Nuclear Power & Radiation

The nuclear industry may get a shot in the arm -- as the Energy Department is set to announce $18.5 billion in new loan guarantees.

"The Environmental Protection Agency is violating laws requiring public input by working behind closed doors to draft regulations for a proposed uranium mine in northern Colorado, activists said, citing agency documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act."

"China is preparing to build three times as many nuclear power plants in the coming decade as the rest of the world combined, a breakneck pace with the potential to help slow global warming."

"After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Congress passed a law instructing the federal government to help states build bigger stocks of a simple, cheap drug to protect people near nuclear power plants in the event of an accident or terrorist attack."

"What kind of insurance policy do you take out if you operate a large nuclear plant in one of the most densely populated, fastest-growing communities in Canada?"

"One of the world's largest nuclear plant suppliers has ordered its Canadian division to hermetically seal itself off from its U.S. parent, going so far as to forbid engineers at the U.S. wing from having anything to do with Canadian reactors."

"A push to scrap a Minnesota law barring new nuclear power plants gained a pair of influential supporters Tuesday, adding intensity to a debate before a state Legislature that has narrowly resisted the change."

"Almost every plan for limiting carbon dioxide output includes keeping old nuclear plants running. But as those plants age, they turn up new problems. The latest is at a plant owned by Progress Energy in Crystal River, Fla., where a gap was found inside the thick concrete of a containment dome."

"Could nuclear power plants last as long as the Hoover Dam? Increasingly dependable and emitting few greenhouse gases, the U.S. fleet of nuclear power plants will likely run for another 50 or even 70 years before it is retired -- long past the 40-year life span planned decades ago -- according to industry executives, regulators and scientists."

"The awards of $18.5 billion in federal loan guarantees for new nuclear plant projects remain held up by an ongoing dispute within the Obama administration over the financial risk the new reactors pose for the government and taxpayers, according to industry and government officials."