolton, The Washington Post

Time for an Israeli Strike? John R. Bolton, The Washington Post

With Iran's hard-line mullahs and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps unmistakably back in control, Israel's decision of whether to use military force against Tehran's nuclear weapons program is more urgent than ever.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/01/AR2009070103020.html

in Laden Deputy Warns Pakistan the US Wants to Seize Its Nuclear Arsenal Delcan Walsh, The Guardian

in Laden Deputy Warns Pakistan the US Wants to Seize Its Nuclear Arsenal
Delcan Walsh, The Guardian
Osama bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has attempted to halt al-Qaida's plunging popularity in Pakistan by exploiting widely held fears that the US is plotting to seize the country's nuclear bombs.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/1...stan-us-nuclear