THE WORLD'S NUCLEAR NEWS AGENCY

World Nuclear Review - week ending 18th July 2003

Poll Shows 'Confidence' In Swedish Radwaste Management

A new opinion poll has found that the Swedish population has 'strong confidence' in the Swedish nuclear fuel and waste management company (SKB), and that this confidence 'gets higher the closer they live' to repository investigation sites.

The representative poll was conducted between late May and early June. The poll asked 1006 Swedes nationwide about their confidence in the SKB, the Swedish Radiation Protection Authority (SSI) and the Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate (SKI). The poll also surveyed attitudes towards the construction of a final repository for spent nuclear fuel, and general knowledge of the Swedish waste management system.

On a numerical scale of one (very low opinion) to five (very high opinion), the poll found that attitudes to the activities of the three organisations averaged 3.6. The SKB told NucNet that the poll also showed that "people's confidence in the SKB (at a regional and national level) is high - and gets higher the closer they live to the site investigations".

In separate sections of the poll, 800 interviews were conducted in the municipalities of Oskarshamn and ęsthammer, where investigations aimed at determining the suitability of two separate potential sites for a national repository are under way.

In Oskarshamn, 69% of respondents were in favour of a repository and 23% were against. A total of 67% thought that a repository "would affect the municipality of Oskarshamn positively", while 20% said that it would have a "negative effect".

In ęsthammar, 65% of those polled were in favour of a repository, and 27% were against, while 56% said a repository would have a positive effect, and 28% said the effect would be negative.

Source: SKB

Original report: NucNet News No. 228, 16th July

Legislators Recommend Yucca Mountain Budget Increase

A committee of the US House of Representatives has recommended that 765 million US dollars (USD) be provided for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste management programme in fiscal 2004.

The sum recommended by the House Appropriations Committee on 15th July is USD 174 million more than the budget request - and an increase of USD 308 million compared to fiscal 2003.

The committee agreed that additional funds should be provided to enable the US Department of Energy to start repository operations in 2010, "with particular emphasis" on developing a rail link in the state of Nevada - avoiding the Las Vegas metropolitan area.

The US Nuclear Energy Institute's (NEI) senior vice-president of governmental affairs, John Kane, welcomed the move and he called on other members of Congress to support the committee's decision as the legislative process of approving budget requests continued.

Source: NEI / House of Representatives

Original report: NucNet News No. 229, 16th July

Construction Starts at Japanese Underground Research Facility

The Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute (JNC) has started construction of an underground research facility in Horonobe Town, Hokkaido.

The facility will carry out research and development on the safety and reliability of geological disposal of vitrified high-level radioactive waste (HLW). Work is starting with the construction of above-ground facilities, including an administrative building for the research activities. The entire facility is expected to be completed in 2010.

Speaking at the ground-breaking ceremony for the project on 11th July, JNC president Yasumasa Togo said: "JNC hopes to make a facility from which people locally and nationally will be able to better understand what research on geological disposal of HLW is all about."

The underground research facility will conduct basic studies on the safety and reliability of geological disposal of HLW, and investigate the geological environment deep underground including the nature and characteristics of rock and underground water.

Source: Japan atomic industrial forum

Original report: NucNet News No. 226 & No. 224, 15th & 14th July

Milestone For UK N-Plant Decommissioning

The Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) in the UK has given BNFL the go-ahead to decommission Hinkley Point A - one of the company's Magnox nuclear plants.

The decision comes after BNFL announced that the plant would close on economic grounds three years ago (see Business News No. 60, 23rd May 2000).

Source: BNFL

Original report: NucNet News No. 227, 15th July

ASN Issues New Criteria For PWRs

The French nuclear safety authority, ASN, has issued new criteria to regulate the operation of primary circuits at each of Electricite de France's (EDF) 1300 megawatt (MW) pressurised water reactors (PWR).

The decision comes after EDF said earlier this year that damage to fuel rods at its Cattenom-1, -3, -4, and Nogent-2 reactor units may have occurred due to fretting - corrosion caused by friction between the base grid of a fuel assembly and the fuel rods.

EDF adds that this type of damage "could be generic" to the PWR 1300 MW reactor design.

The ASN says that under the terms of the new criteria, EDF will be required to limit the activity of the primary circuit through surveying the levels of radiochemicals in the circuit, and to stop the reactor if levels become too high.

Source: ASN

Original report: NucNet News No. 225, 14th July

Australian Government Acquires Planned Repository Site

Australia's federal government has acquired ownership of the site designated as a national repository for low-level radioactive waste in the state of South Australia v blocking attempts by state legislators to halt the project.

Federal finance and administration minister Senator Nick Minchin said the site, which was announced as the location for the repository in May, had been acquired under a compulsory purchase order.

The order effectively forces the sale of the site to the federal government, which Senator Minchin said was "in the national interest".

The minister approved the acquisition on 7th July. He said the decision was made "urgently" for a number of reasons, including proposed legislation introduced by state legislators to turn the site into a public park - which the minister said was "a stunt designed to frustrate" Australia's radioactive waste disposal policy and prevent the establishment of the repository.

Source: Uranium Information Centre, Melbourne / Senator Minchin

Original report: NucNet News No. 231, 17th July

Copyright NucNet. This material can be freely used on publicly-accesible electronic information systems provided NucNet is quoted as the source. For full access to NucNet's range of subscription-based services, write to editors@worldnuclear.org or visit our web site www.worldnuclear.org.